Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

I finished this one recently, thought some might like to see!!
17" archtop/ 65mm sides.
Back, and sides laminated curly maple.
Top,carved Kauri.
Neck, U.S. cherry and maple.
Fretboard, Ebony bound in ebony/evo gold fretwire.
Scale,25"
Headstock veneer, Myrtle burl.
Body binding,Figured blackwood with RWR purfling.
Bigsby B70 tailpiece, Schaller roller bridge, TV Jones classic pups. Grove rotomatic tuners.
Cheers,

Rod.

Don't know how you could get any better than that.

What do you think of the TV Jones PUPs?

Love the TVs for this style guitar Nick, heaps of grunt and plenty of contrast between the neck and bridge, they compliment the acoustics of the hollow body and together with the round wound strings produce the classic sound many rock and roll /rockabilly muso's are looking for.
Cheers,,

Rod.

That's very cool. Did you make up and laminate the back? If so I'm interested in how you did it.
Does it have a centre block holding the pickups and bridge/bigsby?
Dom

Dom, the back is from Stumac, no solid block in this, the top is thicker than with an acoustic and it has heavier parallel bracing to take the extra hardware.
Rod.

Just outstanding.....what else can I say? Back to the shed I think.

HOT, HOT, HOT

Just another great looking guitar Rod. The red pickguard makes it attractive from a distance, and the Kauri top invites to have a really close look at the beauty.

I want one

That guitar looks ready to rock!

Beautiful workmanship.

Cheers

Alan

Looks excellent Rod.

Wow what a beauty Rod!!! superb detail and craftsmanship
Is the top Queensland Kauri?
If it's anything like our NZ Kauri it will sound awesome!!!

Congrats,

Christian.

Thanks yoall!!, Christian, it's Qld Kauri, picked it up at my preferred timber yard in Vermont, a one off, i was in the right place at the right time, it was a quartered billet of 300 x 60mm not a bad score but it does display a bit of run out! can't win'm all can ya.
As far as the NZ Kauri goes, i do have a sizeable chunk of the very ancient variety here, i intend to use that on a very special acoustic archtop bit bit further down the track, the annulars on that are so close together you just can't count them, looking forward to carving it cos i found the Qld stuff very nice to carve and expect the NZ cousin to be even nicer, if that is possible.
Cheers,,

Rod.

Rod,
I don't think I can add to others comments. . .simply outstanding

Wow great find indeed Rod.
I havn't carved Ancient kauri, but it should be fine. It tends to a bit on the brittle side, (you would be too if you had been underground for 45,000+ years) hahaha.
look forward to that build!!!!

Cheers,

Christian.

rocket wrote:Thanks yoall!!, Christian, it's Qld Kauri, picked it up at my preferred timber yard in Vermont, a one off, i was in the right place at the right time, it was a quartered billet of 300 x 60mm not a bad score but it does display a bit of run out! can't win'm all can ya.
As far as the NZ Kauri goes, i do have a sizeable chunk of the very ancient variety here, i intend to use that on a very special acoustic archtop bit bit further down the track, the annulars on that are so close together you just can't count them, looking forward to carving it cos i found the Qld stuff very nice to carve and expect the NZ cousin to be even nicer, if that is possible.
Cheers,,

Rod.

Fantastic Rod, nothing that I could add that hasn't been said already

Except that I feel there is a reason behind the lack of Pots , Only One ? Obviously Volume, can you fill us in with your idea's here moving the pot to the upper bout ? and a lack of them ?

Not many pots,,, No there isn't, one 3 way switch and one vol. the switch on these type of instruments usually goes there where i have it and i thought i'd put the only pot opposite to balance it up a bit.
As far as the logistics and the playability is concerned i figure it is just as close if not closer to the players right hand as if it had been put in the lower bout position. One of the reasons i have only one vol and no tone on this i was trying to give the instrument a more plain and uncomplicated appearance, and given that the pups deliver alot of contrast on their own and feedback from many muso's playing in rockabilly bands many have said "i just turn everything up full on the guitar and don't touch it again, and use the amp for any adjustments" so that's the story behind the lack of pots on this instrument.
Thanks for looking

Rod.

How'd I miss this one? Nice job Rod but then coming out of your shop, what else could we expect?!
I like the pickguard, it sits well with the other timber combo's.