Flaxwood is a Finnish manufacturer of guitars and instrument parts based in

North Karelia North Karelia ( fi, Pohjois-Karjala; sv, Norra Karelen) is a region in eastern Finland. It borders the regions of Kainuu, North Savo, South Savo and South Karelia, as well as Russia's Republic of Karelia. It is the easternmost region of Fin ...

. The company manufactures instruments from natural fibre-reinforced thermoplastic through a patented injection moulding process. Flaxwood was founded in 2005 following a research project on natural fibre-reinforced thermoplastic composites led by Heikki Koivurova. A prototype was developed initially in 2003 with the design input of Luthier Veijo Rautia and two years later Flaxwood introduced their first line of guitars. In 2011, they released a line of hybrid guitars.

Design

Material

The body, neck and backplate of a Flaxwood guitar are made of a fibre-reinforced thermoplastic composite. The composite material, also known as Kareline FLX, was developed through a collaboration between Heikki Koivurova, an industrial designer from

Joensuu Joensuu (; krl, Jovensuu; ) is a city and municipality in North Karelia, Finland, located on the northern shore of Lake Pyhäselkä (northern part of Lake Saimaa) at the mouth of the Pielinen River (''Pielisjoki''). It was founded in 1848. The ...

, Kareline, a Finnish manufacturer of composite materials, and the then

University of Joensuu The University of Eastern Finland ( fi, Itä-Suomen yliopisto) is a university in Finland founded in 2010 with campuses in Joensuu and Kuopio. History The Finnish Parliament passed the Universities Act on June 16, 2009, which, among other thing ...

. It consists of small wood fibres, in this case from recycled northern spruce, mixed with a thermoplastic bonding agent.The semi-liquid mixture is moulded into shape with the fibres set in a predetermined direction. This results in a uniform material with a density of 1 or 2 kg/cm³ (74906 lb/ft³) that can be recycled.

Manufacturing

Flaxwood produces and assembles their instruments and parts in Joensuu, Finland. The parts that come out of the mould are shaped with the cavities, pockets, joints and practically all the holes. They are then assembled and finished by hand with tools that are commonly used in traditional guitar workshops.

Products

Guitars

Flaxwood Series

The guitar models of the regular line come with approximately similar features and various pick-up configurations. The bodies are semi-hollow with a backplate and come with either a Gotoh 510UB hardtail bridge, a Gotoh GE-103B tune-o-matic bridge or a Schaller LP tremolo bridge. The glued in necks feature 22 medium jumbo frets, a 25.5" scale length and a 1-11/16" Tune-X Tuning System nut. Almost each Flaxwood guitar bears a Finnish name representing its main personality and characteristics.

Instrument Components

Since 2011, Flaxwood has launched a line of components for music instruments such as bolt-on guitar necks, guitar blanks and fingerboard blanks for

bowed string instrument Bowed string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by a bow rubbing the strings. The bow rubbing the string causes vibration which the instrument emits as sound. Despite the numerous specialist studies devoted to ...

s. Some of the components are used by other companies like the German violin manufacturer Mezzo-Forte.

Notable players

Les Dudek Les Dudek (born August 2, 1952, at Naval Air Station, Quonset Point, Rhode Island, United States) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. In addition to his solo material, Dudek has played guitar with Steve Miller Band, The Dudek-Fin ...

* Bugs Henderson *

Phil Palmer Philip John Palmer (born 9 September 1952) is a rock sideman and session guitarist who has toured, recorded, and worked with numerous artists. He is best known for his work with Eric Clapton and Dire Straits. Biography Palmer grew up in nor ...

Dean Parks Weldon Dean Parks (born December 6, 1946) is an American session guitarist and record producer from Fort Worth, Texas. Albums Parks was member of the North Texas State One O'clock Lab Band before moving to Los Angeles to work with Sonny and Cher ...

Waddy Wachtel Robert "Waddy" Wachtel (born May 24, 1947) is an American musician, composer and record producer, most notable for his guitar work. Wachtel has worked as session musician for other artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks, Kim Carnes, Randy ...

* Dave Young

References

External links

Official website
{{Portal bar, Companies, Finland, Business and economics Guitar manufacturing companies Manufacturing companies of Finland Finnish companies established in 2005 Manufacturing companies established in 2005