Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Hi All,

After a fairly intense 6 week block, i finished my first acoustic guitar.

I did a 2 week course last November with Chris Wynne Thomas Lloyd Guitars but due to a significant error on my part I never got to finish the guitar. The 2 weeks was enough to get me the basic skills to get a good start.

Thought I needed a deadline to work to so I signed up for the TDPRI guitar building challenge.

Acoustic Size "CA"
Back and Sides: Cooba
Soundboard: King William Pine
Fretboard: Gidgee
Fretdots: Abolone
Neck, Kerfing, Bracing, Tail & Neck Blocks: Queensland Maple
Rosette and Headstock Veneer: Tiger Myrtle
Binding: Tiger Myrtle
Finish: Danis Oil and a bees/furniture wax polish.

Very happy with the end outcome. Next one i'll try some inlay and more fancy binding.

Special shout out to;
Chris Wynne: for supplying the the beautiful timber (most of it)
Tim Spittle: for being very generous with his time and providing me with the bindings
Rad Brashaw: for giving me some local advice particularly with the neck joint.
Rod Pearson: for giving his time to play a demo of the guitar so I could record it.
Steve from MIRWA: he helped laser cut some bracing patters for me and let me drool over his workshop.

Time to sleep for a month and then I can start the next one















H

Wow! That's an amazing looking back and sides
Well done Matthew

Good work mate, it is a nice feeling to build your first guitar.

Cheers

Col

Looks great! I'm sure you're proud as punch for a first to turn out like that.

Very nice Matthew, looks to be a great first effort. I have to agree with Richard that's some mad figure you have there on the back, well done.
Wayne

Thanks guys

Very pleased. I've got some tiger myrtle for the back and sides on the next build.

My intention is for this to be a long term hobby. What sort of measurements should I take of the instruments to start to get an idea of what effect the sound has on design/construct?

I've got the gore books but i really struggled with the volume 1. Will need to reread a few times to get a better understanding.

Cheers

Matthew

That was some nice cooba . It was stuff that I supplied to Chris , sourced from a fallen tree between Deniliquin and Moulmein . That was one of a few sets I'd chased out flat sawn for a different figure . Given that cooba is so stable it seems to have been a safe decision .
Lovely work , you have to be proud of that .
Pete

MatthewM wrote: My intention is for this to be a long term hobby. What sort of measurements should I take of the instruments to start to get an idea of what effect the sound has on design/construct?

As well as physical dimensions and materials you should be doing a bit of tap and Chladni testing to quantify the sound of the instrument.

curly wrote:That was some nice cooba . It was stuff that I supplied to Chris , sourced from a fallen tree between Deniliquin and Moulmein . That was one of a few sets I'd chased out flat sawn for a different figure . Given that cooba is so stable it seems to have been a safe decision .
Lovely work , you have to be proud of that .
Pete

Hi Pete

I suspected that you hand in that piece. Chris couldn't sing your praises highly enough.

Matthew

kiwigeo wrote:

MatthewM wrote: My intention is for this to be a long term hobby. What sort of measurements should I take of the instruments to start to get an idea of what effect the sound has on design/construct?

As well as physical dimensions and materials you should be doing a bit of tap and Chladni testing to quantify the sound of the instrument.

Thanks Martin

Lots to learn. I like to get a bit more scientific so i can try and get repeatable results.

Matthew