Recently in February, we had the privilege of getting in touch with Trevor Woodland of Vigilant Guitars, which specializes in highly custom and tailored guitars here in Victoria. Having seen some of our content related to the millwork of our shop, Trevor was curious about if we would consider guitar applications. It’s no secret we’re fans of guitars, we have two in the shop and twice as many players. We’ve been great appreciators for the delicate and bespoke work of luthiers, and we’ve been wanting to try our hand at it forever! Needless to say, we were thrilled when Trevor came down to the workshop for a tour.

Matthew and Trevor were quick to share an appreciation for fine woodwork, and Trevor very kindly offered us the opportunity of a tree’s lifetime; to participate in the renowned Victoria Guitar Show! He recommended that our supply and facilities were perfect for producing guitar blanks.  

A very special thank you to Ronan Bowman (@rognantookaphoto) for all the snaps!

Guitar blanks are dimensional sections of wood, and are usually composed of body blanks, side blanks, and neck blanks. A skilled luthier can carve these into the guitar of your dreams! Certain species make for better guitars, and the more charactered the wood, the more interesting the look. As it so happens, we have all that and more!

It was time to get to work! After some study of what makes the optimal blank, our whole team got to processing. The first step of course is to choose the right wood. We may have a considerable and sustainable stockpile of Victoria’s finest, but only the best of the best can make the cut for guitar blanks. This means we needed the lumber with the best character and grain, particularly in the yew, cedar, fir, and maple species. These species are known as tonewoods, and each gives a unique character to the final guitar product. For example, softwoods like cedar are better for a warm sound, and for guitarists with a softer touch, whilst hardwoods like maple are more used for their vibration absorbing tendencies. 

We were quick to identify and draw out the perfect specimen from our lumber stock. Soon, the larger pieces were arrayed for initial processing. Before this began though, we used a luthiers guitar prototype to sketch out a guitar template onto a thin piece of plywood. 

With no small amount of focus, these were cut out into the perfect reference templates! Using these, we cut down the larger slabs of wood into the suitable sizes for body blanks, being sure to trace the shape into each piece and get a sneak peak at the guitar it would be!

Next came the millwork. We began to pass our body blanks through the jointer, planer, and sander, to make its surface perfect for any luthier. Body blanks are the predominant piece in guitar making, but equally important are the side pieces and the neck, which we began to process with lumber of a more appropriate dimension. All three types of pieces were organized together and underwent quality control.

Some samples were deemed non-optimal, due to their natural conditions, such as their size, grain, holes, or knots. As our workshop is primarily a live edge centered space, however, there were some pieces with some truly unique characteristics, which we thought a discerning luthier might appreciate as a worthy challenge and exciting investment.

After three days of tireless production through various stages of millwork, our body blanks were ready! Each blank had been sanded with great care by two teams of two apprentices each. The fine sanding allowed the texture to pop, allowing more optimal guitar conditions. We couldn’t help but trace guitar templates onto the body blank pieces with the hope to see what kind of guitar it would make! 

In our excitement, we wanted to take it a step further. Though luthier’s generally tend to finish the guitar themselves, we tried our hand at finishing a few pieces. Wow! That character really popped. In the least, these samples might give an idea of some of the possible ways a guitar could shine.

We would love to see you at our booth at the Victoria Guitar Show 2024! You can find the show April 27th at the Victoria Conference Center, between the hours of 10am to 3pm. We’re going to be displaying a selection of our best display of body, side, and neck guitar blanks, as well as some services which may be of use to luthiers and woodworking enthusiasts otherwise.