Originally Posted by: aschleman There are other different body shapes that may dictate the tone of the guiar as well...

Yes, cut aways may make the "nose bleed registers" more accessible, though they sacrifice a certain amount of volume and tone. More advanced players who dont usually play with cut away guitars, say Don Ross for instance, arent really bothered by the absnece of the cut away. I havent seen many solid bodies w/ out cut aways; This is becuase guitarists usually degrade the guitar's original timbre with copius amounts of distortion and effects. You can also tell the quality of an electric axe by listening to it's tone when it is not plugged in.