Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

One of my Customers Ben, wanted a new guitar to replace his ageing Maton I have been nursing along for a while now , it's nearly 40 years old, it was his dad's.

He wanted something "old School" in apperance , he loves old stuff, even their latest albumn cover is old photographs.

The Pickup on his Maton has been giving both of us the shit's, so we wanted a better solution , he wanted something a bit smaller than the Maton and he wanted a slightly thicker neck. Ben grew up in Tamworth , so it had to look a little country , and it had to be made of aussie timbers where possible .

Ben came over and we discussed what he wanted , and looked at some photo's of some Guitars that had caught his eye , he liked the Jeff Tweedy Martin.

He wanted it for his Album Launch tour , we have missed the Start by a couple of weeks , but it will see out the remainder of the tour.

So this is what I came up with.

Top : WRC ( Woodrat cast off)
B&S : Fiqured QLD Maple ( Woodrat cast off)
Neck : Qld maple ( Anagote )
Fretboard: Ringed Gidgee. (Loggerheads)
Headplate : Ringed Gidgee. (Loggerheads)
Bridge : Walnut CF lamination.
Tuners: Sta-Tite Grovers.
Pickup : K&K run through a Fishman pre-amp.
Finish : Neck and Body HandRubbed Tabacco stain , Top is a Sprayed Tabacco Burst with Mirotone Pre cat.

It's had the full Trevor treatment.

Sounds great , but is still pretty green, will only get better I suspect.

The photo's are not real Flash , But have a look anyway.

I'll Post a Youtube Link once he has done a video playing it.

Cheers,

fantastic.

Look forward ot hearing it.....

Hi paul
Great looking guitar.
Brilliant finish can`t wait to here it
Regards Steve

Looks Fantastic Paul

Nice work Paul. Love the burst.

Regards

Looks great Paul.

I love to work with Queensland Maple and the figured stuff you can do what ever you like with and come up with a beautiful burst like you have.

Cheers

Alan

Another beauty, Paul.

Y'know...I never realised that WRC stood for Wood Rat Cast-off

Y'know...I never realised that WRC stood for Wood Rat Cast-off

I don't know what's going on with that Woodrat, Unless it's 800 Year old Brazillian Rosewood cut from Furniture once owned by the Queen mother or Eurospruce,cut from the southern sides of the carpathian ranges ,Harvested at midnight by Gypsy Virgins, using only the moonside of the tree, and hand split using an ancient Neanderthal flint Axe, he won't use it anymore , but I'm happy to take his cast off anytime they always work out well for me. .

Cheers,

....Paul...I cant help it ....I was made that way....thats my excuse

...You have made a great job of cobbling together that git out of my cast offs....very nice indeed!

....Well Done!

John

AKA WoodRat ....scuttling around a wood pile near you soon....

Smokin Paul.

Jim

Looks great. Congrats Paul and Ben!

Nice looking guitar Paul.

Is the tobacco stain like the wattle stain?
I`m going to make one of my maple guitar b&s almost black. I have some wattle black stain I will experiment with.

Regards
Ross

Hi Ross,


I used Stew mac Tabaco brown hand rubbed on the sides using Metho and a little shelac as a carrier.

The Burst was the same stain mixed with Nitro and sprayed on , using a small gun with a 1mm tip, was a little sphincter cleanching as it was my first burst , but I am happy with it now.

You just build it up till you get the coverage you want, you could do the same with the sides, but if you get a chip or you rub through when sanding it can be a bitch to repair. IMHO ( I know someone will say it's easy).

Cheers,

ozwood wrote:Hi Ross,


I used Stew mac Tabaco brown hand rubbed on the sides using Metho and a little shelac as a carrier.

The Burst was the same stain mixed with Nitro and sprayed on , using a small gun with a 1mm tip, was a little sphincter cleanching as it was my first burst , but I am happy with it now.

You just build it up till you get the coverage you want, you could do the same with the sides, but if you get a chip or you rub through when sanding it can be a bitch to repair. IMHO ( I know someone will say it's easy).

Cheers,

Thanks Paul.

I`m building one for a mates daughter. She wants blue soundboard and dark back and sides. Should be interesting.

Regards
Ross`

Thanks for all the Feedback guy's.

Just handed it over to the customer, he turned up with his new Fender accoustic amp, plugged it in and played for 30 minutes, unplugged it and played for another 15 minutes , Smilled and said "I Love it , it's just what I wanted and it feels Great".

Good feeling , Job Done.

Cheers,

Lovely looking guitar Paul, beautiful finish, and yes that's the REAL payoff isn't it, the customers appreciation of your work and that ,,, " this is the guitar i always wanted" can't buy that!!
Rod.