Hello everyone,
I was playing a mates cutaway acoustic the otherday and i couldn't help finding that it sounded really mellow.. In fact i just couldn't play with it cause it was too mellow. Is this generally something that comes with cutaways ?
I just had to switch to a normal acoustic.
The sound will be a bit different, because the sound waves bounce around in a different pattern inside the body - it's not symmetrical like a dreadnaught.
How 'mellow' it sounds depends on the wood, construction, cutaway design, bracing pattern, etc. - I have an Ibanez acoustic with a cutaway that sounds pretty 'bright'.
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
Cutaways generally shift the Helmholtz resonator's (translation: a box w/hole) resonant frequency upward because the internal volume (space not loudness) is less. This usually makes the guitar seem less boomy and more bright -- this would not be considered more mellow. So your friend's guitar's mellowness is likely due to something else: woods, bracing design and execution, strings + many other things.
-=tension & release=-
