More on the E-mandos..........

Pete’s e-mando is now going through the finishing stages and it has had a number of coats of Tru Oil; more still to be applied!

 So, now’s the time to make some progress with Dave’s octave e-mando; as you can see the body has been contoured and the wenge looks stunning. Wait 'til the Tru Oil goes on this one too!

 I’m making the neck out of some really nice Brazilian mahogany, I’ve not used this for a while (normally used on my guitars) and forgot what a wonderful wood it is!

I like to laminate my necks for the extra stability that is gained. So the wood is cut along its length, to relieve any internal stresses, and then glued back together again with a thick black veneer line for some subtle decoration.

Once the glue has dried I make the spliced head joint, this is a vastly superior method as you don’t get any short grain in the head.

My pearl logo is cut out by hand, inlaid into the head overlay which is eventually glued to the neck blank.

 3 slots are routed for the carbon fibre and adjustable truss rod.

And here we have the neck/head ready for the tuner holes…….

Happy Christmas 2018

Looking at the stats for this blog and the Nava YouTube channel, it’s quite humbling to see how much interest there is in my work, so Amanda and I would just like to say a big “Thank You,” to all of you who have shown interest and enthusiasm for what we do. And wish you, all our friends and clients- past, present and future- a very Happy Christmas and a healthy and prosperous 2019.
We sincerely thank you one and all.
Cheers Gary!

Xmas Shopping

We had a trip out this week to buy some wood for stock; I’ve got far too much tonewood for building “flat-top” instruments and need to build up the archtop wood stock.  Our intention was to pick-up this lovely board of pommele sapele for back & side sets. You don’t see too much of this in board form, as it’s so decorative that it’s used mainly as veneer.…………..

But a surprising find was this piece of figured Tasmanian blackwood- should get at least, a back & side set and a neck out of it……..

And a nice lump of figured sycamore for necks…………

All of this is kiln dried but will be stored for a while before it’s used, so look out for some interesting archtops this time next year!