Never Fear, Mr Alex Is Here!

[Mr Alex]

Hi,

My name is Alex(betcha couldn't tell). I'm a 16 year old hobby builder from New Zealand(Nee-uw Zee-land), and no, we are not a state of Australia, which is an all to common misconception. I recently left school to pursue my interest in wood working, mainly guitar building. And also to begin a career in automotive engineering.

I'm now onto my 4th guitar(although the only one I still have anything to show for).

I began building a lap steel out of Kauri(beautiful native timber), turned out a treat, till i tripped over a lead and fell on it, snapping off the headstock, still haven't made a new one yet. Second I spent hours carving a mahogany body only to find a large boarer(however it's spelt) patch in the centre which rendered my efforts useless.

3rd I built a semi hollow electric from some various materials I had lying around in my shed(mdf, maple ply. etc.) had an awesome tap tone, but was a little too heavy(?) and the necks I made were all a bit thin.,

So finally I began building my current guitar, which is a carved top cedar and macrocarpa creation(very resonant). Rimu(another beautiful native) for the neck, till it fell out of the vice with 20 kg's of clamps and hit a cast iron camp stove, now I have a cracked camp stove and and a mutilated neck. Some would say I should give up, but I will persevere and have already begun making a new neck(this time with far less expensive wood).

Thats pretty much my story. I hope I haven't bored anybody!

Rock on!!!!!!!!

Ohh Ive also moddified my japanese SX strat(cheap and very playable), from excellent guitar, crap electronics. to excellent guitar, scary electronics(takes couple of minutes to explain why I use mini switches and on board distortion instead of blade switches and candy ass, no distortion) its a little bit country, and a lot of rock and roll!

And if anybody can tell me much about my Suzuki no.7, I'd really appreciate it. its a 1958 if that helps also.

Edited March 29, 2005 by Mr Alex

[sepultura999]

Welcome to the forum Mr. Alex.

-Jamie

[GregP]

Welcome, Alex.

My sister's travelling in New Zealand right now. Her boyfriend went Zorbing. You are a weird lot over there.

Greg

[Mr Alex]

Welcome, Alex.

My sister's travelling in New Zealand right now.  Her boyfriend went Zorbing.  You are a weird lot over there. 

Greg

←

That would be in Rotorua(Rotovegas as we call it) probably, its like our national tourist resort, but its a city.(and only tourists go zorbing, we are cunning when it comes to tourism, we have heaps of crazy activities no nz'er would dream of doing).

[JoJo T. Magnifficent]

yay, another kiwi

you made guitar out of macrocarpa that musta been a mission. Were bouts in NZ u from?

Edited March 29, 2005 by JoJo T. Magnifficent

[TenderSurrender]

Welcome to the forum

Enjoy your stay

~~ Slain Angel ~~

[Mr Alex]

yay, another kiwi

you made guitar out of macrocarpa    that musta been a mission. Were bouts in NZ u from?

←

err 1. auckland

2. I think its macrocarpa(my uncle told me it was and he knows his stuff when it comes to wood).and its only the back of the guitar.

[JoJo T. Magnifficent]

Im in Palmerston North. and yea, i woulda thought macrocarpa would be quite hard to work with, casue its so fiberous and full of knots n stuff. how does that rimu neck sound?

[Mr Alex]

Im in Palmerston North. and yea, i woulda thought macrocarpa would be quite hard to work with, casue its so fiberous and full of knots n stuff. how does that rimu neck sound?

←

definately was macrocarpa, it wasn't to hard, cos I got the knots with a sanding disk. and fiberous ain't a problem if you work with the grain closely. it just takes longer.

and the rimu neck was good, looks and tap tone. but theres a bit chipped outta the head stock(easily repairable) and a big crack cos the trussrod channel is slightly too deep.

So I'll start again with some more rimu, although I want to try kiln dried, quartersawn pine(following with the softer woods theme), which I've got some of, its not the stiffest of woods(nothing a little carbon fiber wont fix ). but its got an awesome grain, nice and dark lines.

[JoJo T. Magnifficent]

have you had any experience with Matai? Im contemplating making a neck out of that, becasue i guy i know has a whole pile liyng around in his shed. i figured itd do a good job technically, cause its sposed to be a rock solid wood, but i dont have a clue what kinda tonal properties it would have.

[Mr Alex]

have you had any experience with Matai? Im contemplating making a neck out of that, becasue i guy i know has a whole pile liyng around in his shed. i figured itd do a good job technically, cause its sposed to be a rock solid wood, but i dont have a clue what kinda tonal properties it would have.

←

have a look at Ash custom works and in the muso section, he has a list on his site of the woods for guitars, and a lot of info on nz timbers. as my memory serves, matai is good for guitars.

but in my limited experience, it helps to match density timbers with necks and bodies for best results.

dont put ebony on a soft neck etc.. it just ruins the tone of the guitar with mismatched woods.

[erikbojerik]

Whatup Alex! Welcome!

I saw somewhere (I forget where, maybe MIMF) that a guy had built a guitar out of 40,000 year old Kauri that had been recovered from a Kiwi tar pit or peat bog or something. You know anything about that?

[JoJo T. Magnifficent]

cheers for the link and advice, ill be sure to check them out.

[marksound]

Whatup Alex!  Welcome! 

I saw somewhere (I forget where, maybe MIMF) that a guy had built a guitar out of 40,000 year old Kauri that had been recovered from a Kiwi tar pit or peat bog or something.  You know anything about that?

←

Like this?

[Mr Alex]

Whatup Alex!  Welcome! 

I saw somewhere (I forget where, maybe MIMF) that a guy had built a guitar out of 40,000 year old Kauri that had been recovered from a Kiwi tar pit or peat bog or something.  You know anything about that?

←

his name is joh lang(see marksound's post).

a friend of mines getting one in a few weeks.

the pickups are probably the best in the world.

[erikbojerik]

Is it possible to get slabs of that wood? Or do these guys have a corner on the supply?

[Mr Alex]

Is it possible to get slabs of that wood?  Or do these guys have a corner on the supply?

←

In Kaitaia(northern new zealand) there is a place that sells carved swamp kauri(they have a stump out the front that is taller than the double decker tour buses that go there!) I believe that they sell slabs to carvers too, so you could source some that way.

It is literally pulled out of the ground by a digger of crane so the pieces are HUGE!

When Ive got some time Ill look around the net for some info if I can find some.

Its best to get it from a dealer of some kind because they get it carbon dated for authenticity, ive heard of guys selling 20,000 year old stuff as 45,000 years old, BIG price difference.

[Mr Alex]

if your in the states then may be a little out of your budget(its in new zealand dollars which at the moment aint in your favour, and it would cost heaps to ship) but i thought it may be of interest(price wise).local auction site

the site also has a lot of stumps considerably cheaper(but no customs would allow those too easily)

Edited April 2, 2005 by Mr Alex

[erikbojerik]

In Kaitaia(northern new zealand) there is a place that sells carved swamp kauri...

Its best to get it from a  dealer of some kind because they get it carbon dated for authenticity, ive heard of guys selling 20,000 year old stuff as 45,000 years old,  BIG price difference.

←

Yeah I'm in the states...if you could put your hands on a phone number or some such, I'd love to check into this. 20k vs 45k old doesn't make that much difference to me.

Believe it or not, I could actually have it dated by 14C myself; I'm a geologist, which may partly explain why I'm sort of geeked up about the idea of making a guitar out of prehistoric wood.

[Mr Alex]

not 100% sure but i think this is the place, its certainly on the right road and in kaitaia.:

Ancient Kauri Kingdom

229 State Highway 1 Awanui Kaitaia

64-9-406-7172

if not the right place for supplies, they could help you I'm sure.

Edited April 3, 2005 by Mr Alex

[erikbojerik]

Cheers Alex!

[orgmorg]

Hi, Alex. I know what you mean about the exchange rate. I have a Peterson portable sawmill, made in Rotorua, and I cringe whenever I have to order spares.

I met some of the guys from the factory at a sawmill demonstration here in the states. Real nice folks, but they got me hooked on marmite. Can't live without the stuff now.

[mledbetter]

erik.. here is a supplier in the states. Don't know anything about his authenticity.. but I heard about Kauri a while back and looked around myself. Interesting looking wood. I guess you could jsut warn him that you are a geologist and have the equipment to carbon date the stuff and ask him if it's really going to check out

http://www.ancientwood.com/

[erikbojerik]

Oh......yeah!!!!!!!! Thanks very much for the tip led....that place is only about 2 hours drive (plus a ferry ride...) from my parent's house in northern Wisconsin.

Score!

[erikbojerik]

Heh heh heh....OK...check this out.

Trolling around and doing a little more homework on Kauri....come to find out that it is a conifer (OK) from the genus of none other than....

....Agathis.

Yep....same genus of wood that goes into those Korean Squier strats that you can get for under $100 new.

Probably not the same species....I don't care. I'm still jazzed at the idea of a guitar made from prehistoric wood.