Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Hi all,

Feeling slightly awkward to post these pics among the amazing builds I see on this forum. Please be gentle, it's my very first try, and as you can see much went wrong. I'm pretty happy though, considering I only used a Dremel for the rosette and binding channels, and hand tools for the rest. It sounds nice; loud, warm, and with good sustain (it's just for personal enjoyment that I build). Since these pics I fine-tuned the nut and saddle, and replaced the strings with proper classical ones.

Specs:
Sitka spruce top
IRW back, sides, headplate and bridge
Ebony fingerboard
Spanish cedar neck
Curly maple bindings
unknown timber for the rosette (a mate of mine brought it in for firewood once, very hard, he reckoned bloodwood but I'm not sure)
Pumice/shellac pore filling
Blonde shellac, french polish finish
Bone nut/saddle
Schaller tuners

Looks fine from the photos Kim, nice effort. Wayne

Looks bloody good to me.....french polish job looks a cracker.

Looks great Kim. Welcome to the forum.

Regards

Nothing to be timid about with that effort Kim the guitar has some really nice refinements going on ticking the boxes in the looks department and your happy with the sound then that's an outstanding success for a first effort. Well Done.

Cheers

Kim

Very traditional with a modern twist to some elements. And a tidy well executed build. Nothing to be shy about posting here. Thanks for showing us.

Hi, for a first build I think that guitar looks great, in fact it's far better than my first build, I have not shown it on this forum even.
Well done.

Well, thanks for those kind comments. I suppose the pics didn't show the major mistakes all that well: a few flat spots in one side, some pores didn't fill completely, one string slot is out of whack a bit, I merged the neck into the fingerboard a bit too far, some cosmetic problems with the rosette, the bindings are not of consistent width due to problems with staircase routing, and so on. All problems of the beginner with minimum machine use I suppose.

I've ordered my next batch of timber and will try to buy some nice stuff when I'm in Tasmania next month. Building and playing them is magic; looking forward to the next build and picking up ideas and techniques from this forum even more than I've done already. Cheers!

Kim.

Congratulations Kim on a very fine looking first build. Very nice wood selection and I do like the headstock. Very grand! Great first go at French polish too!

Thanks for sharing with us all.

Cheers

Alan