Brier Road Guitars OM Engelmann & Butternut – Mastergrade Engelmann Spruce – Includes Hardshell Case – Brand New
This is the second of two Brier Road Guitars OM models currently at Mill River Music, and it is as distinctive in its own way as the Blue Float listed separately. Nick Lenski builds out of North Adams, Massachusetts with the kind of individual attention to materials and craft that the best small-shop American lutherie has always been defined by — and the Engelmann and Butternut OM is a genuinely unusual and beautiful expression of that work.
The top is mastergrade Engelmann spruce — a tonewood from the Rocky Mountain West that sits between Sitka and cedar in character, with a warmth and sweetness in the upper midrange that Sitka typically doesn't deliver while retaining good projection and dynamic range. It is a choice that rewards fingerstyle and nuanced playing in particular, with a bloom and sensitivity that responds to even subtle variation in right-hand touch. Butternut back and sides are the real story here — a genuinely rare tonewood choice in American acoustic guitar building, related to black walnut but lighter, with a finer grain and a voice that is warm and fundamentally woody without the density that walnut can sometimes bring. The combination of Engelmann spruce and butternut produces a sound that is softer and more intimate than a spruce-rosewood guitar — round, warm, and expressive in a way that suits solo fingerpicking and quiet playing beautifully. Adirondack spruce bracing extracts maximum resonance and projection from the Engelmann top. The ebony fingerboard and bridge with bone nut and saddle, Gotoh 510 tuning machines at 21:1 ratio, spalted hemlock fingerboard inlays, butternut binding, and yellow and blue hard maple purfling give the guitar a visual character that is entirely its own — striking and cohesive, with the natural beauty of unusual tonewoods at the center of it all.
Sold as new with full manufacturer warranty. This example has some minor signs of play from being shown as a demonstration instrument — nothing structural, nothing significant. It plays with a really pleasant feel, and the voice is immediately distinctive — a very warm and sweet bass note that is beautifully balanced against clear and projecting mids and trebles. The kind of tonal balance that makes a guitar genuinely easy to play for long stretches.
- Make: Brier Road Guitars
- Builder: Nick Lenski
- Model: OM Engelmann and Butternut
- Country of origin: USA (North Adams, MA)
- Body shape: OM (Orchestra Model)
- Top: Mastergrade Engelmann spruce
- Back and sides: Butternut
- Bracing: Adirondack spruce
- Binding: Butternut
- Purfling: Yellow and blue hard maple
- Fingerboard: Ebony with spalted hemlock inlays
- Bridge: Ebony
- Nut: Bone, 1-11/16"
- Saddle: Bone
- Scale length: 24.5"
- Tuners: Gotoh 510
- Condition: Brand New — minor signs of play from demo use, full manufacturer warranty included
- Includes: Hardshell case
Ships carefully packed and insured for full value. International buyers are welcome — please contact us for a shipping quote before purchasing.
About Mill River Music
Mill River Music is an independent, human-powered music shop located in downtown Northampton, MA, run by a team of players, enthusiasts, and certified repair technicians. Every piece of used gear we sell is personally inspected, tested, and set up before it ships — we don't list it until we'd be happy to play it ourselves.
As Martin and Taylor certified techs, we hold our guitar work to a high standard, and we're committed to full transparency about the condition of everything we sell. No surprises.
When you buy from Mill River, you're supporting an independent local business that genuinely cares — about gear, about players, and about doing things right. We're here every step of the way. Reach out anytime.
