Sound

If you’ve been wondering, yes these guitars were made out of a local Durian tree that was felled. Curiosity lead to another and here we have a guitar built out of that. Top, Back & Sides are Durian, neck remains the usual 7-piece Laminated Nyatoh piece with Malaysian Blackwood for the Fingerboards and Bridge pieces. The rosette and bindings are all Flamed Maple.

Enjoy these following videos:

Sound demonstration by Jeffrey Yong:

Featuring Mark Renesh:

The Durian Guitar Completed

Strung and setup with Elixir 12s, I am happy to report it sounds amazing. Rich tone, with lots of body and sustain. The following pictures are of the end product, and further down this post you will find pictures of the Jumbo version as well (in brown burst).

*In case anyone is wondering why I keep calling it the Durian Guitar, it is because the body is made entirely out of a Durian tree (Top, Back and Sides).

Jeffrey Yong Jumbo (JJ) and Jon Woo OM-Cutaway
Jeffrey

I will attach a sound clip/video at another time. For now, hope you enjoyed the pictures and I hope you have a great day.

The Making of a Durian Guitar

This was a project I’ve been wanting to work on for a long time, and to my knowledge, I haven’t yet found anyone who has built an acoustic guitar using Durian wood before. We acquired an old tree from a Durian plantation in a small town called Raub through the help of a friend. Transported it back in my truck to be cut, dried, and be made into guitars.

The wood was surprisingly easy to work with, bends easily and has a nice, bright ring to it when tapped. It was left out to dry for months before taking it to the saw mill to be cut into thinner, 7mm thick pieces. Below are a series of pictures from log to guitar, enjoy!

Now that’s what trucks are for
Yours truly cutting the log into smaller blocks
Top & Backs Glued together before sanding
Back braces added. Yes they are laminated Agathis and Malaysian Blackwood, drilled out to be lightened whilst maintaining its stiffness.
Rosette and Back Strip
Internals before closing the top
Braced and pore-filled
Cutting out the binding routes on the cutaway
Not too shabby I suppose
Tailpiece
Preparing the bindings
Preparing the neck and fretboard
Shaping the neck
Looks to be a good fit
First coat of lacquer on
Eventually decided to go with a Green Burst, for two reasons- I wanted something that would scream Durian, and secondly I didn’t quite like its natural colour.
Polishing to shine
Fretted and ready for strings!

The next post will be pictures of the final product.

Bigfoot Guitars India

I had the privilege of spending a few days in the Bigfoot Guitars workshop based in New Delhi, India. My intention was to see how other luthiers work on their instruments, just to get some fresh inspiration and ideas.

I first met Karan in Music China 2018, the first year I ever attended the expo.

Bigfoot Guitars based in New Delhi, India.
Karan inserting the kerfings.
Setting up the OM-C I
Setting up the OM-C II
Mod-D in the making.
Had a hand in helping radius sand a couple of guitars for Karan. This Tamarind OM-C goes out to Grammy Award fingerstyle winner Amrit Sond.
Karan very generously walked me through his voicing process, it was a great time of learning and sharing.
This completed Mod-D is going out to Eddie’s Guitars.
My days were full of Masala Chai and Coffee.
Bacon & Eggs, India style!
Curry Chicken and Salad.
We had an amazing Barbecue on my last night.
Homebound
40,000 feet, somewhere.
Daybreak greeting my arrival back to Malaysia.

Music China 2019

I apologize for the lack of updates as I also lack the discipline to write and post. Also, I’m a better photographer than writer so I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

This would be a continuation of some of my previous posts regarding Music China 2019 held in Shanghai October last year.

And as usual- enjoy the photos!

Journey begins.
Meeting up with Karan Singh of Bigfoot Guitars in our hotel lobby.
Jeff giving Karan’s Mod-D a go in our hotel lobby.
A client trying out some of the guitars we brought over. (He bought two!)
Show begins.

Music China is an annual event that takes place in the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC), where the biggest names, manufacturers and suppliers gather to exhibit and sell their products.

You’d be able to find anything music related, with an expected 150,000 visitors a day. Pretty crazy, I know.

Vincent Woo of Rainie Ukelele and Guitars.
Rainie’s highlight- Guitars and a Ukelele in collaboration with Momotaro Jeans, Japan.
Takahisa of Matsu Guitars shared a space in our booth.
Maurizio Caduto of Maurizio Uber Basses. An Italian based in Malaysia, he crafts his basses in his workshop in PJ.
Some new offerings from Maurizio Uber Basses.
Adam Chan from Singapore (Adam Chan Guitars).
Friends from Hong Kong and Taiwan would usually never fail to visit. Also pictured with Karan (Bigfoot Guitars) and Takahisa (Matsu Guitars).
Jeff with Sohei, Reeve Jia Ming and Casper Esmann. All very established fingerstyle players.
Karan and Jeff, pictured with James and Neo of TrueTone Instruments Factory based in Guangzhou.
My personal highlight would be meeting Bob Taylor (Founder of Taylor Guitars) in person.
Jeff and Bob Taylor.
Andy Powers also present to sign some autographs.
Steven (I Love Music) from Taiwan conducting an interview with Jeff.
Special appearance by Huang Guo Lun.
Celebrated the closing of the show with a good meal after a great run this year selling 5 of 7 instruments we brought over.
Homebound.

Hope you enjoyed these photos!