Acoustic Guitar Building Course

[Zandit75]

I have a friend lives at Miami, her little beach shack 2 houses from Hedges ave (millionairs row) sky rocketed in value in the 90's. But yea , as Waz said more likely to see exotica than a Roller or even a nice old Caddy these days. It's a great spot Zandit, you will enjoy it. The beach at Miami is better than at Surfers.

I'm not much of a beach person, but I certainly will try and get around a bunch of places as the time allows.
I'm also thinking of calling in on one of the brass bands in the area one night. Hopefully they will have an instrument available that I can play on, or I'll be happy enough to just sit there an listen to how another band goes through their motions.

[Simon Barden]

I'll be happy enough to just sit there an listen to how another band goes through their motions.

Might be best to avoid the Miami Sewage Works Brass Band in that case.

[Zandit75]

Might be best to avoid the Miami Sewage Works Brass Band in that case.

Haha, yes, definitely will do!

I made contact with the Surfers Paradise Brass Band(Only 10mins by bus from where I'm staying), and they are more than happy to have me there for a practice or two.
They will be heavily into gearing up for the Queensland State Championships, so the Musical Director may not want me sitting in with the band, but they did mention they have a spare Bass Trombone there ready to go if I'm allowed to have a go with them.
It would be awesome to sit in with another B Grade band. My own band is currently a C Grade one, but we have been steadily improving over the last couple of years, and we will hopefully be knocking on the door of the B Grade section again soon.

I'm actually missing out on our own State Band Championships by doing this guitar building course, but by the sounds of it, the permit player they are getting to replace me is a top player, so I'm confident that he will more than fill my spot. Hopefully my spot is still available when I return!!
While my Musical Director was disappointed, he's also a guitar fan, and knows I've been wanting this for many years.

[Zandit75]

Return flights booked.
Damn expensive compared to getting there, but I understand it is during school holidays, so it's to be expected.
While the flight to the Gold Coast only cost me $140.00, the return flight will be $324.80!!!
Basic flight charge was $192 which only covers 7kgs for carry on luggage.
$81 for check-in luggage weighing upto 20kgs
An additional $22 for upgrade to 30kgs check-in luggage
Plus $25 for oversized luggage.
The remaining $4.80 were Afterpay charges.

I've updated the running tally post.

[wazkelly]

How do you pay to transport the finished guitar? As additional luggage stored underneath or as oversized carry on, or pay for an additional seat?
The reason i ask is that my wife is seriously considering taking my current ES1 build to NZ as a birthday present for our eldest son who has been working over there for a few years and wondering what to expect.

Cheers, Waz

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[Zandit75]

At this stage it will be checked luggage, hence why I'm going for the added cost of the Hiscox case.
I'm hoping that I can gate-check the guitar so it doesn't travel through the airports luggage conveyor system, or even try my luck at getting it stored inside the cabin somehow. Perhaps the fight attendants have a storage locker that can hold the guitar.
In the US, they have allowances for musical instruments to travel inside the cabin up to certain sizes, or as you mentioned, buy another seat for it, but that cost would start getting too much. Similar rules are available here in Australia depending on the aircraft, but they are restricted on size. Not sure how that would work for your wife's international flight to NZ. It would be worth giving the a call.

[wazkelly]

Thanks mate.

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[Zandit75]

Meet Aaron Fenech!!

[Zandit75]

8 weeks to go.......I'm not getting excited......much!!!
Ordered the Fishman Pickup yesterday. Ebay had a special 10% off special through certain suppliers, and one of them happened to have the pick up I wanted. Considering stock for Australia is not currently available, and there is no guarantee it will be available before the course starts, I had to take the plunge.
Due to freight, I'l be paying a couple of dollars dearer than originally expected, but it's done now!!
I've updated the pricing post.

[Zandit75]

So apparently I can't count! Tomorrow it will be 8 weeks until I'm on the plane to the Gold Coast.
Tracking of the new pickup shows it arrived in Australia yesterday, 4 days from the day I ordered it, not bad at all!
It will be interesting to see how long it gets to me through Aussie snail mail!!
I've also decided to try some new strings, they are made form a company called Black Diamond, and they have a specially coated series of strings that are all black, including the bound strings. I have two sets coming to me, one will go straight onto my Maton acoustic as a trial, and I'll use the other set on my new build if they are any good!