Post by davewhite on May 17, 2017 10:49:59 GMT
In between making my 100’th instrument with a De Faoite Stringed Instruments label and “re-making” my first two instruments I’ve managed to sneak in a “cheeky” five course guitar-bouzouki “Bealtine”. I’ve been a little ambivalent about five course versions preferring to play four course versions in GDAD but since discovering root-fifth tunings via Gavin Davenport (gavdav) I have warmed to them and now play a five course octave mandolin in FCFCF tuning a lot at my local Folk Club together with my mandolin playing mate Peter. This combination works well for playing tunes and songs but the vocal range is limited a little and after talking to Steve Tilston at the 2014 Llyn Acoustic Guitar Festival about his five course guitar-bouzouki that he used in DGDAD tuning there and always having a sweet spot for the deeper sound of the “Bealtine” guitar-cittern I made for Gavin I decided it was time to make one for me to use at the Folk Club.
In 2010, Australian instrument maker John Buckham stayed with us for a few days and when he got home kindly sent me a back and side set of Native Olive (Notelaea ligustrina) that he’d bought in Tasmania together with some curly Tasmanian Blackwood bindings and end-graft pieces:
Australian timber names in commercial use largely come from European settlers comparing them to non Australian woods they were familiar with – for example Silky Oak and Queensland Maple. Native Olive has a waxy finish similar to Olive wood from the Middle East and hence it’s name - it is also known as Dorrel in Australia. In terms of tonewoods I have it reminds me of a waxy version of Black Limba or Californian Bay Laurel (Myrtle). The set from John was suitable for a smaller guitar and as “Bealtine” is based around my Grand Concert sized guitar body with the upper bout shortened to give sixteen frets clear of the body this seemed ideal – even more so as the original I made for Gavin had a bit of a Pacific Ocean theme with the top being Lutz spruce from British Columbia, the back and sides plantation grown Cuban Mahogany from Micronesia and the binding curly Koa from Hawaii.
So for my Pacific Ocean “Bealtine” I decided on a Lutz Spruce top, Native Olive back, sides, rosette and headstock veneers, curly Koa bindings, Tasmanian Blackwood end-graft and Maple neck (which also grows in British Columbia). Fretboard and bridge are Macassar Ebony from Malaysia.
The Native Olive set had large amounts of sapwood in both the back and sides and the challenge was how best to make use of this visually. The sapwood stripe on the back set was too large visually so I narrowed it and made the lower bout wider by taking pieces of heartwood from the upper bout area edges and glueing them to the lower bout edges taking into account the grain run-out direction – this makes it a four piece back I then had to decide where to use the sapwood stripes in the sides – next to the top or back. Using them next to the back meant that I didn’t loose any heartwood when making the back taper and loosing it from the sapwood meant that the width of the sapwood strip around the guitar rim stayed reasonably constant in depth.
I choose maple for the neck as this was the best match visually for the Native Olive and I like the feel of maple necks and the extra sustain they bring. The neck is three Maple pieces with two black veneers to give a central stripe that joins visually with the back’s central sapwood stripe. Those of you that know me know that I believe I have a duty to use every scrap of scarce wood – take what you need and use what you take – and as well as the back and sides I managed to squeeze out the headstock veneers, a central rosette ring and the sapwood fretboard inlay markers from the Native Olive set leaving me only a few scraps left in a ziplock back stored for later use.
“Bealtine” has a 640mm scale length and other features are Gotoh tuners with ebony buttons, gold EVO frets, ebony bridge-pins, and ebony neck heel strap pin and a K&K Pure Mini pickup. Enough waffling, here are some pictures:
As for tuning – there are as many cittern tunings as players and with different combinations of string gauges there are loads you can use. I’m using DADAD tuning with string gauges 13,17, 27, 36, 53. This gives a total string tension of 208.2lbs. When “Tertzed” – capoed at the third fret – it gives the same scale length and tuning as my five course octave mandolin (FCFCF) but gives me the option of tunes/songs in lower keys of D and E. The tuning is all roots and fifths - R 5 R 5 R – which is modal and gives lots of scope for doubling and taking melodies across octaves.
You can think of DADAD tuning either as DADGAD without the G string or CGCGCD tuning without the D string and capoed at the second fret so if you play in those tunings with a little adjustment you soon become very familiar with it. I’m finding I can play a lot of the songs I accompanied using a guitar in DADGAD on “Bealtine” and also quite a few of the arrangements I use on my guitar-bouzouki in GDAD tuning with extra low notes added in. This makes it quite versatile for performing at the Folk Club and means I don’t have to take as many instruments.
Here’s an example of using “Bealtine” for tune playing and accompaniment in its lower key range D. It’s an arrangement Peter and I play of “Glory of the Sun” from “Playford’s Dancing Master” (based on Leveret’s version on their excellent "In the Round" CD) – it sounds better with Peter’s mandolin playing the lead giving a wider dynamic range and interest but I’m using it to illustrate “Bealtine’s” sound:
"Glory of the Sun"
If you’ve got this far thanks for reading and listening.
In 2010, Australian instrument maker John Buckham stayed with us for a few days and when he got home kindly sent me a back and side set of Native Olive (Notelaea ligustrina) that he’d bought in Tasmania together with some curly Tasmanian Blackwood bindings and end-graft pieces:
Australian timber names in commercial use largely come from European settlers comparing them to non Australian woods they were familiar with – for example Silky Oak and Queensland Maple. Native Olive has a waxy finish similar to Olive wood from the Middle East and hence it’s name - it is also known as Dorrel in Australia. In terms of tonewoods I have it reminds me of a waxy version of Black Limba or Californian Bay Laurel (Myrtle). The set from John was suitable for a smaller guitar and as “Bealtine” is based around my Grand Concert sized guitar body with the upper bout shortened to give sixteen frets clear of the body this seemed ideal – even more so as the original I made for Gavin had a bit of a Pacific Ocean theme with the top being Lutz spruce from British Columbia, the back and sides plantation grown Cuban Mahogany from Micronesia and the binding curly Koa from Hawaii.
So for my Pacific Ocean “Bealtine” I decided on a Lutz Spruce top, Native Olive back, sides, rosette and headstock veneers, curly Koa bindings, Tasmanian Blackwood end-graft and Maple neck (which also grows in British Columbia). Fretboard and bridge are Macassar Ebony from Malaysia.
The Native Olive set had large amounts of sapwood in both the back and sides and the challenge was how best to make use of this visually. The sapwood stripe on the back set was too large visually so I narrowed it and made the lower bout wider by taking pieces of heartwood from the upper bout area edges and glueing them to the lower bout edges taking into account the grain run-out direction – this makes it a four piece back I then had to decide where to use the sapwood stripes in the sides – next to the top or back. Using them next to the back meant that I didn’t loose any heartwood when making the back taper and loosing it from the sapwood meant that the width of the sapwood strip around the guitar rim stayed reasonably constant in depth.
I choose maple for the neck as this was the best match visually for the Native Olive and I like the feel of maple necks and the extra sustain they bring. The neck is three Maple pieces with two black veneers to give a central stripe that joins visually with the back’s central sapwood stripe. Those of you that know me know that I believe I have a duty to use every scrap of scarce wood – take what you need and use what you take – and as well as the back and sides I managed to squeeze out the headstock veneers, a central rosette ring and the sapwood fretboard inlay markers from the Native Olive set leaving me only a few scraps left in a ziplock back stored for later use.
“Bealtine” has a 640mm scale length and other features are Gotoh tuners with ebony buttons, gold EVO frets, ebony bridge-pins, and ebony neck heel strap pin and a K&K Pure Mini pickup. Enough waffling, here are some pictures:
As for tuning – there are as many cittern tunings as players and with different combinations of string gauges there are loads you can use. I’m using DADAD tuning with string gauges 13,17, 27, 36, 53. This gives a total string tension of 208.2lbs. When “Tertzed” – capoed at the third fret – it gives the same scale length and tuning as my five course octave mandolin (FCFCF) but gives me the option of tunes/songs in lower keys of D and E. The tuning is all roots and fifths - R 5 R 5 R – which is modal and gives lots of scope for doubling and taking melodies across octaves.
You can think of DADAD tuning either as DADGAD without the G string or CGCGCD tuning without the D string and capoed at the second fret so if you play in those tunings with a little adjustment you soon become very familiar with it. I’m finding I can play a lot of the songs I accompanied using a guitar in DADGAD on “Bealtine” and also quite a few of the arrangements I use on my guitar-bouzouki in GDAD tuning with extra low notes added in. This makes it quite versatile for performing at the Folk Club and means I don’t have to take as many instruments.
Here’s an example of using “Bealtine” for tune playing and accompaniment in its lower key range D. It’s an arrangement Peter and I play of “Glory of the Sun” from “Playford’s Dancing Master” (based on Leveret’s version on their excellent "In the Round" CD) – it sounds better with Peter’s mandolin playing the lead giving a wider dynamic range and interest but I’m using it to illustrate “Bealtine’s” sound:
"Glory of the Sun"
If you’ve got this far thanks for reading and listening.