Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

I've been mostly lurking around but now that I've (nearly) finished my most recent guitar, I figure it's time to chime in more. My name is Eric Scheper and I'm American living in New Zealand for the last 5 years or so. I live in Gisborne which is out on the east coast of the North Island and purported to be the first city to see the sunrise each day. I know I'm moving back to the US next year and definitely wanted a NZ native guitar, or three, to take back with me when I go, so I made this guitar from swamp kauri - top, back, sides, neck, bracing. The fretboard and bridge are puriri. In addition to the native timber, I did the soundhole as sunrise over the water and put the Southern Cross at the 12th fret. All that's left to do is the headstock inlay once I get the bits for that and finish the setup.

This was the first guitar I've bent the sides on; my first few were kits from LMI where I had them do the side bending. I built the first one about a year ago and at the time needed an instruction manual for a chisel. It's a pretty steep learning curve and there are no swamp kauri kits so I had to suck it up and do it on my own. Since I'm moving I don't want to invest a lot in equipment. Luckily it was winter so I had a go on the chimney of our wood fire and it turned out okay, though it gets hard to get a nice tight waist (good thing I wasn't trying a cutaway ). I don't think my wife will be too keen on me starting up the fire all summer though so I did eventually break down and get a bending iron and that works much better.

Also just a thanks to Bob and everyone here for all the info and tips shared and stored. It really helps, especially when starting out. I certainly hope to add to the "don't do what I did" file as I go along.

Cheers,
Eric

Looks good Eric and that Sunrise over Sea and Southern Cross look pretty cool as well.

Steve

That's one of the nice things about making them yourself, you get to do it just the way you want it, nice work Eric.

Jim

It pisses all over my first; well done, it looks cool.

Col

Nice job Eric. Bending sides on the chimney pipe of the fireplace - that is very resourceful!
The end product is a great looking instrument with a nice individual style
cheers
Mark

Hi Eric
The guitar look great 10 points on your bending method nice job
Regards Steve

Thanks. Yeah the chimney was not ideal for the waist (or any of it really), especially as it's in the corner and hard to get the last bend done. Not to mention too hot to stand near after a while. While I was trying to not buy something I know I'll have to turn around and sell, I've since upgraded to one the nice plug-in irons which works quite well and doesn't get me overheated as well. But if someone wants to buy a lightly used LMI bending iron in a few months let me know.

Nice job mate ! Can I ask you where you bought your ancient kauri ? I've been looking for suppliers but not much came out, appart from ancientkauri.com.
Pretty expensive stuff here....

These bits came from Rarefind Timbers. They are not tonewood specialists but it seems they've improved their selection criteria over the past few years judging by the pictures on their site. Others may know more but I think there is some distinction between ancient kauri, the stuff thats tens of thousands of years old, and swamp kauri that's "only" a few thousand years old. I was looking for the email that had the details of where the wood came from but can't find it right now it I recall it was about 3000 yrs old. I did see LMI has some kauri right now but it doesn't look very figured. Doesn't look very ancient either but hard to tell from pics. Good luck

Thanks for thos informations and congratulations for your nice "souvenir" built .
Seb

Great job on your first build Eric. My last build was heart rimu b&s, puriri fretboard and bridge and rewarewa rosette for a friend who was also heading overseas to live. Some nice kiwi timbers to build from.

What's next on the production line?

BTW, I'm in Wellington and would definitely be interested in purchasing your LMI bending iron when you head back to the states. Drop me an email when it comes time to move.

Cheers,

Shane

Funny enough, the other one I have been working on is rimu with puriri fretboard and bridge . I'll let you know when I'm packing things up and getting ready to sell. Any chance you'd want a Carbatec drum sander as well? Not sure if I'll be able to sell that around here or not. Can PM me if you want to see pics or any questions.

That's a great looking guitar Eric, Sad to hear you are leaving us...you just have to pay the fine and we will let you go hahaha
I bet the guitar has epic sustain!! great to see the NZ natives and I like your first sunrise and southern cross theme.

All the best!

Christian.

Thanks, it does ring nicely. I find it's brighter but not quite as full and resonant as the one I made from the rimu you sold me. Yeah, we love it here but it's awfully far from family. Now I just need to figure out how to get as much NZ tonewood as I can before I leave!