Our new Service Centre is flat out as well

We do a lot of restrings here as well as minor repairs so when we renovated, something high on our wish list, was new service area where we could inspect & restring more comfortably and a bit more professionally!  I love the colours here but more important, I love having somewhere to put the guitars while we are inspecting them with customers as well as a "real" workbench.

Hey check this out... it's a great way try a new mike!

There are heaps of things we have seen over the past few years at various Trade Shows & Exhibitions that we've said "Wow... wouldn't THAT be great...  if only we had more room?!".  And this is one of the best... it's a demo setup for trying microphones.  Our good friends at AKG have set this up so you can listen to the different mikes & compare them & choose the mike best suited to your voice.  It  is now a permanent installation at Concept Music & it's really smple to use: just put on the headphones, choose a mike & say: "Check 1, 2!"  (or is that "shhhheck schheck... scheckkk... ...one, choo... one choo.... shheck... "?!) & you're away. You'll be amazed how much difference you can hear.  And if Joe Cocker uses 'em... well, you know they're going to be impressive! Joe actually uses an AKG D5 which, at only $289 RRP is an incredible mike. Tell us you saw it on our Blog and you can get one for $220 as an special introductory offer. And yes... you CAN leave your hat on when you're trying them.

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...

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!

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.

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!

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!

The beginnings of our new guitar section...

The painter has done almost half of the "old" part of the shop & will be back tomorrow morning at 7:00am (yep, that's right... 7:00am... in the morning... on a SUNDAY!).  I thought I was finished with these early starts actually but this week I have tradies coming in on Tuesday AND Wednesday at 7:00am so I guess there's stiull a few more to go.  Today we swapped some of our electric guitars over into the back of the old part of the shop that Justin painted on Thursday & wow... they look awesome on the "domino" black that Clare has selected for the wall & roof colour... very rock, very night-club, very cool as well... can't wait to get the new racks up & the new carpet in!

The Day Wall Came Down: Part 3!

Walls, walls, walls... or more correctly... NO more walls!  The first wall to come down was the double brick wall between the new & old shops; next was the temporary wooden wall (to protect us while they removed the brick wall!) & last night, we took out the old store room wall & office... to reveal a HUGE new space... which will be our new electric guitar section!  Huge space... precede by a HUGE mess!!! But we had fun!  Sort of...

Electricals & more electricals

Today our sparky Karl is back upgrading the power feed to our building (which meant we had no power for a few hours today!) and also installing the LED lights in our showcases... only 5 watts each & no heat or UV... bewdiful! The saxes & brass instruments will finally have a nice home where they'll feel loved! 

Tomorrow the painters start on the "old" part of the building & getting ready for that is proving quite a logistical challenge... (read nightmare!).  Fortunately they are being very cooperative & have agreed to help us out by doing it in 2 halves which means that we can squeeze all the stock into one side of the shop while they do the other...  half & vice versa.  Our first job was to put together another 6o guitar stands!

The new acoustic room.... beautiful!

There is still a lovely long ottoman lounge to go in the Acoustic Room (as well as another "surprise" on one wall!) but even at this stage you can really start to "see" it now....  the guitars just look amazing on the green walls & more importantly, the sound is lovely in there - not too bright but clear & with a bit of a snap to the acoustics. The electrician also got the pendant lights in late last night so you can actually SEE the guitars in there when you try them now!  We love it!