Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

So here is my 9th guitar. It was built for a very good friend of mine as a gift for his father.
Specs:
Tasmanian blackwood (acacia) back & sides
Lutz Spruce top
Honduran Mahogany one piece neck
Brazilian Rosewood – fretboard, headstock veneer, bindings, tail wedge, heal cap, bridge and bridge pins
w/b/w purfling lines through out.
Semi-Hemispherical fret end treatment
Zipflex blue paua purflings on the top and the back strip
Blue paua shell inlay at headstock and fretboard (owners signature)
Gotoh 510 cosmo black tuners
Finish is nitro

Thanks for looking

Mmmmm.....yummy.
Lovely refined details there Rod.
Great take on the rosette too, mixing sections with circles.

Can I ask what you pore filled the Blackwood with?

Gee Rod that is an outstanding guitar. Beautiful inlay, wood choice and matching. Your work is first class. Thank you for posting some great pictures of this gorgeous instrument.

Cheers

Alan

Thanks fellas.

Craig, I use medium CA for pore filling.

I'm really happy with this one. Does it get any easier to give these things to their owners?

Very nice Mr True, I love Blackwood at the best of times but you've done a beautiful job with this set! The whole guitar has that understated refinement & quality about it. I'm not usually a fan of Paua/abalone (being a Kiwi we think of them as ash trays here!) but it just seems to sit right on this beauty.
I may just have to re-introduce the Borat scale for this one!


Four big ones.

It looks great Rod. Beautiful choice of woods and design elements. You've taken your building to a new level. Congrats.

Lianna's photography skills are a wonderful complement to your building skills.

Nice one Rod...............one day mine are gunna look that good !!!!
The fret work is outstanding,as is the inlay.........SWEEEEEEEETTT

Thanks folks,

Nick, thanks for the 4 big one's

You know, Tim S's blackwood is great stuff. I have anonther one I'm building now with it and I think it has more curl than this one does.

I really love this picture. The red you see on the right side of the center strip is in the wood Amazingly beautiful this tassie blackwood. Time to buy some more I think.

Very beautiful Rod, thanks for posting this. Another stunning addition to the gallery.

Cheers

Well deserved praise Rod.

So let me get this right.
You use CA to pore fill in the same way others (myself included) use epoxy? (sanding back to wood?)
Did you do this on the mahogany neck as well?

Beautiful work Rod. Its a shame we can't get BRW easily here. It looks great in all the trim.

But we can pick up the odd board of Tas BW. Craig scored a couple of lovely curly boards last year and we spent a few hours resawing into quite a few sets and Craig left me one for my trouble. Thanks again Craig. It'll get used soon. And the Kiwis get paua shell ash trays (and sheep) so all is not lost up this side of the world.

When you say 'true SJ' do mean not the plans on SM? I have a copy of those and the lower bout seems rounder where yours is a little flattened at the base. I like that better.
Cheers
Dom

Lovely work Rod. You're building is certainly reaching an incredibly high standard.

And you certainly seem to have a love affair with Tasmanian Blackwood.

You'll have to make a trip down this way so we can send you cavorting through the temperate rain forest with the Blackwood nymphs.

Sensational, Rod. Love the macro photos . It shows such a high level of detail in your builds.

I've done a few builds using CA to grainfill Blackwood and other timbers also. It works really, really well, but keep your eye protection and respirator close at hand.

Thanks again folks,

Clancy wrote:Well deserved praise Rod.

So let me get this right.
You use CA to pore fill in the same way others (myself included) use epoxy? (sanding back to wood?)
Did you do this on the mahogany neck as well?

Yup, I use wax paper to spread the CA around and mash it into the pores, then sand back to wood. Any wood which has visible pores I do this.

Dominic wrote:When you say 'true SJ' do mean not the plans on SM? I have a copy of those and the lower bout seems rounder where yours is a little flattened at the base. I like that better.
Cheers
Dom

Hey Dom,

Well, True is my last name and this is the same shape as Jim Olson's SJ's so..... it's a True SJ I've not seen the plans from SM.

Bob Connor wrote:Lovely work Rod. You're building is certainly reaching an incredibly high standard.

And you certainly seem to have a love affair with Tasmanian Blackwood.

You'll have to make a trip down this way so we can send you cavorting through the temperate rain forest with the Blackwood nymphs.

HAHAHA! That would be stupendis! Actually, my wife and I are in the initial stages of planning to take our kids around the world from July 2015-July 2016. There would definatly be some time spent Down Unda

And yes, I do think I'm having a bit of a love affair with Tasmanian Blackwood. It's got amazing character, but in it's apperance and tonal qualities.

Stu wrote:Sensational, Rod. Love the macro photos . It shows such a high level of detail in your builds.

I've done a few builds using CA to grainfill Blackwood and other timbers also. It works really, really well, but keep your eye protection and respirator close at hand.

Thanks Stu. Ya, when I pore fill with CA I use a full face respirator, with my spraybooth exhaust fan on, and when I'm done the pore fill I leave the shop cause those fumes linger for too long.

Once again great craftsmanship Rod and the photography makes me think I need to get a pro in to do mine, truly gallery worthy pics.

Jim

Hey Rod,

Beautiful work mate, tassie blackwood really is a top shelf tonewood and there is no doubt about that. It has it all both visually and tonally and it looks like you have milked all you can out of it with some great build skills. The quartpherical ( ) fret ends are pure class and to tie it all together with BRW appointments is the icing on the cake....great snaps by Mrs True help to show things off but your work has passed inspection via macro very well.

Onya mate

Kim

Dominic wrote:When you say 'true SJ' do mean not the plans on SM? I have a copy of those and the lower bout seems rounder where yours is a little flattened at the base. I like that better.
Cheers
Dom

Rod wrote:Hey Dom,

Well, True is my last name and this is the same shape as Jim Olson's SJ's so..... it's a True SJ I've not seen the plans from SM.

Ok, now I get it. The SM plans have an almost perfectly round lower bout which just look a bit odd to me. But again, very nice guitar.
Dom

Thank you guys.

Man do I miss that guitar Does it ever get easier giving them up?

It funny how we as the builder see things differently. I see all the glaring mistakes that I wish I could fix, but I know I'm one of the few who see them....

Dont ya just hate those builders who post up super close up shots of their guitars......and ya can't find a single damn fault in the instrument!!!

Rod youre banned!!

Yep, he's a show off. Impressive.

I hope it plays as good as it looks and Im sure it does.

Looks amazing.

The small thing that really stood out to me was the fret ends, they look soo coool its all in the small things hey.

Good job

keep it up

Aidan, check out the tutorial section. Rod did a write up on how he does it.