African Blackwood Guitar and Ukulele
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As promised a bit about the two Blackwood instruments: they were completed just before we moved. The soundboards were French polished and the rest of the instruments were finished with Tru-Oil. The combination of the two types of finish worked really well. The oil allowed the natural beauty of the African Blackwood to show through and it also gives a nice feel to the neck, lacquer can feel sticky.
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Morgan set me quite a few challenges throughout this build, the final being the bridges. He wanted a curved shape bridge, a tie-block that blended in and was doubled drilled for tying the strings; this involved a fair bit of discussion over their design, but I think that we were both pleased with the results. Probably the best bridges that I’ve made!
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Below are a variety of photos of the instruments:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj44DpIrjLU3dahGFmG6L8kP5-5TYzFlGAUo5BWOGW8VrI_xGn7vLjbl_XtIe4dHiONZWqPYwakdzALHqOABR8pkFvKhGVO7Gxw4OQt9kdpVx2TloYdK2938H16jd3dGyHLEhyphenhyphenWfg/s320/both_front.jpg)
Sinker redwood soundboards
Pink ivory (sacred wood of the Zulu) binding and rosettes
20,000 year old fossilised walrus tusk nuts and saddles.
Doesn’t get much more exotic!
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How do they sound? Well, I’ve made another one of my videos which I’ll upload once I’m properly back on line; however it does not do them justice. The Matt Bellamy’s classical guitar sounds very promising; already the trebles are sounding out loud and sweet and there are also some nice rich bass tones. It will need to be played in for a few months to reach its full potential, but I think that it’s going to be rather special. Morgan’s baritone ukulele was a revelation! I was pleased that it had a good tone and volume when I played it and that it didn’t sound plinkity plonkity like some ukes do. But when he came over and played it! The volume was outstanding for such a small instrument.
Hopefully Morgan and Matt will be pleased with these instruments: I certainly am. It was a good experience working with Morgan, he pushed the envelope and I feel that I’m a better luthier for it.
Labels: Blackwood, classical guitar, Luthier, Matt Bellamy, Morgan Nicholls, Muse, Pink Ivory, ukulele