The 000 butternut twins

[Andy Bounsall]

Those of you who know me or are familiar with my work know that I like to experiment with different designs, non-traditional sound hole placement, and less frequently used tone woods. I often get asked how movement of the sound hole and changing the bracing affects the sound of a guitar. My answer is usually a bit hand-wavy and theoretical. No more. With my current project, I’m hoping to come up with a more concrete answer of the similarities and differences by building a practical example.

The plan is to build two similar, but quite different guitars. I want them both to be extremely lightweight and responsive instruments. Both will be made from butternut re-sawed from the same boards. Both will have Engelmann spruce tops from the same supplier. Both will be 000/OM sized bodies. Both will have a cutaway. Both will have the neck/body joint at the 12th fret. Both will have necks and fretboards of the same materials. One will be built with a center sound hole and traditional X bracing. The other will have multiple sound holes and be braced using an offset asymmetrical X bracing pattern.

I’ll post photos and updates here periodically, starting with the pics below. More frequent progress updates will be posted on Facebook (www.facebook.com/bounsallgutarworks). It should be an interesting experiment. Stay tuned.

[Bryan Bear]

I’ll be following g along!

[Clay Schaeffer]

Looks like fun Andy,
I'll stay tuned!

[Alan Carruth]

Butternut tends to crush badly on the inside of a tight bend: I'm not sure you'll get away with that waist. One of my students made a butternut Flamenco, and we had to find a pattern with a very gentle waist.

The last time I made a 'matched pair' I did everything I could think of to see that they were 'the same' Everybody who heard them in a series of 'blind' listening tests could tell them apart. It's hard to say how much you might learn from this. It will be fun, though.