The Blackwing Guitar

We partnered with luthier and Blackwing Maker Butch Boswell of Boswell Guitars on a custom guitar build. The guitar features a Tunnel 13 redwood top, brass accents, and a special rosette that includes actual Blackwing pencils. Learn more about the guitar build and the craftsmanship behind it in the video below.

The Blackwing Guitar features a custom machined rosette inlaid with 16 actual Blackwing Volumes pencils. The rosette utilizes a cradle for each of the sixteen Blackwing Volumes pencils cut and fitted into a precise spiral. The finished product is made from brass, epoxy, ebony, and of course, Blackwing pencils. The rosette showcases the best of hand-machined craftsmanship and technology that makes Boswell Guitars so special. Here are some behind-the-scenes process photos of how the rosette was created.

The soundboard for the Blackwing Guitar features Tunnel 13 Redwood which in itself carries a very unique history. This particular wood comes from salvaged beams that were used to build tunnels for the Southern Pacific Railroad which stretched from Oregon to California. This Tunnel 13 Redwood comes directly from the tunnel where the “Last Great American Train Robbery” occurred in the United States in 1923.

Read our Makers Series profile on Butch Boswell of “Boswell Guitars”