CLC Newsletter-January 2012
January 2012
Hello again from the west coast of Ireland. First to wish you all a very Happy New Year and hope that it brings you all that you need. Now the apology. I am sorry that the Newsletter is late for the first time ever. As we were going to be away for Christmas I started work on the Newsletter before the holiday thinking I could put the finishing touches to it quickly when we returned. However I managed to catch some infection that laid me so low that I was unable to do this until Jan 2nd. I'll try to make sure it doesn't happen again!
Weather bad where you were for Christmas? This is how it was where Joey the grandson played left handed air guitar whilst walking on water on December 26th.
Well not actually walking....
Tech Bit - Binding ebony fingerboards
This (short!) Tech Bit was brought on when I was thinking about the two acoustic guitars that appear below. When I fit an ebony fingerboard to a fretted (*) instrument I always put binding on the edge. I don't always bind a rosewood, maple or other fingerboard unless I'm asked to. Why bind ebony? Well, in my experience ebony is very sensitive to humidity and will swell or shrink according to ambient conditions. The frets, being metal, do not behave in this way and many of you will be familiar with the sharp edges you can feel on some drier days where the fingerboard has shrunk leaving the frets sticking out. In extreme cases these can draw blood! So the binding allows the frets to be filed back further inside the edge and this will help minimise this problem. Other fingerboards do 'move' with humidity changes but not, in my experience, to the same extent or as rapidly as ebony. My own guitars have rosewood fingerboards.
(*) Since you don't have frets on a fretless bass you don't have the same problem so binding is not necessary.
I hope this section will be longer next month!
In the Workshop.
I was able to finish and deliver a couple of really fine acoustics before Christmas. This one is an ASAP Jumbo which has the back and sides made from a board of figured walnut I found in a timberyard in County Tipperary. It's a lefty by the way.
Top is sitka, neck is sapele with flamed maple laminates. The fingerboard is ebony bound with ebony, the body binding is flamed maple. I love the look and sound of European walnut. This combination of woods, along with the size of the Jumbo body, delivered a deep, rich, full tone with plenty of volume as you might expect. An example of how you can customise a hand made guitar. The owner wanted this engraved mother of pearl plate at the 12th fret.
The other guitar is an ASAP CAW with Indian rosewood back and sides bound with flamed maple, a sitka top and an ebony bound with ebony fretboard. The neck is quartersawn sapele with silk finish, a flat U profile and the nut is wider than normal.
The depth of colour in the rosewood is really nice. Wayne, who ordered this guitar, is a very accomplished flat-picker - you want to hear his bluegrass licks! He wanted balance, projection and volume. Not a lot to ask of a small bodied guitar. Did he get it?
I think the smile says it all!
I have decided that, unless I am requested not to, I will fit two way acting trussrods in all my guitars from now on. I have found a design that I like and works well. Both the above guitars have these trussrods fitted.
I got a really nice shot from Emmett of him enjoying his ASAPB 4 acoustic bass guitar. Emmett is a native of Tralee (the nearest town to us) but lives in Edinburgh, Scotland where he plays in a number of bands mostly less pastoral then this!
Also got a rather nice pic from Gus in Spain playing his ASAS Semi at his wedding - it arrived just in time! I like the T-shirt on the lady singer. I think it says it all.
And Murrough brought his lefty Lug back for a check-up and played some jazz for us.
If you have any shots of you or your band featuring any of my instruments I'd love to see them and maybe put them in a future Newsletter. Also any soundclips or videos now that I know how to link to them!
Tony asked where were the dogs in the Newsletter? Well they are here curled up and warm in the living room.
Reader Article.
Didn't get one this month. I suppose I could make one up and pretend.... Not the way I like to work!
So it could be you!
Why not contribute an article for the Newsletter yourself? Write a paragraph or two about something relevant and get a chance to shamelessly publicise yourself and/or your project in the Newsletter. Send your effort to me along with a suitable pic/video/soundclip/url/link, etc., and I'll see if I can include it (if I don't lose it). It does not have to be about how good your guitar is (even if it is!) but maybe something about a situation it got you into, a gig experience, the design and ordering process or anything related to it. Use your imagination! Or simply send me a pic of you and your Chris Larkin gigging.
Stocklist plug!
Last month I wrote "Hopefully there will be an ASAP CAW acoustic guitar in superb flamed Swiss maple on the Stocklist by the next Newsletter...." As I will be exhibiting at the Dublin Music Show in February I'm going to need all the stock I can muster to put on the walls if I am going to make a good impression so I have decided not to add the ASAP CAW in flamed maple or anything else to the Stocklist until after the event. It was finally sprayed with a honey tint that made the figuring in the wood stand out beautifully but is not yet polished so no pic of the finished article until the next Newsletter.
But STILL available to buy right now from the workshop (although I would not mind having them at the Dublin Show either!) we have these beauties.
Update January 6th- I have just sold the Blue SuperStrat and it is going to a good home. But you can still look at it and I could always make another one!
Want to play heavy stuff, rock and scream? This Superstrat in Irish flamed maple with a fingerboard in the same wood would help you!
For you Cool Daddys this archtop has the classic looks in spruce and quilted maple and has the classic sound too thanks to the floating pickup and hand carved top and back.
And for those of you in-between why not this ASAD 2HB that could handle almost any gig with aplomb (whatever that means!). It is so versatile I'm sure it could do it with two aplombs if asked.
All available now. More details on the Stocklist and you can contact me for other pics and details if you would like to know more. If you are in Kerry, call and arrange to meet with one or more of them and it could be the start of a long term relationship.....
And Finally..The Recipe.
Thanks to my great friend and fellow biker Christian in Basel for these two drinks, one for winter another for summer.
So Winter first.
"For winter I would recommend Holdrio which is rose hip tea, sugar and
Vielle Brune." If you don't know what Vielle Brune is you can find out here.
And Summer.
"Waggis, that's 1 dl whitewine, 1 dl Schweppes Tonic, 3 ice
cubes and a slice of lemon. Very nice for hot summer days or to oil
your throat when you play piccolo at the Basel Fasnacht (carnival)."
Syra and I were lucky enough to have been able to parade with Christian's clique during Fasnacht but we also drink Waggis at other times!
And finally, finally....
Somebody was asking where the titles for the Newsletters for the last year came from. It's a piece written by Michael Flanders and Donald Swann from the 1950's called 'A Song of the Weather' and here are the lyrics in full.
January brings the snow
Makes your feet and fingers glow,
February's Ice and sleet
Freeze the toes right off your feet,
Welcome March with wintry wind
Would thou wer't not so unkind,
April brings the sweet spring showers
On and on for hours and hours,
Farmers fear unkindly May
Frost by night and hail by day,
June just rains and never stops
Thirty days and spoils the crops,
In July the sun is hot
Is it shining? No, it's not,
August cold, and dank, and wet
Brings more rain than any yet,
Bleak September's mist and mud
Is enough to chill the blood,
Then October adds a gale
Wind and slush and rain and hail,
Dark November brings the fog
Should not do it to a dog,
Freezing wet December then:
Bloody January again!
(January brings the snow
Makes your feet and fingers glow).
It is actually a parody of a poem by Sara Coleridge. I prefer the Flanders and Swann version!
T-Shirts and Straps
Thanks to all who ordered the T shirts. You will be hearing from me soon. If you didn't order but now regret that you won't be able to strut your stuff in the 'must have' fashion item for 2012 then you are in luck as there are a few still available!
These are high quality, heavy cotton Tees either by Fruit of the Loom or Gildan with the Chris Larkin Custom logo embroidered on the left side in bright green. The cost per T shirt is 12.50 Euro plus postage and packing. For Ireland the postage is 1.35 Euro, for the rest of the world it is 3.00 Euro. The postage for two or more will be a little higher.
This table shows the colours and sizes that are still available.
Pretty limited choice I know so it will be first come, first served on these.
Also available for the first time in a while are the much sort after Chris Larkin Custom guitar straps. Again, numbers are limited.
These are custom made Levy's 'Signature' series 2" adjustable, heavy duty cotton straps with reinforced suede ends including the embossed CLC guitars logo. They are suitable for acoustic or solid bodies and can be adapted to fit straploks if required. The cost per strap is 11.00 Euro with the same shipping costs as the T-shirts - for Ireland the postage is 1.35 Euro, for the rest of the world it is 3.00 Euro. The postage for two or more will be a little higher.
If you are interested in buying a T-shirt or strap please email me and we can sort out all the details.
And finally, finally, finally....
If you have any suggestions for the Newsletter please send them to me. If you think anyone you know might be interested in this Newsletter please send it on to them with their permission. If you do not wish to receive future issues please email me with unsubscribe as the subject and I'll remove you from the mailing list. If you are a new reader and would like to subscribe to get future editions please email me with subscribe as the subject or sign up on my website. There is an archive of previous Newsletters on my website.
