Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

You easily spend four weeks seeing the sights in WA if you’re willing to do some driving. Make sure you visit Rock Inn while you’re in Perth - great guitar shop, and they’ve usually got plenty of stock from our big local guitar brands, Maton, Cole Clark, Fenech and Pratley.

Oh there's no judgement from me, that just was an expression of lust.

kiwigeo wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 17, 2025 8:22 pm

600kg of tonewood

Dave - Perth itself isn’t terribly exciting, I agree, but it’s a good jumping off point to the rest of WA, which has some amazing places to visit. Go down to the south coast, Albany-Esperance sort of way, for amazing beaches with nobody on them, Margaret River if you like wine, Karijini National Par...

Hi Jurgen, from a guitar building perspective, I’d recommend the factory tours at Cole Clark and Maton Guitars in Melbourne - I reckon you’d find them very interesting. There’s also several tonewood suppliers scattered around the country who you could visit. If you’re into country music, the Tamwort...

Glyn, I’ve listened to a few podcast episodes you’ve been on - the Guitar Builders Collective and Guitar Speak ones, from memory. You’re always a pleasure to listen to on my morning commute.

Lee, greetings from another time-poor but enthusiastic dad/wood butcherer!

As a recent blow-in, thanks for everyone who has built this place and those who continue to support it.

I'm no engineer by any means and really could use a "Dummies Guide to Modal Tuning". I have a lot of info provided by Mr. Gore but I'm now even sure where to start. Hi Papatar16, have you come across “The Book”, Trevor Gore and Gerard Gilet’s two-part textbook? I’ve just bought a copy and I’m start...

Pratley Guitars use Queensland maple as a top wood quite a bit in combination with Queensland maple back and sides (and interchangeably with maple silkwood, which is very similar). I had a brief chat with Martin Pratley at the Melbourne Guitar Show earlier in the year and asked him about it, and he ...

I recently used Pack and Send to get about 20kg of wood from Queensland to Victoria. I think they farm it out to local couriers, so your mileage may vary, but I had a good experience with them.

Welcome to the forum Tom and thanks for taking the time to introduce yourself. A nice looking stash of wood there.........it will only get larger regardless of how many guitars you make :mrgreen: Thanks Martin! I’ve made peace with the fact that my motivation for getting into guitar building is an ...

Hi everyone! I'm another newbie builder. I started earlier this year with a telecaster kit, and the bug well and truly bit. For the last month or two I've been doing a guided build class one day a week with James Cargill of Cargill Guitars in Melbourne. I'm building a left handed 12 fret J45 with a ...