“Nearly all Tasmanian Blackwood comes from the so-called Blackwood Swamps near Smithton in the north west, where almost pure stands of black wood trees occur. Here, the harvest is strictly controlled and the forest is managed on a 70-year rotation. This program protects the continuity of the limited resource and guarantees a small but reliable supply of excellent mature logs each year. More importantly, this cyclic harvest, combined with natural regeneration, guarantees the unique Tasmanian Blackwood resource will be here always.” - Ornamental Tasmanian Timbers.
Having said all that, the thing that really caught my eys was the 8 string Archtop which is actually made from European Fiddleback Maple for the back and sides and a favourite for acoustic and archtop guitars, European Spruce for the top. The neck is 3 piece maple with an Ebony fretboard with your choice of a 24 1/2” or 24 3/4” scale length. The tailpiece is also made of Ebony. The guitar features a humbucker in the neck position and an optional Fishman transducer for an extra $600.
Now if 8 string archtops are your thing and you happen to live in Australia, well anywhere really but you will obviously incur shipping costs, this guitar can be yours for $10,000! Yikes! I think that qualifies for my Really Expensive Guitars category!
