Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

here's my first guitar, i've been working on it for about 5months and now its done.

its a small ladder braced parlor guitar of my own design.

kauri pine top.
tas oak back sides and neck.
NGR fingerboard.
bridge ?

Great first effort Liam.

What are your impressions of tone and playability of this one compared to the the one you modeled it upon. Does it have what you were looking for when starting out?

It's an addictive obsession, and the never ending quest of building a better guitar is one that's bit many of us. Do you have your sites on anything else besides a uke next?

Great job there Liam for your first effort. There is something elegant about a concert size, parlour guitar. I have a very old Regal with ladder bracing and it has a great blues tone.

So whats the next project?

Cheers

Alan

very interesting guitar here especially the binding. i love how you havn't binded the back to the sides i think it looks unusual and cool. I havnt seen a kauri pine soundboard in ages and i think they are impressive but i have never heard how they sound. Youll have to post a link to you playing to give me an idea. Great first effort

being a wimpy first timer i've had it tuned to open F# for 3 or 4 days and the sound was a bit thin. uncomplicated.
so I manned up this evening and tuned up to open G and what a difference that made . much richer, more sustain, much better.

i based the build on a 1970 harmony stella i've got. its got a birch top and painted on binding on the top edge only. hence the top only binding on mine. also meant i didn't need to make a fancy jig for my laminate trimmer

the sound is definitely bluesy, as i intended, great with a slide. hopefully it'll get better still.

the next project is a uke course with allen. but will also be doing some improvements to molds and jigs, build a go-bar deck, side bender, acquire radius dishes, tools etc............i can feel a leadbelly style 12 string coming up too

Congrats Liam that's a great looking little guitar - nice job!

Nice looking guitar, Liam. Nothing like stringing up your first one, is there?

That's just looks so cool Liam. Understated & classic.
I'm glad you found the voice in it too.
Going to have to put this one on my 'to build' list.

I'm really interested in this with it having a Kauri top.
I'm trying some qld kauri out for a 17" archtop at the moment.
Took a carved top around to Dom's to compare it with his rough carved sitka top.
The kauri was much stiffer and about 150g heavier (350g sitka, 500g kauri if I remember right), but has a lovely ringing tone when tapped.

How did you find the kauri stacked up weight/stiffness compared to your usual tops?

Hi Liam a great first project, you should be proud of that, I've just started a small parlor guitar also, I did not know they were called "concert size'. Well you live and learn. Well done.

Good work Liam,

You would have picked up a lot of knowledge as you went along with this one and now, you have a nice bluesy parlour for your troubles.

Cheers

Kim

Great first guitar Liam, and with that shopping list for tools and jigs it sounds like you are going to be making lots more. It must be satisfying to come up with your own design for number one, and then pull it off. I'll look forward to your future posts.
Mark

Nice work for a first effort Liam. The back/side bindings....not my cup of tea but that's just personal preference.

Um I'll probably get into serious trouble with others for asking this and there may be a perfectly valid reason but I cant help but notice the gap between the lower part of the heel and the side of the instrument. What sort of neck joint did you go for...bolt on or M and T?

cheers to everyone for the kind comments

the neck is an adjustable butt joint using a single threaded insert.

as you tighten the cap-head bolt from the inside of the heel block the neck angle comes down.

I knew there must be a reason.....thanks Liam.