In the interest of disclosure ...

Talk about musical instrument construction, setup and repair.

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curly
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In the interest of disclosure ...

Post by curly » Sun Mar 01, 2015 8:19 pm

In the interest of full disclosure I thought I'd let you all know of my changing work situation .
I had previously been working as the timber sourcing , specialist timber knowledge guy for a company called Big Sky Timber . Unfortunately ( or fortunately perhaps ) my ex boss decided a few days before Christmas , when we had a two week old baby that he would cut and run . We were cut loose with no pay and conditions . He then got on a plane for a 6 week family holiday in Europe !! Insert your preferred descriptive for such a character here ........... !
Not that I'm posting to piss and moan about all of that ( fun as that is ) .
I thought it relevant to let you all know that I'm starting out on my own in supplying musical and figured timbers . Indeed I had done this previously though it's a bigger scale now .
Not that I'm spruiking for business though . At least for the foreseeable future I will only be wholesaling , I'm in discussions with a partner business to handle web based retailing of what I produce .
We'll see what the future holds , for now though I'm processing some very cool stuff . If I can figure out some sort of appropriate separation of business interest I will blog what I'm up to .
For instance I scouted a fresh down stormthrow Blackwood a full 1300 to 1500mm diameter just now , the butt log will likely yield 8 log cubic metres if it's clear of rot .The same storm dropped at least 10 big blackwoods in the one area , and yes , one of them is fiddle . Over the next few weeks we will let the logs off and pull them out with a 20 ton excavator and a 5 ton telehandler . It's awesome good ground I'm working . Importantly to me we are able to use an existing track to get the machine down to the trees so we will have minimal impact in the old growth cool temperate rainforest the trees grew in .
I won't list any more stock on the buy swap sell obviously , as I'm now outside the forum brief .
Onwards and upwards or some such positive cliché .
Pete McCurley

vandenboom
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Re: In the interest of disclosure ...

Post by vandenboom » Sun Mar 01, 2015 9:43 pm

Sorry to read that Curly. Does that mean Jeremy was affected in the same way? So what's happening to all that massive stock of good timber out the back of Daylesford???????
Frank

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demonx
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Re: In the interest of disclosure ...

Post by demonx » Sun Mar 01, 2015 10:24 pm

Sorry to hear, sounds like a terrible situation.

I hope you can get your new venture up and running and supporting you and your family very quickly.

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Nick
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Re: In the interest of disclosure ...

Post by Nick » Mon Mar 02, 2015 6:15 am

Why is it terrible things like job loses always happen at Christmas?! Sorry that it happened to you Pete but glad to hear you're attempting to make the proverbial silk purse from a sows ear. I wish your new venture every success.
"Jesus Loves You."
Nice to hear in church but not in a Mexican prison.

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demonx
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Re: In the interest of disclosure ...

Post by demonx » Mon Mar 02, 2015 8:39 am

If the price isn't too crazy I may be interested in some solid body blanks of that blackwood you mentioned.

Only needs to be half meter long (2" thick") and you don't have to match a long set of sides to it! Either one or two piece.

I must admit I'm also curious as to what would have happened with the stockpile of timber and machinery out there if the owner has just up and left. Was it all sold or is there going to be a fire sale or have you taken it over?

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kiwigeo
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Re: In the interest of disclosure ...

Post by kiwigeo » Mon Mar 02, 2015 9:05 am

Your boss shuts up shop and pisses off to Europe for a holiday. That's a bum deal. Best of luck with the new business Pete, I'm sure you'll get a lot of support from many of our forum members.
Martin

curly
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Re: In the interest of disclosure ...

Post by curly » Mon Mar 02, 2015 7:31 pm

The stock and plant with be wrapped up in liquidation proceedings , though as I can I'm sending stock and dollars to creditors who will miss out . Plenty of good people will be hurt by it .
Pete

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demonx
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Re: In the interest of disclosure ...

Post by demonx » Mon Mar 02, 2015 7:47 pm

curly wrote: ... as I can I'm sending stock and dollars to creditors who will miss out ...
It's a real shame that you are put in such a position. I'm sure the creditors would be happier with cash than stock.

If there is anything that you think may be of interest to me for electrics there I may be able to help convert the stock to cash. It'd only be a very minor cash injection in what I'm assuming is needing a major one, but some is better than none? I'm also sure that the acoustic guys here may like to help with some of the thinner cut stock.

I did mention in my previous post that I might have been interested in some of your blackwood, however I was offered a cube of it today that it looks like I'll be receiving next week, so I'll be right for blackwood for a fair while.

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RobDyball
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Re: In the interest of disclosure ...

Post by RobDyball » Tue Mar 03, 2015 10:30 am

Sorry to hear about your trouble Pete, especially with a bublet around.

Wholesaling sounds like a great idea, but keep in mind the individual buyer shows a far greater profit margin - especially for the more exotic stuff you've got, (like that gorgeous leopardwood I got from you!) if you can manage the web shop-front side of things. And considering that most of your stuff is "green", in that it's not chopped out of some old growth forest, you've got a great selling point for guilty hoarders like myself.

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DarwinStrings
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Re: In the interest of disclosure ...

Post by DarwinStrings » Wed Mar 04, 2015 9:54 am

Good luck if you are going to buy some of the liquidated equipment Pete.
Life is good when you are amongst the wood.
Jim Schofield

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J.F. Custom
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Re: In the interest of disclosure ...

Post by J.F. Custom » Mon Mar 16, 2015 10:14 pm

Sorry all - should have picked up on this thread earlier.

Yes Frank, unfortunately it affected me in the same way. :roll: It's a shame, but anyway, life is too short to get any more caught up in it than absolutely necessary.

On the positive, born from our mutual passion for these timbers and a desire to make them available to fellow luthiers, Pete and I returned to discussing potentials of working together in some form. These conversations actually pre-dated our employment with "Big Sky Timber" so it's been a long time coming!

The end result is I am currently building a fully serviceable online shop of stock currently available. It seemed the best way to make them broadly and easily accessible, rather than having to try and visit the mill site - though several forum members did so. It will be a secure shopping environment with all the regular payment options and my intention is to list sets individually photographed etc. As you can imagine, it's a time consuming process all round but with any luck, and many small steps, I'll have something running within the coming months.

With the mods permission, I will notify the forum when that occurs.

Otherwise, thanks for the kind thoughts from fellow members here and by private message - all is well. 8)

Jeremy.

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demonx
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Re: In the interest of disclosure ...

Post by demonx » Mon Mar 16, 2015 11:54 pm

I'll be eagerly awaiting this website. I'm sure I'd have purchased from the mill if it was as easy as click and pay, unfortunately I just don't have the time to travel to look for things.

I did visit the mill once with David Churchill, which we both found it interesting, but it was premature as it was not yet ready to receive public and the main focus at time was meeting the Cole Clark contracts, so there simply wasn't anything there for me to buy, which I completely understand.

curly
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Re: In the interest of disclosure ...

Post by curly » Tue Mar 17, 2015 7:19 am

Feel free to offer any suggestions as to what timbers and sizes would be useful .
I'm milling for a range of musical sizes but there's always stuff I miss .
I'm also interested to hear what timbers people would like to obtain .
I'm doing a lot of Blackwood , in the full range of figure out to as good as it comes , I'll be doing the range of arid zone timbers that I've covered all along . I reckon some salvage Tassie timbers will make their way in and then I'll be handling individual park and amenity trees as they come in . The most notable of what I've crossed recently is a 125 + yr old Bunya out of a Daylesford churchyard that had it's head blown out in wild weather a coupla weeks back . It's got the coloured heartwood and a broad wash of ribbonstripe / fiddle figure . There'll be a soundboard or two there .
To be clear , I'm not looking for sales here , as Allen pointed out rightly , I am still not set up for direct selling . In any case I'll be maintaining a level of separation with Jeremy handling the retailing in his own partner business .
It's asking the question , What local timbers are most desirable and most difficult to obtain ?
Pete

MattW
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Re: In the interest of disclosure ...

Post by MattW » Tue Mar 17, 2015 9:38 pm

Sizes- for the small home re-saw a quarter-swan 50-52mm thick x220-230mmwide x1200mm long would allow 8x 4.5mm slices to be sawn. 4 would be cut lengthways (>900mm sides), and 4 would be cut in half(>520mm backs), for 4 matching back and side sets. there would be a little left over at the ends on the sides for head plates, rosettes etc.

sorry to hear about your difficulties, i know from experience the Xmas period is a crap time for this sort of thing to happen. Looks like your treating it as an opportunity so best of luck with the new ventures.
Cheers

Matt

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demonx
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Re: In the interest of disclosure ...

Post by demonx » Wed Mar 18, 2015 7:41 am

Well, you've had the acoustic guys covered for years, as long as there's back n sides, you've got lots of uke guys up to larger dreads on this forum. Add to that headstock caps and rosette blanks, fingerboard and bridge blanks. Neck blanks and heel stacks.

One thing I do notice is most luthier supplies always cut things like neck blanks too small for anyone that isn't making fender strats. For example neck blanks are standard at 1" thick at most places, but I need thicker (1.5") so the 1" ones are no good. For an acoustic 1" would be ok as the heel stack is glued on.

I also find some places with exotics cut fingerboard blanks pretty small, for example most acoustics are scale length of 24.9" but if you move to electrics I build mostly 26.125" scale, which I find a lot of blanks "just" squeeze fit, but if I get an order for a baritone like a 27" or a 28" scale, then a lot of average blanks aren't long enough and I have to start looking at bass guitar blanks. So maybe offer guitar and bass blanks, bass probably won't be as popular sales item though.

2" thick electric body blanks in either one or two piece blanks, usually 500mm long is the standard blank.

Electric guitar caps and drop tops. Can be any thickness as long as it's bookmatched and big enough to cover the body. Good way for you to use the timber that isn't big enough for a dread body or that you won't be able to match a side set to.

I'm sure between you and Jeremy you already have all this sorted though.

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