CUTAWAY OPTIONS - 'SCOOP' & VENETIAN

I am now happy to offer two standard styles of cutaway; my new 'Scoop' and the traditional rounded 'Venetian' style.

Both styles are available on all models, although I would recommend using the scoop on smaller guitars (000, OM, and 00) due to it's lower tonal impact on their already small bodies.

Left; 'Scoop' cutaway on a 'New Standard' Jumbo in sitka spruce and Amazon rosewood with bloodwood edgings and scoop.

Right; 'Venetian' cutaway on a 'Standard' JOM in adirondack spruce and palo escrito rosewood.

My new 'Scoop' design was conceived a couple of years ago and finally put into practice in late 2006 in a prototype guitar now in use by Thomas Leeb. The concept was to produce a practical cutaway which had minimal effect on the way a guitar resonates. I always felt that normal cutaways removed far more from the body than necessary because most people stretch out at an angle to reach the highest notes, with their thumb still resting against the heel. My final design was certainly influenced by the various arm bevels being produced by makers such as Ryan and Laskin and also the beauty of curves intersecting one another in my friend Alexander Batov's fluted back vihuelas but I sought to produce the greatest simplicity and elegance of "form following function" that I could. The development of the scoop cutaway went hand-in-hand with my 'New Standard' decoration scheme which echoes the ultimate simplicity I hope I have created with this feature.

My alternative traditional 'Venetian' style (rounded not pointy) cutaway gives a less radical look and may also be the only choice for players very used to this style who might find the angled scoop necessitates a modification to their hand position that they don't wish to make. I can also produce 'Florentine' (pointy) cutaways or other custom styles, ask for a quote.

NOTE TO LUTHIERS AND COMPANIES CONSIDERING USING THE 'BENJAMIN SCOOP' CUTAWAY DESIGN
I realise there is no way I can fully protect my design at present so I accept that for the immediate future other individual luthiers may use the design as long as they please attribute it to me and call it the 'Benjamin Scoop'. For companies larger than one person please have the courtesy to use me as a consultant when introducing this design or contact me for a licensing arrangment if you would like to be sole user of this design. This information may change if I do decide to patent the design.