A SMALL BUT DEDICATED NUMBER OF craftsmen turn their passion of making instruments into a living. It's a very fine art, and one that rarely gets recognition and appreciation. An instrument maker needs to be c metal worker, a wood worker, a sculptor, on artist and possibly even a musician rolled into one. Just one instrument potentially takes weeks or months of intensive labour to complete.

But finally, these professionals will get a chance to showcase their skills. The innovative Tasmanian Made, Tasmanian Played exhibition at the Burnie Regional Gallery celebrates Tasmania's best craftsmen and musicians. One of the aims is to promote instrument design and building as a legitimate career opportunity, and also to give a chance for makers, musicians and the interested public to interact and demystify the art of instrument making.

Thanks to a $15,000 grant from the Australia Council for the Arts, the Burnie Regional Gallery is putting on the month-long exhibition as port of this year's Ten Days on the Island Festival. On display is everything from finished instruments, working drawings, portly-finished instruments, and even handmade tools to make the products. And of course, the instrument craftsmen themselves.

Gary Rizzolo has been making custom guitars for 25 years. While he admits that mode to-order instrument making in Australia is not exactly a lucrative market, he happily says there's plenty of work for him at the moment. He makes up to seven guitars a year, which is all he can manage. So how long does it take to make a good guitar? "About 300 hours and 25 years of experience!"

Rizzolo was a musician in the sixties, but once he discovered timber, the transition from music maker to instrument maker was inevitable. "When I realized I could join and bend and work with this amazing thing called timber, I was hooked!" he says. A Fine Arts degree later and Rizzolo was able to turn his passion into a career.

The timbers Rizzolo uses are both imported and local Tasmanian, depending on which guitar he's making, whether it's on arch-top, acoustic, electric or bass. He prides himself on the quality of the timber, particularly in today's age where guitar factories are churning out hundreds of standard instruments mode out of plywood and composite materials.

Rizzolo says his background in music has also been invaluable in producing high-quality instruments: "The pursuit of tone is something a musician's ear is trained to follow. I know what sounds good and what doesn't and how to translate that into making a good guitar.”….

… On March 29, the Gig in the Gallery features performances and presentations by the makers and players of the instruments. Musicians taking part include Tasmania's premier solo guitarist Cary Lewincamp, who plays a Rizzolo 7 String Archtop, Musica Dolce, and the leather music ensemble Karlin Love and the Chordwainers.