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All Liddy instruments are hand crafted by John Liddy |
A Personal Word from John LiddyMusic is extraordinarily important for the human spirit. I feel privileged to be able to contribute by making instruments to the best of my ability. I believe good carved top instrument making has four essentials
Integrity of craftsmanship The instrument must be skilfully put together. Joints must fit tightly before gluing. Joints filled up with glue do not produce good instruments. Correct alignment of the component parts is crucial. Tops and backs have to be smoothly and evenly graded. The finish should be kept thin so the full acoustic potential of the instrument is reached. Correct tuning of the plates This is where the skill of the instrument maker is most evident. Carved top instruments cannot be made to a formula. Every piece of wood has its own characteristics. The top and back plates are tuned individually, and then fine tuned to work together when they are assembled. Intuition and experience guide the maker here. Playability It goes without saying that instrument set up is crucial to performance of the instrument and the comfort of the player. The neck must be able to be straightened without a twist, and be adjustable to provide relief where this is desired. The neck shape should feel comfortable to the player. The frets need to be of even height and the fret ends filed free of any sharpness. Aesthetics This is where the maker pays homage to the Music. The music Gods smile on aesthetically pleasing instruments. Have you ever wondered why all other things being equal, the prettier instrument will sound better? The music Gods are responsible for this. Also, we are using trees to make these instruments. I feel an obligation to do the best I can with the beautifully figured wood they provide. Even if this may not get the tree Gods completely on side after we have cut down one of their number, but I feel sure it will at least mollify them. History I made my first guitar in the early 1990s for my young son who had just started to play. It was a Telecaster copy and little did I realise the implications this project would have. The first archtop guitar soon followed. The wood tone blew me away. I came from a background of fine woodworking. Suddenly, I was making things that were alive, rather than furniture whose destiny was to sit in a corner looking nice, waiting to be dusted every now and then. Full blown obsession with making carved top instruments soon developed. Every instrument I made I tried to make better than the previous one. The quest for the perfect instrument was on! Will it ever end? Not when I know that even if I could make a perfect instrument, I could always make one better! (In surfing parlance – this is my endless summer searching for the perfect wave). I would like to thank
those who have helped me along the way. Mr Terry O’Riley got me started on this
with his enthusiasm. His encyclopedic knowledge of guitars and mandolins and
their history was invaluable. My son Matt, no longer so young, who was the
trigger for the venture and has taken an ongoing interest around here as . I
am grateful for the continuing support of the rest of my family and friends. I
would like to thank my fellow instrument makers, living and dead, for their
inspiration, support and camaraderie. Thanks to the numerous musicians
(especially in the early days - the jazz guitarists), who pointed out where I
needed to lift my game, road tested instruments, let me know what their
requirements were and sometimes even parted with the folding stuff.
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