Guitars

Guitars

Sun Moth guitars are all hand-made from scratch in my Melbourne workshop.

Theseus

This guitar was a complete rebuild of a broken Epiphone Les Paul that was lying around the workshop. When cleaning it up I left some remnants of the old finish so there was some evidence of what it used to be.

Mahogany body (from the original Epiphone) with a reclaimed meranti bookshelf top. Newly built 25″ Tasmanian sassafras neck. Reclaimed river red-gum fingerboard from an old fence post, with mother of pearl inlay and 23 frets. Original Epiphone pickups, bridge, and grover tuners.

’54 Custom

A unique guitar for a unique musician. I built this one to some very particular specifications: a custom designed ‘short’ offset body shape, deep V-shaped neck, extra-wide 26mm nut, 22 frets, and a 25″ scale length.

Queensland maple body, Queensland silkwood neck, jarrah fingerboard. Tonerider ‘Birmingham’ pickups with coil-tap, Gotoh bridge and hardware.

Front Porch Special

An electric guitar with a dark timber body and gold pickups and hardware

While beautiful to play, this is a very heavy guitar. Merbau top from old decking, on a reclaimed spotted gum body with visible rust streaks and nail holes. Spotted gum neck and jarrah fingerboard with 21 gold frets, 25.5″ scale.

Tonerider ‘Rocksong’ pickups with coil-tap for extra versatility. Gotoh tunematic bridge with string-through mounting for extended sustain. Gotoh machine heads.

New Leaf

An electric guitar with a patterned maple-wood body and white tortiseshell pickguard

A shiny double cutaway T-style, custom made for a special occasion. Quilted Queensland maple body and neck, Tasmanian blackwood fingerboard, 21 frets, 25.5″ scale.

Fender® Tex-Mex pickups. Three way switch, treble bleed circuit. Wilkinson top-loading compensated bridge and hardware.

Prototype

An electric guitar with a pale wood body and white pickups

Prototype hardtail T/S hybrid.

Queensland maple body, Tasmanian blackwood neck, Indian rosewood fingerboard, 22 frets, 25.5″ scale.

Tonerider ‘Pure Vintage’ strat pickups (middle & bridge only). 4 way switch (series/parallel) with treble bleed circuit, Gotoh machine heads. Custom lever cap and knobs. Hardtail top-loading bridge for slinky action and mid-level sustain.

Fencecaster

A telecaster-style electric guitar with a wood body and black pickguard

T-style guitar, built entirely from reclaimed fence and garden timber. My first guitar.

Two-piece Cypress Macrocarpa body (garden bed), laminated Victorian mountain ash neck (fence railings), red gum fingerboard (fence post), with a natural matte finish. 22 frets, 25.5″ scale.

I left some tool marks, nail residue, and imperfections in the timber, connecting the materials to their prior use.

Gotoh pickups, Gotoh modern Tele bridge, Gotoh hardware.