Technical Report for Maton Guitars

The present report outlined below forms part of ACIAR project FST/2016/151 – Advancing enhanced wood manufacturing industries in Laos and Australia. As part of the project, the University of Melbourne (UoM) and Department of Agriculture Fisheries (DAF) project staff work with Maton Guitars (MG) on various R&D areas nominated by MG that align with the objectives of FST/2016/151. Overall, the main research focus is on enhancing kiln drying efficiencies and utilisation of alternative species in their guitar manufacture. MG has identified the following specific sub-project as a high priority: Improving kiln drying efficiency and best practice. This will include assisting in setting up best practice drying for new kiln investments and running drying trials to improve drying efficiency and consistency. The report presents the results of moisture content profile and residual drying stress tests. The tests were conducted on blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon) resawn billets taken from a batch which showed distortion. The ACIAR team conducted detailed moisture gradient testing and residual drying stress tests of 5 billets.