Craig’s Guitar

Soundboard Outline

Choice of timber is critical in guitar design. I decided that instead of using the traditional spruce and exotic hardwoods, I would make mine out of Australian materials as far as possible.
I found a timber yard dealing in obscure wood, and chose a piece of Tasmanian King William Pine, often called King Billy Pine. This timber has been used locally in limited amounts by instrument makers because of its nice acoustic properties. It's a soft timber like Western Red Cedar (which has also been used in guitars).
In the photo below, besides pulling a stupid grin for the camera, my younger self has split the original piece of pine in two (with a hand saw), joined the matching halves, planed it down, and marked an outline for the soundboard shape. The two knotholes were carefully positioned to coincide with the bridge and soundhole.
King Billy Pine is full of magnificent aromatics. The garage smelled great.
Tasmanian timbers for instrument making

Previous | Home | Next