Nancy - a small bodied guitar with 16 frets clear of the body.




"Nancy" and "William" were conceived as a matching pair of small bodied guitar and guitar-bouzouki and their naming comes from the frequency of appearances in traditional English songs. I have always loved small bodied guitars - the first "proper" guitar I bought was a Lowden S25. Small guitars are comfortable to play, I love their look and feel and they have a tone and projection that belies their size. "Nancy" and "William's" design was dictated by some wonderful pieces of Old Rio Rosewood I came across in my local hardware store which became - my first two creations! "Nancy" has great tone and volume and also works well as a blues/slide guitar. The 16 frets clear of the body gives great upper neck access and in my opinion works better than a cutaway.


Here are some recordings I made on my daughter Rebecca's European Spruce/Brazilian Rosewood "Nancy". First Martin Simpson's arrangement of "Palms of Victory" is standard tunings and then "Seasick D" in DADGAD - a tune taught to me by Ed Boyd.