Custom Guitar Built with Ancient Kauri Wood

[DGNRepair]

Here is one that I have to share with you all. This is a completely custom guitar designed by myself and the customer who commissioned it. It took about 16 months from the planning stages to completion (which was today ).

The coolest this about this guitar is the wood its made from. The Body, Top, and Neck are all made out of Ancient Kauri Wood. This wood is estimated to be between 30,000 and 50,000 years old. Its harvested from mud bogs in New Zealand. Its has a shimmer to the grain and figure unlike any other wood I have ever seen. It is really resonant and is a terrific tone wood for guitars. It is also very very expensive. This guitar has a fully hollow body with a block under the bridge area. Here are a bunch of pics, with the full rundown of specs following. By the way, this was my first attempt at any type of scroll. I think it came out well.





















Here are the specs for you all:

Body: Ancient Kauri Wood
Top: Ancient Kauri Wood
Neck: Ancient Kauri Wood
Fingerboard: Brazilian Rosewood
Headplate: Ancient Kauri Wood
Binding: Cream ABS
Nut: Mammoth Ivory
Pickups: DGN PAF's, Graphtech Piezo System
Pots: PEC High End Pots
Bridge: Graphtech Resomax Wrap
Tuners: Sperzel Locking


The Pickup Rings, Knobs, Battery Cover and Truss Rod Cover are also machined from Kauri Wood.

The body is fully hollow with the exception of a small block for support under the bridge area. Both the top and back are fully carved and the scrolls are carved front and back as well. This is the most labor intensive guitar I have built to date. It was really a lot of fun seeing it all come together. And yes, in case you are wondering, it sounds amazing!!!!

[Goodcleanfun]

Other kickass NZ hardwoods include Pohutakawa (po-hoot-a-ka-wa) and Rimu (ree-moo).

You can actually buy blanks of the stuff from a seller on trademe.co.nz, kinda like ebay but over there.

Nice guitar btw Kauri is a sweet wood, reminds me of alder but not as honky.

[.:{KC}:.]

Very nice!

[Davio]

Very nice work !

So Prince don't need no fret markers ?

[DGNRepair]

Originally Posted by Goodcleanfun

Other kickass NZ hardwoods include Pohutakawa (po-hoot-a-ka-wa) and Rimu (ree-moo).

You can actually buy blanks of the stuff from a seller on trademe.co.nz, kinda like ebay but over there.

Nice guitar btw Kauri is a sweet wood, reminds me of alder but not as honky.

I find it much warmer sounding than Alder. Its a very fibrous wood that is on the soft side. I would almost compare it to mahogany tone wise.

Originally Posted by .:{KC}:.

Very nice!

Thank you.

[j.six]

Nice!

Binding he cutaways must have been hell. I really like the colors of the fretboard.

Sully

[free2rock]

Wow!

[Ken McKay]

Nice, congratulations. You did a good job on the custom design. I like the scroll, the shape is better than sweet.

How is the weight and balance?

[DGNRepair]

Originally Posted by Ken McKay

Nice, congratulations. You did a good job on the custom design. I like the scroll, the shape is better than sweet.

How is the weight and balance?

Thanks Ken. The balance is perfect. As for weight, I would say under 7 pounds. I didn't have a chance to put it on a scale though. Definitely not LP heavy.

[DGNRepair]

Originally Posted by j.six

Nice!

Binding he cutaways must have been hell. I really like the colors of the fretboard.

Sully

Thanks Sully. To be honest, I tried to bind the guitar in figured maple, but failed miserably. I simply couldn't get the maple to bend around the scroll. It kept breaking. The abs was no picnic either. I ended up taping (and wedging around the scroll) all of the binding in place and then wicked acetone into the binding joint. This melts the binding to the body right away. As a matter of fact, this is my new method for applying binding. It was soooooo much easier than trying to tape as I glue it on. I touched up gaps with binding melted in acetone. Overall I was happy with the final result.

[Bruiser74]

Thats really cool!

[j.six]

Originally Posted by DGNRepair

Thanks Sully. To be honest, I tried to bind the guitar in figured maple, but failed miserably. I simply couldn't get the maple to bend around the scroll. It kept breaking. The abs was no picnic either. I ended up taping (and wedging around the scroll) all of the binding in place and then wicked acetone into the binding joint. This melts the binding to the body right away. As a matter of fact, this is my new method for applying binding. It was soooooo much easier than trying to tape as I glue it on. I touched up gaps with binding melted in acetone. Overall I was happy with the final result.

Right on, man! I couldn't imagine trying to bind that with maple. You're even more kickass for trying that in the first place.

Sully

[Claymore]

Wow!
That is one whimsical beast!
Great job on the scrolls.
Nice work Doug!

[jonny]

Where did you get the Kauri? I've been looking at it on the Woddcraft website lately. I've been thinking about getting enough to make a neck.

[GrouchyDog]

Outstanding! That top scroll is crazy cool - I'm sure you DID have a rough time with the binding. Great work!

[H.E.L.Shane]

so how much was your butt puckering working with wood that's older than most countries???

Nice job!

[dougk]

Killer work Dan! And no, I'll never, ever do a scroll anything. My good that looked like an immense pain!

[DGNRepair]

Originally Posted by GrouchyDog

Outstanding! That top scroll is crazy cool - I'm sure you DID have a rough time with the binding. Great work!

Thanks. And yes, I'm not going to lie, the binding was a giant pain on this one.

Originally Posted by H.E.L.Shane

so how much was your butt puckering working with wood that's older than most countries???

Nice job!

Thanks Shane. Honestly, was was just praying that the prehistoric wood dust didn't kill me.

Originally Posted by dougk

Killer work Dan! And no, I'll never, ever do a scroll anything. My good that looked like an immense pain!

Thanks Doug. Are you sure you wouldn't want to do a fancy Daylighter Scroll guitar.

[emoney]

I have no idea what Kauri wood is, but I do know that you sure made it into something
that looks cool now. Good work!

[Knarbens]

Very special!

You won't be on the Musikmesse on Saturday, won't you?

[DGNRepair]

Originally Posted by Knarbens

Very special!

You won't be on the Musikmesse on Saturday, won't you?

Sorry, no. Thats a bit of a way for me to travel. Someday, I may make it over to it though.

[DGNRepair]

And here is a not so short vid of the guitar.

You Tube

You Tube

[TKOjams]

I just saw a show on the History channel about kauri wood. Damned expensive stuff.
Sounds awesome my friend!!

[Barnaby]

Dang...I liked this guitar from the photos, but, after hearing the vid, am deeply in love with it - talk about tonal options!

Masterful work.

[caulfim]

I just looked at the prices for the wood, christ man! I couldn't touch that thing with a steady hand, never mind cut, shave or sand it. Fantastic work. She sounds amazing.

[Bob1]

FANTASTIC!!!!

It sounds incredible!

[DGNRepair]

Thanks guys.

Yeah this wood is SUPER expensive. The wood for this build cost me just about a $1000 total, including the Braz board.

[TKOjams]

Originally Posted by DGNRepair

Thanks guys.

Yeah this wood is SUPER expensive. The wood for this build cost me just about a $1000 total, including the Braz board.

They were saying it could go for as much as $1000. a board foot depending on the grain.
How was it to work with? It looks beautiful, BTW.

[Time-bandit]

I love ancient kauri!!!!!!!!!!!
I picked up two boards in 1984. I sold Gator a slab approx 120" x 48" x 3" with some amazing crotch figure in it many years ago. I keep a small 36" x 60" x 3" for myself out of that lot. I have not done anything with mine yet.

[pfox14]

WOW! That really is some ancient wood. Talk about old growth.