Mr Tara's guitar building journey at Thomas Lloyd Guitars...

This post is all about Mr Tara and his guitar building journey.

Regular readers will remember me making reference to Mr Tara and his guitar building ways over the last couple of months.  Well he has now finished the guitar so I thought I would share the journey with you.

Mr Tara built his acoustic guitar at Thomas Lloyd Guitars in Montsalvat, an artists colony in Melbourne.  Here Chris Wynne runs his classes in an old mud-brick workshop surrounded by peacocks and geese.  There is always plenty of fun and laughter in the workshop and it was always nice to drop in on the class after my market on a Saturday. 

I like the smell of a wood working workshop (that's a lot of "w"s...).  I like all the dusty tools, the grades of sandpaper, lumps of wax, curly wood shavings... all that stuff.  I like watching Mr Tara using the tools because I wouldn't know one end of wood plane from the other. I like being around places and people that teach me things.   I like the peacocks.  Yes, I like them best of all!

Here is the story in pictures...

Thomas Lloyd Guitars...

Mr Tara in the workshop...

A gaggle of geese wander on through...

The guitar is made from native Australian salvaged timbers (yay! says the tree hugging nomadic one).  Mr Tara's guitar has Sassafras back and sides with a Huon Pine soundboard.  Here are the sides...

 

The back with its bracing

This is the soundboard (configured for a lefty)...

Back and sides all finished - seems a shame to cover it up really...

Progressing along... body is all attached and the bindings are sitting there ready to be glued on...



The mud-brick workshop with Mr Tara disappearing from the shot...

Getting close to the end... putting the fret post thingies in (I'm making the terminology up now...)

Here it is finished... I can't believe how beautiful it is...

Rosette with Paua shell inlay (a nod to our Kiwi heritage!)

Every angle makes me go ahhh!

Little bit of Tiger Myrtle inlay at the bottom...

 

Here he is strumming the first note...

I do hope you enjoyed seeing how an instrument is made.  It's been so much fun for me watching from the sidelines as this beautiful instrument was made and now has pride of place in our home.  Every night I hear it being played and seriously, I know I'm Mr Tara's biggest fan, but it makes my heart sing!

 

Tara x

 

PS.  I'll just sneak a couple of peacock pics in here at the end...