Phil Dawson Handcrafted Guitars

Phil Dawson Handcrafted Guitars Custom guitar making and guitar timbers for sale

Flood damaged guitar repair. This Maton was caught up in a flood event and was found floating around a room. The back an...
19/08/2025

Flood damaged guitar repair. This Maton was caught up in a flood event and was found floating around a room.
The back and top had swelled and detached from the sides. Some of the internal braces had popped off.
After some stretching clamping and re-gluing I managed to get it back to a playable state. Some pics of before and after and some home made clamping tools.

A nasty injury in for repair. It’s hard to make these kind of wounds disappear.
19/05/2025

A nasty injury in for repair. It’s hard to make these kind of wounds disappear.

This is a restoration of a 1966 Kay Speed Demon. The neck was reshaped, reprofiled and re-fretted. The body was stripped...
31/03/2025

This is a restoration of a 1966 Kay Speed Demon. The neck was reshaped, reprofiled and re-fretted. The body was stripped back, new binding installed then resprayed in the original two tone burst. The original lacquer was quite damaged and checked. New Kluson tuners were installed and the wiring tidied up. Some before and after photos.

In 1973 I owned a Walnut Gibson 335, unfortunately I sold it, a sale I later regretted. I finally replaced it with one I...
31/03/2025

In 1973 I owned a Walnut Gibson 335, unfortunately I sold it, a sale I later regretted. I finally replaced it with one I built out of Australian Red Cedar. Unlike the pressed plywood Gibson this one is a solid carved top and back with bent sides. The neck is Aus Red Cedar with a Gidgee fretboard and mother of Pearl block inlays. Gotoh tuners, Wilkinson bridge and tailpiece, Epiphone humbuckers. The finish is nitrocellulose with a honey burst.

Happy New Year to all. I thought I’d start the new year off with some pix of an acoustic guitar I just completed. Spruce...
01/01/2025

Happy New Year to all. I thought I’d start the new year off with some pix of an acoustic guitar I just completed.
Spruce top, Indian Rosewood back and sides, a one piece Qld Maple bolt on neck.
Trying a different arm bevel this time with African Bubinga for bindings and arm bevel veneer. Also some nice Abalone purflings.
Ebony fingerboard and bridge.
The guitar is about the size of a classic shape, which is quite comfortable to play .
It is fitted with a K & K Pure Mini pickup.
Overall a nice guitar that sounds clear and even.

I was asked to build a lightweight Tele, so I decided to build two for comparison. The first is a Qld Kauri body and the...
09/12/2024

I was asked to build a lightweight Tele, so I decided to build two for comparison. The first is a Qld Kauri body and the second is a Paulownia body.
The Paulownia is quite a bit lighter than the Qld Kauri. Both have US Maple necks with Indian Rosewood fretboards. They both have Gotoh modern Tele bridges with Gotoh tuners and hardware.

The Qld Kauri Tele has JBE noiseless pickups and the Paulownia Tele has Wilkinson single coils. Both sound great and sound and play like typical Tele’s. The Paulownia has the Pearloid pickguard and the Qld Kauri has the white pickguard. Both have 3 tone burst in nitrocellulose.

Recently my son and I invested in a CNC machine. Simon really worked hard on learning the software and setting up the ma...
14/11/2024

Recently my son and I invested in a CNC machine. Simon really worked hard on learning the software and setting up the machine, so these guitars shown are the first to be cut out and shaped by the CNC. The dark guitar is his original design while the other is a standard Strat.

Repair and partial restoration to K’s Martin. Some before and after photos which really don’t show the extent of the wat...
27/06/2024

Repair and partial restoration to K’s Martin. Some before and after photos which really don’t show the extent of the water damage sustained in a flood event. The fretboard and binding grew in width from excessive moisture. I was able to retain the binding by re-gluing and reshaping both the edge of the neck and the binding. There were numerous water stain marks and mould stains on the neck and headstock. I was able to clean these up, air brush some colour and respray the neck with satin nitro. After a new nut and setup it’s ready to handover.

It’s been quite a busy year, but I managed to fit in this acoustic for myself. It is based on a classic shape with a cut...
18/06/2024

It’s been quite a busy year, but I managed to fit in this acoustic for myself. It is based on a classic shape with a cutaway. I wanted something a little more comfortable, hence the arm bevel.

The top is Cedar, the back and sides are Blackwood. The neck is quilted Qld Maple with an Ebony fretboard, bridge and headstock veneer. Abalone purfling, BWB Maple bindings which I decided I bshould make this time. It has a 25 1/2” scale length which is a first for me on an acoustic. The sound is quite focused and it is a comfortable guitar to play.

This is a Tele I built recently from a bunch of parts I had lying around. I think the body is some kind of pine. I acqui...
02/06/2024

This is a Tele I built recently from a bunch of parts I had lying around. I think the body is some kind of pine.

I acquired it many years earlier, battered and worn, so after much repair and restoration I paired it with a neck that I also built some years prior. I had always wanted to spray a metallic gold finish, one of the more difficult colours to get even. So here it is finally finished after hanging in my workshop taking up space.

The pickups are Wilkinson single coils, the neck is US Maple with a Gidgee fretboard, the tuners are Kaynes locking. It sounds great, it’s amazing how inexpensive components (except for the paint)can look and sound so good.

Address

5 Peak Street
Bateau Bay, NSW
2261

Opening Hours

Saturday 9am - 5pm
Sunday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+61412246876

Website

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