Newspapers: Thomas Lytle-Master Craftsman; LaSalle, Louisiana Submitted by Jack Willis Date: 11 Oct 2004 Source: From the Jena Times - Olla Tullos Signal, Woodlands And Waterways Echoes Date: 28 July 2004 ************************************************ Submitted to the LAGenWeb Archives ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** *********************************************** Thomas Lytle-Master Craftsman When Thomas Lytle was attending Jena High School in the early 1950's he was privileged to play on one of the finer high school basketball teams in the State of Louisiana for about three years. Leroy Aldridge, a Natchitoches native, who utilized this long, lanky power forward's hoop skills to full advantage, superbly coached Thomas and his teammates to the point that they were able to win more tournaments than "Sparky" Wade, the later LSU All-American, and his teammates had won in their heyday while playing as Jena Giants. Thomas played in the days when you took on all comers regardless of school size or class; and the lessons of discipline Thomas learned in this venue would serve him well even after he retired as a Forestry Technician with a major timber company in the LaSalle Parish area. You see Thomas Lytle replicates models of an Appalachian four-stringed musical instrument known as a dulcimer. It is a meticulous, time consuming hobby, which when starting from scratch requires about 60 hours to complete a version of this ancient musical device ready for the performing arts. Lytle learned the art from Hilton Lytle, one of his older brothers, who was an instructor at a trade school prior to his retirement also, but now Hilton entertains by playing various musical instruments at an Arkansas State Tourist Center in Mountain View, Ark. Thomas' first try at manufacturing a dulcimer was one created totally from plywood which he maintains has a pretty good sound, and is hanging on the wall of his den as a memento to first efforts. Since that initial experience he has experimented with a variety of woods for assembly points on the instrument, and with a natural bent towards experimentation, his woods selections takes an inordinate amount of time, because some desired woods are getting almost impossible to attain. With the instrument being a derivative of the zither clans, there are two types of dulcimers: one is the hammered type, and then there is the fretted type which Thomas crafts, and is strummed with a felt pick. The modern day dulcimer is actually a very simple, personal instrument with three or four steel strings stretched across a sound box. The first two strings are called the melody strings, and the other two are called the drone strings, and there are usually 16 or 18 frets. Any particular dulcimer may be composed of a pine bottom with a walnut head (Arkansas walnut furnishes the best tone) sporting a spruce top. The sides are lined with cherry and atop the fret board is a bar made of ebony where the strings touch and boasting cypress inner braces. To achieve the instrument's teardrop shape, Lytle uses a hot iron over a wet rag to achieve pliability of the wood, and then shapes it lovingly into a mold of his design. In the final stages of the instrument manufacture, Thomas utilizing a 40-year old drawing knife, which is a vanishing breed in itself, must do much trim work. To create the sound holes Lytle traces his design, and then painstakingly cuts out the desired shape with a very small, thin saw blade. Final touches calls for the use of a chainsaw file to smooth the edges. Taking up much of the total production time is the forming of the head, which is first hewed into a rough blocky shape, that Lytle literally shapes into it's final form with a whittling knife. He also has an array of surgical knives he uses in difficult hard to get to areas of the head. Other tools used in the final stages of completion are a wood rasp, coarse sandpaper and an emery board. Thomas Lytle does not confine his woodworking talents to the crafting of the intricately beautiful dulcimers, but is an accomplished furniture manufacturer also. He has recently completed a solid variegated cedar hope chest that is a work of art, has made a dining room table, an entertainment center and multiple renditions of various types of casual tables. Thomas also has an extensive Native America artifacts collection all neatly and systematically arranged, plus he also collects rare bottles. The prize item in his bottle collection is one of fairly recent manufacture, which is a Coca-Cola bottle inscribed with the words, "Merry Christmas, December 25, 1923." Thomas Lytle is actually a very quiet, shy, multi-talented individual whom seldom speaks unless spoken to, but when he's inserted into his element, which is the world of dulcimers or precision woodworking, then the effervescence of his real underlying personality comes vibrantly alive, like one of his dulcimers in a Master's hands. W&WE (8-28-04) JMW