Bout

While the word “bout” is generally used to signify illness or a physical confrontation in which two otherwise self-respecting gentlemen pummel each other with large foam pads, in the generally nonviolent world of luthierie, “bout” refers to the measurement across top of the guitar at the upper and lower parts of the body where it bends outward the most. It’s easier to visualize the bout if you imagine a line drawn across the face (top) of the guitar along the bottom of the bridge (lower bout), and across the third or fourth fret above the soundhole (upper bout). In simpler terms, the upper bout could be considered the “shoulders” of the guitar while the lower bout is the “hips”. The origin of the word “bout” derives from an obsolete dialect of English; bought, a turning (influenced by about), and from Middle English, bowen, to bend or turn.