What are the advantages and disadvantages of a cutaway guitar?

It seems that every performer you see is using a cutaway guitar on stage leaving the impression must be significantly better than full-body acoustics. Not so fast pilgrim. What you see is not what you hear. Cutaway guitars have one significant advantage but also one noticeable drawback.

First - the advantage: If you're playing style calls for a lot of finger work high up the neck a cutaway gives your hand a few extra frets. That's great for reaching the really high notes but no benefit at all if you play primarily below the 10th fret.

The drawback? Acoustic guitars rely in part on the interior body characteristics to deliver sound. Changing either the size or the shape alters the sound. Either the timbre or the volume will be different. Cutaway guitars, ours included, have slightly less bass response. Some musicians see that as more balanced. Others find the sound too bright (too much treble).

So why are so many professional musicians playing cutaways? In a word? Electrics. Back before pickups, pre-amps and on-stage amplifiers were the norms for acoustic players you never saw pros using cutaway bodies. But the ability of modern electronic sound enhancement to boost bass and alter the sound profile of an instrument pretty much eliminates the downside of a cutaway in a performance situation. If you play on-stage, do a lot of lead guitar stuff and rely on your amp to shape the sound of your guitar a cutaway is a great body style and our Dionisio is a superb choice. On the other hand, if you rarely electrify (onboard pickups are available for all of our guitars, either as standard equipment or as an optional upgrade) and want a bit more bass response we suggest Tofino or the Tom Rush Signature. If you really want bass you may want to take a serious look at the one and only Naked Lady.

Here are the links to the guitars themselves:
The Ian Tyson Inspiration cut-a-way
Dionisio