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#16
08-26-2018, 07:11 PM
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Hello, Wade Hampton - the thing is, padauk is only orange when fresh cut/planed/sanded. My nephew and me, we once made an electric guitar’s body out of padauk. Wonderful orange colour. The guitar is almost twenty years old now and changed its colour to brown. No more orange. That can fool one. But the grain, pores and interlocking structure speaks for padauk, and also the colour, if you have seen older samples of padauk.
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#17
08-26-2018, 07:30 PM
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And now we know - thanks, Irvine. It makes perfect sense that padauk would darken as the years pass, just as my koa instruments have darkened, but that never occurred to me. I only owned that Beneteau baritone for two or three years, and it stayed mostly in its case because I was playing my McAlister baritone instead (I had thought I needed a backup baritone guitar, just in case, but after a couple of years it became obvious that all I needed was one. So I sold it to a friend who cherishes it.)
Anyway, I never noticed any darkening of the wood in the short time I owned the instrument, which is why that possibility slipped right past me. Thanks for enlightening me! Wade Hampton Miller
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#18
08-26-2018, 09:58 PM
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imbuya?
Imbuya wood can have incredible fiddling. (Fiddling may be what you're referring to as a shimmer.) Some call imbuya a "Brazilian Walnut." It has been used as a guitar tonewood, so you might try Googling "imbuya guitar."
__________________
1 dreadnought, 1 auditorium, 1 concert, and 2 travel guitars.
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#19
08-27-2018, 12:11 AM
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I have played some imbuia guitars, notably a Taylor acoustic bass guitar made out of it owned by a friend and former bandmate of mine. The imbuia wood on that instrument looked a lot more like walnut than the photos Mat has shared with us, and I don’t recall it having the same sort of chatoyance as shown in Mat’s photos, either.
But since I’ve only ever seen three imbuia guitars and only played the one that my friend had, I’m not even remotely any sort of expert on that wood. Maybe some of it does look like the wood of the back and sides of Mat’s mystery guitar. I’ve just never seen any imbuia that does. whm
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#20
08-27-2018, 06:39 AM
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Thanks V32.... i have tried searching froogle for a Mr T J Red of Mt Doom but they dont have a listing....but then again if tis from 1829 then its a "Vintage" mystery guitar lol! ..... I totally understand the "unresolved" feeling but for me this gets totally swamped by the interest and excitement of the unraveling of the mystery and the restoration of the instrument....at the moment there are a few small tight cracks which seem to be related to its over-dry state rather than any impact damage, so I am attempting a slow re-hydration and then I'll get the amazing Dougie Wilkes (http://wilkesguitars.co.uk/) to stabilise the cracks and take any other remedial action required. It is a beautiful looking instrument and the fit & finish isnt all that bad at all, it might no be up with McIlroy Fylde Avalon, Lowden & Sobell etc but then my playing isnt up there either :-)
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#21
08-27-2018, 06:50 AM
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Hi Bufflehead, I think that I'm with Wade and Irvine in that the wood is most likely Padauk, ... I have googled the Imbuya guitars and its a really beautiful wood but more intracate and complex than the wood on my guitar.... I think the regular "ribbons" in the grain seem to lead to it being Padauk and a good googling generally supports this hypothesis. .... However that does indicate that the guitar is older that I first thought (as the wood darkens with age from an orange to brown)... so a build date of 1829 in Mt Doom is back in play! lol!!
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#22
08-29-2018, 03:42 AM
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Ok so more news....after a suggestion on another forum that it might be an early piece by Tony Revell master luthier extraordinaire I managed to speak with him yesterday evening and I sent him the pics here's Tony's response..... "Sorry not one of mine, Try getting in touch with the London college of musical instrument making in Shoreditch . it looks like a student piece." .... so one door closes but another opens... I know nothing about the London college of musical instrument making.... but its worth a google and a few phone calls i think!.... so the games afoot!
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#23
08-29-2018, 08:55 AM
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It does look like an instrument built by someone new to guitar-building. Here in the US we have a guitar-building technical school called the Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery, and those students build an acoustic and an electric guitar during the course of their training. I’ve seen quite a few of those instruments over the years, and they tend to be similar to the guitar you have.
whm
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#24
09-09-2018, 02:45 PM
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Sorry been out of the loop for a few days traveling.... unfortunately no where near london or i would have found the current location of the London college of musical instrument making which has been renamed and moved it looks like....but nil desparandum! .... I guess that this isnt a sprint, its more of a marathon. :-) The guitar seems to be responding well to the increades poisture levels with all of the crack sclosing up nicely. `the Spanish guy I bought it from says that his friend bought it in Manchester....hopefully I can find out more along that line in due course.
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#25
01-20-2019, 12:50 PM
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Ok...so after much digging and inquiring from Pablo in Spain.... the guy he bought it of was also called Pablo and he was his cousins boyfriend. And Pablo (2) says the guy he bought it off was an Australian living in Manchester England... and he said he had brought it with him after making it in Australia!!.... so I am renewing my search in the Antipodes!.... a very exciting development in the story (for me at least) .... I will keep the forum informed as to any developments! :-)
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