Des Anthony Guitars » guitar making is a way of life

Jan. 2011 flood interruption

desanthony — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 10:46:59 +0000

In a couple of day’s time, a report is to be handed down to our Premier of Qld, as to the reasons why our lives have been turned upside down, and our livelyhoods destroyed. My guitarmaking has been put on hold for 6mths while I attended to making our home liveable. It has been a massive task, and I could not have done it without the help of friends and relatives and tradesmen. While my home is liveable again, there is still much to be done, but now I am getting my guitarmaking workshops in order. With the help of a grant from the QRAA, I now have new woodworking machinery to help with the production of guitars.I haven’t been able to do any blogging, as I never had a camera to record anything. Nobody can learn to make a guitar without that handy item.

Floodwater stains timber and wrecks bearings and motors

Learn to make a violin

desanthony — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 11:22:48 +0000

Polished violin

I said I would get it finished, and I did! This is an instrument that I made from a violin making book by Ed Heron-Allen. I can’t play a violin, but it has the same tuning as the F5 mandolins I make. I asked my daughter to play a couple of little melodies, and I was stunned by the quality of tone and the power of the notes coming out of that little box. I can see why craftsmen get mesmerized by this little gem. I have more adjustments to make, like, add a chinrest, lower action, find a case and bow. I thought the pedal steel guitar was difficult, but this violin playing is a real special skill.

Funny looking acoustic guitar

desanthony — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 04:45:26 +0000

Lacquering the violin (minus f/bd)

I am in between making guitars at the moment, so as we are on Easter holidays, I remembered I had been carting around this partly made violin for a lot of years. I got stuck into it and added the purfling, joined the neck to the body, and made the fingerboard. I am doing the lacquering before I add the fingerboard. When I looked inside the ‘f’ hole, my business card inside was dated 7/84, so I’ve been trying to keep the bits of wood safe for 26 years! It’s truly amazing I had no dings to fix up. My middle daughter is learning the violin (3/4 size), so one day she may have the opportunity to try this one (4/4) out.

: Black Wattle back and sides, neck.

That photo

desanthony — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:49:52 +0000

: The resonator cone hole!

Friends have asked me why I picked this particular photo for my blog page. Well, I took it myself with one hand, and it had a piece of wood in it, relating to instrument making, but unbeknown to me, the instrument part was excised, and there you have it.