Another Awesome night with Tommy Emmanuel

What was billed as a 1 1/2 hour "Ultimate Master Class" turned into a marathon 2 1/2 hour Concert come Lesson as Tommy positively and enthusiastically responsed to repeated & seemingly endless requests to play tune after tune after tune last night!  Each time his performance was prefaced by a short but detailed & honest explanation of the particular piece requested... where he was when he wrote it & and why he played in that particular style. His explanations were full of detail and humour and his generosity and honesty seemed boundless. The 50 attendees who each invested $99 to spend time learning from Tommy Emmanuel were spell bound as he clearly demonstrated just why he has become known as one of the most lauded guitar playes in the world today!

It was a privilge to host this event on behalf of Tommy.

Winner of Fender USA Stratocaster...

Congratulations to Raff McGriff of Kalamunda who won a brand new Fender USA Stratocaster just for signing up for our eNewsletter on our new website!  An understandably excited Raff said “I am humbled, astounded & privileged & can already feel the funk dripping off this baby!!” adding “this will be a welcome addition to my growing collection!”. Tony took a break from his obvious Mo-Vember commitments to present the guitar to Raff in store last Friday.

Our next give-away is one of the incredibly popular Maton Diesel" Mini guitars so don't miss out on you chance to win & sign up today!!

Tommy's Back in Town!

Yes, the master blaster of acoustic guitar is back in Perth with his brother Phil for a 50th Anniversary Tour  at Burswood Theatre on the 20th December!  And this year we are very happy to announce that, despite his incredibly busy schedule (which sees him playing over 300 Concerts per year all around the world!) he arrives into Perth the day before his Concert & he will be giving one only acoustic guitar Ultimate Master Class at Concept Music on the evening of Sunday 19th December! The cost is only $99 for the 1 1/2 hour session with Tommy and numbers are strictly limited to 50 people!  If you are a "finger picker" you wont want to miss this great opportunity!

What a difference a year makes!

It is hard to believe it is almost 12 months since Concept Music opened its "new" expanded store here at 246 Cambridge Street, Wembley.  This time last year we were up to our eyeballs in cabinet makers, builders, painters, plasterers & electricians rushing to get our renovation finished in time for Christmas!  And here we are 12 months later... it certainly has made a huge difference having the extra space & the feed-back from you, our customers, have given us continues to be oustanding. There are so many "favourite" bits in the new store but the Retro entry lounge, Acoustic Room, and "Wall" (of electric guitars) are certainly stand outs! Also Concept was a finalist in the "Best Presented Store" category at the annual AMA (Australian Music Association) Awards Dinner in Melbourne ealier this year so were pretty happy all round!  If you haven't been it yet... drop in soon. We think you'll like it!

Australian Music Association Convention

Every year the Australian Music Associaton (AMA) runs a Trade Convention at which there is always an awards dinner and some fantastic acts.  This year it was in Melbourne at the new Convention Centre and Graham & Tony went to check out all the latest gear & see what bargains were to be had (it's a tough gig but someone has to do it!). 

After some 12 or so years on the Executive Committee of the AMA (the organisers of the Convention), Graham resigned late last year so that he could focus fully on the renovations and expansion of Concept Music. For a start this meant that Graham was able to relinquish his regular role as MC of the Annual Awards Dinner & relax for a change but also it seems that his focus on the renovations paid off... as Concept Music was a finalist in the much coveted "Best Presented Store" category.  While Concept Music didn't take out the ultimate prize of Best Store this year it was gratifying to receive so many nominations. Maybe next year methinks?  

And yes, a good time was definitely had by all!

ABC Inventors Grand Final

Due to his many years experience and standing in the industry, our fearless leader Graham Hoskins is often asked for his comments and opinion on all sorts of matters musical.  In particular this year Graham was asked several times by the ABC to consult as an Industry Expert on several "new" music innovations and inventions for the popular TV show "The New Inventors" (actually, shouldn't all inventions be new?! But I guess that's why they're asking... to make sure they are!). As a result of that, Graham has now been invited to attend the 2010 Grand Final and After Party in Sydney later this month. It will be interesting to see if any of the inventions Graham assessed are in the grand final. "Watch this space" for the result!

Our 30 Anniversary Fender Bash... a night with a difference!

Having just eclipsed the 30 years in business milestone, we thought we might celebrate by having a VIP Fender night featuring the amazing talents of Melbourne guitarist James Ryan.  A number of Concept Music "multi Fender" owners were there to watch, listen & enjoy some nice wines & finger foods.  Something guests were not expecting though was another "feature act" we had arranged.... an exclusively designed body painting I commissioned a friend of mine, Suzanne Mykolajenko of "Whereforart" Body Painting, to do for us.  Starting with the blank canvas, of a naked model, Suzanne spent nearly 3 hours to finish & result, as you see, was quite spectacular & it was actually remarkably hard to tell those jeans & top were not real... even standing next to her!  It was very enjoyable night & there was certainly plenty for everyone to talk about for some time to come!

"Clarisax Feast" organised by the Clarinet & Saxophone Association of WA

Recently the Clarinet & Saxophone Society of WA (CASSWA) ran their 2nd Annual "ClariSax Feast" at UWA & once again it was an incredibly popular day with registrations numbering over 100 & well up on last year inaugral event.  Concept Music was at the "Feast" with a vast array of instruments & accessories for delegates to try & and also joined forces with Rovner to donate a brand new Rovner Platinum Series ligature valued at $159 as a prize.  The winning ticket was drawn last Friday at Concept Music in Wembley by Allan Meyer who is the Principal Clarinetist with WASO (West Australian Symphony Orchestra).  Allan also took the opportunity to test some of the new Yamaha wooden clarinets for us... & he was especially impressed with the CX & 650 Series of instruments commenting particularly on their fine keywork.  The lucky & very deserving winner of the Rovner ligature was Adrian Galante who is a very fine young player from Sorrento. Congratulations Adrian!  If you are a clarinet or sax player why not sign up & join CASSWA today?!

Boxes boxes boxes....

Delivery trucks pulling up out the front are a constant source of excitement when you work in a music shop!  Today it was some new gear from Blackstar which included some new models we haven't seen before as well as a 12" extension cab (finally!).  We're not exactly sure what there is that is so exciting in the manual that Charles is reading but hey... maybe he's just checking out the ohmage - could that be exciting?! 

Tomorrow we are expecting a big shipment of new Fender gear! Bring it on!!

Is this the best Martin guitar ever?!

That would be a huge call (& would be a debatable claim anyway!) but it is most certainly of the finest & most exciting Martin acoustic guitars we've had come through the shop in a long time.  At almost $6000 it sounds like a lot of money for a guitar (and it isa lot of money actually!) but if you could say that a guitar for that price was "value for money" then we reckon this is it! 

It is one of the very first of the new Martin Performance Series guitars to come in to Australia & it's a ripper... built of solid East Indian rosewood back & sides with a solid Sitka spruce top, solid wood binding (ovangkol), and pearl rosette. Check out some more photo's on our website or go to Martin's special website to hear a clip. Yummy!

Careful, fake guitars really do exist...

I sometimes wonder if people think we are just scaremongering when we tell warn them to "be careful out there" buying gear off the internet... especially from people they don't know... but we see so many "dodgy" instruments we cannot stress enough that fake gear really does exist and you really DO have to be careful!  And the more popular the gear... the more likely you are to come across a fake: copies of the classic Shure SM58 mike are very common place but at Concept Music we have also had personal experience with counterfeit Daddario strings, Yamaha flutes and trumpets, pickups... and yes, guitars as well of course.

Here are some photo's of what appeared to be a Fender Custom Shop Telecaster guitar that came in recently for us to have a look at. We were asked to "check the electronics... 'coz it's making a kinda buzzing sound".  Did it ever... & when we pulled it apart we could see why.  Not only were the pickups fake, the pots tiny & wiring thin & unshielded... on closer inspection we noticed the neck, despite having a beautiful Logo on the front and the Custom Shop authentification decal on the back it was (not so obviously) a VERY cheap copy.

So... how CAN you tell a "fake"?  Well, without taking a giutar apart it can very hard.  On this the external "alarm bells" were the truss rod access is wrong, also it had an unusual laminated maple fretboard on a maple neck (you can just see the 'maple on maple' lamination just behind where the truss rod is accessed) and also the maple in the neck also looks very cheap and has many grain faults.. something you would never see on genuine Fender (or even a Squier for that matter!) but overall... easily good enough to fool someone who wasn't expecting to see a fake or if you only had photo's to go by.  Hmmm. 

MORE Ukuleles!

If someone had told me a few years ago we'd be selling ukuleles for $500 and $600 I would have laughed... but there you go - who ever knows what "the next big thing" is going to be?!  Concept has always sold a lot of $25 cheapy coloured ukes but the market has seems to have exploded since the Concert for George DVD hit the shelves a few years ago.  Now we stock a huge range incluind Kala, Ohana & Mahalo & they are increasingly being sought out & recognised as a "real" musical instrument... AND they are SO much FUN!  It's hard not to smile whenever someone comes in & starts to strum on one!

They call him Bruce! Bruce Egnater that is...

There's always some funky new model of something coming on the market & while Egnater amps are not  exactly "new" (in fact Bruce has been making amps for over 30 years!) the new Tweaker models are. They are an ultra compact and amazingly versatile little 15 watt all-tube amp that offers unique & seemingly endless tonal variations via the on-board “Tweaker” selector switches. They use a pair of 6V6 power tubes & sound is incredible!  And at around $1200 for the combo, the price is great too.

Bruce Egnater is currently on a National Tour of Australia & dropped in to Concept Music with his right hand man Gustavo for a chat & to check out the local music store scene.  Tony and I thought it was a good time to test out the new "retro lounge" at Concept!

"Yeah Baby!" Our new Lounge Suite

I found this very funky old "retro" lounge suite on Gum Tree... it is exactly what we've been looking for to complete the entry to the new shop & it looks perfect!  Drop in for a cuppa!

The latest Guild guitars are made in the USA.

The rennaisance of Guild guitars the past few years since Fender took them over has been a credit to the guys in the USA.  Guild recently moved to a new facility in New Hartford, Connecticut and are one of the very few makers in the world to still use genuine nitrocellulose lacquer ~ you really can feel & hear the difference from the more commonly used polyutherane. Shane couldn't take his hands off this latest one that came in & we are still amazed at just how good they are getting with every shipment seeming to get better than the last!  The ever popular Guild D55 is a classic and at around $4,500 is a great investment.

A stunning new arrival... a brand new Fender 1964 Relic Telecaster!

While some people still struggle with the concept ('scuse the pun!) of a Fender "Relic" guitar, they really are incredible instruments & they play & feel like an genuinely old hand worn in guitar!  This 1964 reissue Telecaster that Charles is playing is a stunner... aged beautfully it pays like a dream & with the woods Fender have selected, it rings like a bell acoustically & rips it up when you plug it in. We are expanding our range of Fender Custom Shop guitars all the time & many of the one's we have were hand picked. This one is $7,400 but it is a whole lotta guitar for the money... and a good $20,000 cheaper than if you found a "real" '64 in this condition!