2008 In review

2008 was a very busy year, two trips to California included. The beginning of the year saw me busy trying to catch up with the repairs jobs in the workshop and prepping the guitars that I would be taking to the shows.

My first show was at Cheltenham in February. Nice building and an excellent location for displaying guitars. My stand location was in the bar along with some of the other stands. To keep the costs down for the weekend I slept in my van, -5 degrees Centigrade, ice on the ceiling in the morning, still it was mackydees for breakfast. The music in the hall was great, the music in the bar was continuous. Of all the shows I do each year this was the strangest, probably to do with the fact that all of the punters come in to town for the music and as a result the music stands are treated as optional extras, to be seen on the way for a beer.

In March I delivered this parlour guitar to its new owner. The body is Brazilian rosewood and the top is cedar. It was my first lefty and I found it interesting trying to figure out how to play simple chords wile tuning it up,I now know what it must feel like for left handed players. I decided then that I will always have a lefty in the stable for those who find it difficult to find one. I will have a lefty at Chippenham, it is a 000 in figured walnut, 635mm scale, as soon as it id completed I will post a photo on the main web site.

At the beginning of the year a customer who had seen me at Michelham Priory called to order a Mandola, or as some people call them an Octave Mandolin. I had never made one before so I made this one for him to try out first. He brought a friend, who is blind, yes the genuine blind test, along to play it and give him an apprasal of the instrument and inturn my ability to make what he wanted. It passed the test and final specs for his instrument was decided.


Late March saw me doing my stint at Skeggy for Spring Harvest, have a look at their site, http://www.springharvest.org/ this year instead of the cold windy wet weather we got snow. It only lasted a couple of days then the weather returned to normal, cold wet and windy. More tomorrow.