Vo Fletcher Guitar Review

''The first thing that attracted me to Malcolm's guitars was the look.  There's something immensely attractive about parlour-sized guitars-something that makes you want to carry them around with you everywhere you go.   However, a small body needn't mean a small  sound and these guitars have volume, depth and richness beyond any thing I've heard in a parlour before.  The neck feels great and the workmanship is faultless. What more could you ask?'' 

Guitar Buyer Magazine Review  (Issue 34 June 2004)

Progress is a double-edged sword in that often much is gained, but also something is lost.  The developement of the steel-string acoustic is a good example, in fact.  The earliest steel-strings were very similar to classical guitars, then over the years the form evolved, body sizes grew, giving more punch and power, bracing got thicker to better withstand heavier string gauges and the neck joint is now at the 14th fret, giving improved top-of the neck access, not to mention slimmer necks for easier playing in general.

Many independent luthiers now cater for these players, offering smaller-sized guitars with the emphasis on sensitivity rather than power. Malcolm Weaver is just such a maker and he has a few  interesting ideas and variations on the theme with his Olivewood range of handmade instruments.

But together, all these changes make for a very different instrument and some players feel that it hasn't been for the better - especially for more delicate playing styles, where maximum volume for chordal strumming isn't necessarily the goal.

Body & Neck

The first thing you'll notice is that the Olivewood looks quite like a classical guitar, or more accurately, an early Martin steel-string.  In fact, this guitar shares many of their constructional features, too, some more obvious than others.  The 12th-fret neck joint and slotted head are only the outward signs, while the whole neck-to-body join is constructed in a very different way to most modern guitars.  Instead of the two separate pieces dovetailed together, there's an extended internal heel which is directly coupled to the back and sides, maximising tone transfer. 

At the other end, the slotted headstock is a separate piece, impeccably fitted with a traditional volute joint and keeping the grain of the two pieces parallel to the tension of the strings, for maximum resonance - and strength and in-between, there's no adjustable truss rod but instead, a fixed steel bar, like earlier Martins.  This might seem to be a backward step, in the sense that the neck can't be set-up differently, but in fact Malcolm points out that really these guitars are designed from the outset with only one gauge of strings (12-52) in mind, because they just sound best like that! So no need to adjust it - and the more rigid construction is said to be another tonal advantage.  Further evidence of classical inspiration is in the body bracing - ther's a conventional steel-string 'X' brace, but the lower bout has only light radial bracing.  This is beautifully finished, by the way, with as much care taken on the inside as the outside.  This particular guitar has a rather unusual choice of timber for the back and sides, too - 'vanautu blackwood', a relative of cedar.  In fact, Malcolm uses a wide variety of different woods, chosen for their various tonal 'flavourings'.  Harder woods produce a punchier, more focused sound, softer types a looser and more resonant one.  Combine that with a choice of tops and even fingerboard and bridge materials and you have huge range of fine-tuning to the tone.  Not only that, but many of them are very pretty, too - the subtle flame in the blackwood here is perfectly set off by the multiple wood bindings and thin, high-gloss nitrocellulose lacquer. And if you're wondering just where the company name originally came from, the guitar's simple but classy soundhole ring is made from Spanish Olivewood, a feature of all Olivewood acoustic guitars.    

Sounds

In case you hadn't guessed, this is primarily a fingerpicker's guitar, with the focus on expression and the nuances of technique.  But what is a real surprise is the sheer resonance and depth of tone  from such a small body - it's far louder than you'd expect, too.  There's something about  the physics of a 12th fret neck joint - exactly 'halfway on an open string - that does this to a guitar.  There's a clear, ringing purity to picked notes and an almost baroque, harpsichord-like chime on chords which is ideally suited to more classical-derived fingers-only styles.  An aid in this is the fairly wide fingerboard - somewhere between a standard steel-string and  a classical guitar - and medium action height, which encourages a more 'proper' technique!  Like the shorter neck, this almost certainly helps with the tone too, and although it does make some things a little  tougher to get your fingers around, the trade-off is well worth it in this reviewer's opinion.  With a pick, there's a snappier, almost twangy edge to the attack and a kind of hollowness - strangely, very slightly reminiscent of an old Dobro, though without the metallic edge.  The 12th-fret join may have something to do with this as well and it works nicely for folk-blues picking.  Amplified, the McIntyre pickup is a revelation (if you're used to other piezo pickups).  There's none of that 'tizz' and slightly rubbery bottom-end which even some soundboard transducers suffer from, just a beautifully natural reproduction of what the guitar sounds like.  Be careful though - it's so good at capturing the low-end resonance that you may need a good feedback controller at higher volumes. 

GB Conclusion

This is as fine an example of the independent luthier's craft as we've seen and although it's far from suited to every playing style, for anyone after a responsive fingerstyle instrument, it's absolutely superb.  Malcolm Weaver has put a great deal of thought into the way the various parts of his guitars work together - not just the choice of timbers, but the details of the construction, too - and a great deal of care into the build and finishing and by selling directly to customers, he's been able to keep the price at what we think is extremely reasonable for this sort of quality. So if you're in the market for this sort  of very personal instrument, then the Olivewood brand comes very highly recommended.