By Lorraine Clarke

VISITORS TO the Rotary Tasmanian Craft Fair this year could follow sweet strains of music in the Community Complex venue to a stand displaying gleaming guitars – acoustic, dreadnought, ukulele, electric, cigar box, lap slide – all hand-crafted with passion by Devonport master luthier Billy Tarrant.

Billy was a Melbourne boy until he married a Tasmanian girl and moved here 8 years ago. He built his first guitar 11 years ago, with help from books and minimal tools.

‘I thought it was amazing,’ he said. ‘But then I met a real guitar maker in Port Douglas who pointed out all the things I had done wrong. So I spent 2 years with him learning how to build real guitars.’

Billy uses more than 50% of Tasmanian timbers in his guitars, but loves to incorporate exotic woods for their specific qualities, such as Indian rosewood, West African ebony, spruce and maple from Canada and Alaska. Bling is added with pawa shell and reconstituted gemstones, crushed to powder and combined with resin.

‘Some people are purists about using only traditional timbers, but the world is looking at alternative timbers now. Each species has its own characteristics and tonal qualities. East coast blackwood is different from west coast blackwood. Blackwood blunts all tools, but it is very strong and gives amazing tone. It is great for the parts that are under tension.

Billy now has a workshop, once the cat pavilion at Devonport Showgrounds. Here, he spends all day creating masterpieces for people who want versions of famous guitars, to combine the features of three guitars into one, or just want the journey of having a guitar specially made.

Some clients need a guitar that will stand up to a shedule of five gigs a week.

A tribute guitar enclosed a father’s ashes inside the neck so that his son could always sit and play the guitar with his dad.

‘It gets quite personal,’ said Billy. ‘My heart is still with acoustic guitars. That’s what I was trained to do. I never thought there was a market for electric guitars, but in the last 2 years, they have become 80% of my work.’

He loves the challenge of making outside-of-thebox instruments. Big Willy’s Cigar Box Guitars are based on those originally made by Negro slaves from throwaway materials such as wooden cigar or shoe boxes attached to a broom handle with one or two catgut strings.

‘These are my over-engineered version,’ said Billy of his beautiful electric pick-up creations.

The crowning glory of Billy’s range is a hollow neck lap slide guitar, based on Henry Weissenborn’s 1920s model. Its superb craftsmanship, mellow tone and unique looks so impressed Craft Fair judges that Billy Tarrant Guitars was the deserving winner of this year’s prestigious $10,000 Premier’s Award.

In addition to building new instruments, Billy also repairs guitars, and runs guitar building tuition courses. http://www.facebook.com/ Tarrantguitars tarrantguitars@gmail.com