Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Hi again, oops I don't know what happened these photos were not included earlier. Cheers Taff

Hi, This guitar, The Warrior, was built for a customer who commissioned it in memory of his recently deceased father. His father was a woodworker, so I was asked to select the timber from his workshop. He was also a longtime member of the Lions, so also incorporated some memorabilia from that club. ...

Hi Wayne, that’s a well presented and informative post. Thanks for that. I like that guitar too.
Taff

Pricilla TD18… The request for this guitar came via a mate of mine who attended the Top Half Folk Festival in the NT in the early 1980’s. It came written on the inside of a cigarette packet. Along with the request was a long list of inlays and adornments that the customer wanted on the guitar. I tho...

Hi, here's a story on the other end of the scale, which would describe 99.9% of my customers. Having had good support from the musical community over many years, I often try to do folks favors, to give back so to speak, but I find it hard at times. More recent examples stand out over the last 25 yea...

Hi, recently one of my customers came across this and advised me of it. https://reverb.com/item/45050794-2007-taffy-evans-ftnp-mandolin I hope it comes out. I was amazed at the cost of reight. I built one for a guy in Australia and was asked to build one for his family member in the USA. The story g...

Hi, Martin, I do ask for payment up front if the repair cost is more than the guitar is worth, I was only going to charge $20.00 so I'm in front I still have the guitar. Wayne, I have two signs in my shop, [1] No Pay No Play, and [2] Instruments not picked up blah blah, will be considered abandoned ...

Hi Bob, that's a really nice-looking mandolin, I love the back and side figure and the choice of binding.
Taff

Hi, recently my Carbatec dust extractor system died, no go at all. After over 20 years I was not too upset. It had failed to start on its own eight years ago, so I removed the motor cooling fan and fitted a pully to the motor instead, this allowed it to be started with a rope, Lawnmower style. Anywa...

Hi, after bending side since the 1970s, shit can still happen. I used a new set and managed to use the damaged sides on a thin-body guitar. Phew:cl and after, saved good Mahogany. Taff

Oh, I forgot to mention that I was also given these two small shop-made planes a week later. Cheers Taff

Hi, Recently, whilst working in the workshop I heard my dog going off out near the driveway. This is normally an indication that I have visitors or customers arriving. I can usually tell by the tone of her bark and the duration of it, what type of person could be at the door. *Short or no bark = wel...

Hi, that's a really eye-catching Uke, I like the detail.
Taff

Hi again, just another idea my son told me he did, and I tried it, in order to test his newly built side bender he bent up sides using MDF. Keep in mind it is nothing like tone wood. A rule that I made for myself is to treat every repair/task as though one is working on the greatest instrument. I fo...

Hi Amir, it's great to see new people join the luthier community, welcome. I did conversions to guitars of my own and then repairs for others for about 4 years before my first serious guitar build, just to get a handle on the subject. No internet and books were only obtainable from overseas so it wa...

Hi. Eight mandolins, a Ukulele, a banjo Uke, and various necks and fittings were all donated. There’s a longish story about this stash of Mandos told to me by the builder’s son. His father built most of them, but that’s a story for another post, maybe. 2-SAM_3507.JPG Now, where can I store them?????...

Hi, that’s a very classy looking guitar, everything comes together perfectly.
Cheers Taff

Hi, I did not know David either but I'm always saddened when I hear one of our luthier community has passed. I was just looking at photos of a David Churchill guitar I did some repairs on years ago, the label says Handmade for Jeff Lang. RIP David.
Taff

Hi, I had been looking at these Nomad diamond files for a while, and after reading the recent thread on nut files they appeared to be a good buy. But after just buying the Stewmac nut files, mentioned in that earlier post, and seeing the cost of the Nomad files I put off the idea. That was until I s...

Hi Trevor, thanks. Teaching an old dog new tricks is not working easily.
Taff

Hi, Trevor thanks for your response. The bit about saving as admin or one cannot save data, made me think it was a problem and I did not continue.
Cheers taff

Hi, thanks for the comments guys. Dave, I got the inspiration from a guitar that was built for Eric Clapton by Zamaitis Guitars, years ago, and one played by Pete Seeger. Clapton's guitar was called Ivan The Terrible. In mid-1960 I asked Maton to build me a guitar with a heart-shaped soundhole, thei...

Hi, To better understand what you guys are tailing about I purchased Trevor's video from Obrien Guitars. However on trying to set up the VA, I kept getting the error shown here, so gave it away as a lost cause. With the extra info here I might revisit, thanks. Taff

Queen of Hearts… Prior to starting the build of this guitar, I had to give a lot of thought to changing the soundhole size and shape. As you can see it's heart-shaped. I finally settled on a design and the build began. It was to be a special guitar in a couple of ways, 1- to be part of an exhibition...

Hi Bob, getting close to the exciting part of a build. Looks nice.
Taff