Tassie Trip
- Bob Connor
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- Location: Geelong, Australia
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Tassie Trip
Thought I'd post a few pics of our trip to Tassie at the weekend.
Heading over the West Gate Bridge. The ferry is in the background.
It's a ten hour trip across Bass Strait from Melbourne into Devonport so this is our transporter and accomodation for the night.
We didn't book a cabin but opted for an "Ocean View Recliner" which ended up being a very uncomfortable chair looking out the arse end of the boat. We attempted to anaesthetise ourselves with Cascade Draught which didn't work either. On the way back we opted to kip on one of the couches in the lounge bar which was a much better option. At leat we got some sleep. (maybe it was the Bundy)
Had breakfast in Devonport then dropped in to see an old friend, John Henderson, on the way. Hendo used to work with Farnham, LRB and Goanna amongst others and now is doing sound for Lee Kernaghan, who happens to be playing in Geelong this weekend so he's organised for us to go to the soundcheck and show some of our gits to the blokes in the band.
Arrived at the Mother Lode around 11 and got straight into it. First board that Dave lifted had a scorpion under it which tempered our enthusiasm a bit. But we found a few nice Myrtle boards.
This is what Native Olive looks like before it gets milled. From the looks of these there's going to be some nice dark heartwood in this lot.
These Blackwood logs are also waiting to be processed into quartersawn billets. Some nice fiddleback in them.
This has some really nice fine Fiddleback all the way through the board.
It doesn't really show in the pic but these boards are also highly figured and very consistent all the way across and along the billets
More bloody Blackwood.
And more.
Dave ferreting about.
This is a piece of Tiger Myrtle veneer. Would have loved a plank off that tree.
Not more bloody Blackwood.
And this is Chris holding the Native Olive Dread made from wood that he had cut.
Even ran in to a mate of Rick Turner's down there who was buying some timber to take back to the States as a souvenir.
All in all it was a great weekend. Took five guitars with us. Delivered the Mahogany Dread to it's new owner, swapped one guitar for a hand made copy of a 57 Fender Deluxe amp that a bloke I know makes in Devonport and left one with another musician friend to show around in hopes of getting some more orders from Tassie.
He played all of the guitars we had with us and interestingly kept going back to the Blackwood/King Billy O model which was what we left with him. (his usual guitar is a Martin D28)
Thanks for looking.
Bob
Heading over the West Gate Bridge. The ferry is in the background.
It's a ten hour trip across Bass Strait from Melbourne into Devonport so this is our transporter and accomodation for the night.
We didn't book a cabin but opted for an "Ocean View Recliner" which ended up being a very uncomfortable chair looking out the arse end of the boat. We attempted to anaesthetise ourselves with Cascade Draught which didn't work either. On the way back we opted to kip on one of the couches in the lounge bar which was a much better option. At leat we got some sleep. (maybe it was the Bundy)
Had breakfast in Devonport then dropped in to see an old friend, John Henderson, on the way. Hendo used to work with Farnham, LRB and Goanna amongst others and now is doing sound for Lee Kernaghan, who happens to be playing in Geelong this weekend so he's organised for us to go to the soundcheck and show some of our gits to the blokes in the band.
Arrived at the Mother Lode around 11 and got straight into it. First board that Dave lifted had a scorpion under it which tempered our enthusiasm a bit. But we found a few nice Myrtle boards.
This is what Native Olive looks like before it gets milled. From the looks of these there's going to be some nice dark heartwood in this lot.
These Blackwood logs are also waiting to be processed into quartersawn billets. Some nice fiddleback in them.
This has some really nice fine Fiddleback all the way through the board.
It doesn't really show in the pic but these boards are also highly figured and very consistent all the way across and along the billets
More bloody Blackwood.
And more.
Dave ferreting about.
This is a piece of Tiger Myrtle veneer. Would have loved a plank off that tree.
Not more bloody Blackwood.
And this is Chris holding the Native Olive Dread made from wood that he had cut.
Even ran in to a mate of Rick Turner's down there who was buying some timber to take back to the States as a souvenir.
All in all it was a great weekend. Took five guitars with us. Delivered the Mahogany Dread to it's new owner, swapped one guitar for a hand made copy of a 57 Fender Deluxe amp that a bloke I know makes in Devonport and left one with another musician friend to show around in hopes of getting some more orders from Tassie.
He played all of the guitars we had with us and interestingly kept going back to the Blackwood/King Billy O model which was what we left with him. (his usual guitar is a Martin D28)
Thanks for looking.
Bob
- Bob Connor
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We take the ute down with us James.
We bought enough to yield around 40 sets so there's plenty of space to fit that amount of wood.
Neil liked the sound of the King Billy guitar. Totally different from his Martin I guess and musos being as they are all have different ideas of what sort of sounds they prefer.
I will say that a lot of the musos who have played our current instruments have shown a liking for that guitar in preference to the Euro Spruce O that we made.
Funny thing is that most of the luthiers at Port Fairy preferred the Euro.
So I guess we'll be building with King William a bit more
Bob
We bought enough to yield around 40 sets so there's plenty of space to fit that amount of wood.
Neil liked the sound of the King Billy guitar. Totally different from his Martin I guess and musos being as they are all have different ideas of what sort of sounds they prefer.
I will say that a lot of the musos who have played our current instruments have shown a liking for that guitar in preference to the Euro Spruce O that we made.
Funny thing is that most of the luthiers at Port Fairy preferred the Euro.
So I guess we'll be building with King William a bit more
Bob
- ozziebluesman
- Blackwood
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- Dennis Leahy
- Blackwood
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- Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 12:32 am
- Location: Duluth, MN, US
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Sounds like a great trip, after the initial uncomfortable night of non-sleep.
I am sure it was fun but overwhelming to look through all that wood. Some gorgeous stuff there! Hey, I'm curious: what other kind of wood is in the photo where you show the Tiger Myrtle veneer. There's something with a beautiful sort of swirl and quilt at the top of the photo (two planks, above a fiddleback Blackwood plank, and two more planks of some figured wood beneath the Tiger.
Thanks for sharing the photos and story of your adventure!
Dennis
I am sure it was fun but overwhelming to look through all that wood. Some gorgeous stuff there! Hey, I'm curious: what other kind of wood is in the photo where you show the Tiger Myrtle veneer. There's something with a beautiful sort of swirl and quilt at the top of the photo (two planks, above a fiddleback Blackwood plank, and two more planks of some figured wood beneath the Tiger.
Thanks for sharing the photos and story of your adventure!
Dennis
Another damn Yank!
- Bob Connor
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- Location: Geelong, Australia
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Hi Bob, top Burly Board would me Musk Burl, cheers Bob,
bob wrote:I think the top one is Eucalyptus burl and the bottom is Myrtle burl.
No we didn't get it. There's plenty of it there if we want to get some next time.
Dennis - Yes it is a little overwhelming. It's like going to an orgy - you're not quite sure where to look.
Bob
Ten hours is a little misleading really Billy. The actual boat trip only last about 20 minutes, but what Bob failed to explain is that once everyone is aboard, it then takes around 9 1/2 hours for the crew to fit a secondary prosthetic head to all those passengers wishing to blend in with the locals when they arrive in Tazzi.BillyT wrote:
10 hours in a ferry? Man I get sea sick just just thinking about it! Looks like a nice score though!
Cheers
Kim
Tigermyrtle wrote:G'Day Kim,
we might have two Head's down here in Tasmanian, Thats why we are alot smarter than you lot on the Mainland, because we also have two Brains Cheers Bob,
I guess it would have some big pluses Bob, for instance you could take talking to yourself to a whole new level, you could sing a duet and not take up half the stage, you could cheer yourself on all the way to the finish line in a running race and be able to always take a breath in a swimming race so yep I can see the benefits.
But, then again the cost of shampoo, toothpaste and hats would be a problem and it would be pure hell for the ER unit at your hospitals treating all the kids with head injuries from danc'in in the mosh pit when a metal concert comes to town.
Ah OK, so it's true, I am just another jealous mainlander. We all know that you guys don't have two heads, but you do have some of the most beautiful country down there and it would be worth 100 hours on a boat to have the opportunity to take a look around. Thanks for having the good humour to take the joke Bob.
Cheers
Kim
G'Day Kim, another advantage of having two heads is we get to laugh twice and no worrys i can take the joke, and you are right we are lucky we live on the best place on Earth and we also have some beautiful Timbers. and its good if everyone believes we all have two heads down here it might help to stop too many people moving down here keep up the good work Kim cheers Bob.
Its the Westgate Bridge...scariest piece of road in Australia...only surpassed by The Brittania Roundabout in Adelaide.BillyT wrote:I noticed you switched the pic around! You had everybody driving on the wrong side of the road !!
Easy mistake!
Here I made it better!
Why do you Aussies make your signs backwards too? Huhm?
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