Recent Projects
See selected projects from the Strasdin Instruments workshop, including custom builds, experimental designs, finish work, and client instruments.
Custom Blue Guitar Table
A unique furniture piece combining instrument craftsmanship with functional design.
SI150001 Dreadnaught Martin style.
Malcolm built this at Blackforest under the guidance of Doug McLean. This Dreadnought acoustic is labelled as our first official build. Ebony back and sides, sitka spruce soundboard, purple heart headstock
SI150002 Railcar Telecaster
Malcolm’s first electric guitar. Built in LaRivierre Manitoba under the guidance of Jeremy Hamm (Hamm-Tone Guitars) swamp ashe body, walnut neck and century old oak salvaged from an original Canadian rail car (floor
SI160004 00 Parlor
Malcolm also built this with the guidance of Jeremy Hamm (Hamm-Tone Guitars) this instrument challenges the conventional bracing techniques and standard shape of the common parlor guitar. Learning under Jeremy and
SI160005 Dreadnaught Martin Style.
Gord built this at Blackforest under guidance of Doug McLean. Hard rock maple back and sides, sitka spruce soundboard, mahogany neck with maple laminate, maple headstock with mahogany inlay.
SI160006 Kit Stratocaster
This kit guitar was made by Gord as part of a repair course he attended in Manitoba at Hamm Tone Guitars
SI170007 000 Cutaway
Made under the guidance of David Gilmore at Gilmore guitars in Red Deer Alberta. Short scale length with a cedar top, sapele back and sides and a mahogany neck.
SI170008 00 Parlor
Actually slightly smaller than the 00, this is the first guitar built in our studio at home. This guitar has a dark cedar top, black limba back and sides, black hardware and accents, movingui / mahogany neck. I named
SI170009 Soprano Ukulele
Mahogany sides, back and neck, ebony headstock and spruce top. Corian nut and saddle.
SI170010 Soprano Ukulele
Mahogany sides, back and neck with a sitka spruce top. Purple heart bindings, headstock and inlay between fret board and neck. Corian nut and saddle. This is my first attempt at a Spanish Join.
SI170011 Tenor Ukulele
Mahogany sides, back and neck with a sitka spruce top. Black limba headstock, end graft and inlay in the back. Corian nut and saddle.
SI170012
Lots of maple. Maple Back, sides, neck, and fretboard, even maple rosette and end graft. Sitka spruce top with some black / ebony accents. This OM guitar was made with the goal of creating a pickers guitar, thinner neck
SI170013 Tenor Ukulele
Cedar top and mahogany sides, mahogany back with cedar inlay, and mahogany neck. Blue corian accents
SI170014 Tenor Ukulele
Spruce top with mahogany inlay, mahogany back with spruce inlay, mahogany sides and neck with mahogany accents
SI170015 Tenor Ukulele
Spruce top, Mahogany body and neck. Corian headstock and end graft
SI180016 P Bass
Malcolm’s Mr. Bluecollar. Spruce body and plywood pickgaurd, Maple neck with a mahogany laminate and rosewood fingerboard.
SI180017 Cigar Box Guitar
Our first CBG. Partagas Cuban body with maple neck, black walnut fretboard, headstock and bridge. Single piezo pickup. Grover Tuners
SI180018 Cigar Box Guitar
Cigar Box Guitar #2. Camacho body, maple neck with mahogany laminate, black walnut fret board, headstock and bridge. Piezo bridge pickup and a single coil neck pickup. 3 way toggle switch with volume and tone pots
SI180019 Cigar Box Guitar
Cigar Box Guitar #3. Casa Turrent body, maple neck with mahogany laminate, black walnut fret board, headstock and bridge. Piezo bridge pickup and Grover tuners
SI180020
Tenor Ukulele. All black walnut with Grover tuners
SI180021 Cigar Box Guitar
Cigar Box Guitar #4. Cohiba body, maple neck with mahogany laminate, mahogany fingerboard and Grover tuners. Malcolm built this as a wedding gift for his friends, note the headstock engraving.
SI180022
All hands on deck, the ADMIRAL has arrived. This cigar box guitar isn’t a cigar box at all, it is a late 1950’s Admiral radio. I was able to use the original volume pot and nob, added a single coil pickup, movingui neck
SI180023
Meet the Judge, or more formally, Judge Dread (naught) the Banjo Slayer. The inspiration came from a friend a couple of years ago when he was talking about the difficulty finding a guitar that could keep up with the
SI190024 Ele Tele #1
The top of this telecaster is a reclaimed piece of plywood from a grain elevator. A century of grain randomly moving against it carved it into a very interesting 3D surface. It was leveled with clear epoxy and mounted
SI190025 Ele Tele #2
Top is from the same reclaimed plywood as Ele Tele #1, this one has a black walnut body, neck and headstock and Indian rosewood fretboard. D’Addario 18/1 auto trim locking tuners, Seymour Duncan hotrod humbucker and
SI190026 Padron Cigarbox
Black walnut neck, Grover tuners, piezo pickup
SI190027 Casa Turrent Cigarbox
Maple neck with mahogany laminate, Grover Toners, P bass pickup
SI190028 OM (style) named Coco
Torrified spruce top, sapele sides, mahogany back and neck both with movingue inlay, santos rosewood fingerboard, cocabola bridge and headstock.
SI190029 3/4 size 4 String Tele
Named Little Joy because it’s small and made from my friends mothers dining room table. Mystery particle board with mahogany laminate, black walnut neck, mahogany fingerboard and headstock, Grover tuners.
SI190030 Short Scale Bass
Malcolm built this spectacular bass. Spalted maple body, spalted maple neck with movingui laminate, ash back and white ebony fingerboard. Gold hardware and frets and a Seymour Duncan Hot Stack Jazz Bass pickup.
SI190031 Telecaster
This is the second guitar made from my friend’s mother’s dining room table. The body is mahogany veneer over particle board and has been significantly hollowed out to reduce weight. Black walnut neck with a santos
SI200032 Telecaster
PBR Guitar (Pabst Blue Ribbon). The guitar top is heart pine 1×6 paneling from the 1870s Pabst brewery in Milwaukee. Thanks to Darren Cunningham Urban Timber Reclaimed Wood Co. for the wood and the idea. The back is ash
SI190033
Black walnut ukulele with a purple heart bridge, corian nut and saddle, and Grover tuners Tenor Ukulele
SI190034 Tenor Ukulele
A Strasdin Instruments Gallery project.
SI200035 OM Guitar
This OM guitar has a maple body and back, movingui back inlay and end graft, movingui neck with maple laminate, blond ebony finger board and Kluson Deluxe tuners. We had a schnapps party a week ago and I asked the
SI200036 OM Guitar
This is a beauty that Malcolm built, his first acoustic in our shop / studio. Torrified spruce top, maple bridge, santos rosewood finger board, sapele back and sides, maple bindings and mahogany neck with maple
SI20037 & SI20038 Tenor Ukuleles
The Twins Almost identical twins, 37 has a sapele top and back while 38 has a sapele top and mahogany back. 37 is the free spirited flower child while 38 is a bit more complex with two tone tail cap and saddle. Both
SI200039 Parlor Guitar
This parlor guitar is named Joseph. It is made with a sitka spruce top and braces, sapele veneer inside sides, mahogany kerfing, black walnut sides and back, movingui bindings and neck (neck also has a black walnut
SI210040 Not Sure
Well I Made it, not sure what it is but I made it. This is the direct result of listening to The Ozark Mountain Daredevils multiple days in a row, especially Chicken Train. I dreamed this, remembered the dream and
SI210041 Stratocaster
This is Betty, and although very pretty she’s a b**ch. She’s a very pretty stratocaster, flat black with BWB gloss pickguard, blond ebony fingerboard , maple neck with movingui laminate, and Golden age Vintage HSS
SI210042 Tonkori
This was an interesting project. A fellow musician and friend of Malcolm, Norika Yue, asked me if I could build a Tonkori, something I had never heard of. It is a 5 string plucked instrument developed by the Ainu people
SI210043 3/4 Size Travel Guitar
I have worked on 4 Baby Taylor ¾ guitars and they all suffer from a weak neck to body join and mediocre sound, my challenge was to see if I could improve on the Taylor design. The neck to body on this is a 3 point bolt
SI220044 Ukulele
This ukulele has a very pretty mahogany top, sides, and figured sapele back. Maple bindings and headstock, mahogany neck, and Grover open gear tuners. Light brown speckled corian nut and saddle. A new touch, we have
Bullet Stratocaster
We acquired a gutted late 80s bullet stratocaster and used it as a lesson – how to wire and setup from scratch.This was also a lesson on setting up and using a Floyd Rose tremolo saddle and nut.
Stand Up Bass
This was a challenge to take (literally) a box of wood that was once a late 40’s Czech standup bass that had been stored on an outdoor shelf for over 20 years, and try to make it playable. The
1959 Gibson LG3
This little guitar (LG) had a cracked front, broken bridge, cracked and loose brace, worn finger board, seized tuners and more. We are pretty happy with the result.
1958 Harmony H950 Monterey Archtop
Well played but coming apart. The glue had deteriorated and was losing its hold, the back had significant separation and the top wasn’t far behind. The back was removed and the top was repaired from the inside, then the
1990 Larrivee L-25 12 string guitar
A near life ending accident, a heavy trophy from a top shelf landed on this guitar while it was on the floor on its side and split it from neck to end block. Much of the split was along the top edge of the kerfing so a
Plywood Hawaiian
This is the guitar my dad and his brothers all learned to play on growing up in rural Manitoba. It’s a very cheap plywood guitar that they were playing 80+ years ago and who knows if it was new then. It was in poor
Muskets
This was a bit of a departure from my regular projects. I was asked to do some wood repairs on two 1840 muskets. One is an Irish Constabulary issue that had a chunk broken off at the end of the stock, and the other is
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