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New Guitars.
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Black Sassafrass seems to be the ‘in thing’ with our two most recent concert
guitars being made in this spectacular Tasmanian timber.
Canberran Chris Wells discovered our guitars at the National Folk Festival and
ordered a custom guitar with a D extension on the 6th string. A small lever
on the extension piece allows Chris to flick the guitar into D tuning with his
left hand, saving time and minimising the destabilising effect of retuning.
Says Chris ….
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"What I really like it that when I am playing a piece with low D tuning
is the string sounds full and rich but not overpowering the other strings,
where on my other guitar with drop D tuning the string sounds a bit weak
and muddy, probably due to the lower tension. What is surprising me is
that going though sheet music and seeing if it has an open E and if not
using the D and then playing that instead of the 4th string when open.
There are more pieces than I expected without an open E (mainly in C
or G) and due to the fretted notes being the same I am not having to
relearn them but just play them as is but with the odd low D thrown
in when I think it would fit nicely." |
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Under Construction.
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Two Granges (Cedar/Rosewood and Cedar/Black Sassafrass). These guitars have
been ordered by players in Sydney and Darwin.
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National Folk Festival, Canberra.
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For the first time, we took eleven guitars (including baritone,
treble and octave) to the National Folk Festival in Canberra.
We were the only nylon string guitar exhibitors in the Instrument
Makers Pavilion and were not expecting great interest from the
folk music fraternity. That left room to be pleasantly surprised
at the appreciation of our guitar range, and we thoroughly enjoyed
hearing the instruments used in traditional and inventive music.
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W.A. classical guitarist, Alan Banks, used one of our concert
guitars to play Carlo Domeniconi's "Kyonbaba" in performance and
demonstrated standard, baritone and treble guitars in the
'Instrument Makers' Concert' on Easter Sunday night.
Graham also connected with numerous 'old' colleagues from his 30
years in Canberra - both fellow folk musicians and clients who
sport his instruments.
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And now for something completely different....
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Peter Constantly experimenting with his Caldersmith bass guitar ...... spot the clothes pegs!
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Guitar Family Updates.
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We have updated the Guitar Family Page with additional
information and YouTube video links.
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Rafael Andia and Claire Sananikone recording.
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We have just received an extract of a recording by
Rafael Andia and
Claire Sananikone. The duet
was composed by Rafael, and recorded in 2008 on Caldersmith Concert guitars.
| Play/Download Music (1.46 MegaBytes) |  | Inmemorial Sobre Las Notas Negras composed by Rafael Andia and
performed by Claire Sananikone and the author on Caldersmith Concert
guitars.. |  | To download this audio file.... - Point the mouse at the speaker icon.
- Click the right mouse button.
- Select 'Save target as...' menu item.
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Those Were the Days My Friend...
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Recently we attended a pearl wedding anniversary in Goulburn, where Graham
was reunited with several of his old folkie friends, including veteran fiddler,
Bob McGuiness. Thirty years ago, Graham and Bob performed at the wedding of
Jennifer Hume and Ian McDougall in the same venue, Garroorigang, the Hume family
homestead. They are pictured here admiring (or at least regarding) the steel
string baritone Graham made for Ian in 1984. Needless to say, Bob and Graham
managed to trot out a few 'choons' for old times sake as part of the entertainment
programme in the stately drawing room.
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*Background Music: "The Frog Galliard" - John Dowland. Played by Alessandro D'Aco on his Caldersmith Concert Guitar. |
