The Chief

I had a beautiful piece of American flame maple as well, but the board wasn’t quite wide enough for a traditional two-piece back, so I sliced it up and made a three-piece back instead. It all came from the same piece of timber, and once those three sections were together, the figure in the maple really started to come alive.

As I worked on it, the name The Chief just kept coming back to me. It was partly the redwood sequoia, partly the warm reds and oranges in the top, and partly the patterns and colours that started appearing through the maple and the binding. I used genuine celluloid tortoiseshell binding because I knew it would really stand out against the pale maple and tie in with the redwood and mahogany neck.

This guitar has a big, lively voice. There’s plenty of rich bottom end, but the trebles still stay strong and full rather than getting thin.

It’s bright, resonant and very responsive, and it’s the sort of guitar that will keep opening up the more it gets played.

The Chief is also serial number 006 and part of my original First Fleet of guitars. At that stage I was starting again from scratch, making moulds, jigs and tools as I went. A lot of work and a lot of trial and error went into those first guitars, so this one means a fair bit to me.