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October last year I started building two weissenborn style, lap slide guitars. "Sassie" the Sassafrass guitar has been well docemented. This one is an all Blackwood instrument wood supplied by Tim Spittle. My initial thoughts where to use the Sassie as the learner so I could make a better job of the blackwood guitar. Funny how both guitars ended up with lots of different mistakes but I was able to modify my way out of trouble and end up with two guitars I am proud of.

This guitar has been named "Blackie" and he has been set up for Open C tuning. He growls nicely.













Thanks all for looking

Cheers

Alan

Fantastic work, Alan!

What wood did you use for the fretboard & bridge?

Thank you Sam. The fingerboard and bridge are Tasmanian Blackwood also. I had some rope binding planned for the guitar but decided that the fingerboard was the feature and didn't bind the guitar.

Thanks for your interest

Cheers

Alan

I'm surprised the bridge is made of Tassie Blackwood...it looks denser than the plates!

You made the right choice on omitting the binding though; this Weiss doesn't need it.

Thanks Todd. Yes, the pins need to be seated a little lower. I was a little egar yesterday to get him strung up to play.

Thanks for your interest and your helpful threads regard building a weissenborn copy.

Cheers

Alan

Nice one Alan. I bet she really growls. I'm looking forward to hearing her sing.

_________________
Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Hi Alan,
The Blackwood is looking reeeeeeeal good! The bridge is very cool, that's the next thing i have to make. Great job all around.

Thanks Ron. The bridge is a nicely figured piece of blackwood.

Cheers mate

Alan

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Tony, thanks for your friendship, advice and support during my builds. I have great respect for your instrument building skills.

As far as set up goes I have gone with 9 mm at the nut, 15 mm at the top of the bone saddle. I prefer the tone of a bone saddle opposed to metal. I do like the feel and sound of metal finger picks though. String spacing is as per the plan which suits me fine. I started out with some John Pearce heavy strings tuned to Open C but didn't like the playing feel of those strings. I have since then, strung her up with a set of medium gauge strings tuned to Open D and much prefer the sound and feel. I really dig Harry Manx as a slide player and love his music. Some of his tunes he uses a capo. The little extra nut hight allows me to use a Beard capo and be able to fit the capo without scratching the fingerboard. So this setup works for me but may not for others. I have also tried tuning down to Open C with the medium gauge strings and it sound good to me too.

So now to get in some practise and come up with some soundbites.

Cheers

Alan

Alan, that is very nice. How does it sound, or did you answer that already?

Strangely it does not look upside down on my computer.

G'day John,

Thanks mate for your interest. Can I ask what dose not look upside down?

I haven't been subjected to many weissenborn style guitars but have had the chance to play a few Aussie made guitars over the past few years. The blackwood has very good sustain campared to my other two weissenborn style guitars. Of the other two one is made from Tasmanian Sassafrass and other New Guiena Rosewood with a cedar top. The Blackwood guitar is better balanced IMO but that could be due to other variables. Mate I think it was just beginners luck it turned out sounding ok. The blackwood guitar is heaviest of the three and I reckon it will improve in tone and volume once it has been played in over time.

It is great to have three guitars to compare. I will be recording the three guitars soon and will post a thread for you all to have a listen and make up your own minds how the guitars sound! Sound is subjective so it will be interesting for me to hear what everyone thinks!

Cheers

Alan

I am a real fan of the T.Blackwood. Bought some from Tim not long ago and was surprised at how much harder it was than Its close cousin, Koa. Don't know what other variables changed in the construction of those three instruments, but I wouldn't be surprised if the blackwood was at least part of the reason for the good tone.

Upside Down? Just my northern hemisphere bias showing

Looking forward to those sound clips
john