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Day 24: Bridge Engineering

Bridge engineering: I brought my Takamine guitar along today to attempt to create a similar bridge design. My purpose to have a bridge like the Takamine, rather than the standard Maton style bridge that holds the strings in with removable pins, is because I don’t want to fiddle around with pins while changing strings at […]

Day 23: Designing the bridge

It was hard to feel like I got much done today, as the changes are quite minimal in the photographs, but it’s all part of it. Designing a bridge: You may have seen previous photos where I’ve had a bridge positioned on my guitar, but I haven’t actually created the bridge yet. In those photos, […]

Day 22: Fretting!

Frettin’ the fretboard today. Don’t rush, don’t fret! Today’s all about patience, getting it right. The more accurate at this point, the easier the set up will be when it comes time to string the guitar.

Day 21: Shaping the neck

27/3/2012 10am-5:30pm. Shaping the neck, heel block and headstock: Lots of carving, filing and sanding today. This has been one of the most magical parts of the guitar-making journey. To carve a neck, heel block and headstock out of a chunk of wood feels amazing.

Day 18: Hours and hours of sanding….

   DAY 18 – 19/3/2012 10am-4:30pm.   Oh the irony. My first session back since shaving my noggin’ for the World’s Greatest Shave, and the first tool Chris hands me to get on with my guitar is a hair dryer…….

Day 17: Gluing bindings to the guitar body

DAY 17 – 15/3/2012 1pm-5:30pm. Super productive day today. Bang, bang, bang. I routed a space for the bindings, hand bent the bindings, and glued them to the body!

Day 15: Creating the soundbox…

DAY 15 – 29/2/2012 11-5pm. There’s something therapeutic about building a guitar. There’s something relaxing about doing woodwork. A guitar is coming out of the woodwork…

Jenny Biddle wins “People’s Choice Award” at the Tamworth Country Music Festival Busking Championships

Jenny Biddle wins the People’s Choice Award at the 2012 Tamworth Country Music Festival! Performing for nine days straight, alongside over 500 other street performers, Jenny Biddle won the hearts of Tamworth Country Music Festival attenders this January, taking out the People’s Choice Award in the 2012 Australian Country Music Festival Busking Championships. Congratulations Jenny on your […]

Day 12: Joining the sides of the guitar together

DAY 12 – 8/2/2012 10-4pm. I am SO stoked! The two side pieces are now bent into the shape of my guitar. I left them clamped into frames over two days, and released them from the frames today. VOILÁ! The sides held their newly bent shape. They look amazing.

Day 11: To BREAK or not to BREAK!

DAY 11 –6/2/2012 11-2:30pm.  I was a little reluctant for the first day back at the workshop for the New Year, as I knew this session would involve remaking the sides of the guitar from scratch after I broke the cutaway on my first attempt at hand bending. My new sassafras pieces had arrived and […]

Day 7: Creating the soundboard bracing

Creating bracing for the soundboard: Today was all about creating the bracing for the soundboard. This is a detailed process, and there’s a set formula/layout to follow. Altering this formula will have a profound effect on the distribution of the sound across the soundboard, thus altering the sound/tone.

Day 5: Creating the rosette and headplate

I walked through the gorgeous grounds of Montsalvat for another day in the workshop. I think the pet peacock was trying to mate with a duck. The duck did NOT look impressed. It was a little awkward…

Day 4: Carving back bracing, kerfed lining, picking soundboard and cutting the neck.

Wow, got a lot done today. Piece by piece it’s coming together. Things I expected to be ages away are happening now. Think I’ll miss the process when it’s all done. But there’s still a way to go.

Day 3: Carving Back Bracing

On arrival today I was to test if the glue had repaired the inch crack through my cutaway. No.

Day 2: Creating Guitar Back, Bracing, and Hand-Bending the Cutaway

It’s now been three weeks since I last worked on the guitar, as I’ve been away on tour. And I can’t tell you how much I’ve been itching to get back into the workshop to continue.

Day 1: The Making of Ann-Marie (Acoustic Guitar)

I stepped onto the beautiful historic grounds of Montsalvat and headed through peacocks and huge scary geese (it’s mating season) to the THOMAS LLOYD GUITAR WORKSHOP (www.thomaslloydguitars.com.au) to begin my 10 week acoustic guitar making course.

Blog: Building a Guitar

For a long while I’ve had the desire to make an acoustic guitar. Back in year 12, as part of the HSC Design & Tech major work, I made a portable electric guitar that won a Design Tech Award, 2002.

Tamworth

Runners Up at the Tamworth Country Music Festival 2011

This January, in boots, a flanny and cowboy hat, Jenny Biddle hit the Tamworth Country Music Festival for the first time. Jenny joined the other 500 buskers that built up a storm on Peel St for the 9 days of the festival. In 35°C heat, Jenny set up her busking rig outside Jeans West on […]