Hi, this guitar is not named after a gold mine on the Charters Towers goldfields as others usually are, but after a long-time mate, Tom, who passed away after a long illness.
The back and sides are from a large slab of African Walnut Tom gave me before he passed, saying he will not get a chance to use it now.
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A while after his passing I asked his wife if I could build a guitar in his memory, using the Walnut he had given me. I had sliced it up and got four sets out of the board. I also used cedar for the top that I had bought at the same time and at the same place he bought the Walnut, twenty-five years earlier.
The guitar is a ‘000’ size and style, the inlays depict his interests, achievements, and quirks.
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In a one-room bedsit in Melbourne, he built a large-scale size galleon on the kitchen table.
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He was a very keen competitive cyclist…
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The 12th fret marker shows another passion, we could not travel too far without stopping for a cup of tea…
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A perfectionist for all those years…
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…and a very skilled woodworker.
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I presented the guitar to his wife on the first anniversary of his passing.
Cheers Taff
