Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Hi all luthiery lovers,

Here's another Tenor guitar build. I love these small builds. The Tenor guitar is a lovely instrument that offers an additional voice to any group of instruments. It complements regular guitars so well. This one is mainly Aussie timbers with QLD Maple back and sides and neck, Soundboard is QLD Kauri, rosette is a random eucalypt burl that is recycled from the base of an old lamp, the bridge is ringed Gidgee, bindings are Tassie Blackwood. The only non Aussie timber is the fretboard which came from an old scrap of Ebony that was too small for a guitar. I have it tuned to CGDA which is "standard" tenor tuning and the scale length is 23". Finish is Rustin's Danish Oil.

Absolutely stunning instrument!

Hi Martin
Very nice guitar, did you have any issues with bending the figured Qld maple sides?
I have found that such figured Qld maple has a tendency to split with the grain
at the waist or upper bout.

Bruce McC wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 10, 2022 11:43 am

Hi Martin
Very nice guitar, did you have any issues with bending the figured Qld maple sides?
I have found that such figured Qld maple has a tendency to split with the grain
at the waist or upper bout.

Hi Bruce,

I bend by hand rather than with a bending jig (fox etc) so I feel as though I have a little more control and these days I usually bend timber dry especially highly figured timber. I may spray with a little water but that’s about it. I don’t soak the sides any more. Also I have a metal strip that I use on the outside of the bend to support the fibres while bending. I still get the occasional split but not this time. It went really well.

Martin

Thanks for your comments Martin.

Looks really great Martin. The QLD Kauri makes a good-looking top. And your photos are great. What is the white background?

lamanoditrento wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 13, 2022 6:14 pm

Looks really great Martin. The QLD Kauri makes a good-looking top. And your photos are great. What is the white background?

Hi Trent, thanks. I take these photos just on my workshop on one of my benches with my iPhone. I have a roll of white cartridge paper that I roll out onto the bench and then take the photos. I then use Photoshop to clean them up ie below is an original pic. It helps that I’ve been using Photoshop since it first came out. Each image takes me only a couple of minutes to do.

Nice work Martin.