Australian wood recommendations

Hey CBGers, I'm hunting down some australian hardwood to make my first CBG neck/fretboard, could anyone recommend a place to grab some from, I found some fretboard blanks at:

http://www.luthierssupplies.com.au/

I'm waiting on an instructional dvd for some tips,I'm not actually sure what size the fretboard has to be, I guess that depends on the size of your cigar box, the info I have found thus far is 35'x2"x1" or for us in the metric world start with 900mm x 50mm x 25mm.

Just curious if there are any species to stay away from, any places that cater to us CBG builders.I walked into bunnings home hardware and trying to explain what a CBG was to the salesman was an experience, he was looking at me like I had tin foil wrapped around my head.

Read a discussion before regarding glue, seems Tilebond 2 is the go, any other aussie brands that are good?

Cheers guys

Brett

Replies

Brett Morgan July 15, 2010 at 3:56am

Hey guys, I emailed Maton guitars in Melbourne (I have one of their fantastic acoustic guitars) and they were kind enough to give me their list of wood suppliers:

Australian Furniture Timbers – Port Melbourne VIC (03) 9646 1081

http://www.afttimbers.com/home.htm

Mathews Timbers – Mitcham VIC (03) 9874 1666

http://www.mathewstimber.com.au/html/parser/page/company

Wren Timbers – Bungalow QLD (07) 4035 1301

http://www.wrentimbers.com.au/

Britton Timber – Dandenong VIC (03) 9768 2422

http://www.brittontimbers.com.au/

Gilet Guitars – Botany NSW (02) 9316 7467

http://www.giletguitars.com.au/

Brett
Brett Morgan July 13, 2010 at 9:00am

I know this isn't Australian wood but a local luthier put me onto these guys:

http://www.lmii.com/Default.asp

Do CBG necks have to be radiused? My guess is no but I've been hearing a lot about it.

Brett
Peter Taylor July 11, 2010 at 7:09am

http://www.scottwise.net/html/recent_archives.html

Brett, check put this guy, he makes guitars out of alot of differnt Australian woods.
Might give you some ideas
Pete
Brett Morgan July 11, 2010 at 4:34am

Thanks for the info Peter, I found a few people selling Titebond glue from Australia, about 3 varieties which is good.Has anyone tried using redgum? Is it even suitable for an instrument? I found some maple/birdseye maple at www.warmoth.com you can get a bass neck blank and a birdseye maple guitar neck blank for about $58 US, you'd get 2 necks and 3 fretboards out of that doesnt seem too expensive.. http://www.warmoth.com/Neck-Blanks-C45.aspx

Bass sized maple neck blanks 34" x 4-1/2" x 3/4" $18

Guitar sized birdseye maple neck blanks 27" x 4" x 3/4" $40

I only mention this because I bought a neck from warmoth a couple of months ago and it is absolutely beautiful, I actually got a woodie when I opened the box.

Brett

Peter Taylor said:
Hi Brett,
You can get Tasmanian Oak at your local Bunnings, 42x19x900, perfect size for necks I have done both 3 string and 4 string, Just made a fretboard out of Jarrah on last build seemed ok. Both wood easy to work with, but hate paying retail for anything so think I will start to look around for old skirting boards and door frames and broken furniture for my hardwoods, just got to find the time, keep eye out on next curbside rubbish collection days. use Titebond glue, seems best so far, cant get at Bunnings try local timber specialist.
Good luck with your building
Pete
Peter Taylor July 11, 2010 at 4:07am

Hi Brett,
You can get Tasmanian Oak at your local Bunnings, 42x19x900, perfect size for necks I have done both 3 string and 4 string, Just made a fretboard out of Jarrah on last build seemed ok. Both wood easy to work with, but hate paying retail for anything so think I will start to look around for old skirting boards and door frames and broken furniture for my hardwoods, just got to find the time, keep eye out on next curbside rubbish collection days. use Titebond glue, seems best so far, cant get at Bunnings try local timber specialist.
Good luck with your building
Pete
Brett Morgan July 10, 2010 at 10:47pm

Just to clarify something, If I purchase some fingerboard blanks 68mm x 7.5mm x 510mm I'm not going to leave myself short am I?

This is the coolest CBG youtube clip I've seen yet, gets the foor stompin'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w46Y0x45T48
Brett Morgan July 10, 2010 at 10:26pm

Thanks for the info guys, I found a couple of sites that might be useful:

http://www.djarilmari.com/default.htm

and this one which has a guitar gallery, thats a pretty good sign ;)

http://www.tasmaniantonewoods.com/veneer.html

Cheers

Brett
ross harper (rustic luthiery) July 10, 2010 at 9:37pm

Brett,
on my last couple of CBG's,I've used Tasmanian Oak(light colour) for the neck,with a Jarrah (dark,reddish)fretboard.Bunnings don't usually have this sort of wood,but a decent timber supplier would.
Ross
Brett Morgan July 10, 2010 at 10:24am

Thanks Randy, does Jef source the wood himself? It looks nice ;) I like the bocote.

Brett