A raw untreated English Boxwood tailpiece, modeled after Jean-Baptist's Vuillaume’s “Lady Blunt" design.
While boxwood has been used for centuries in the construction of stringed instrument fittings, as well as for measuring devices such as rulers due to the stability and hardness of the wood, the wood requires chemical dyeing and fuming to achieve the darker qualities that we all know and love. At Hellweg & Cloutier, we prefer to leave boxwood in its raw form for our custom orders as local luthiers will often need to shave down the shaft of peg sets to fit a particular instrument, thus lightening the wood and requiring re-treatment. For a more natural approach to a dark brown set, we recommend considering Mountain Mahogany fittings as the wood offers a beautiful and rich appearance without the need for any additional chemical adjustment.