Sonic Effects of a Cutaway?

A

azraelswings

New member
Hi All,

To all you knowledgeable guitarists and builders: how significantly, and in what way, does a cutaway effect the sound of an acoustic guitar? I mean in the case of otherwise identical tone woods and specifications.
 
azraelswings said:
Hi All,

To all you knowledgeable guitarists and builders: how significantly, and in what way, does a cutaway effect the sound of an acoustic guitar? I mean in the case of otherwise identical tone woods and specifications.
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It is absolutely impossible to answer that. First there is no such thing as identical tonewood. Second even if there was absolutely everything else makes a difference in some small way.

The most important things you do by introducing a cutaway is to decrease the area of the top and the volume of the enclosure. Both those things on paper would tighten up the sound and decrease the bottom end slightly on a "standard" size guitar, if there is such a thing. Both those changes are however in one of the least influential areas of the soundboard and in practice you will notice very little difference. My experience would back that up, but like I say it is impossible to measure or predict as each piece of tonewood behaves differently and a cutaway could possibly work better depending on how the instrument is voiced when it is braced and the top thicknessed. On the other hand it might not. A good maker will brace and thickness intuitively as he builds to shoot for the sort of sound he or she is after.
 
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It looks cooler.

no really. other than the obvious asthetic difference and the better access to the upper frets:

you could say a bigger body may have a fuller tone, but that would be a terribly general statement. there are always going to be terrible sounding non cutaways and amazing sounding cutaways. it all comes down to what you hear.

Adam
 
muttley600 said:
It is absolutely impossible to answer that. First there is no such thing as identical tonewood. Secound even if there was absolutely everything else makes a difference in some small way.
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All that is true, but the consensus amongst most of the builders I know (and I know a LOT of builders) is that cutaways make no perceptible difference in the sound of a guitar. It almost certainly makes a very small difference, but you will never hear it, no matter how good your ears are. You do reduce the area of the top a little bit, but the part of the top that is getting removed is the single most heavily braced part of the guitar, because it has to resist the pull of the strings on the neck. Seriously, there are two HUGE braces under there on most flat tops. That part of the top doesn't move much. And the change in the volume of the box just isn't that big.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Light said:
All that is true, but the consensus amongst most of the builders I know (and I know a LOT of builders) is that cutaways make no perceptible difference in the sound of a guitar. It almost certainly makes a very small difference, but you will never hear it, no matter how good your ears are. You do reduce the area of the top a little bit, but the part of the top that is getting removed is the single most heavily braced part of the guitar, because it has to resist the pull of the strings on the neck. Seriously, there are two HUGE braces under there on most flat tops. That part of the top doesn't move much. And the change in the volume of the box just isn't that big.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
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I absolutely agree. Thats kind of what I was trying to say. The most inportant thing is all the other things the builder builds in or out of the tone as he voices the top. The one thing that is more predictable but still of very little value to the builder is the air volume, as it changes the A and AO modes of vibration in a definable way. It is of little practical use I agree.
 
muttley600 said:
I absolutely agree. Thats kind of what I was trying to say. The most inportant thing is all the other things the builder builds in or out of the tone as he voices the top. The one thing that is more predictable but still of very little value to the builder is the air volume, as it changes the A and AO modes of vibration in a definable way. It is of little practical use I agree.
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Oh yeah, I wasn't disagreeing with you, just saying it a little differently.

It's also the one thing which gets the most disbelieving stares from customers.

Them: "No, it's got to make a difference?"

Me: "Not so as that you can hear it."

Them: "I don't buy it."

The fun ones are when people start trying to argue with me about it. I don't rise to the bait, of course (I'm trying to make a sale here), but they still try.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
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