Butternut twins

[Andy Bounsall]

For those who missed the beginning of the these builds, or may have forgotten, the goal for these guitars was to create a pair of very lightweight and responsive guitars. Intended primarily for finger style playing, they use what’s referred to as ‘live’ backs, a design paradigm where the guitar is built lightly so that the back vibrates in sympathy with the top.

Those goals factored in to everything from the design through material selection (butternut being one of the lightest weight hardwoods available) and construction. I believe I’ve achieved those goals. The finished guitars weigh in at 1.55 kg (single hole) and 1.64 kg (multi hole). For comparison, a mahogany 00 that I built earlier this year, which several people commented on as being very light, weighs 1.74 kg. A Martin 000-18 apparently weighs about 1.98 kg. The Engelmann spruce tops provide just the right attack and responsiveness for finger style use but with sufficient headroom to also easily accommodate light strumming. And yes, when you play sitting down, you actually can feel the guitar vibrate in response to your input.

The guitars themselves are 12 fretters with a body size and shape similar to a Martin OM. This combination pushes the bridge farther down towards the widest part of the lower bout (the sweet spot) and helps promote responsiveness and projection. Both guitars sport a cutaway providing improved access to the upper frets, and both feature a side sound port on the upper bout to help direct sound towards the player.

The twins were purposely built to be similar. Wood for the backs, sides, and necks was resawed from the same boards. Spruce tops were provided by the same supplier. The obvious difference is the number and placement of sound holes. Less obvious is the bracing used on the tops. The single sound hole model uses a more traditional X bracing layout while the multi sound hole guitar makes use of an offset, asymmetrical X bracing layout.

A short video of the butternut twins in action can be found at https://youtu.be/f5iV-QYbjfM. Please excuse my mediocre, at best, playing. The idea is to focus on listening to how the two guitars sound. Similar but with some obvious, and subtle, differences.

As always, questions and comments are welcomed. Enjoy!

[Brent Tobin]

I have to say, my favorite is the multi-hole. There's a very noticeable difference in sound. Very nice.

Brent

[Clay Schaeffer]

Nice looking guitars. Hard to say which would be my favorite - they both sound really good! Butternut is usually a little softer than walnut. How did you like working with it?

[Bob Francis]

Beautiful!

[Andy Bounsall]

Thank you all for the kind words. Happily (or sadly), the multi hole twin has found a new home. The other will stay with me for a while longer. If you’d like to hear an example of how it sounds in the hands of someone who can actually play, I posted this video of my friend Don Bray making it sound great - https://youtu.be/ZrDQesSglrU.

...Butternut is usually a little softer than walnut. How did you like working with it?

Yes, it’s quite soft so you have to handle it carefully. Kind of like working with a cedar top...only in this case it’s the whole guitar. Bending it was a bit problematic. As I was warned going into the project, it has a tendency to crease on the inside of the curve. I found I had to thin the sides quite a bit - about .065”, and it likes lots of steam. The cutaway bends, which I did by hand on a hot pipe, were tricky.

[John Scime]

Hi Andy. I love the look of the butternut. Its beautiful. I live not far from Ottawa and have some butternut trees on my property. This gives me ideas! Thx for sharing.

John

[Andy Bounsall]

Hi Andy. I love the look of the butternut. Its beautiful. I live not far from Ottawa and have some butternut trees on my property. This gives me ideas! Thx for sharing.

John

Thank you, John.