Those Other G's....

Rest easy -- the long awaited second installment of the much-hyped 'G Series' is finally here!  In my younger days I often dreamed of making my way in the wilds of the Yukon in that elusive quest for gold.  It's a dream that began nearly 14 months ago when Kaitlyn and I talked about how much fun it would be to go camping in the wilds of the Yukon to look for gold (I never said it was a complicated or old dream)  So, in between guitar shows, Kaitlyn and I spent a few weeks in an around her hometown camping, panning, and hiking in some incredibly beautiful spots...

I'm hidden in the bottom left

A few miles from Kaitlyn's childhood home in Atlin, B.C.

And what about that final 'G'?  Growing a beard?  Not a chance I was going to risk panning for gold with a clean shaven face.  So, solely for authenticity's sake, I grew a 2 month beard and dove right into character...

Canadian Gothic?

The real question is, what does this all have to do with guitars?  Absolutely nothing.  Speaking of guitars, Mike O'Brien came into the shop the other day to record a bunch of videos.  The guitars and Mike both sounded fantastic!  In the video below, Mike is playing one of the show guitars from this summer.  It's a stunning set of cocobolo for the back and sides, sitka spruce top, cherry neck, with cocobolo binding and rosette.  Lots more videos coming soon! 

Guitars, Gold and Growing (a beard)

This is to be the first in a series of at least one post(s) about just exactly what I've been up to these past few months. Seeing as this is a hip internet blog, I thought it best to sum up my experiences with a snappy catchphrase -- Guitars, Gold and Growing (a beard). First, the guitars...

For the third year in a row I've been fortunate enough to display some of my work at the fantastic Montreal Guitar Show. It is a truly top-notch show and I also happen to live 10 minutes away. This means I not only had to spend less than $5 ($4.79 USD) in transportation costs, but Dion (dionguitars.ca) and I also got stay up working in the shop until 5 am the night before the show started. In this case, the ol' chestnut 'If it weren't for the last minute, nothing would get done.' didn't really apply. More fitting would be the new chestnut, 'If it weren't for punk rock christmas carols at 3:30 am, nothing would get done.' Let's just say it was a fun night.

The guitars looked and sound great, and once I again I was lucky to have the incomparable Mike O'Brien play a demo concert for me. I'll post some videos and more details about the guitars soon, but for now here are a few pictures from the weekend...

photos courtesy of Tom Schneider

Fast forward a month and half and we then found ourselves at another world-class guitar show, this time in Santa Rosa, California at the Healdsburg Guitar Festival. I had been to Healdsburg once before while apprenticing with Sergei de Jonge, but this was my first chance to display my own work. All in all it was quite similar to the Montreal show, but being on the west coast meant a lot more ukuleles and a lot more guitar print Hawaiian shirts.

I'd say that takes care of a good portion of the first G, so I think I'll leave it at that for now with more exciting installments, such as the great unbearding of 2011, on the way soon!

Bonk

It's time to come clean -- I've started bonking my guitars. Despite all appearances of an amorous allusion, this is purely a single entendre. In the never ending quest to produce consistently wicked sounding guitars, I've started keeping track of how a finished guitar acts when, well, bonked. Hang the guitar up, stick a mic in front of it, bonk the bridge and record the sound. If you run that sound through a fancy filter, you get this....

That, to my eyes/ears, is what the sound of a great guitar looks like. Each part of the guitar tends to naturally vibrate at a certain frequency and the peaks in the chart above show those points. Three of the key points are the frequencies for the top, back, and air chamber. In theory I could build another guitar that had those same points and it would sound just like this one. In reality? Ask me again in 30 years.

In a bit of post-bonk revelry I decided I should record some actual music on this guitar before shipping it off to Dream Guitars early next week. Here's my attempt at Don Ross' "First Ride"...

Go forth and prosper...

It's an odd mix of excitement and sadness when one of my guitars leaves the warm cozy comfort of the shop and strikes out its own into the harsh world. You build up a relationship with each guitar -- an endearing, sometimes contentious familiarity with these funny little boxes of wood that you'll (hopefully) never see again. On the other hand, rent is due and I enjoy eating every day so sell sell sell!

Here's one of mine at the 12th Fret in Toronto....

Click here to see the full write-up....

And another at the Music Emporium outside of Boston...

Click here for the full write-up....

Music promoting for dummies

Since starting the shop, we inadvertently stumbled upon a rather profound and paradigm-altering method of music promotion. Perhaps this is being careless, but I'm going to share with you this sure-fire secret to success -- don't take any money for yourself. Through no fault of our own, the shop has developed into "Montreal's hottest new venue"¹. A few months ago Michael Jerome Browne contacted me about playing in the shop. My position as object in the previous sentence should be of note -- people are now asking US to play. And not just any people; people like Michael Jerome Browne! Here's some evidence as to why this is good news....

¹ So, I may or may not have been the one to say this.

The Best Restaurant in the World

If sitcoms have taught me one thing about addressing the public (besides imagining a less than fully clothed audience -- congratulations dear internet, you are now naked) it's to start with a joke...

What's the difference between a guitar maker and large pizza?

A large pizza can feed a family of four.

Bam! There we go. Now onto the business at hand, which is, well, business. One of the pleasant side affects of making guitars is the need to sell them. This provides ample excuses for extended "business trips" camouflaged under the guise of a "sales trip". So, part of my travels this past year were spent visiting various guitar stores and dealers in an effort to gently thrust my name into the public consciousness.

Passing through Asheville, North Carolina meant several things -- beer festival, roller derby, contra-dancing, old-time music, Dream Guitars, and the best restaurant in the world. Just north of Asheville the folks at Dream Guitars (dreamguitars.com) have an incredibly impressive collection of instruments and were rather smitten with one of my tenor guitars. It has since sold, but here's a video they posted to help in the effort...

So, what's the best restaurant in the world? SALSA'S. Hands down, no questions asked, it's SALSA'S.

Mary Stockland

I don't know what it's like outside where you live (where exactly do you live internet?), but in Montreal it's snowy. And cold. In nothing short of a heroic effort to delay my descent into said weather I decided to post another song from the Old Time for a New Year concert we had in the shop a few weeks ago. This time it's an original from our friend Mary Stockland. Mary is a wonderful person with a wonderful voice who writes wonderful songs. Enjoy...

First of many....

Great music, great crowd, great beer. Lots more videos on the way....

Old Time For A New Year

We broke in the new shop with our grand re-opening concert a few weeks ago, so it's about time for another party! Come join us for a night of fiddle tunes, ballads, old time songs and original music performed by Montreal's finest ballad singer Mary Stockland and old time stringband The Bogghoppers. Mary has an absolutely incredible voice that'll leave you weak in the knees and the Bogghoppers burn through old time music like it's hot off the presses! (I know that metaphor doesn't really make sense -- just trust me that they're GREAT!). This is a pay-what-you-can event and doors will open at 8:30 with music getting started at 9:30.

Mile End Guitar Shop
#712 5445 de Gaspe
Saturday, Jan. 15th

Mike O'Brien

A key item on the agenda of our first shop (re)opening party planning committee meeting was a serious discussion as to whom we should ask to perform. As per the by-laws, an exact transcription of the meeting was recorded -- a segment of which I've reproduced below...

"So we should probably throw a party, huh?"

"Yeah, maybe get Mike and a bunch of other people to play."

"Ok, sounds good."

Fascinating. Really though, there was no doubt in our minds that we should get Mike to play. He was a big part of concerts in the old shop and one of the best thrills as a guitar maker is to hear someone who can really play have a go at one of your creations. For the first song in his second encore Mike plays an original, 'Josephine' ...

Is there anybody out there?

Hello internet!

This will be the first post in a series of at least one recounting the past few months in the life and times of the Indian Hill Guitar Company (aka. me). A lot has happened since we last spoke -- squatting at City Park in New Orleans, oud repair at a Virginia commune, moose sightings on Cape Breton, rolling a skidoo in the Yukon, and an unexpected shop relocation to name a few.

That last little tidbit came about when our old building was (temporarily) condemned by the powers that be. The reasons for condemnation are somewhat suspect and full of potential political intrigue, but the end result was a less than thrilling packing up and moving 450 feet down the street. It was unplanned and generally a royal pain, but building a new shop allowed us to (theoretically) learn from our mistakes and expand in bold and exciting new directions. For what could be more "bold and exciting" than gaining an additional three members to the shop?! Well, probably a lot but we're rather pleased so don't question it.

As expected, we seized upon an excuse to throw a big party and had our grand shop (re)opening gala a few weeks ago. Lots of music, friends, and Jeremy's delicious beer made it a resounding success. Here'a video from the first act of the night, The Boghoppers (with special guest and new shop member Kaitlyn)...