Joseph Quinn Guitars

23/03/2022

I'm very proud to have sent this guitar off to its new owner. It's a short-scale (620mm) classical guitar, with a beautiful, recycled western red cedar top, black walnut back and sides, bunya inlays, and 5-piece black walnut/bunya neck. The bracing is in my favourite Daniel Friederich style - a genius of modern classical guitar design, after the French school of Robert Bouchet.

This customer loved the guitar, not only for its sound, but also because the combination of a short scale length and a thick C-shape neck profile ameliorated his arthritis pain, which rendered standard factory models unplayable for him. I wish it a happy life with its new owner, with many years of enjoying music to come!

04/02/2020

Hi everyone, Here is some sound from my newest classical guitar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pvm0IxhGabo

Images, contact and more at https://quinnguitars.com.au/gallery.html

Demonstration of a Joseph Quinn Classical Guitar. Swiss moon spruce top, black walnut back and sides, reclaimed spotted gum bridge and fretboard, mahogany ne...

27/01/2020

Hi Everyone,

I've been quiet on socials lately, but busy in the workshop. Here are some pictures of the first guitar of 2020. It's only just off the bench, but is already sounding very promising, and it will only improve as the instrument matures. I'm putting together some video and sound recordings at the moment, and they will be ready to share later this week.

It's a classical guitar, with Swiss moon spruce top, black walnut back and sides, Fiji mahogany neck, reclaimed spotted gum bridge and fingerboard, black walnut and sterling silver rosette, fingerboard inlays and headstock, and bunya back purflings, back strip and end piece.

The soundboard bracing is based on a design by the great French luthier, Daniel Friedrich. It has a full-body French polish finish, live back, 650mm scale length, Single-Style Rubner tuners, 21st fret, bone nut and saddle, and a Spanish heel neck join. The nut width is 52mm, up to 62 at the 12th fret, and the string spacing at the bridge is 11.5mm.

This guitar is for sale, direct from me, at a price of $3,000, for about 3 weeks (before I pass it on to a retailer). PM me to arrange an inspection.

03/10/2019

It's a good day when you finally start to have something resembling an instrument!

30/08/2019

This rosette, inlaid in a Swiss spruce classical guitar top, is made from black walnut, bunya, and sterling silver. It's still in the rough at this stage, but all the pieces are glued and leveled :D

22/08/2019

Some quick snaps of before and after the first coat of French polish on my recycled cedar and camphor laurel double top steel string.

06/08/2019

I'm absolutely thrilled with my new shipment of rocklite ebano. This environmentally friendly ebony and rosewood substitute is synthesised from European-grown eucalypts and North American tulipwoods. It has the look and feel of genuine ebony, except with a fantastic, glassy, resonant tap-tone (real gaboon ebony, a threatened species, sounds like a wet brick, and is actually a dreadful tonewood, used mostly for traditional aesthetics). I'm using rocklite at the moment for bindings, fingerboards, bridges, and headstock plates, but I can't wait to try it as a back and side set, after feeling and listening to these fingerboard blanks. It seems to have that magical combination of hardness and lightness that made Brazilian rosewood famous for musical instruments before it was banned. (the picture shows rocklite faux ebony, but faux rosewood is also available).

02/08/2019

A few behind-the-scenes pics from the workshop: some very exciting projects in the pipeline, and some beautiful tonewoods ready for building.