Thread: Girl makes her first Guitar in Aussie Timbers!

Hi Kiwigeo,

Yes thats for the quick hr rate calculation. We had to do all the work, absoulutely nothing was done for us ( in this level course).

Looking forward to making a classical or now accoustic bass next year.

I also posted in the Events area (Did not think anyone would give replies obviously while I was away they all got very excited - as have I)

All good

Fiona

"..you pay $45 plus an hour for a plumber to fix a tap washer in your laundry"

I paid 2 builders 55 bucks an hour each to shoot nails into framing timber....could have hired the gun and done it myself. <shrugs> Its all relative I guess.

Originally Posted by kiwigeo

Grant,

Your time at Maton gives you a definite edge over rank amateurs like myself. Im envious..would love to spend a few months working at Maton.

Martin, I don't know about that. ..Although I did have a lot of opportunities to do lots of different tasks over the 4 years i was there.....and to do certain procedures repeatitively and quickly. There is alot of stuff i have not done at all..
Its certainly guitar making on speed.....like you said before 200 hours for one of your non fancy ones ....where as i think we would be working somewhere around 10 hours or less for basic model......but a CNC is roughing necks and making and slotting fingerboards.....

To give you an idea...when i was in assembly.....my job was to fit necks, radius F/B ,plane the fall-a-way, glue on fingerboards ,fret the neck ready for dressing, shape the neck and final sand neck ready for paint, cut slots in the face for any piezo system and output jack, fit and glue in nut...and we were expected to complete 5 guitars a day...which was guitar making at a rapid rate of knots..... and in there somewhere you had to keep your tools sharp ....you get it down though .sometimes i could fit a dovetail neck in less than 5 minutes others would take 40 minutes of frustration to get a tight fit with the right angle....you had one eye on the clock .which could be quite stressful..you knew exactly where you were supposed to be and it was a race to get to certain tools before the other assemblers otherwise you'd have to wait.....which there was no time for ...

In the prep department i started in we used to start the week on a 100 grit hard belt sander truing up the solid timber bodies (not ply) to prepare for cutting the the binding channel which involved lots of different routers and jigs because of the many models . Then we bend all the binding and bind the guitars ...then scrape the binding down ...then knock the binding down on the face and backs on a slack belt sander....then do any abalone inlays and backstrips and sand that down....we'd also cut all the dovetails in the necks and bodies ready for assembly.and then if thats not enough we'd have to final sand all the guitars from the previous week that we'd sent to the assembly department ready for paint shop...3 of us on a good week sometimes would do 100-120 guitars.

Now ....I've just spent 2 weeks making an outside mold and its still not ready.....
so there is a lot of stuff i have never done like finishing which is the one thing that seems so far removed from anything i know.....i know nothing about bracing....or carving a neck without half of it being done by computer routers....i've never bent sides .....or made the body for that matter...

sorry for the long story on basically saying I'm envious of the guys that can do it from start to finish thats the goal

The question was under the other thread you were using and was about what booth number you were on So much to do.... Not much point in answering him now.
I have never said the guitar was not real, just that the pictures I saw showed a better quality unit than I would expect from 60 hours of construction. If I understand you correctly, this was made totally by you, which means it is not represenatative of what you said was incorporated in the course you've been selling..(sorry enthusiastic about.)
Last comment, I've got a real world to find

Hey Fiona,

I was just looking at the guitar making site and was wondering who is "Thomas Lloyd" ?
cheers

Had to step off my lurkers box to say hi and compliment the guitar you made ....Having seen it up close at the wood show....well it is a very nice piece of work. I walked up to the stand whilst you were taking questions from a bunch of young 11-14 yr olds on the saturday and I have to say your enthusiasm and patience with the kids was exceptional.

Originally Posted by gratay

Hey Fiona,

I was just looking at the guitar making site and was wondering who is "Thomas Lloyd" ?
cheers

Think Fiona already answered this one..I recall asking the same question a while back. I think Lloyd was a student of Phil Carson-Crickmoore in Melbourne. Fiona will correct me if Im wrong. Phil runs a guitar building school down at Williamstown in Melbourne.

Ok...thanks martin,
I really like carson - crickmores work as well...beautiful guitars
I have 2 friends that play crickmores ...ones got an om style and one has an archtop ...both sound amazing

Thanks guys for the feedback. Yeah the school kids were like vultures. You can tell the ones who play electric they charge in and ask loads of questions and there are quite a few who actually are busting to make an acoustic. The lollie bowl on the stand was like bees to a honey pot.

Thomas Lloyd is a family name(sentinmental value) Chris Wynne is the luthier. Phil Carson Crickmore was the person that chris did his first work of art with ( hee hee ). He still has the guitar and it is still holding together!

I still dont quite get it that I actually made my guitar but other students have said the same thing. It is such an amazing experience and not being a player I dont get reminded enought that I made it.

Chris keeps it and plays it. Looking forward to next years adventure!

This is the scourge of Melbourne speaking,

I have spoken to Chris Wynne, regarding the history of Fiona's guitar and he has satisfied my concerns.
Therefore, I wish to say the following,
It is one helluva guitar, beautiful timbers and excellent finish. It is a tribute to Fiona's ability as a student and wood worker and also to Chris' ability as a tutor and Luthier. I am only sorry that I did not get play it.
An excellent, tasteful, unit created in amazing time.
Well done Fiona.

Regards,

Rob

Good to see you got things sorted there Rob. Was getting a bit lost with some of your posts.

Good onya Bob...

Thankyou Rob for taking the time to chat with chris. I am sure he was very polite in giving you the info you needed. Sorry you had to go to that degree and I could not support your enquiries.

I only wished you had come into the stand and had a chat. Several other woodies did and told me thier (code) names just to catch up and of course check out what other students had done. as well.

All good. Brian d is another student on projectguitar.com that is posting a great report on what and how he is making his guitar. Lots of pics and running comentary. He is making a classical in blackheart sassafrass. Arrrrh! (Pirate noise)

Just a simple thanks would have done Fiona.
Sorry but I don't need to know what other students are doing until it appears here.

Take care

Rob