Back in Canberra

Talk about musical instrument construction, setup and repair.

Moderators: kiwigeo, Jeremy D

Post Reply
User avatar
Clancy
Blackwood
Posts: 619
Joined: Wed Dec 17, 2008 10:26 am
Location: Canberra

Back in Canberra

Post by Clancy » Mon Mar 05, 2012 12:01 pm

Well my days in the desert have come to an end.
I've spent the last few days staring at rain, morosely picking red dust out of my fingernails.
No wonder all you east coast builders have been going on about de-humidifiers.

The sun is finally out today so I can start to clear out the crap left in the workshop from our stored stuff, but my tools are still in a truck somewhere west of here. :(
Need to come out of semi-retirement & get a real job too. :cry:

Just before I left the local rag knocked on the door.
I'll post it here just for a laugh - I've been mis-quoted in just about every sentence!
In fact, they pretty much made up the whole thing.
(Check out the text under the picture :lol: )
001 (Medium).jpg
Craig
I'm not the sharpest tool in my shed

User avatar
Clancy
Blackwood
Posts: 619
Joined: Wed Dec 17, 2008 10:26 am
Location: Canberra

Re: Back in Canberra

Post by Clancy » Mon Mar 05, 2012 12:07 pm

Here's that uke I was putting the 'finishing touches to' and the other one I completed before leaving.
The last of the 'Alice Label' ukes.
110220122133 (Small).jpg
110220122133 (Small).jpg (59.61 KiB) Viewed 13440 times
110220122130 (Small).jpg
110220122130 (Small).jpg (67.66 KiB) Viewed 13440 times
110220122117 (Small).jpg
110220122117 (Small).jpg (53.64 KiB) Viewed 13440 times
150220122192 (Small).jpg
150220122192 (Small).jpg (79.75 KiB) Viewed 13440 times
150220122193 (Small).jpg
150220122193 (Small).jpg (80.25 KiB) Viewed 13440 times
150220122204 (Small).jpg
150220122204 (Small).jpg (61.71 KiB) Viewed 13440 times
Craig
I'm not the sharpest tool in my shed

User avatar
Tod Gilding
Blackwood
Posts: 838
Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2011 7:32 pm
Location: South West Rocks NSW

Re: Back in Canberra

Post by Tod Gilding » Mon Mar 05, 2012 6:31 pm

Another couple of nice one's there Craig,and some good publicity as well, Your turning these ukes out fast mate :D
Tod



Music is everyone's posession. It's only publishers who think that people own it.
John Lennon

User avatar
Allen
Blackwood
Posts: 5255
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2007 5:39 pm
Location: Cairns, Australia
Contact:

Re: Back in Canberra

Post by Allen » Mon Mar 05, 2012 6:33 pm

Those are the ones you posted on UU aren't they Craig? Great looking instruments.

You going to miss Alice?
Allen R. McFarlen
https://www.brguitars.com
Facebook
Cairns, Australia

User avatar
Dominic
Blackwood
Posts: 1098
Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2008 8:58 am
Location: Canberra

Re: Back in Canberra

Post by Dominic » Mon Mar 05, 2012 6:34 pm

Welcome back Craig. Glad we are rebuilding Canberra club members again. Hope it works out that you get plenty of time in the WS. What's next on your list? A falcate braced neoclassical steel string? A violin?
Look forward to catching up.
Cheers
Dom
You can bomb the world to pieces,
but you can't bomb the world to peace!

User avatar
Clancy
Blackwood
Posts: 619
Joined: Wed Dec 17, 2008 10:26 am
Location: Canberra

Re: Back in Canberra

Post by Clancy » Mon Mar 05, 2012 7:16 pm

Yes Allen, they are the ones I posted on UU....and I will miss Alice.
Although it's good to be back in my old house, & looking forward to re-establishing the old workshop, I have to say that Alice got under my skin a lot more than I thought it ever would.
There's an add running at the moment that calls it something like 'the biggest little town in Oz' & I'd have to concur.
Never been more accepted in a small place so quickly - perhaps because everyone is from everywhere else as well.

Got to admit that I enjoyed being a bit of a big fish in a small pond.
Never had so many calls along the lines of "you don't know me but I was told you were the guy to get in touch with about my maton/bouzouki/harmonium.....
(I think the guitar widow's minor celebrity status in the town helped spread the word)
At the airport before xmas someone yelled out "there he is, there's the uke man" :lol:

Dom, believe it or not, I've still got more uke orders to fill before venturing onto something else.
Those little suckers just kept being claimed before I could get them to the markets.
And I reckon the 'baby plunkers' have found a way under my skin just as deep as Alice has.

So I guess there's a vacancy for a stranger to rock up to central australia and plant lutherie flag, have a chat with the locals and maybe become the new 'big fish'.
It has got it's snags, but overall it's still a great (albeit sandy) pond to swim in. :)
Craig
I'm not the sharpest tool in my shed

User avatar
graham mcdonald
Blackwood
Posts: 473
Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2007 11:57 am
Location: Canberra
Contact:

Re: Back in Canberra

Post by graham mcdonald » Mon Mar 05, 2012 10:01 pm

Good to hear you are back in town!
Graham McDonald
http://www.mcdonaldstrings.com

User avatar
Clancy
Blackwood
Posts: 619
Joined: Wed Dec 17, 2008 10:26 am
Location: Canberra

Re: Back in Canberra

Post by Clancy » Tue Mar 06, 2012 7:56 am

Hi Graham!
I'll have to make sure to come around for a visit soon.
Feels like years since I was last around, and I might be able to actually converse on the subject now instead of just standing around in awe.
Coincidently, the only instrument I had when I got back here was the zouk.
Been having fun reacquainting with it, but you're going to have to give me a lead on where I can get some lessons! :lol:

By the way guys, I forgot to mention the main reason for posting those ukes.
The fingerboard & bridges on them is Desert Oak.
I had a nice big lump of it given to me to make guitar fingerboards, but it had checked badly in places.
Wish I'd been able to get some more of it back here.
Craig
I'm not the sharpest tool in my shed

User avatar
charangohabsburg
Blackwood
Posts: 1818
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2010 1:25 am
Location: Switzerland

Re: Back in Canberra

Post by charangohabsburg » Tue Mar 06, 2012 8:30 am

Hi Craig,
Clancy wrote:(Check out the text under the picture :lol: )
You must have left the impression to be a speed builder, that's all. Now lutherie has one myth more: "Craig Clancy, the man who builds faster than glue hardens". 8)

That Blackheart Sassafras uke is an absolute visual killer! :cl
In my opinion its binding couldn't be more adequate!
The whole ukulele is of great optical design which I think is not easy with intensively figured wood like this.
Markus

To be stupid is like to be dead. Oneself will not be aware of it.
It's only the others who suffer.

User avatar
Clancy
Blackwood
Posts: 619
Joined: Wed Dec 17, 2008 10:26 am
Location: Canberra

Re: Back in Canberra

Post by Clancy » Tue Mar 06, 2012 9:20 am

Yes Markus, the reporting process lost something in the translation.
For example.
CC: It's not a business. I'm not a luthier, just a guy with a passionate hobby.
Paper: "He was working in Alice Springs as a luthier..."
and
Paper: What's your favourite wood to work with?
CC: Blackwood.
Paper: Does that grow around here?
CC: No. But I do use mulga & gidgee. Actually, my personal instruments all have gidgee fingerboards.
Paper: "Craig said his favourite type of wood to work with was gidgee."
:roll:

Glad you liked the BHS uke. :D
Here's a few more shots for your enjoyment.
150220122180 (Small).jpg
150220122180 (Small).jpg (41.94 KiB) Viewed 13317 times
150220122196 (Small).jpg
150220122196 (Small).jpg (73.45 KiB) Viewed 13317 times
150220122202 (Small).jpg
150220122202 (Small).jpg (49.23 KiB) Viewed 13317 times
Craig
I'm not the sharpest tool in my shed

User avatar
charangohabsburg
Blackwood
Posts: 1818
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2010 1:25 am
Location: Switzerland

Re: Back in Canberra

Post by charangohabsburg » Tue Mar 06, 2012 9:37 am

Thanks for the additional photos, Craig.

Regarding Gidgee as your "favourite" wood most probably happened due to the fact that the interviewer thought that blackwood impossibly could be your favourite wood because he was sure he had not seen even one black guitar of yours. Journalists can be dangerous people when unchained. :roll: :lol:
Markus

To be stupid is like to be dead. Oneself will not be aware of it.
It's only the others who suffer.

User avatar
graham mcdonald
Blackwood
Posts: 473
Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2007 11:57 am
Location: Canberra
Contact:

Re: Back in Canberra

Post by graham mcdonald » Tue Mar 06, 2012 9:15 pm

Any of us who have been interviewed for a newspaper by a journalist who knows little about what we do has had a similar experience, I suspect. It is always good for a laugh.

Certainly drop around. Is herself back at 666?

g
Graham McDonald
http://www.mcdonaldstrings.com

User avatar
Kim
Admin
Posts: 4369
Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2007 8:32 pm
Location: South of Perth WA

Re: Back in Canberra

Post by Kim » Tue Mar 06, 2012 9:46 pm

Craig, I would say that its nice to have you back but then you never really left the ANZLF but for a few weeks set up time in Alice..and that is a good thing because if it was any longer we really would have missing the class..great ukes mate, the passion really does shine through.

Cheers

Kim

User avatar
Clancy
Blackwood
Posts: 619
Joined: Wed Dec 17, 2008 10:26 am
Location: Canberra

Re: Back in Canberra

Post by Clancy » Wed Mar 07, 2012 8:07 am

Cheers guys.

Graham, she's not working at 666 at the moment.
Her Alice contract finished & there's no vacancies here.
My turn at the coal face again. :(
Craig
I'm not the sharpest tool in my shed

Bruce McC
Blackwood
Posts: 397
Joined: Thu Apr 07, 2011 1:29 pm
Location: Canberra ACT Australia

Re: Back in Canberra

Post by Bruce McC » Wed Mar 07, 2012 5:34 pm

Hi Clancy

Good to hear your back in the nation's capital.
Look forward to catching up again soon.
Bruce Mc.

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 38 guests