Boucher PS-SG-161 Hybrid OM Acoustic
Great guitars are built by great builders. While there are parts of guitar construction that can be automated through mechanical means that can deliver consistency and quality, it is only made better when the hands and tools of a craftsperson are engaged. Regular channel subscribers will know that I have a strong affection and respect for the products from Boucher Guitars that are hand-built in Berthier Sur Mer in the Canadian province of Quebec. This particular instrument, made available for review by the fine people at The Arts Music Store in Newmarket Ontario is a superb example of the craft of the luthier.
Specifications
Before I dive into my impressions on this guitar, I wanted to get the specs out of the way because they are important to many folks. I have pulled the specifications directly from Boucher to avoid typographic errors on my part or leaving out something of importance to you.
As we see, there are no corners cut in the materials or components used. What may not be clear from the specifications is the wood used in the sides and back as it is specified in the model. The wood used for both is highly figured curly maple that has been selected for its tonal response. The top is correctly named as Red Spruce, colloquially known as Algonquin Spruce. It is my favourite top wood having a wider wale (the grain spacing) than other spruces and that allows it more movement. We want our guitar tops to move. All the wood used is solid wood. No laminates or veneers are involved.
How Does It Play?
For me, and perhaps for you, fit and tone are the most important. Aesthetics definitely count to me, but only after fit and tone. I am 6 feet tall and a bigger fellow and I love the size of the OM body style. For me, tone comes before body size. For example, I have a Gibson Custom Shop 1932 L-00 that is quite tiny, but its size has no credible impact on its overall sound. This Boucher is like that. It is not as loud as a jumbo, but certainly more than loud enough, and should reinforcement be required you could put a microphone in front or have your guitar technician install a pickup. I favour the K&K Pure Mini with the accessory in body condenser microphone and external preamp myself.
The neck is a C shape and very comfortable in my hands. My fingers are not so long and I can easily move anywhere on the fretboard because the fit is so good. The satin finish on the back of the mahogany neck is very smooth and does not get sticky. The ebony fingerboard is beautiful and the fretwork, as has been on every Boucher I have ever played, including the four that I own, is perfect.
There are those who makes bold statements about the suitability of a certain wood, or wood combination depending on body size. I don’t buy into this, preferring to hear the guitar instead of having some label attached without any actual experience. I say this, because we most commonly find maple back and sides on jumbo guitars on the presumption that the brightness of the maple helps compensate for the extra bass generated in the large body cavity. Each player must decide for himself or herself. I own a couple of jumbos, one with maple sides and back and one with rosewood sides and back, and while they sound different, I cannot say that one is “better”. The same hold true for the OM size. In this instance, the sound from the PS-SG-161 is marvellous and there is no loss in the lower frequencies as the “predictors” would say would happen with maple sides and back on a smaller bodied guitar.
I have arthritis in my hands and in the last year have focused on having a lighter touch with both my fretting and playing hand. Doing so allows me to play longer without pain. Generally that has been accompanied by my learning to adhere to the thoughts of the great B.B. King who asked “why would you want to work so hard?” and moving to lighter gauge strings. In general, I go no heavier that 11s with 10-47s being my acoustic preference. This guitar came from the factory strung with my favourite generally available acoustic strings, D’Addario XS Phosphor Bronze. These are coated strings, that give up nothing in the way of tone and I recommend them highly. The default install is 12-53 gauge and yet I could play for some time with no pain, and fretting an F Major in the first position was no more difficult in fretting the same chord at the eighth fret. This is testament to the quality of the factory set up as well as the overall attention to quality. I have had the pleasure to play many superb acoustic guitars and none have been easier to play out of the box than a Boucher.
A challenge for some acoustic guitars appears when a capo is used. There are many different capos in the market. I favour the G7 line myself as I find them easy to use and I can control the level of pressure applied easily. My friend Mark Collins advocates the Shubb line, and for the same reason. The selection of a proper capo is important, but more important is that the guitar can handle a capo. I used a capo at the eight fret on the PS-SG-161 and gave up nothing in terms of tonality or voicing. This is highly uncommon as my personal experience has found that most higher end acoustic guitars tend to off if you capo up past the fifth fret.
The Boucher guitar cases are incredibly robust. They are hard cases well lined and properly fitted for the guitar. The outer finish is a nice blonde tweed.
My Boucher OM is a Private Stock as is this guitar. Mine is red spruce over Claro Walnut. Claro Walnut is generally harder than Curly Maple and while the tops of both guitars are AAAA Adirondack Spruce, they have a different sound. One is not better than the other, but sufficiently different that if money were not a reality of concern, I would purchase this guitar. It is a bit brighter than the Claro Walnut but not in any way that is annoying. Rosewoods from Africa and Madagascar are nearly twice as stiff as curly maple so they reflect sound more readily but it takes more work if you want to get the back moving. The sides shouldn’t be moving in any case.
I found that this guitar was very tolerant of different pick types. I do not find that this is true for all acoustics. When I play finger style, I am not yet accomplished enough with thumb and finger picks to provide a qualified opinion, so I just use my thumb and fingers. For flatpicking I find a harder rounded pick such as the Jim Dunlop 494P101 Americana Rounded Triangle works best for me. You should use whatever works best for you.
Example Sounds
As the guitar has no built in pickup, I did the recordings using an Aston Origin microphone going into a Mac Studio via a UA Apollo interface. I used an Avalon VT-737 channel strip on the recorded track. I also added two busses, the first using a Pultec EQP-1A Equalizer and the second using an EMT-140 Plate Reverb for some air. The first guitar track is with the strings all open and the second features a capo at the seventh fret. Capoing up on many acoustic guitars reveals oddities. The Boucher PS-SG-161 is such a fine instrument that use of a high placed capo has no deleterious effects.
For reader interest, I include screenshots of the tools and settings used during the recording of the examples.
Wrapping Up
If you are the kind of player who appreciates and can afford excellence in an acoustic guitar, I believe that you can never go wrong with a Boucher Guitar. The Private Stock lineup is more expensive than the regular Studio Goose and Bluegrass Goose lines and further, you cannot go wrong with either of those lines. The Private Stock and Grand Reserve lines are rarer and use higher grades of wood and different woods for the sides and back. This model is $7369 CAD and you can get one from The Arts Music Store. If you have never shopped with The Arts Music Store, in addition to their wonderful physical store staffed with excellent people, they also sell online and ship Canada wide. You should give them a try.
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