Looking to buy a specific acoustic / acoustic - electric guitar - help more than welc

[vincentvanwolf]

Hello everyone

I am an amateur when it comes to guitar, started playing around november of 2016. on an electric guitar and I currently own:

- A home made fender strat with SL20 Steve Lukather emg pick up
- Alvera classical guitar
- Yamaha F310 acoustic guitar which is my primary guitar now

I am looking into buying a cutaway guitar, prefferably acoustic-electric, I am interested in doing a lot of bending, and while that ( as far as I know ) depends on mostly finger strength, strings gauge, and the length of the scale of the guitar, a slim guitar with a shorter scale might be a good option.

My primary is interest in music is Pink Floyd, and while I am nowhere near that level I just wanna have some fun with bends and slides it would not be possible to do a bend, especially on Comfortably Numb solo which has those 19th fret notes.

I plan to run 11's or 10's gauge strings which will probably imply that the guitar will need to be setup.

So to recap:

Main points:

-CE guitar for easier access to frets
-Shorter scale if possible for less string tension and easier bends
-Slim guitar, but it is not the end of the world if it is a Drednaught

In my own research I have looked through a lot guitars available in my country, and at the moment I kinda have two models that I am interested in:

Cort AS-OC4 All mahogany OP
Construction: (Dovetail neck joint)
Cutaway*: Venetian cutaway
Body*: OM cutaway
Nut width*: 45mm
Top*: Solid mahogany
Back and sides*: Solid mahogany
Neck*: Mahogany
Fretboard*: Rosewood ili Ovangkol
Frets: 20 frets
Scale: 25.3" (643mm)
Saddle*:*Rosewood or Ovangkol
Magnets*:*Fishman Sonicore
Electronics*:*Fishman Sonicore
Strings*:*D'Addario EXP16
Special*: Hard case included

Priced at 520 euros.

FRAMUS FF 14 M CE
Body shape: Folk, Cutaway
Scale: 628 mm
Overall length: 1000 mm
Maximum width: 385 mm
Width at shoulder: 288 mm
Rib Height min / max: 97 mm / 106 mm
Top: Solid Mahogany
Sides: Laminated Mahogany
Back: Laminated Mahogany
Binding: 3 layer binding on top, single binding at back and fretboard
Soundhole rosette: Mahogany and Abalone
Bridge: East-Indian Rosewood
Saddle: Bone, compensated
Neck: Mahogany, C-profile, with trussrod, satin finish
Headstock: Rosewood veneer, with Mother of Pearl Framus logo and inlay
Tuners: Closed, gear ratio 15:1
Nut: Bone, 45 mm
Frets: 21, Medium
Fretboard: East-Indian Rosewood
Electronics: Fishman Isys + Preamp mit Sonicore Pickup
Strings: Cleartone Acoustic 012 - 053 (7412)

Priced at 362 euros.

I like that they are made of mahagony, as mahagony look appeals to me very much.

I havent had the chance to try these guitar, but I am considering going to the capital city and trying them to see how they feel in hand.

The shorter scale on Framus and its size are very interesting to me, as it seems I could fool around with bending much more if my theory is correct about the scale length.

In my country both of these brands are considered second hand brands as Fender and Yamaha are the most popular ones so I have very limited knowledge on the quality of both guitars and the videos available online are scarce aswell.

I would use the guitar for street playing with an amp, playing with friends etc.

Sorry for the long post, recommendations are more than welcome.

Thanks in advance!

[GHS]

I see you are new to this. I would not limit my purchase of an acoustic guitar primarily on "bending". This is a technique used to enhance a piece of music, not the end point itself. You will find that it is far more difficult to do this on an acoustic than electric that may have 9's on it as opposed to 10's, 11's, etc. Half step bends are no real problem on most of the neck but full step, depending on position can require some finger strength you may not have yet...or ever have. I would base my purchase on build quality, tone, ease of play ( regarding action), and how it fits your voice. Not having a cutaway would not be a deal breaker. Watch some really good bluegrass pickers on video. You will see, while they really have no problem going up above the 12th or 14th on a say Martin dread, most of the time they are not going up there for long. Play a few and see what works for you.

[Sonics]

Just a comment, well actually three comments:

There is no law that state you cannot put electric strings on an acoustic guitar (...and vice versa). You may actually like the tone.

There is no law that state that you cannot tune down to Eb to make bending easier (Jimi Hendrix did it, SRV too!)

There are acoustic strings lighter than 10 gauge. Rotosound make 9 gauge strings, other strings companies may also do the same (...you'll have to do the research).

Ok and a fourth comment: Some guitar manufacturers actually build acoustics with electric necks (i.e dimensions, profile and fingerboard radii). I'm not up to date on current models, however my Parker acoustic, for example, has a Telecaster neck. Some of the US built Ovations also have electric necks. So you may also want to look into that too.

[YamahaGuy]

Check out a Yamaha AC1M or even the AC3M. They would be a good fit for you.

[vincentvanwolf]

Although the bending isnt really end end point I enjoy doing it quite much.
I dont have a problem bending the b or e string on the current guitar, but I can only get the half bend on the g string.

Cutaway really means to me as I enjoy playing notes which are around and further than 12 fret and it troubles me a lot on my acoustic guitar which I had for a year and a half.

Yamaha AC1M is priced at 742 euros in my country and AC3M is priced at 960 which is kinda a lot over my budget considering the average pay is 200 euros.

I called the store to check up on the Framus FF 14 M CE and they told me that they only sell it when it is order, so I pretty much cannot play it, they only have a different model which is double the cost, but on a 50% sale atm.

I will be going to try them out this Thursday so hopefully I will have enough information to make a desciscion by then.