Flip Your Wig

Many inspiring instruments have hit the bench for repairs this month.

I've just completed some big restorations and refinishing jobs and can see a good patch of pure guitarmaking ahead. I'm listening to my old SST vinyl, ( Hüsker Du today ) tidying up the workshop, sharpening chisels and planes and drawing up plans.

To that end I've added some ordering information to the front page of this site. ( In response to emailed requests for a little more 'detail' on my site ).

I've also updated the repairs page for local Melbourne folks ( or those who are good at packing broken guitars in boxes and hauling them to the post office ).

Nobody likes a static website so I add posts to my SOFTWARE music blog and my design/inspiration page TRIGGERS whenever i get a free rainy afternoon.

On the housekeeping front there's now a Search page and a Secure Contact form, so go crazy, it's great to see the site's hit statistics grow.

Cheers, AP

Bits & Pieces

2012 ...

Not much to show for myself - lots of things going on in the workshop, but I have a one-year-and-one-week-old broken camera ( I have owned some good old film-cameras for many, many years and can't seem to kill them ... I guess I looked at my sony digital sideways one time too many and it up and died )

I have a phone that doubles up on photos as long as the sun is shining so I've added some entries to the Triggers page showing some of the N.O.S. parts that are inspiring new guitar builds for 2012 and a look at some european industrial design from a bygone era.

There's been some more changes to design and links around the site and a many new pictures on my flickr of both Harvester progress and vintage gear.

Cheers folks, I hope you are as busy making music as I am ... remember : it's all about the song!

AP

BUSY SIGNAL

Wow, i'm busy here.

Lots of setups, repaints ( weather permitting ) resurrections, exorcisms etc etc but i've still had a little time for guitarmaking ...

 #22 will be a commsion for Daniel in Bergen, Norway, his second Harvester.

Daniel requested a 60's style 'department store' kind of headstock from my collection of oddball cheapo guitars ... we settled on the Kay bass 'Hatchet' headstock or 'Dali Hatchet' as i like to think of it.

The wood as requested is a rosewood variety : African Rosewood ( Padauk )

The body is a one of my Simpletone telecaster styles in White Beech.

Cheers, AP

Harvester #23 : RECYCLER

These floorboards jumped out at me from my local timber recycler's warehouse.

They are hardwood from an old gymnasium floor and still have the basketball lines painted on them.

One look and all i saw was guitars ... for some reason the Les Paul Jr shape jumped into my head. I've had the template hanging on my wall for 10 years or so, a friend at the time had 2 late 50's cherry red double cut juniors hanging on his wall ... sigh

I've resawn the old tongue and groove boards down to about 4 mm, they'll provide a nice ringing top cap to this chambered basswood body blank.

I pent all of one minute arranging the puzzle pieces into a quick semi-random pattern.

I love salvage, I've actually seen furniture and walls made from similar re-purposed gym-floorboards.

Of course they'll need some binding to hide the seams around the front edge.

The back will get a standard gibson rollover routing ... I'm leaving the last piece of the puzzle over the neck tenon area until the neck is actually set, thereby hiding the long tenon under the floorboards.

Thanks for looking,

Cheers, AP

Guitarist Australia Magazine August. Issue 45

I am thrilled to be recognised in print ( as shown above ) in the pages of Guitarist Magazine. Shaun, the editor was a pleasure to deal with. He even managed to stop me from flying up my own tailpipe with my meanderings about industrial design and art school.

It's in your local newsagent now folks !

Meanwhile, I'm putting in some long days in the workshop on repairs and re-fins ( come on spring ! ) so that I can get back to finessing the latest couple of Harvester designs.

Cheers, AP