I have managed to establish a relationship with a US supplier that is willing to export one-off body blanks of genuine, premium-grade...

If you have any familiarity with the history of Gaskell Guitars you know that from the very beginning I have condemned Gibson and...

As part of my experimenting with factory-made guitars in 2023, I spent a great deal of time researching whether there might be a need in...

All Gaskell Custom Shop guitars are 100% made in Australia using the highest quality tonewoods, hardware and electronics sourced from all...

It's been a good year for Gaskell Guitars, hardly sustainable (hence why I have a "job" too) but still worth it, even if just...

Is there such a thing? Do you have to think about this when buying or upgrading a lefty guitar? Electric guitars have two types of...

Trichilia is a Mahogany family genus with 70 species, four of which are native to Africa and the remainder native to West Indies and ranges from Mexico through Central America to Brazil and Bolivia in South America. There are 43 species alone in Brazil. Two of the four African species have timber uses and one species of the American species is recognized for its timber uses. 

Turraeanthus africanus is a single Mahogany family genus/species native to Africa. It is most known as AVIDORE but also goes by the English names AFRICAN WHITE MAHOGANY and rarely as AFRICAN SATINWOOD. It is the lightest-coloured Mahogany family timber being a cream or pale yellow and can have figure.

Carapa is a Mahogany family genus with two species native to Central and South America and one species native to Africa. Timber from this species is otherwise sold as "Crabwood", "Andiroba", "Demerara mahogany", or "Bastard mahogany."

Melia is a Mahogany family tree with three species, one of which yields high-quality timber but has no commercial or export interest. This species yields timber that is reddish-brown with a straight but coarse grain. ​

Guarea is a Mahogany family genus with 71 species native to Africa and Central and Latin America. Two species in Africa have timber uses and two species in Latin America have timber uses.

Cedrela is a Mahogany family genus with 13 accepted species native to the Carribbean and the Americas. Botanically Cedrela is the equivalent of Australasian Toona except that it is native to the neo-tropics. Collectively it is usually traded as "Cedro" or "Spanish Cedar." There are four main commercial species.

Entandrophragma is a genus in the Mahogany family with 11 species, native to tropical Africa. Five of the eleven species have timber uses and are traded individually under different trade names.

Toona is a Mahogany family tree native throughout eastern Europe, northern Asia, South East Asia, and Australia. Botanically it is the equivalent of Cedrela which is otherwise native to Central and South America. There are four Toona species (some sources say five), each with their own trade names. Timber from the Asian species are often just called TOON or SURIAN no matter the species. The Australian species is almost always called RED CEDAR.

Just an update on the builds going in the shop. I have finished just about all the Christmas builds and we are still on target for our...

Firebird guitars have been around since the late 1950’s. There are two distinct and unique characteristics about Firebird guitars: they...

And even more OCTOBER, 2008 - what a month! Well, this is not good news for Australians, but the Australian dollar has dived 35% in the...