'Deidheid' Tenor Resonator CBG

'Deidheid' Tenor Resonator CBG

Made for myself, as I really wanted a tenor resonator. Designed around Stanley Mouse's 'Skull and Roses' poster...The guitar I would have loved to have played in the parking lots at Grateful Dead shows back in the 80s !!

Santa Damiana Electro-acoustic Ukulele

Santa Damiana Electro-acoustic Ukulele

Made to order today. A lovely electro-acoustic ukulele, with a distinctive headstock. FYI, the tuners for the outer strings wind inwardly, and the inner two strings wind outwardly...Is that clear? Probably not...!! ha ha !

HAUFCUT After sales service:

HAUFCUT After-sales service

Huge thanks to all the lovely people who bought instruments this week. - If you bought them for friends, please pass on my website address / facebook address to them. I will repair anything that needs done... (Not strings though ha ha !) - messages for me can be left at either.

Please try other strings and tunings - I tend to pick the middle 4 from a set (classical / ball ended) as I prefer playing through an amp and tune GDAE low to high (mandolin tuning) See the website for other ideas... You may prefer steel acoustic strings... Just watch the tension at the top of the neck ! - 

Bridge (the door key) distance to the twelfth fret should equal the distance from the 12th fret to the nut (The white bit!) - 

The action (height of the strings) can be altered by filing the grooves on the bridge or nut, or by placing something under the key... I like the action high...you may not... lowering the action too much may create buzz / dead frets. This can be fixed.

If a fret is producing a buzz, an out of tune note, or you get the same note at two adjacent frets, then try tapping the fret down with a blunt object !! Nothing is glued, so frets may move, and the eyelets holding the strings at the tail piece may come off when you change strings... Tap them back in, or call me... fret / eyelet replacement free of charge ! 

The pick-up inside the box may become detached from the body. stick it back on with tape or blu-tac. Two wires inside may need re-soldered. Guides for DIY on the website. Search the archives!

Playing the instrument with it resting against your tummy may produce a duller sound than holding it away slightly... try a strap... there is a button for one fitted and a shoelace behind the tuners will work... The waistband from an old pair of jeans makes a great guitar strap... anyway, thanks again, hope you have fun trying strings, tunings and amplification. (mrjonthehat)

CRAFT FAIR SALE - Monday 16th December - Rio Cafe, Partick

CRAFT FAIR SALE - Monday 16th December 

Rio Cafe- Partick, G11 5QF

Cohiba Cigar box, electro-acoustic, mini Ukulele

Cohiba Cigar Box, Electro-acoustic, Mini Ukulele

FOR SALE - Electro-acoustic ukulele. Cohiba cigar box, oak neck, mahogany fingerboard, brass frets and fittings, bead markers, piezo pick-up, 1/4 inch mono chassis socket. - SOUNDS EXCELLENT !

Electro-acoustic, Gimanez Cigar Box Ukulele

Electro-acoustic, Gimanez Cigar Box Ukulele

Looking and sounding lovely (I reckon), tuned GDAE, Gimanez box, from the phillipines, oak neck, mahogany fingerboard, brass frets and fittings, piezo pick-up, bead dots. - Send a message if you'd like it.

The Clutha Bar

The Clutha Bar

I work in WASPS studios, in The Briggait, and when I finish work, I often go next door to The Clutha. When I finish an instrument, I like to go and sit in the beer garden and try it out, through a wee amp. I've even played some of my creations through the P.A. in the bar, (as you'll see on this blog) - It's a great place, The bar staff are all friendly and have a blether, The customers are all there for the atmosphere, the great jukebox, the live music, the warm fire in the winter and a welcome unlike many pubs in Glasgow (No football team allegiances, no pretentiousness, no gangs of youngsters out to get trashed, no sexist drunks) a safe, friendly place. 

So for me, the events of Friday, November 29th 2013 are all the more upsetting. - At 10:25pm, when the bar was packed with people enjoying a weekend drink, and the ska band, Esparanza, a police helicopter hit the roof of the Clutha, killing the 3 crew, and 6 people in the bar...with many others injured. Incredibly there was no explosion or fire, and even more incredibly (according to the media at least), people passing by rushed to help. - It is now Wednesday, and the scale of the tragedy is starting to sink in. People who I know are dead, Others are still in hospital, The shock and sadness has spread around the world. Such a random, awful, sad and unthinkable thing to happen. It's hard to talk about.

I was in the bar on Friday afternoon, and left to go and see a band on Renfield Street. Other friends who were there went to see Jerry Dammers at the O2. Some friends stayed. - Saturday (and Sunday) were spent answering and sending messages to reassure people that I was OK, and trying to find out if everyone I knew was OK... 9 dead (update - now 10) is awful. I feel terrible sadness and sympathy for everyone affected

They can rebuild The Clutha, but it will be impossible to rebuild what it was. - A happy place.