The instruments we have made
SI150001
Dreadnaught Martin style.
Malcolm built this at Blackforest under the guidance of Doug McLean. This Dreadnought acoustic is labelled as our first official build. Ebony back and sides, sitka spruce soundboard, purple heart headstock
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SI150002
Railcar Telecaster
Malcolm’s first electric guitar. Built in LaRivierre Manitoba under the guidance of Jeremy Hamm (Hamm-Tone Guitars) swamp ashe body, walnut neck and century old oak salvaged from an original Canadian rail car (floor spike included)
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SI160004
00 Parlor
Malcolm also built this with the guidance of Jeremy Hamm (Hamm-Tone Guitars) this instrument challenges the conventional bracing techniques and standard shape of the common parlor guitar. Learning under Jeremy and staying with his family was an honour and a significant learning experience for Malcolm
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SI160005
Dreadnaught Martin Style.
Gord built this at Blackforest under guidance of Doug McLean. Hard rock maple back and sides, sitka spruce soundboard, mahogany neck with maple laminate, maple headstock with mahogany inlay.
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SI160006
Kit Stratocaster
This kit guitar was made by Gord as part of a repair course he attended in Manitoba at Hamm Tone Guitars
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SI170007
000 Cutaway
Made under the guidance of David Gilmore at Gilmore guitars in Red Deer Alberta. Short scale length with a cedar top, sapele back and sides and a mahogany neck.
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SI170008
00 Parlor
Actually slightly smaller than the 00, this is the first guitar built in our studio at home. This guitar has a dark cedar top, black limba back and sides, black hardware and accents, movingui / mahogany neck. I named this guitar Blacky
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SI170009
Soprano Ukulele
Mahogany sides, back and neck, ebony headstock and spruce top. Corian nut and saddle.
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SI170010
Soprano Ukulele
Mahogany sides, back and neck with a sitka spruce top. Purple heart bindings, headstock and inlay between fret board and neck. Corian nut and saddle. This is my first attempt at a Spanish Join.
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SI170011
Tenor Ukulele
Mahogany sides, back and neck with a sitka spruce top. Black limba headstock, end graft and inlay in the back. Corian nut and saddle.
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SI170012
Lots of maple. Maple Back, sides, neck, and fretboard, even maple rosette and end graft. Sitka spruce top with some black / ebony accents. This OM guitar was made with the goal of creating a pickers guitar, thinner neck with tone being a bit bright and brace sculpting aimed at accentuating treble tones. Now if only I new how to play guitar I would know if I succeeded.
I named his guitar Whitey
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SI170013
Tenor Ukulele
Cedar top and mahogany sides, mahogany back with cedar inlay, and mahogany neck. Blue corian accents
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SI170014
Tenor Ukulele
Spruce top with mahogany inlay, mahogany back with spruce inlay, mahogany sides and neck with mahogany accents
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SI170015
Tenor Ukulele
Spruce top, Mahogany body and neck. Corian headstock and end graft
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SI180016
P Bass
Malcolm’s Mr. Bluecollar. Spruce body and plywood pickgaurd, Maple neck with a mahogany laminate and rosewood fingerboard.
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SI180017
Cigar Box Guitar
Our first CBG. Partagas Cuban body with maple neck, black walnut fretboard, headstock and bridge. Single piezo pickup. Grover Tuners
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SI180018
Cigar Box Guitar
Cigar Box Guitar #2. Camacho body, maple neck with mahogany laminate, black walnut fret board, headstock and bridge. Piezo bridge pickup and a single coil neck pickup. 3 way toggle switch with volume and tone pots. Grover tuners
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SI180019
Cigar Box Guitar
Cigar Box Guitar #3. Casa Turrent body, maple neck with mahogany laminate, black walnut fret board, headstock and bridge. Piezo bridge pickup and Grover tuners
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SI180020
Tenor Ukulele. All black walnut with Grover tuners
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SI180021
Cigar Box Guitar
Cigar Box Guitar #4. Cohiba body, maple neck with mahogany laminate, mahogany fingerboard and Grover tuners. Malcolm built this as a wedding gift for his friends, note the headstock engraving.
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SI180022
All hands on deck, the ADMIRAL has arrived. This cigar box guitar isn’t a cigar box at all, it is a late 1950’s Admiral radio. I was able to use the original volume pot and nob, added a single coil pickup, movingui neck with mahogany laminate, vintage style Kluson Deluxe tuners and white corian nut/saddle/tail. I don’t think the pictures do this one justice.
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SI180023
Meet the Judge, or more formally, Judge Dread (naught) the Banjo Slayer. The inspiration came from a friend a couple of years ago when he was talking about the difficulty finding a guitar that could keep up with the volume of a banjo. The Judge has a pre war forward shifted X brace, a full 5″ deep body and double laminated, very stiff sides. I think I succeeded in making a guitar that has huge volume without any sacrifice in sound. The Judge has Honduran mahogany neck, back, and sides, (sides also have two .020 walnut veneers). Movingui inlays, end graft and headstock and spruce top. The neck shape is a modified v.
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SI190024
Ele Tele #1
The top of this telecaster is a reclaimed piece of plywood from a grain elevator. A century of grain randomly moving against it carved it into a very interesting 3D surface. It was leveled with clear epoxy and mounted on a body of ash and black walnut. Maple neck with black walnut laminate and headstock, and a maple fretboard. Ibanez True Duo humbuckers and 3 way blade switch.
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SI190025
Ele Tele #2
Top is from the same reclaimed plywood as Ele Tele #1, this one has a black walnut body, neck and headstock and Indian rosewood fretboard. D’Addario 18/1 auto trim locking tuners, Seymour Duncan hotrod humbucker and P90. Also used a push / pull volume pot to ground out the humbucker slug coil in the up position making it a single coil. This allows for 5 different available sounds.
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SI190026
Padron Cigarbox
Black walnut neck, Grover tuners, piezo pickup
SI190027
Casa Turrent Cigarbox
Maple neck with mahogany laminate, Grover Toners, P bass pickup
SI190028
OM (style) named Coco
Torrified spruce top, sapele sides, mahogany back and neck both with movingue inlay, santos rosewood fingerboard, cocabola bridge and headstock.
SI190029
3/4 size 4 String Tele
Named Little Joy because it’s small and made from my friends mothers dining room table. Mystery particle board with mahogany laminate, black walnut neck, mahogany fingerboard and headstock, Grover tuners.
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SI190030
Short Scale Bass
Malcolm built this spectacular bass. Spalted maple body, spalted maple neck with movingui laminate, ash back and white ebony fingerboard. Gold hardware and frets and a Seymour Duncan Hot Stack Jazz Bass pickup.
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SI190031
Telecaster
This is the second guitar made from my friend’s mother’s dining room table. The body is mahogany veneer over particle board and has been significantly hollowed out to reduce weight. Black walnut neck with a santos rosewood laminate and santos rosewood fingerboard and Golden Age single coil pickup. Her name is Joy.
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SI200032
Telecaster
PBR Guitar (Pabst Blue Ribbon). The guitar top is heart pine 1×6 paneling from the 1870s Pabst brewery in Milwaukee. Thanks to Darren Cunningham Urban Timber Reclaimed Wood Co. for the wood and the idea. The back is ash died blue, ebony fingerboard, maple neck with aspen laminate and the pickups are Golden Age Vintage humbuckers. Instead of dots, the fingerboard has SI logos for frets 3 and 12 and PBRs for the rest. The headstock, control cover, and back inlay are Pabst beer cans flattened and epoxied. I’m really happy with this guitar, it finished at 6lbs 10oz so nice and light, well balanced and sounds great.
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SI190033
Black walnut ukulele with a purple heart bridge, corian nut and saddle, and Grover tuners
Tenor Ukulele
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SI190034
Tenor Ukulele
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SI200035
OM Guitar
This OM guitar has a maple body and back, movingui back inlay and end graft, movingui neck with maple laminate, blond ebony finger board and Kluson Deluxe tuners. We had a schnapps party a week ago and I asked the guests to come up with a name, which basically failed but a wee incident involving some broken crystal has rendered the name, forever forward to be known as Waterford.
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SI200036
OM Guitar
This is a beauty that Malcolm built, his first acoustic in our shop / studio. Torrified spruce top, maple bridge, santos rosewood finger board, sapele back and sides, maple bindings and mahogany neck with maple laminate. Accents are chevrons so her name is Chevelle. Extra features, the fingerboard is a compound 16 – 10 radius and the neck has a compound profile transitioning from a modified V at top and a low C towards the body.
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SI20037 & SI20038
Tenor Ukuleles
The Twins
Almost identical twins, 37 has a sapele top and back while 38 has a sapele top and mahogany back. 37 is the free spirited flower child while 38 is a bit more complex with two tone tail cap and saddle. Both have corian headstock, nut, saddle, end graft, and tail caps. Grover tuners on both.
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SI200039
Parlor Guitar
This parlor guitar is named Joseph. It is made with a sitka spruce top and braces, sapele veneer inside sides, mahogany kerfing, black walnut sides and back, movingui bindings and neck (neck also has a black walnut laminate), wenge fingerboard and wenge bridge, blue corian nut and saddle, and coloured epoxy for the headstock, tail cap and end graft. Gotoh tuners.
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SI210040
Not Sure
Well I Made it, not sure what it is but I made it. This is the direct result of listening to The Ozark Mountain Daredevils multiple days in a row, especially Chicken Train. I dreamed this, remembered the dream and decided to build it. I think I’ll call it a 3 string Bo Diddley washtub electric cigar box cellotair. Malcolm Strasdin is currently the worlds best player and he has about 5 minutes experience
SI210041
Stratocaster
This is Betty, and although very pretty she’s a b**ch. She’s a very pretty stratocaster, flat black with BWB gloss pickguard, blond ebony fingerboard , maple neck with movingui laminate, and Golden age Vintage HSS pickups. Betty is a lightweight coming in at 5.5 lbs. An extra detail I tried just to see if I could, I put a binding on the fretboard and filed the binding over each fret end. The b**ch part is she should have been finished 5 weeks ago but gave me all kinds of trouble, the largest of which was a paint issue that would not cure. After many rescue attempts including baking in the oven I finally had to give up, scrape and sand, and start over with the finish. She’s finally done, sounds good and feels good.
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SI210042
Tonkori
This was an interesting project. A fellow musician and friend of Malcolm, Norika Yue, asked me if I could build a Tonkori, something I had never heard of. It is a 5 string plucked instrument developed by the Ainu people of Japan thousands of years ago. There are some pictures of tonkoris, and there are a few videos of them being played, but no plans and few details available. I extrapolated dimensions from the pictures and had an idea what sound I was aiming for. Tonkoris are always female and have a soul, which is granted by imparting the soul to an object such as a pebble, and placing it in the instrument. Since this has a piezo pickup, a pebble rolling around would be distracting, so I had a glass blower I know make me a marble, with the condition that the marble must have flaws, because people aren’t perfect. I made a retaining ring , epoxied the marble in place, and added a second soundhole above it. I made a short video so viewers can hear it, I doubt I’m getting any gigs though.
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SI210043
3/4 Size Travel Guitar
I have worked on 4 Baby Taylor ¾ guitars and they all suffer from a weak neck to body join and mediocre sound, my challenge was to see if I could improve on the Taylor design. The neck to body on this is a 3 point bolt on, double mortise and tenon, and yes, they are 10-32 bolts into threaded inserts, not screws. For the sound I made a few changes, first the inside sides are double veneered (2 x .020 veneers) making for a ‘drum effect’, lots of projection. Next I used a 24.9” scale length opposed to the shorter scale of the Taylor to create more string tension, better / bigger sound. This did create a couple challenges as well, in order to stay within 21.5” total neck length (airline overhead maximum) I had to end the fingerboard at the 18th fret so it does not cover the top of the soundhole, meaning the rosette had to be very accurate, can’t cover the joints. Also the bridge is lower on the body so some redesign of the x brace was required. I think I succeeded on sound and reliable neck to body. The cute family picture is appropriately against our family picture wall.The guitar has mahogany sides, sapele back, spruce top, maple bindings, mahogany / maple neck and wenge fingerboard and bridge.
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SI220044
Ukulele
This ukulele has a very pretty mahogany top, sides, and figured sapele back. Maple bindings and headstock, mahogany neck, and Grover open gear tuners. Light brown speckled corian nut and saddle. A new touch, we have begun having our logo and serial number info engraved into the inside of instruments instead of a sticker.
