Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Hi
this started out as an attempt to make a guitar from all west australian woods but I failed instead it turned into something possessed
couldnt find a wood suitable for a top but I think now maybe sheoak may work,anyway it ended up as Australian woods
I must let you all know that this guitar has very nearly ended up as kindling or matchsticks that many times ,it just didnt want to be built,if anything could go wrong it did or if anything was going to fall it was either it or on it ,even today when I was setting it up it just kept breaking my heart until I wished it would just break.
They say that every mistake can be seen as learning curve or a new design feature well this has them covered I must admit that if nothing else I learnt a lot with this build
and nothing more important than patience.
anyway I digress
its a deep bodied 12 fret OM size with soundport and arm bevel
Wandoo Back and sides
jarrah bindings
Mulga headstock
Cooktown Ironwood fretboard
Gidgee bridge
it has a very dark tone and overtones like I have never encountered before that ring on forever ,not sure I like it but it sounds quite good for old bluesy stuff especially in D like Lonnie Johnson used to play.

Looks good, Dave!
Is there a bit of curly figure in the Wandoo?

GregL.

Hi Greg
just been trying to help sell your Mahogany .
The wandoo is very strange wood ,I would call it more wavy than curly ,the actual photos dont do it justice as I love it ,it has browns and pinks and greens and blacks and just lots of colour and Im a sucker for lighter coloured guitars which the wandoo is although I believe it darkens with age
its incredibly hard ,I think its usually used for fingerboards ,I couldnt use a plane on it ,I had to sand to thickness as it doesnt "shear" like normal woods it "chips " I use the analogy its like trying to plane glass !
I actually think a lot of the sound I get out of this guitar is because of the back and sides as the bunya was like "soggy cardboard" until it was braced ,I believe that if I had used some other back and side it would have sounded like a $2 plywood guitar , it sounds ........different .......and Im sure some people would like it,its definitely not dead as I imagined it may be when I first thicknessed the top as I stated before it rings on forever
I will definitely use it again
Dave

Nice guitar.

I like your arm bevel. I'm not a fan of the ones that look as if a big old chamfer bit was used, and the final curve back to the rim is left. working it in to a point is much classier.

Lovely guitar Dave, i really like the arm rest, although the instrument hasn't any really tight radii, how was the jarrah binding to bend?
Cheers

Rod.

Hi Rod
my first experience with jarrah bindings was horrendous,I ended up giving up as it would bend ok in the bender I use but when I tried to install they would break at the waist when I was trying to pull the last few mm in to the ledge ,went through abut 8 pieces before I gave up and used bloodwood.AS I wanted this guitar out of west aussie woods I thought I would give the Jarrah another go and came up with a few different plans and jigs to pull the waist in ,bent them and they just slipped into place as easy as you like ??? The only things I can think of was after they were bent I just left them clamped in the bender turned off and continued on with something else and by the time I pulled them out they had cooled right down as I do remember the last ones having a bit more spring back(Both were OM )or the other bindings may not have been quite on the quarter like these anyway I will use them again as jarrah is such a nice looking wood .
Hope this helps
Dave

rocket wrote:how was the jarrah binding to bend?

I love using Jarrah for bindings. I find that I get the best results bending the waist first (fully) and then the lower bout, then the upper bout. I leave them in the side bending jig for about 40 minutes with the lights on, then turn the lights off and let them cool down to room temp. They fit the body easily,

Martin