My heavily modified OF-660 (purists look away)!!

[DownUpDave]

Originally Posted by casualmusic

I admire your effort to lighten your OF660 by a pound.

As a fellow cyclist I'm not sure it's worth chasing *yet another pound* of reduction to your heavy guitar. You can achieve a one pound reduction by carrying 1/2 litre less water.

FYI, this week is offering 25% discount on B-stock OF660. It may be worth asking the weight of the lightest in stock and deciding whether to restart with a lighter sample?

Cheers.

I got the email notification regarding the 25% off and I ordered a mat black one. I am a cyclist who does cycle touring and bikepacking. The latter into some pretty rugged places.

I had been in communication with the OP and followed this thread intently. I was going to buy a Furch Little Jane which seems to be the lightest of the “high quality” collapsible guitars. But I think a carbon fiber guitar will stand up to the rigours of weeks and months on a bike and in a tent.

I will weigh it when it arrives and post it here. I will do a separate NGD and review once I have spent some time and string experimentation with it.

[goog64]

DownUpDave, I am looking forward to finding out the weight of yours.

[DownUpDave]

Originally Posted by goog64

DownUpDave, I am looking forward to finding out the weight of yours.

Well my Journey OF660 arrived and as promised I have weighed it. Weighs in at 4lbs 13ozs, on a fairly accurate food scale. My heaviest guitar is a full size Larrivee L-01 at 4lbs 9ozs.

For comparison my Taylor GS Mini weighs 3lbs 11 oz and an Eastman 00 12 fret is 3lbs 14oz. The OF660 is about 1 pound heavier then my 2 lightest guitars.

As others have said it is neck heavy, those Grover locking tuners probably add to the issue. As does a small bodied guitar of carbon fiber attached to a robust 1-3/4” neck.

[goog64]

Thanks for that great data Dave.
I am heading to the airport this morning, and I am buying a used Baby Taylor on the way. Should be under 3lb! It's my first trip without the OF-660 in a long time. I'll be interested to see how it works out (weight wise and sound wise).

[DownUpDave]

Originally Posted by goog64

Thanks for that great data Dave.
I am heading to the airport this morning, and I am buying a used Baby Taylor on the way. Should be under 3lb! It's my first trip without the OF-660 in a long time. I'll be interested to see how it works out (weight wise and sound wise).

Have a great trip and a happy New Year. I am looking into the carbon fiber Heart Sound tuning machines posted about on this thread. They are only 47 grams a set, about 1.6 oz.

[Acousticado]

Back around ‘06 I owned a Baby Taylor and in ‘08 while jaunting around Florida, the BT got seriously damaged which turned out to be a blessing in disguise because I immediately replaced it with a CA Cargo which is a MUCH better guitar, about the same size (fits in the BT big bag), but is heavier. Until playing the Cargo as my first small guitar, only then did I realize that for me, the BT just doesn’t cut it. The same is likely mostly true comparing to a OF660. YMMV.

[Acousticado]

Originally Posted by DownUpDave

Have a great trip and a happy New Year. I am looking into the carbon fiber Heart Sound tuning machines posted about on this thread. They are only 47 grams a set, about 1.6 oz.

If they can be had, that is the best solution. In 2018, after having owned a 2012 all-CF Emerald Chimaera 6/12 doubleneck, I ordered a coco version and was already aware that even the lightest weight Gotoh minis were still too heavy, causing some neck dive, which you don’t want on such a large guitar. I’d heard about the Heart Sound all-CF tuners and contacted Alistair at Emerald and HS themselves. Alistair really wanted to pursue except that the company seemed to not be able to supply them at the time and he decided that the overall look was not conducive to the high quality look of his guitars. If they are now available, it would be a perfect solution for the OP’s Journey lightening project.

[goog64]

So I'm now in the US with my new-to-me Baby Taylor and I absolutely love how light it is. The sound is OK but not as good as I'd hoped.
A friend of mine just lent me his Klōs carbon fiber travel guitar, so I've been playing it back to back with my Baby Taylor for an hour to try and pick a winner. Very difficult. I did a blind test with my wife, and she picked the Klōs on some songs and the Taylor on other songs. Generally, the Klōs usually won the fingerpicking and the Taylor won the strumming, but not always.
The Klōs is clearer but tinnier. The Taylor is warmer but muddier. I think the Klos feels a bit nicer to play.
But all in all, they've inspired me to try and take more weight off my Journey OF-660 guitar when I get back to Australia, because it sounds way, way better than either of these.

[DownUpDave]

Originally Posted by goog64

So I'm now in the US with my new-to-me Baby Taylor and I absolutely love how light it is. The sound is OK but not as good as I'd hoped.
A friend of mine just lent me his Klōs carbon fiber travel guitar, so I've been playing it back to back with my Baby Taylor for an hour to try and pick a winner. Very difficult. I did a blind test with my wife, and she picked the Klōs on some songs and the Taylor on other songs. Generally, the Klōs usually won the fingerpicking and the Taylor won the strumming, but not always.
The Klōs is clearer but tinnier. The Taylor is warmer but muddier. I think the Klos feels a bit nicer to play.
But all in all, they've inspired me to try and take more weight off my Journey OF-660 guitar when I get back to Australia, because it sounds way, way better than either of these.

A couple questions and thoughts on weight reduction. Have you contacted Journey about the weight of the wood necks compared to carbon neck. Mahogany can be pretty light and I wonder if a wood neck is lighter then carbon fiber.

The body on my OF660 weighs 3lbs 1oz and the neck is 1lb 12oz. That’s my instrument of course, total weight being 4lbs 13oz. The locking tuners weight 200 grams a set, yup I removed one and weighed it. That’s a little over 7 ozs. I was ready to order the Heart Sound carbon fiber tuners at 47 grams a set (1.65oz). A week ago I tried to order, but out of stock. I tried to send a email but kept getting the reply “Message cannot be sent. Now I keeping getting “This site can’t be reached” when I click on the Google search. Not sure what’s going on with that company

I am going to look into Sperzel tuners, they are suppose to be light.

[goog64]

Yes, I asked Journey that a couple of months ago. Their reply:
"The wood and carbon necks aren’t interchangeable because the shape of the neck end is not sloped for the wood necks. I think they’re pretty similar in weight as well."

So my next attempt will be yet more sanding of the body and to try and find a cheap, lightweight electric guitar neck and modify it to fit my OF-660.

[JackDaniel]

Not sure if this was mentioned already but why not an emerald x7? Weighs in at less than 4 pounds I believe? Might be able to find some older models that might have been even less.

[goog64]

Originally Posted by JackDaniel

Not sure if this was mentioned already but why not an emerald x7? Weighs in at less than 4 pounds I believe? Might be able to find some older models that might have been even less.

They seem like a nice guitar but for me:
too expensive, the neck isn't detachable and still too heavy.

[Acousticado]

My first Emerald Chimaera 6/12 doubleneck had Gotoh “Stealths”...18 of them. For my second, woody Chimarea, Emerald stopped using them because Alistair said they weren’t robust enough, likely due to reported failures. Though mine hadn’t failed, they felt kinda over-tasked.

So as I said in another post, that was when I on my own, and Alistair were both communicating with Heart Sound to try to get 18 of their tuners. Alistair did manage to get six and iirc, his evaluation at the time in 2018 was that they seemed well built enough, but that appearance wise, they just didn’t cut it with the great look/finish of Emerald guitars, and it want possible for Emerald to add their own finish that would be sure to last.

For your OF660 project, the Heart Sounds would be ideal...if only you could find a set. Apart from that, have you looked into the Gotoh Stealths ST31, because they are a good bit lighter than regular Gotohs and would perform well on your Journey.

[goog64]

Thanks Tom. I will eventually look at lighter tuners, but my Grover minis are pretty light with the plastic knobs, removed backs and washers, and cut down shafts.

[Acousticado]

Actually, the Gotohs I was referring to are not the minis, rather “Stealths ST31” @ 11-12 grams ea.