About Mestric Guitars

The Builder

"Mestric" is my surname. I put it on the headstock because every guitar that leaves this workshop carries my reputation with it. There's no gap between me and the work. — Rob Mestric

Background

Rob Mestric built his first guitar at seventeen, winning first place in Design and Technology across western Sydney. He studied music at the University of Western Sydney, entered the guitar industry at nineteen, and opened Port Mac Guitars in Port Macquarie in 2003. The store was twice recognised at the NAMM Show in Nashville as one of the best music retailers in the world, and over the years evolved into a specialist guitar repair, refret, and PLEK setup service trusted by players across Australia.

That work — years of repairing, setting up, and handling vintage and high-end instruments daily — is where Mestric Guitars really began. Rob developed an intimate understanding of how genuine vintage guitars feel, age, and play. The specific yellowing of old nitrocellulose. The way a well-worn neck sits in the hand. How decades of playing mark a fingerboard. That hands-on knowledge is the foundation everything else is built on.

Development

In 2023, Rob began developing his own aging and finishing techniques — not a recreation of any specific vintage model, but a refined distillation of what makes those instruments feel the way they do. Lacquer checking, hardware patina, fingerboard wear, neck contour — each detail was studied and practised until the result was an instrument Rob himself would want to play.

The Foundational Run — ten individually built guitars — launched at the Sydney Guitar Show in March 2026. Three sold on launch day, to buyers who had followed the build process on social media for over a year.

How Mestric Guitars Works

Every Mestric guitar is built as a complete instrument before it's offered for sale. The colour, the aging character, the story — all of it is determined by Rob, not by a customer brief. He doesn't build to order and won't build anything he wouldn't want to keep. The right player finds the right guitar.

Fingerboard Aging

Ask any experienced vintage player what gives away a hand-aged guitar, and they'll point to the fingerboard. Most builders who age guitars wear the body and hardware but leave the fingerboard untouched. Rob doesn't. Every Mestric fingerboard carries wear that reflects a specific playing style, era, and technique. A blues player from one decade leaves different marks than a country player from another. This level of fingerboard aging detail is a genuine point of difference — and it comes from years of studying the real thing up close.

Production

Output is limited to one to two guitars per month. Each instrument spends months in Rob's hands: body shaping, fretwork, pickup winding, nitrocellulose finishing, aging, and a full PLEK setup. There's no production line and no team — it's Rob, his workshop, and the guitar.

Handcrafted in Port Macquarie, Australia

Every Mestric guitar is built, aged, finished, and set up in Port Macquarie, NSW. Raw bodies and necks come from premium Japanese suppliers; hardware from Gotoh. Everything else — the shaping, fretting, finishing, aging, wiring, and setup — happens at Rob's bench, by hand.

If you'd like to try a Mestric guitar in person, get in touch. Visits are by appointment, which means you get Rob's full attention and the chance to play the instrument before you decide.