“Blueberry Guitars Factory Tour- a photo essay part 1″ | Terence Tan

This week there’s a special photo feature: It’s a photo essay of my Blueberry Guitars factory tour, I hope you enjoy it. It is split into 2 parts and will run on consecutive days. Please allow sometime for the high res. pics to load!

Asian crafted guitars are no longer associated with poor workmanship, sub optimal tone and dismal playability. In fact, instruments from the Pacific Rim are beginning to make an impact on the higher end of the flattop scene. Blueberry Guitars are the latest player on the scene. A partnership between Canadian Based Businessman Danny Fonfeder, Balinese Craftsman Wayan Tuges and Vermont based Luthier educator George Morris, this brand carries the unique marriage of Balinese relief carving, American School Lutherie, modern international marketing and sales.

I was very lucky to be given a tour of the workshop by Wayan himself and I present for your appproval, a photo essay of the tour. Please click on the images for a larger, high res version.

It starts here- tonewoods are stickered and left to cure for 3 months in a climate controlled room. Wayan is placing an emphasis on locally sourced woods such as Balinese Acacia, Balinese Temple Wood, Indonesian Ebony, Sonokeling and Plantation grown Mahogany. Alaskan Spruce and Red Cedar account for the majority of top woods used at Blueberry.

The tops are thicknessed, jointed and then braced up. You can see the traditional go bar deck in action,. but also note the non traditional double X brace and the bottle of Elmers’ glue- Wayan’s current choice.

The backs receive the same treatment and after braced up are placed in a dry box.

The sides are bent on a fox style bender which to me has always resembled a medieval torture device.

The top then goes onto the sides and boxes are now in the process of being cleaned. The quality control is quite strict, the inside must be free of glue spills, unslightly joints or stray bits of wood.

Once the box is complete, the body is sanded and given a sealer coat of shellac and an initial coat of tru oil. Any carvings are then done at this point in time. The process is painstaking- with a single guitar taking over a month to complete the carvings.

The long workbench for the rough woodworking and intarsia work. This is where the necks are carved and assembled with any intarsia or inlay work done.

A selection of inlaid fingerboards resting on the workbench pictured above.

This fellow was having a few engravings added to it’s fingerboard inlays. No guitars were hurt in the process of photographing this scene.

Once carved and with the neck attached, the guitars are given a final coat of tru oil before final setup , inspection and shipping to Canada for a further round of inspection. That is, unless the top is destined for coloring. This top has already had a shellac sealer and coat of truoil before having the image and grooves craved onto the spruce top. An pigment is added and then partially removed with alcohol before another coat of tru oil is applied to finish.

And here ther are all ready to be boxed and shipping…. yes, that’s a double necked acoustic- both6 strings but 1 with fanned frets the other orthodox.

Well that’s about it for the contruction process, but stay tuned for more photos of the various features and unusual guitars from the tour!

Resources: See more Dreadnoughts:
Inside look at Blueberry guitars
Blueberry guitars workshop tour- Part 2 of photo essay
Blueberry Guitars Website

©2009 Terence Tan. terence@guitarbench.com

The author and Guitarbench.com wish to thank Danny, Wayan and the team at Blueberry guitars for the opportunity to tour the workshop.

Disclaimer: No part of the trip was financed by Blueberry guitars or their associates. The author received no gifts or incentives other than honest hospitality received at the workshop to produce the article above. The author does not own or represent or otherwise vests interest in Blueberry guitars at the time of writing.

Errors are unintentional although we try very hard not to make them- corrections or feedback are always welcome! Guitars are property of individual owners.

Any infringement of copyright is entirely unintentional. Any copyright issues should be address to: writers@guitarbench.com. We will attempt to resolve these issues quickly. Guitars remain property of respective owners.