T h e ‘ Ac a c i a ’ Qa t a n milled and hand crafted exclusively out of local, family owned blackwood by samuel wales
“nothing is more special, more heart-felt than creating an instrument soley out of a tree you grew up playing upon as a child. it is quite literally a heritage of an australian childhood ingrained within a guitar. �
M o u n t W i l s o n
We were blessed to have grown up at my nana’s estate in mount wilson. An idylic haven of mountain flora and fauna. my siblings and i grew to know and love the dozens of blackwood trees on the property. a place where my passion for woodworking truly began. still today many of the tools i use to craft my guitars are from the shed my pa once had there.
T h e
M i l l i n g
When the time came for the estate to be sold i had already begun my career as a luthier in my late teens. it was therefore, a desperate hope that i might be able to keep a part of mount wilson in milling one of the blackwoods in nana’s garden. with my father and brother by my side we lovingly bore down the aged timber to the ground and stacked it’s darkened hardwood for a time when i might build a guitar entrirely out of my childhood acacia wood.
each pin is from the same acacia tree and in it’s turn revealing it’s own unique color, grain and shape creating a bridge like no other.
combining a blackwood fretboard, neck, bridge and soundboard forced me to put all of my knowledge and skills to the test. while ensuring each component worked in aesthetic harmony i also had to carefully secure their function to it’s highest tonal response. a guitar that defied the ‘rules’ of lutherie in it’s construct vs. beauty.
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T h e B u i l d
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My intention with building this guitar was to use simple inlays and elegant highlights so as not to detract from the richness of the blackwood itself.
My
Ac a c i a
In 2016 my daughter acacia was born and in that same year i began building my acacia guitar. dedicated to her, i laboured my childhood memories into the curvatures, neck, head and body of my most precious guitar to date. A guitar that has been created solely out of one tree. My acacia guitar is an ode to the classic guitars that have long been lost. with mother of peal in-lays and heringbone rosette this guitar is highly unique and an altogether stunning piece of woodwork.
‘A founain will flow out of the Lord’s house and will water the valley of acacias’. joel 3:18