October 2012
Having restored a number of vintage Yahama guitars, I became interested in building a guitar from scratch. I took the Yamaha SA30 as my ‘template’ and used an unorthodox approach to the building process. That was partly because of my lack of knowledge and partly because of my interest in the use of different timbers. So my very first build is constructed from Indonesian Kwila (Merbau) for the body and Kanuka for the neck. Kanuka is a New Zealand native and is very dense. It is related the the Manuka tree, also know as Tea tree.

It is fair to say that I am really pleased with the end result as it looks good (in my opinion anyway), plays well and has got a nice sound.

Click this link to read more about this project: Yahama SA30 – Tribute

October 2013
Having successfully built one guitar… I wanted to build another one. This project started a couple of months ago and the template is from a 1962 Stratocaster and I am using the same timbers again.

Click this link to read more about this project: Building a Stratocaster