The Balcarres Walnut and the Oreval 12 Fret!
In 2021 we were very fortunate to source two boards of beautiful Scottish Walnut (Juglans regia). It’s exceedingly rare to find any walnut trees in Scotland, let alone ones big enough to be used for guitar making! What makes these boards extra special though is that the tree was felled only a few minutes down the road from our workshop here in Fife, on the stunning neighbouring Balcarres estate.
Naturally, we knew this precious timber had to be used for some truly special builds, and our first build slot with Dream Guitars felt like the perfect excuse to break into these boards! This has been really exciting build for us as we were given carte blanche, which allowed us to really push the development of this guitar.
Our starting point for the Oreval 12 fret was the sound of the instrument. We wanted to make a guitar for a dynamic player, capable of soft playing with a nice warmth and balance of overtones. We also wanted it to have an enveloping almost intimate sound but be capable of delivering plenty of power when needed. With that as our starting point, the rest of the guitar began to flesh itself out. With power in mind, African Blackwood seemed an obvious starting point for us. In combination with the right woods and a few new developments we had in mind for the construction, we were confident that it would deliver the tonal palette that we were looking for. For the soundboard we used some beautiful Italian spruce which works perfectly alongside the African Blackwood.
The Balcarres Walnut’s density is perfect for the neck, and provides a little extra warmth to the sound as well as looking stunning too! We had a good idea of the sound we were after, and the woods we needed to use, so next we had to think about which of our models would tie it all together. Our largest model, the Oreval, felt like the closest fit for this guitar. We went back to the drawing board to redesign the Oreval with our initial brief in mind. This one is a 12-fret multi-scale to allow us to get the most out of the top. We played with the shape a little as well and love the result!
We also had the pleasure of being shown around the Balcarres grounds by Lord Anthony Crawford, 30th Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, to be shown the exact spot our Walnut grew! It's a real privilege to be able to work with timber as local as this, where we can trace its entire journey from tree to guitar.
Our new Oreval 12-fret is winging its way to Dream Guitars, keep an eye on our socials to see it in action! In the mean time, you can check out our preview video of it here!
