June B is Jenny B’s big sister, a small guitar with nylon strings. Just like Jenny, the body shape is fashioned after pictures that I took of them back when we were growing up together.

It has a roasted spruce top and mahogany (sapele) back and sides. The fretboard and head plate are made from a single piece of rosewood and set together so that the grain is continuous. There is a five-ring rosette of maple and rosewood with a small piece of opaque amber inlaid below the sound hole. The bindings and tail graft are (lightly) flamed maple. The neck is alder and the heel is rosewood with a maple/rosewood cap.

The fretboard has a 20-inch radius and the action is relatively tight and low for a nylon string, which means you have to play clean and grip the fretboard accurately. But then the reward is a full, warm voice and plenty of volume across all the strings, despite the slightly reduced body size and scale length.

I decided to do a solid headstock on the June, in the style of a steel string, firstly because I wanted June and Jenny to match and secondly because I was afraid that the continuous grain from the fretboard into the headstock would not really show up on a slotted headstock.

The only “issues” I’ve found are that the neck is heavy so I’m considering taking it off and doing a “slim-down” job on it, the trebles above the 13th fret are muted and don’t ring at all which I may just accept because I practically never play up there anyway, and there is a very slight buzz on the open B2 string so I’ll have to check that. Remember: with string buzz, always check the tuner buttons first. I may also put a set of higher-tension strings on, that could help.

Details:

• Top: roasted European spruce
• Back and sides: mahogany (sapele)
• Neck: alder with rosewood/maple/rosewood heel
• Head plate, fretboard and bridge: rosewood (IRW),  fretboard with 16″/20″ compound radius
• Rosette: maple and rosewood rings