Needing some one on one time, we took the bigs out for a day of exploration. Papa told us to check out Cole Clark Guitars and Uncle Lyle told us about Maton Guitars so we thought we'd make a day of it.
Maton only does tours on the second Thursday and they don't make any exceptions. Cole Clark, on the other hand, were incredibly accommodating. They scheduled us at our earliest convenience, they rescheduled when we had a conflict come up--they were fantastic!
When we got there, Lloyd Spiegel was there to give us a tour. (Lloyd, it was supposed to be Roy--got the names mixed!) As he told us the history of Cole Clark Guitars we quickly realized that this guy was someone special. He's toured just about everywhere with just about every famous blues singer there is. The one that stood out for me was BB King. So here's this famous guitarist giving us a tour of this incredible guitar shop. It was unbelievable!
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| So they build a pick up bar into the face of the guitar to pick up the sound that the face of the guitar makes. |
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| They've redone the way the supports have been done for thousands of years to accommodate the pick ups and to improve the sound of a 'plugged in' guitar. Notice how the neck isn't just glued on to the top of the body but runs clear into the shoulders of the guitar. This gives the guitar a more 'together' sound. It was really neat! |
We got to see every stage of production. These guitars are unique because of the way the pick ups are built in to the guitar from the very beginning stages. I love it when modern technology is able to preserve traditional beauty while meeting the needs of modern society! These pick ups retain the incredible sound of the acoustic guitar but lets you plug in to an amp and have the volume needed to be heard by a big group.
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| This is the machine that does all the pre-fab cutting. It's HUGE. Also they have to have a CAD engineer who can program the machines--I never realized there was a job that would require wood working skills, artistic talent and computer programming! This would be the coolest job! Lloyd told us of the genius they have that keeps their shops running. One time one of the machines broke down so he made a CAD program for the other machine to cut the part needed to fix the other machine until the new part could be shipped from somewhere in Europe or somewhere. Too cool! |
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| You can't see the pick up that's placed under the bridge to pick up the sounds there. Then there's a microphone in the neck (I think? Lloyd?) So there's 3 different pick ups that help the sound be as acoustic as possible when the instrument is plugged in. So fascinating! |
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| This is the part of the factory that burned down--the timber dryer! It's all rebuilt now and slowly coming back online! |
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| This is the guy actually placing the abalone inlay in place! |
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| Their guitars are made out of Tasmanian Blackwood, Queensland Maple and several other totally Australian timbers. |
Our 30-40 minute tour lasted well over 2 and a half hours and when we realized what time it was we were shocked that the time had gone by so quickly! We enjoyed ourselves immensely and now we all can't wait to save up for a Cole Clark guitar!
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| Lloyd was a wonderful host who taught us so much today and inspired us to one day own a Cole Clark Guitar. We can't thank him enough for this memorable experience! And for the new goal we have of becoming owners of a Cole Clark Angel guitar! (Sorry about the pic Sean! Should have had him take another one!) |
After that we made our way to the Driz-a-Bone factory to get π a new riding coat. We ended up with a 3/4 length one because they had it in green and it just looked so cool! I love that he was able to get another Driz-a-bone! (Shh don't tell é but I think he's getting his old one for his birthday when we get home!! I don't know which one I'm more excited about!!)
The five of us stopped for a pizza and just really enjoyed some 'small family' time then made our way back to Cathy's during rush hour traffic. I could tell we've been here for awhile when I didn't panic as I turned into bumper to bumper traffic 3 km before the freeway. I made my way without breaking a sweat all the way back to Pakenham! So proud of myself!! I don't know what I'd do without the GPS though! haha
Another incredible day. It's no wonder we're so exhausted at the end of each and every night. Tomorrow we're off to the Healsville Sanctuary!
PS Did you see what I learned to do today?! I can now add links to my blog posts! I know I know, I'm a savant!
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