Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Hi, here is my latest build, a Parlor guitar using Englemann spruce and EI Rosewood, which I imported from India some years ago. The neck is new Guinee Rosewood, the fingerboard is Ebony, and the bridge is Cooktown Ironwood. I carved the bridge to make it close to the weight of Rosewood. The binding is a hard Meranti.
The finish is nitro, very thin and matt.
It has only been strung up for two weeks, but is noticeably gaining nice tones. It had great volume and sustain from the get-go. I’m happy with this build. Cheers Taff

Nice work Taff. Those meranti bindings look nice..were did you get the wood?

Hi, Thanks, Martin. I don't remember where I got the meranti from. It was stock I cut up many years ago from another job. I did not realise it would be so red until I applied the finish. I'm in Adelaide in a few weeks, if I have time, it would be good to say gday.
Cheers Taff

A very impressive guitar build. Like the finish and timber combination.

I would appreciate knowing what Parlor Guitar model is this guitar build based on. I am planning to build my first Parlor Guitar for a client in a few months. This guitar build inspires me and hope that I can also succeed with my Parlor Guitar build too.

Wayne

Very nice Mr Evans! I have bought some nice meranti at Bunnings for a workbench and it had similar colour. If I see some well quartered bits I might think of it for bindings. How deep is that body at the tail, and at the neck? Looks fairly deep, which might boost the voice of an otherwise small body. I like the headstock shape and decoration very much.

Hi Guy’s, thanks for your comments.
Wayne, I did not have any plans for this guitar, other than what I have developed over the years. Back in the 1990’s I had a request for a Parlor guitar. What I did was to reduce the size of one of my regular models by removing 50mm or so from the centre of the body and keeping the same outside shape. Then with info from C F Martin's book, A History, by Mike Longworth. I gathered info to design the rest.
It's a bit of a mix between Size 1 and Size 2, 12 fret models.
This one is 13 frets as it suits my bracing positioning better.

Mark, the body is 100mm and 85mm, which is a mix of the 1 and 2 size Martins.

A note at the bottom of the page states that the measurements can vary as the guitars are handmade. I liked that comment a lot. Hahaha.

Cheers Taff