We wish you Merry (real!) Christmas!

My partner Anke was aghast when I said I was going to pull out my old plastic Christmas tree from the storeage shed this year... "You cant have a FAKE Christmas tree!" she quoth!  I did explain that is a very NICE plastic Christmas tree but that was simply unacceptable (in Germany at least!) I was told. 

And so it came to be that there we were at 9am last Sunday morning, saw in hand, wandering around the Christmas Tree Farm in the Swan Valley to choose a perfect "real" live Christmas tree for the very first Christmas for Concpet in our new shop!  And of course, having a traditional Christmas tree meant that we had to have traditional decorations as well!  When you come in you'll be amazed... it's SO beautiful (and yes, I admit, so much nicer than the old plastic one from the shed!) with real chillies, real slices of lemon, real walnuts.... a REAL tree! Lot's of Ho Ho Ho there!  Danke Anke! :-)  

"All the world's a Stage!"

Well that's what they say... and it must certainly be true of the Music Industry! I had a small stage in my old shop in Murray St & loved having it there to do displays as well as hold clinics & demonstrations so it was a concept (excuse the pun!) I was keen to re introduce into the "new" shop here now that we have more space.  So on Sunday my good freind Sebastian & my son Tim came in to help me tick that box of my all too extensive "To Do" list before my target finish date of December 1st!  And we made it.... just!  Just a coat of paint to go!

Getting closer!

Well, we've now got nearly all the old guitars back up on the wall which has really started to make it feel like "home" again.  We've got all the strings back up as well... so we ARE getting there (Graham repeats to himself over & over again).  The new Stage STILL isn't finished but we DO now have the timber for it...  oh well. Slowly but surely...

Acoustic guitars finally up on the wall....

The deadline I've given myself to get everything finished is December 1st so that means I only have 1 week to go to get all teh sections of the shop happening... a week to biuld a new stage, repaint the old showcases, finish off the lighting, hang all my old guitars.... connect up a new computer terminal...

Hmm... I think I'd better & go & get stuck back in!  Today I've pretty much got the acoustic section finished & just have some touching up & edge strips to put in... slowly slowly.

Ukelele's are us!

Apart from not wanting to get into an argument over "What IS the correct spelling of Ukulele?"  (The Americans seem to use ukulele & the Brits ukelele... but even makers & dictionaries seem vary on this one!) the one thing I CAN say is... BOY, do we have ukeleles!  And instead of being hidden away above the front door now they're taking pride of place next to stairs right near the new counter.  Uke's start at $25 for a brightly coloured Mahalo (the only "cheapie" we've found that will actually tune up & play!) but they go right up to $500 & $600 for some stunning top end models by Kala & Ohana as wel;l as Martin (yes, Martin make ukes' as well!).

Drums... we have drums!

Since moving here from Wembley 8 years ago we have never had enough space to display drums... we have always hgad a few kits in stock but they've always ended up jammed in between the keyboards & guitar packs somewhere... but NOW!!!! Our first shipment of Yamaha Stage Custom & Tour Custom  kits arrived last week & we finally got to unpack them... awesome! Some of their electric kits arrive next week too.

Anyone for a $10 slightly used guitar stand?!

I had to buy nearly 100 guitar stands so we had somewhere to put all our guitars while the shop was being painted & carpeted but now that most of them are back on the walls & have been rehung, we've got stands coming out of our ears!  So if you're looking for a "pracically brand new, only used once on a Sunday, pre-assembled & slightly dusty guitar stand" for 10 bucks... we got 'em... in fact we got dozens & dozens of 'em!!  If you want to grab one I'm selling them off at around half price so $10 of $19.95.

Wallpaper in the entry...

I've mentioned before that part of our brief to the designers was to make sure we maintained a relaxed, friendly vibe in the store but also to make it look cool & interesting.  We really liked the dark grey idea for the walls & ended up going with a bit of an ebony & ivory feel between the 2 sides of the shop with the bottom (old) half of the shop taking on a darker, more moody rock feeling for the ebony side & the new top section being the fresher "ivory" feel.  And to make sure it wasn't like a cave when you walk in with all the charcoal colour, Clare suggested we liven it up a bit with this brightly striped wallapper on the entry wall (where the old counter used to be).  I loved it as soon as I saw it & even though it had to imported from Scandanavia (?!) we ordered it in & waited patiently till it could go up... which it did yesterday.  And WOW, what an effect!  It's a bit hard to look at on the screen but it's kinda retro & VERY & cool.  Just what we wanted.

New carpet is down... at last!

Getting the old section of the shop recarpeted was definitely one of the bigger logisitical exercises we have had to undertake... & of course shifting EVERY guitar & amp & showcase OFF the floor on Saturday evening meant just one thing on Monday morning... yep, it all had to go back again!  All the guys really got stuck in & it started to look pretty presentable very quickly actually... they did an awesome job.  It is the same carpet as the "new" part of the shop & is quite dark but now everythng matches & it definitely has a nice feel & look to it... not to mention a much better SMELL for that matter!  We're getting there... can't wait till it's all finished... it seems to be taking forever so thanks for your patience!

Acoustic Room (continued!):

Yesterday I think I caught a glimpse of light at the end of our renovation tunnel with at least one room in the shop is pretty much finished now. Stuart came in to hang the wallpaper in the acoustic room & in our entry wall.... & what a difference!   It really looks excellent... definitely give the room a more relaxed & "home" vibe & I think it has just also changed acoustics slightly as well...  I can see many, many customers getting lost in there... & me for that matter!

New carpets today... I hope!

It was a very, very busy day yesterday (Saturday) so we didn't get much chance to clear the floor in the old part of the shop ready for the carpet layers to come in this morniong (Sunday).  It was a big job as we had to remove literally everything off the floor: the old counters.... the display boxes in the front window... every single guitar & bass amplifier... the boys all mucked in though & we had it done by around 6:30pm.  Now.... we just wait for the carpet layers to turn up.... & as it is 8:30am & they were supposed to be here at 8:00am... I'm just hoping there are 1/2 hour late because it's Sunday & they had to go & get the carpet from the warehouse? Hmm...  And where did we put everything off the floor?  Anywhere it would bloody well fit!

Our Brass & Woodwind instruments have a home at last!

Being a trombone player, I'm almost embarrassed to admit I've never had a purpose built showcase for our trumpets, trombones & saxophones... not any more!   How good do the Alto saxes look now?!  Interestingly, the slat wall hangers I bought to display the saxes & trombones are made in the USA by a company called Stringswing, and, while it was nice to have something not made in China for change, would you believe they have a different sized slat wall slot in the USA than here in Australia... which I thought was bizarre in this increasingly monocultured world we're living in?!  The only solution was for me to get out my angle grinder (any excuse Gra!) & grind about 5mm off the top each hanger of every hanger so they would fit in the slots!  A bit of work but a great effect in the end.

Billy Sheehan Clinic...

Last night I worked back hanging up some more shop fittings & guitars while the boys went to a Bass Clinic with Bass guitar legend Billy Sheehan... around 200 bass players turned out at the WAAPA Auditorium to see & hear him & we were pleased to hear his message to "get out there & play with other musicians!".  It turns out we have the only Billy Sheehan "Attitude II" Signature Series Bass in Perth, so Yamaha asked us to take it along just in case Billy needed it.  He didn't but he did agree to sign it after the show!  Well done Tony!   Great value at a bit under $3000.... I wonder who the lucky new owner will be?!

That's wasn't a concrete saw Karl... THIS is a concrete saw!

I'm constantly amazed at the number of niche businesses out there... & how people got into them - I mean, who ever left school saying "I want to be concrete cutter when I finish Year 12?!". Thankfully, someone did!  You might remember Karl my Electrician using a small circular saw sized cutter to put some slots in the concrete floor on the new section of the shop (for our headphone listening post & keyboards), well we decided it was such a great idea I asked him to do some more in the old shop befre the new carpets go in on Sunday.  As it was a much longer cut so Karl called in the professionals & in they came with a rather more substational but noisier (& much faster!) machine that was hooked up to his ute & he proceeded to cut in another 16 metre channel in the floor so we put in another 5 power points in the floor for our bass amps, electronic drums, effects & guitar amps. Interesting job... sort of!

Somewhere to sit...

It look long enough but we have finally taken delivery of a new ottoman for the acoustic room. And it isn't as wide as I had remembered but it's the perfect height for sitting on while you try out a few guitars... & the colours are great against the slate coloured Formica flooring. The acoustic room is nearly finished now with just some wallpaper & a few more guitar hangers to put up... & oh yeah, & take the masking tape off the glass doors!  Oops.. my bad! Totally forgot all about it.  I'll put it on my list.

Come in soon & have a nice quiet sit in there... it's lovely.

It's Sunday... so of course we're painting - again!

"Are we there yet, are we there yet?!"  No, not quite... but we're definitely getting closer!  Justin from PaintKing was here on the dot of 7:30am to start on the last section of the shop to get painted.  Well... the last BIG section anyway... there's a lot of little touch ups to be done as well as 2 walls of wallpapering to go... but we're certainly getting closer.  And what a difference a fresh coat of paint makes!  Today we finished painting the new bass section in matching domino black... and the amp room we painted in... & you guessed "chartreusse" is back! You can just see it on the right hand side of this photo.  It is very fresh looking after the washed concrete grey colour we've endured the past few years (it seemed like a good idea at the time!).  Now we also need to find time to rehang all the old guitars which will be a bit fiddly but fun. 

And while shuffling all the stock around to make room for painting wasn't too big a job, next Saturday will be a different story. They're coming to recarpet the "old" part of the shop next Sunday morning so everything has to come off the floor!  We can't wait to see the new carpet go down though... while there's loads & loads of little stuff still to do, the carpets are the last really BIG job logistically (he says hopefully!).

Slowly slowly...

It was very dusty dirty day in the shop today with electricians & cabinet makers drilling, planing, jigsawing & hammering all day so our apologies if you were in the shop today & felt like you had walked into a construction zone instead of a music shop (but it will all be over soon I promise!). Today we also got our old Fender Custom Shop sign out of the amp room (where you probably never even noticed it?!) & rehung it outside the amp room... where it looks much better!  Sunday the painters will be back & then next week the electrician is coming back to put in some new power points in the floor of the old shop & there's still a bit of cabinetry to go in & the new carpet but we're definitely getting there... at least I think we are!

Our new Service Centre

Well it's not quite operational yet but you get the picture so feel free to rush in & be one of the first to have your guitar serviced in our new service centre! Hopefully by the time you get here we'll have some of our strings & leads hung up in there. This second photo below is the cabinet work being done for our new recoding display... plenty of room to hear those Studio Monitors at ear level & plenty of cable access so they can left plugged in... we hope.

Now THAT is a guitar wall!!!

Wow... we keep looking at our new electric guitar wall & feel like we're looking at a photo out of a Guitar Magazine?!  You can actually SEE all our guitars now... & they really look fantastic against the Dulux Domino grey walls Clare recommended... the low voltage spot lights really make the guitars jump off the wall.  Some of you might remember we had flat black walls at the old shop in Murray Street, but the black never looked this classy... & the wall not nearly this big!  Come in & check it out.

Flat Screens to the left, Flat Screens to the right!

We really liked having a big screen TV in the back of the shop to run Concert & Lesson DVD's on while the shop is open, so when Clare from Egosquare Design suggested we think about adding a couple more in each different section of the the store it didn't take much convincing!  And THIS time they wont be sitting on top of an old showcase... they'll be suspended from the ceiling & wired back to the main counter so we can control them from there... wow, I think we're starting to look a bit professional!  About time maybe?!

A new Guitar Service Centre... at last!

I don't know quite how the guys have coped with servicing so many guitars every day on our old desk plonked in the middle of the store but somehow they have!  Today the cabinet work goes in for our new Guitar Service Centre which will be awesome!  A nice big, clean, funky space so we spread out & plenty of room to service & repair any of your beautiful guitars that need our love & attention. Can't wait...

The Guitar Wall Cometh!!

Finally... after what seemed like hours of having all of us stand around like a bunch of road workers (with apologies to all the hard working road workers out there) pontificating such issues as "how far apart do you think they should they be?" and "how high shall we go?!" and "how many rows can we fit it?" interspersed with "I think we need more space!!" (more space?!  Hello...we've got twice as much as before?!!) we finally came up with a spacing formula for hanging the guitars on our new electric guitar wall... the wall of electric doom!  And this time we thought enough about it make sure we won't have to stand on top of the small amps to reach the top row! (And "Doh" to the person who worked out the measurements last time... errr... that would be me... oops! Sorry guys!).  Hopefully we can finish it off today before the cabinet makers & electrician come in tomorrow... and yes you guessed it, at 7:00am!!!  Oh no....   have a heart guys!

Paint, paint & more paint...

I didnt know if it was a good thing or a bad thing when Justin from Paint King suggested he would be happy to paint on a Sunday... saying it would be easier for him & for the customers so despite his request for (another) 7am start I agreed.  He's been doing a great job & has been really cooperative with his felxibility in regards to working around us while the shop is still open.  Drop in & see his handy work... you'll be blown away!  And yes, that IS a charcoal black ceiling!  There's still a bit to go (the amp room & last guitar corner) & he's knocking that off... you guessed, THIS Sunday!

Some of my "Golden Oldies" (or Ugly Bettys?!)

It sounds like a simple thing when the painter says "can you just take down those guitars so I can paint that wall?" but when there's 40 or 50 of them & they are all bolted to the wall as part of my "Hall of Horrors" (ie. my collecton of wacky, crazy, ugly... call them what you will guitars?!)  it is not such a quick or easy exercise!! 

My collection started over 25 years ago when someone came in  with an old Hagstrom guitar to ask if was OK for his son to learn on?  He'd bought it in the early 60's while he was in the Navy but had never played it himself.  I thought it was awesome however it was pretty much unplayable so in the end I suggested we swap it for a better & more modern guitar that his son would be able to learn play on (& that his mates would think was cool!).  Meanwhile, I thought his old guitar was SO cool I decided to keep it & hang it up "Not for Sale" in the shop.  And here we are over 25 years later & there's over 50 of them in collection!  Mostly have been brought in by people wanting to get rid of them or trade them in but other I've picked up at Antique Fairs, Garage Sales or Auctions & most of them aren't worth very much in $ value but they're a lot of fun & there's quite a bit of history there now.  While they were off the wall I asked Don from Mosquito Graphic Design to come in & take photo's of them so I can pout them up on our website at some point.... when I've got nothing else to do! (Yeah, right!).