G'day from Gippsland

[Bartone Guitars]

I have browsed this forum for answers on a number of occasions and found it very helpful... thanks fellas... so I thought it must be time for me to sign up and say hello.

Having worked in major construction most of my life, I'd just about had enough of driving an hour & a half to Melbourne and 2 1/2 hours home. I live in Loch, Gippsland (Vic), married with a 1 year old daughter, and it was the birth of our daughter which actually inspired me to quit the rat-race and spend more time at home.

I first started modifying guitars and basses 40+ years ago (age 17), but never saw it as anything more than a hobby, a hobby I was passionate about, but nevertheless not something I ever seriously considered as a business. People would bring their guitars and basses to me for repairs and setups but I would only charge them for parts (hard to get in those days without internet), and was happy to be paid in beer (I already had a job and your money went a long way in those days). My understanding of how guitars work well was almost instinctive, so with a certain amount of trial and error I came to be a pretty hot set-up bloke.

A few years ago I built my first guitar from scratch, a baritone Strat with lipstick pickups (amazing tone), and I was so pleased with the outcome, I realised that this was something I was born to. My brother is a kitchen maker (of the highest order), so I was able to use all his power tools and other woody stuff. A musical acquaintance saw the long scale Strat and asked me if I could build him a baritone Tele because he loved that spaghetti western tone but preferred Telecaster-style. I was a bit overwhelmed at first, but agreed. Well things just snowballed from there, so I spent a year tooling up and finally took the plunge and quit work to start a home business.

There are a lot of people out there hand crafting electric guitars, it's kind of saturated really, but I didn't care I just wanted to follow my heart and my passion and do something for myself for a change, not always doing what I'm told by some underworked overpaid uni student kid.

At present I am focussed on making F-style guitars and basses, for no other reason than I love that timeless single coil tone and style Leo F created more than 60 years ago. I wind my own pickups and have found that they sound great when combined with an unbleached bone nut, brass frets, and some decent Aussie hardwood. I don't know why exactly, maybe it's just my ego, but I reckon my hand wound pickups sound much better than those robot-made corporate "cookie-cutter" pups.

I'm not trying to turn this intro into an advertisement for myself, I just want to relate to you the reader how deeply satisfying it is for me to not only work with wood using tighter tolerances than metal work, but to produce instruments which I love so much I don't want to part with them... each one is like another baby and I want to keep them all but now that I have no income I am forced to sell them... the only downside to the whole hare-brained venture.

Thanks for reading and I hope to make some great woodworking friendships here. I'm a knockabout bloke, very approachable, not hard to get along with, no illusions of grandeur (other than a healthy belief in my talents), and keen to become part of the community.

Cheers,
Jess.

[Christos]

Welcome to the forum. Quite a long intro. Hope you enjoy your new journey into guitar building and the birth of your child and all at the age of 57. I suspect you will have some exciting times ahead.

[Bartone Guitars]

Thanks Christos, sorry for the long intro, it was all I could do to stop it getting longer but to be honest it reflects my mind's attention to detail and the need for completeness.

I met my wife and we accidentally (she being of child-bearing age) fell in love six years ago, married a year later. It's said that life begins at 50 and I can't argue with that, but somehow having a kid threw an whole new light on that idea. Building guitars was the next logical step I suppose, after playing and playing with the infernal things for what seems like an eternity, I've been in a few bands as the bass player over the years but I was never all that good at it, and like the tech side, I never got serious (as in "career") about it. Well now I know that I'm far better at making them than I ever was at playing them, and suddenly I am very serious about it, I get almost as much joy and satisfaction from working in my shed as I do from having my beloved wife and daughter in my life.

[Stephen Taylor]

Hey Jess, I wouldn't normally reply to a welcome thread, in fact I don't contribute much here, just love to read pretty much everything that comes up. But I just love people"s passion for what they do. I'm not musical,don't understand cars, but love to read and see what passionate people create. I look forward to reading and seeing what you do in future. Your piece just oozes a love of creation.

[old1955]

Welcome to the forum Jess.

[Bartone Guitars]

Much appreciated Stephen and Old1955.

After reading your post Stephen I am thinking about posting a photo or two of a build. I have about five guitars on the go in various stages, the furthest along being a Jazz-style 4-string bass made from fiddleback redgum and Victorian ash. Rather than describe it in the intro thread I will start another thread and post some photos with a description... stay tuned.

[crowie]

G'Day & Welcome to a top forum "Jess".
There are a few of members in Gippsland area as well as across the rest of Victoria..
You'll find a heap of helpful & knowledgeable blokes & ladies on the forum and for most very willing to assist.
Make sure you show off your handiwork as everyone loves a photo, especially WIP [work in progress] photos with build notes.
Enjoy the forum.
Enjoy your woodwork.
Cheers, crowie

PS - sorry can't help as I do toys....

[JJF]

Welcome to the forum

[marklr]

G'day Jess

Welcome to Gipppsland and the forum,

You had better come up to Paynesville soon and have a look at this Fiji Mahogany. We have a few pretty good guitar builders as well.
Best wishes

mark


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