We made 6.712MWh this year. Previous best was 6.658 in 2019. Must have been sunnier than I thought!

I really kranked on with the book reading in 2024. I had planned to read at least one book a month and I almost managed two. I rediscovered my local library and have been borrowing quite a few books rather than buying them.
Here is the annual list of books I read in 2024:
2023 was a big year for me for reading. I haven’t done that much for over a decade, so, I thought I would list off all the books that I read in 2023 (or at least the ones that I can remember):
What boring old farts we have become when we are in bed asleep at 9:30pm on New Year’s Eve. Woke up briefly at 12:05am to the sound of fireworks then drifted back off to sleep. Welcome 2024, looking forward to seeing what this year brings. Happy New Year everyone.…
Friday 2nd September 2022, Adelaide Festival Theatre. Adelaide Symphony Orchestra + John Schumann and the Vagabond Crew with Richard Roxburgh as Narrator.
Overall I enjoyed it. I’m a big John Schumann fan and I’ve seen this show (without the ASO) three times now. I reckon the Lawson album is some of his best work. That said, the second half of the show was much better than the first. I thought the band overwhelmed the orchestra in the first bit – I was really struggling to pick out the orchestral instruments apart from the percussion section.
Not sure whether they were given a heads up, but pretty sure they turned the band down post interval.…
I learned most about guitar making by doing the Instrument Making course at Tonsley TAFE. Unfortunately, TAFE have for some strange reason decided to discontinue that course (I thought it was very popular…go figure?!)
Anyway, Michael Snowden, who taught that course, has now set up his own business offering instruction on instrument making. Check out his website here: Adelaide Artisan Instrument Making. Guitar Making for everyone – Wood & Strings – Adelaide Artisan Instrument Making…
So despite my lack of motivation, I did make some progress this week.
I thought I had finished making jigs, having completed acoustic number 4 entirely in my home workshop…apparently not.
Number 4 had a dovetail joint for the neck, for which I bought a template from Stew Mac and build my own device for using it. Nothing wrong with the jig or template, but I swear I’m not doing another dovetail joint, they are just too difficult!
So for this build, I’m doing straight mortise and tenon joint with bolt on neck.
But, I needed the template to cut the mortise and tenon.…
I’ve been a bit unmotivated with the guitar making of late. Essentially because I have reached a bit of a blocker in the build process. You see, my daughter created a logo for me that I am putting on the heads of my guitars.
The one I put on my last build (Acoustic #4) was a bit dodgy. Basically I printed it on my inkjet printer onto sticky backed paper then carefully cut it out and stuck it onto the head plate. That was fine until the lacquer and sanding process leached some of the colour out of it as you can see.…
Earlier this year I negotiated with my employer to work 4 days a week, allowing me one day, Fridays, to spend in the workshop making guitars. So far it’s working out OK. A lot of those Fridays haven’t fully been spent on lutherie, or I’ve had medical appointments or lunch catch-ups with friends. I could probably have been more diligent about reserving Fridays just for lutherie.
Never the less, I have managed to punch out two bodies and start on two necks in that time, acoustic dreadnoughts number 5 and 6. I’m using timber I picked up from David Linton of Australian Guitar Timbers back in September 2019 when I was on holidays on the Sunshine Coast.…
“Your music is your art. If you try to please everybody, then it’s just not art.”…