Barebones Folk Instruments

WOW, this is a real beauty. After purchasing both a Barebones Waterview series dulcimer and a baritone Crown Royale uke, one of my South Island clients commissioned this custom 3/4 scale parlour classical guitar in the same design. Some beautiful recycled mahogany for the neck, back and sides with a spruce top, wenge fretboard and walnut for overlays etc.
A few extra customer requested tweaks from a typical classical guitar: A narrower neck (43mm at the nut, 55mm at 12th fret) similar to that found on a steel strung guitar. A full set of fret markers on both the fretboard face and side.
Also, we added 18-1 ratio Wilkinson open geared guitar tuners for ultra fine tuning.

I took it to Ray Taylor for him to test drive.... his comment:
"If she doesn't like it, get her to send it back, because I'll have it!!" 😎

Goodbye to this gorgeous Trad series Mandolin, build #304, a special order by a client who just collected it from the showroom. Some lovely mahogany for back and sides and a spruce top, black walnut scratch plate, overlays etc. Wenge fretboard and ebony floating bridge topped off with a quality set of Grover machines. It has a slightly wider fretboard than standard mandolins to customer specification, and a reasonably wide, deep body. Very pleased with the sound, especially from an instrument that has not been played in yet, and a very nice action. This will mature superbly as time goes on.😎

Just completed in time for Hamsterfest folk festival next week. This Crown Royale model tenor uke has all the goodies you've come to expect from Barebones + more...... All solid woods body, (mahogany with spruce top), NZ native tawa neck, wenge fretboard and bridge, black walnut overlays and inlays. Lightweight Graph Tech planetary tuners for balance, bone nut and saddle and a great action with a deep warm tone.😎

Over the years several people have asked me customise their banjo armrests, adding a wood top to prevent the chrome surface irritating of the skin (hence why I make my Wayfarer banjos with this feature). I'm now offering them as an accessory, available with maple, walnut or mahogany top surface, finished with a hard, gloss lacquer. They fit most 24 bracket 11" head banjos and others with slight modification.

A milestone reached at Barebones... Our 300th stringed instrument produced. Come and visit our display at the Auckland Folk festival, this weekend at the Kumeu showgrounds.😎

Last build for 2025 just completed. Another one of our Wayfarer Irish tenor banjos, to replace stock sold previously. Maple neck, mahogany body with black walnut heel cap and overlay to headstock and armrest. Twin rods through the body secure the neck and aid tuning stability. These are astonishingly robust, despite only weighing around 2.2kg, and they'll fit in a baritone uke bag making them the idea travel instrument. Adjustable truss rod installed under the wenge fretboard, topped with paua fret markers. Sweet action and really easy to play with the 19-5/8" scale.
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