Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

This one goes back a while , A modified weisenborn in Beefwood .
Back and sides ; Beefwood . Grevillia striata
Soundboard ; Beefwood as well . Beautiful but probably only slightly more tonally active than your average sock .
Neck block ; Beefwood .
Bindings , rosette , headplate and inlays ; Hooked Needlewood ; Hakea tephrosperma and dyed swiss pear .
Bridge and fingerboard ;Ringed Boonaree ; Alectryon oleifolious
Bracing and bent linings all split quick grown Blackwood .

I haven't got around to installing a pick up as mostly I just annoy it on the couch and it's somewhat subdued sound is not really a problem , though lets just say it could benefit from some electronic assistance .

Pete

That's great looking timber Pete, love the bridge design. You've done a really nice job. Wayne

Wow, that's an absolute stunner and very neatly done!

curly wrote:Soundboard ; Beefwood as well . Beautiful but probably only slightly more tonally active than your average sock .

(Not meant to laugh at you ).
On the upside it won't be very prone to feedback when amplified.
Anyway, for once the aesthetics are worth the tonal downside, I would say. José Ramírez once said that for him nothing has been more frustrating than making a (in his opinion) significant change in building the soundbox and getting the very same tonal result as with the guitar before!

Lovely work Curly....Love the bridge carving...Would like to know how you achieved the shapes....pics would be good as a bit of a mini-tute, I am sure others would like to know too...

Cheers

John

WOW! That's nice. Where does one find beefwood? I want some....

FLASH!

Lovely looking Weiss Curly.

It'd be bloody heavy made from Beefwood wouldn't it?

Regards

Spectacular looking instrument there Curly.

If the guitar sounds a bit light on it is probably a weight issue.

Love the look and fine workmanship.

Cheers

Alan

Beefwood as a top wood definitely caused it's difficulties , becauce of it's high density it was not possible to bring it down enough to be in the right weight range without sacrificing too much strength/stiffness . As it is there is more movement around the bridge than I am comfortable with .
The finished instrument is not overly heavy , though this did envolve chasing all components down as fine as i felt comfortable with . It's not an avenue of building I'd likely go down again , too much' function following form ' , where it should be the other way around .
As for sculpting the bridge , most of the 'carving' work was actually abrading . There was a little chisel shaping but mostly the shapes were acheived using a mini die grinder with various burrs as well as a lot of file work , some of which was done with curved rifflers .
Much thanks for the kind words .
Pete

As a maori colloquialism goes, "Choice as, bro!"
Love the colour and overall look Pete, and that bridge not only looks the bees knees but fits in so well with the top. A true 'all Australian'.

I'll have it rare with fried onions please.
That looks beautiful
Think of the positives, its a great late night practise instrument, and with a pickup will be a fantastic stage guitar.

Regardless of anything else Curly that is one completely classy looking instrument. Just love the bridge and the fit and finish is excellent. Well Done!!

Cheers

Kim

Very pretty Curly. Nice use of the black saddle and pins on that bridge, smooth.

Jim