Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

I did a search through the gallery and couldn't find anything with gidgee back and sides, so thought you good people might be interested in this one. Lutz top, figured gidgee back, sides and head plate, straight grained gidgee fretboard, "mad" gidgee bindings, NGR neck, "mad" gidgee segmented rosette with amboyna trim, with the amboyna also appearing in the head plate. Aus. Blackwood bridge, Gotoh premium tuners with real MOP buttons. All the gidgee was courtesy of Pete (Curly Timbers) and Jeremy at http://www.australianguitartonewood.com. Thank you, gentlemen!

Wow, Trevor, it looks amazing. Am I right in assuming the mass of the back and sides negates the need for any extra side mass? And, what was the gidgee like to bend?

What's the finish Trevor...hard shellac?

Thanks, Martin. The extra mass helps with projection, but the side masses are also about tuning the main top resonance. I managed to land the resonances close enough to where I wanted them without trimming with additional side mass, so as it happens, this guitar hasn't got any side masses in. It weighs about the same as an EIR guitar with sides masses.

Straight grained gidgee should bend fine - it just needs to be very hot, then it plasticizes well. The highly figured stuff is very difficult to get smooth bends in. The bindings have grain that runs straight through the thickness, so were a real challenge. Gidgee is very brittle when cold. As I was cutting the bindings some of them broke as they flopped off the saw!

The finish is hard shellac on the top, the rest nitro.

This looks fantastic Trevor.If you want someone to test play it for 20 years or so, I am more than willing to offer my services.


I tried to acquire some Gidgee last year when travelling south from Longreach through to Bourke and was given a piece which was supposed to be Gidgee rescued from the firewood pile. However, when I put it though the bandsaw it had significant internal checks and splits making it worthless for instrument making. I had hoped I might get some ukulele fingerboards but it wasn't even good enough for that

Gorgeous work Trevor ,
Man what an honour to see a work of that calibre made from my timber . And we'll done taming that gidg , that was some cranky timber !
Pete

Beautiful work Trevor. Nice piece of Gidgee.

Wow, that is beautiful, Trevor. What a set of wood, and you did it proud.

What a stunner. I'm sure anyone would be proud to own that one.

Beautiful looking guitar!!

Hope you get a chance to post sound sound clips

nice work.
great that you got the binding to match.
what sort of bracing is it? fanned? and did you use traditional 3 braces on back?
how did you decide the bridge shape? , looks very light weight, do you have a bridge plate?
red cedar or Spanish cedar neck?
it is interesting you got the weight down, is it under 1.5kg?
what bracing wood inside?
can you do a sound sample?
I ask all this because I like it from the photos

Trevor will no doubt answer all your questions.

You had alot of criticisms for Martin Taylor's recent classical build....be warned that Trevor's builds are about as "non traditional" as you can get

kpcart wrote:nice work.
great that you got the binding to match.
what sort of bracing is it? fanned? and did you use traditional 3 braces on back?
how did you decide the bridge shape? , looks very light weight, do you have a bridge plate?
red cedar or Spanish cedar neck?
it is interesting you got the weight down, is it under 1.5kg?
what bracing wood inside?
can you do a sound sample?
I ask all this because I like it from the photos

kpcart wrote:what sort of bracing is it? fanned?

Falcate for classical.

kpcart wrote:...did you use traditional 3 braces on back?

No. I haven't given a name to the back bracing I use, but I use the same system for SS guitars as well. It's in the book; three transverse braces and a "star burst" in the lower bout.

kpcart wrote:...how did you decide the bridge shape?...

Structural efficiency.

kpcart wrote:...looks very light weight, do you have a bridge plate?

Yes, it's light. And no bridge plate.

kpcart wrote:it is interesting you got the weight down, is it under 1.5kg?

No.

kpcart wrote:...what bracing wood inside?

Spruce.

kpcart wrote:...can you do a sound sample?

It was a commission. Gone already.

And thanks to everyone for all the kind comments.

Call it Star Burst bracing! Or maybe big bang bracing?