Rathbone R3SBCE No. 3 acoustic/electric guitar Bocote

The Rathbone R3CESB combines solid Englemann spruce with beautiful Bocote, resulting in a spectacular-looking guitar. Similar to the tonal character of a maple guitar, this guitar delivers a powerful tone with excellent projection, filling a room with ease, whether strumming or fingerpicking.

A perfect all-rounder, the No. 3 has the same scale length as the Orchestra Model, but its body dimensions are closer to those of a dreadnought. The larger body naturally delivers a stronger bass tone without sacrificing clarity—that's the strength of a Grand Auditorium. However, the larger body doesn't mean this guitar is any less easy to play; quite the opposite is true. Its narrow waist allows the guitar to rest comfortably on the knee or hang easily over the shoulders.

Solid Sitka Spruce top

Sitka spruce is one of the most traditional woods used for guitar tops. This is due to its stiffness and ideal strength-to-weight ratio. Thanks to these characteristics, Sitka spruce offers a very dynamic sensitivity and a rich tone with many harmonic overtones. This makes it exceptionally well-suited to both powerful strumming and delicate fingerpicking.

Bocote side and back

Bocote is considered an exotic wood and has both the tonal character and the appearance to deserve this name. It's a wood with high density and stability, good sustain, and excellent resonance. All this creates a warm and powerful tonal character. It's a beautiful wood for the back and sides of an acoustic guitar, and not just for its looks.

Bone saddles

Bone saddles and/or nut are much denser and therefore retain better tonal qualities. A bone saddle or nut produces a brighter sound with more resonance and a better attack. A bone saddle and/or nut truly brings a guitar to life.