Great Southern Lutherie Website Launched

Wow, August '07 was my last post. Interesting.

These last 9 months have been nothing short of intriguing. Probably the highlight in recent times has been the Playmakers event, held in Albany as part of the Perth International Arts festival (PIAF). Scott Wise & Paul Duff turned up, as did Mike Compton & his mandolin from the USA, along with the maker of Mike's manolin - Steve Gilchrist. It was a fantastic weekend, culminating in a gig put on by Paul Duff's band, Bluegrass Parkway.

All of that in February/March 2008 has brought us as a lutherie group speedily to now, where we have launched a website to feature all of the original group of makers from 2005. It's gonna be a work-in-progress, but it's a start ... Check us out at Great Southern Lutherie.

One of the treats at Playmakers was to be recorded as participants/makers by Robyn Johnson and David Le May from ABC's Radio National. They recorded HOURS of audio and have spent the last couple of months editing it into a one-hour docco for their 'Into the Music' program on the 31st of May (South Coast :: 96.9fm) - check out the Gallery while you're there; I had a beard back then.

We're havin' a BBQ at Steve's place to all tune in as a group. Should be a hoot.

BTW - that pic of the knothole below has taken on a new life as a soundhole in the Big Fat Momma Dulcimer that is getting close to final glue-ups. More posts to come on that one, promise!

chiz

Ahh, Friday!!

Still gettin' the hang of this blogging stuff. Note to self - hit 'Publish Post' next time ... that post below sat idle for six days, until now! It's been a great week but am glad it's the weekend and I can finally put the feet up. A much needed cat nap, a bit of food in the belly and a couple of Stella (on special!) and we're on our way.
Life's full of surprises ... tonight I was cleaning out the Links bar in the browser and thought I'd check out a Favourite that had been sitting there inactive for more than a year, when lo and behold up comes a Home page for a site that I did a re-build as a student a couple of years ago for the Lower Great Southern Community Living Association ... blow me down, they published it.

Glorious Saturday

Well, we've survived another Open Day at TAFE, there's a massive high pressure system sitting over central Australia that is bathing us in sunshine and much-missed warmth, and it feels like a good time to begin construction on the next instrument - a concert mountain dulcimer. Some time back I managed to score some strips of Tasmanian Blackwood, a very nice wood to work with, and that had some natural knot holes in two pieces that will make excellent sound holes. The design is done! The next step is to make the mould from some salvaged chipboard that will hold everything in place during construction.

First Post

Welcome!
Having been inspired by what a friend in Albany (The Wizard) has done with his blog, I felt it about time to put various bits & pieces of my life out there for all to see. It'd be great if you ever want to respond to any of this trivia, and use this space to share comments, ideas and general raves.