« 21 » Maton rework
8th May 2012
Cleaning and decorating the Maton guitar
- 11 pictures -
« 22 » Stratocaster rebuild
8th February 2012
Details of a rebuild I did for a Stratocaster rebuild. The original guitar was bought on eBay for $41, it took around 6 months to build and is intended for my son, Jai.
- 36 pictures -
« 23 » Jai at 2 years, 25 weeks
25th November 2011
Pics of Jai from during the week, including visiting South Perth, the Guitar Auction, visiting Uncle Porle and playing at home
- 335 pictures -
« 24 » Bruce Wei inlaid Art guitar special
6th October 2011
My family pitched in to buy me this beautiful inlaid guitar for my 40th birthday. Purchased from Bruce Wei in Taiwan.
- 12 pictures -
« 25 » Kharaj-pancham Sitar
6th October 2011
I purchased this Sitar from a music shop in Sydney, NSW, as they are hard to come by in Perth. This is an 18 string double gourd model, with 7 playable strings, and 11 sympathetic strings, making it a Kharaj-pancham sitar. The two bridges are made of deer horn, and the movable frets are a standard metal braced with string. The top (secondary) gourd is removable, and the hollow back provides a resonance for the player to hear the instrument - removing it via the screw makes the instrument project more towards the front, and would be ideal in an electrified situation. I bought a piezo pickup for this instrument, but it hasn't been fitted yet. The neck and facia is likely made from mahogany (tun wood), and it's decorated with bird inlays, as well as what appears to be the standard red, white and black markings around the instrument.
- 18 pictures -
« 26 » Riverhead Sound Research - Session Electric Guitar (Superstrat)
6th October 2011
The Session (aka known as "Sesh", "Suzie Session" and "Suzie Sesh") is a long standing recording guitar. I don't know a lot about the history of this guitar prior to my purchasing it from a pawn shop in the mid 80's, and in fact I can't find a lot out about the company - apart from they worked out of Japan in the "Headway" factory during the 70's and 80's - the build quality is surprisingly good for a relatively unknown brand, and it was worked for many years on stage and in the studio. 22 frets on rosewood with shark fin triangle inlays, two single coils and a humbucker, which was later replaced by a Seymour Duncan SH-4B. These guitars get mixed reviews (when you can find them!), ranging from "avoid" to "best purchase" - I think mine lands in the later area of that.
- 10 pictures -
« 27 » Roland G-707 Synth Guitar Controller
6th October 2011
This synth controller was purchased back in the early 80's, when Roland were still tuning their synth controlling gear. It was purchased from a hock shop for probably too much money, and was later matched to the synth portion (the Roland GR-700, not pictured here) from a private sale. These are the details from the Roland site:
« 28 » Maton EBG808CL Performer Acoustic Guitar
4th October 2011
I purchased this guitar from the Maton factory in 2004, upgraded to gold tuners and (later) titanium gold bridge pins (Jellifish Hotrods). The soundboard is built from "A" Grade Solid Bunya, and the back and sides from Queensland Maple, finished in the "Satin" look. The fingerboard and bridge are Rosewood and it features a Fishman AP5 pickup system. This new guitar series continues the success of the BG808. It carries the original 808 shape with a slightly thinner body and soft cutaway. Its Bunya soundboard provides the volume and punch to more than compensate for a small body. Comfort and playability are the keys to this purpose built series.
- 10 pictures -
« 29 » Hohner Steinberger B2 bass with GK-3B Midi pickup
4th October 2011
I found this bass for the bassist who was playing in our band in the mid 90's, as he was playing a cheap instrument and wanted to upgrade. He played it for a while, but when he left our band he lost interest in playing and I bought this from him. It's a 4 string, 24 fret, headless and bodiless bass, with neck-thru design and 2 hum-cancelling pickups with passive electronics. Includes the Steinberger licensed bridge on an all maple body and neck with a rosewood fretboard. The neck is thin enough for my small hands and the bass is really lightweight. Later added a Roland GK-3B bass pickup for their 13 pin system, which transmits a signal per string and upgraded the knobs from black to pearloid.
- 9 pictures -
« 30 » Denver EF240BR Acoustic Guitar
4th October 2011
Denver acoustic guitar, model EF240BR. A cheap acoustic I purchased some time in the late 80's as my first acoustic, after going to the music store every day for two weeks. Whilst it's cheap, and probably made from lesser quality woods, the combination of the piezo pickup under the bridge, light gauge strings and the woods give it an unusually rich sound. I've used it in many recordings and gigs throughout the years, and it was my main go to guitar for a long time, traveling with me from west to east and back again. Modified the way the battery was contained inside the body by adding an external battery compartment near the electronics.
- 12 pictures -