Thread: Thomas Lloyd Guitars

Day 3 was 8 am to 3 pm and day 4 was 10 am to 6:30 pm.

This is a great course for those that don't know anything about this sort of thing or even woodworking for that matter. None of the wood is precut or pre-bent to shape - you have to learn and then do it yourself. Saw, thickness, plane, (I just love using that violin makers plane) and lots of hand sanding. I reckon one major factor in being able to do things this quickly is having all the right tools and jigs and templates right on hand. I am really impressed with Chris Wynne as a teacher, he generally leaves you to it but steps in quickly when you ask or he sees an impeding problem.

More pictures later - we have to have our guitar completed by the end of this week!

Cheers

Looks great Bob, exactly what Ive been looking for in Sydney. What are the details fo the guitar you are building?

Sebastiaan

Originally Posted by Sebastiaan56

What are the details fo the guitar you are building?

Sebastiaan

Guitar is a slightly tighter waisted dreadnought with Tassie Blackwood back and sides, King Billy pine top, Bunya pine bracing, Queensland Maple neck, and Jarrah edging.

Looks fantastic Bob.
I might drop in and have a look on Thursday. I think it is still open house in Eltham with people walking through the workshop.
Your guitar is going to be great.

Originally Posted by kevjed

Looks fantastic Bob.
I might drop in and have a look on Thursday. I think it is still open house in Eltham with people walking through the workshop.
Your guitar is going to be great.

Absolutely, yep it's permanent open house when classes are on. We get up to 20 or so small groups a day coming through. If nnyone else on the forum want to come up and take a look and chew the fat I'll be more than happy to give you a personal tour. If you don't know what I look like - I''' the ugliest bearded guy in the workshop - also you've seen my tassie blackwood guitar so you should be able to identify me via that!

Were there from 8 am till about 6 pm for the next 4 days. The guitars should be finished on Friday.

Maybe PM me and I'll give you my contact details just in case there are last minute changes in plans.

Love to see you

Last couple of days (Days 5-6-7 of the course) I have more or less finished the body and have been working on the neck and fret board. The neck is rough bandsaw cut to shape and then hand carved (spokeshave, rasps, scrapers and sandpaper).

Tomorrow (day 8) I will be gluing the fretboard on and doing the final carving of the headstock and neck. Then it's sand - sand - sand for a whole day!!

I have heaps more photos but no time to Post. Will do some more - including closeups - when I get time

Cheers

Day's 8 and 9.

First 1 picture show where the whole class was up to by the end of Day 7.

Second picture shows where I was up to by the end of Day 8 which involved gluing on the fret board, shaping the neck and sanding, sanding sanding and losing the skin off my finger tips!

Picture 3 show Most of Day 9's working, fretting and making and adding the bridge and more sanding.

Pictures 4 - 6 show that at the end of the day I managed to get one coat of Danish oil onto the main surfaces.

Enjoy

Hi Bob,
thanks for letting me visit and see your guitar build. It was great to see it in the timber and have a chat.
OK, now the big question? How does it sound?
I'm looking forward to more pics and an update.
With thanks
Kevin

Originally Posted by kevjed

Hi Bob,
thanks for letting me visit and see your guitar build. It was great to see it in the timber and have a chat.
OK, now the big question? How does it sound?
I'm looking forward to more pics and an update.
With thanks
Kevin

No Worries Kev.

Guy was the only guy who managed to complete his guitar yesterday (he was done by Lunch time - so 9.5 days, not bad). The rest of us struck a few problems with the subsequent coats of Danish oil we were putting on yesterday. The high humidity and too thick an application of second coats of oil was taking ages to dry and I wanted to get an extra coat on mine. Rather than rush things, teacher Chris gave us bits of steel wool and cans of Danish to take home with us and we are putting the extra coats on ourselves today and then we will go back Sunday morning to do the setup.

Guy's guitar (000 design) sounded excellent first up and then quickly moved into sensational. I would like to hear it in a years time or so. To book-match the grain patterns on the sides he made the sides about 5 mm narrower than the standard 000 design but the bass is still very full and the high end is really bright and crisp. I would like to make something like that as my next one. If mine sounds anywhere near this I will be very very pleased.

Sunday is going to be a busy day because I also fly back to Perth then. I'll probably post final product on Monday.

Hi Bob,

Wow!! What an experience. What a great effort by you all. I'm impressed!!!

Thanks for sharing.

Cheers
Pops

Thanks Pops.

Yeah I would definitely rate it as one of my best woodworking experiences. The only thing I would rate as better personal WW achievement is building the BIL mill, especially since that was 90% of my personal efforts in design and build, and compared to all the tools I've made the mill works maybe even a little better than I imagined whereas all my other tools never quite work as well as I imagine.

The thing about the TL school of guitar making is the many dimensions to the experience. The school is located in a tranquil, almost fairy tale setting, where you work for up to 10 hours a day using a nice balance of decent machinery, purpose built rigs and jig and darksider tools, and you have some flexibility as to how you want to do things. The patient teacher takes your input seriously and doesn't mind you asking the same question a dozen times. Visitors wander through the studio on an hourly basis and marvel at what is being created. And you can have some really good laughs while your doing it. These aspects alone makes me as a woodworker want to come back again some time.

On top of all that you end up with a very high quality guitar. Although I have always owned (cheap) guitars since I was 15, I am not a musician (I can strum a few chords - the plan is having a really nice instrument will convince me to pick it up more often) but 6 of my 9 siblings and my son (keyboard, trumpet and guitar) and SWMBO (flute) are musical so I have always been around musical instruments and can appreciate a fine instrument in its own right.

I guess a significant question for anyone considering this would be, do you learn enough to be confident enough to have a go at making one yourself? At this stage I would answer yes and I will be having a go, but, I am setting my sights a little higher and am looking at milling and drying some of my own timber as well, so it could take some time!

Cheers

Well Bob,

Thanks for that course overview. Well worth it by the sound of it.

I am very patient so I will be waiting for that showpiece WIL thread to begin, and I know you have some very nice timbers to select from.

We'll all be waiting now.

Cheers
Pops

Many, many thanks for this thread Bob, makes me more determined to find a similar course in my area. Looking forward to your next build,

Sebastiaan

Excuse my ignorance, but on the Thomas Lloyd site I see Chris Wynne, but no mention of an actual Thomas Lloyd. Who's who?

Other than that it looks just great, including your guitar!