Our "real" Christmas tree!

In the "old" shop we simply has no room for a Christmas tree, so when I expanded the shop 2 years ago my wife asked me asked me if that meant I was going to have have a Christmas.  I said, "Yes, in fact I think we still have a really nice fake one in the store room from a few years ago".  Being from Europe, she was shocked... there was no way Concept Music was going to have a fake, plastic Christmas tree no matter how "real" I assured her it looked!  So... off to Wilburys in the Swan Valley we went... where you have to wander through the paddock & choose your own & then cut it down yourself. Last year we seemed to run out of time but this year the guys were keen to have the real one again so we it is... before & after!

Eskimo Joe in the House!

Our good friends from Eskimo Joe where back in the store today on their way to to Nova 937 to do a private show... all good except their gear did not not make it Perth in time so they were sans-guitars!  Stu & Joel are both now playing Maton acoustic guitars so we offered to lend them a couple of our guitars for the occasion... and as Concept Music has the biggest (and best!) selection of Maton guitars Perth we certainly gave them plenty to choose from! Graham & Lee were on hand to help.

Congratulations Fiona on winning a brand new Maton Diesel guitar from Concept Music!

When Fiona Wedenig of Gidgegannup received an email saying “Congratulations you are a Winner!” she thought it was just another one of those annoying hoax emails. In fact Fiona said first impulse was just to just delete it! Fortunately she didn't and a few days later when she checked the email more carefully she could not believe her luck.

Fiona, who is actually a clarinettist & owns a beautiful Buffet Festival series Bb clarinet, registered for our eNewsletter last year after she came across our website while looking for a Christmas Present for her guitarist partner Han. She saw that Tommy Emmanuel was doing a Master Class for Concept Music and, knowing Han owned already a Maton M325, thought it would make a great gift. Coincidentally Fiona & Han were already familiar with the Maton Mini Series guitars and had already been considering buying one as a travel guitar to take with them when visiting friends and family at “home” in Switzerland & Holland & were hoping to find somehting small enough to go nito an overhead locker... something you can sometimes get away if you put the Mini Maton in a bag instead of a case.

Interestingly, Fiona first came to Perth from Switzerland some 7 years ago while she touring the world circuit as a Professional Kite-Surfer.  “Yes, really!” Fiona says “I had a great job that meant I got paid to go to the beach every day!”.  While Competing and Training in Perth she met her partner Han... and the rest, as they say, is history!

Fiona has since hung up her Kite and is now working as a Project Manager in the Aviation & Mining industry in Perth. Unluckily for Han, it looks like he won’t get to play the Maton Mini guitar very much as, just one day after receiving her new guitar, Fiona emailed Concept Music to say: “I’ve already learnt my first two chords and played until I got sore fingers... it is such a beautifully sounding instrument, I can’t tell you how excited I am!”.

Congratulations Fiona... we are excited for you too and can’t wait to hear your first song!

Hank Marvin chooses AER for his Gypsy Jazz Guitars

Guitar legend Hank Marvin has been a regular at Concept Music since moving to Perth about 25 years ago and he often drops in for a chat and to check out the latest gear. In a previous interview with Hank we asked him why he decided to move to Western Australia and his acute sense of humour was quickly apparent when he immediately quipped “Actually Graham, when I got on the plane I thought I was going to Peru... but somehow we ended up landing in Perth!”
 
Hank was in again recently looking for amplification for his Gypsy Jazz guitars on which he prefers to use clip on microphones.  After talking to Tommy Emmanuel, he decided to try the AER acoustic amps instead of an electric amplifier and the Alpha 40 turned out to be extremely well suited.  Hank said: “it was difficult to get enough volume before feedback with traditional electric guitar amps. The AER allows me to achieve just the correct mix of stage volume and tone with my clip on mic on the gypsy jazz guitar in a live environment” before smiling & adding “and Tommy Emmanuel recommended it and I thought that was good enough for me!”

Tony Del Roio also chatted to Hank while we was here picking up his amp and asked him why, of all the places in the world he travels, he chooses to shop at Concept Music. Hank responded generously saying: “Concept has friendly service and staff... and a great ambience in the store when I visit. All the guys here have a genuine interest in music and musical gear... and it shows”.

Quashing rumours that he & Graham are planning to do a Christmas album together featuring Graham on trombone, Hanks said he is currently completing a new album with his Gypsy Jazz Quartet. It has recently been mastered and will simply be called “Gypsy Jive” and is due for release very soon.

Excellent... MORE new Fender guitars!!

Working at Concept Music is great! Yes, I know... there is a lot of cleaning & restringing & unpacking boxes... BUT almost every day SOME of those boxes happen to contain brand new guitars & basses from Fender!  :-)  Yep, you get to love the sound of that delivery truck reversing up & then seeing all those plain brown cardboard boxes you start salivate... coz even though you KNOW what's coming next you never REALLY know (I mean...  they're all different, right?!).  Lee has already developed that Pavlovs dog drooling look about him when he sees brown cardboard...

So... what was in those brown boxes today?!  Well you'll have to come in & check them out but here's what was in one... a stunning '52 ReIssue Telecaster!  Bewdiful!  Come in & check them out before our crashing dollar pushes prices back up!

Visit to the Maton guitar factory

Earlier this week Graham was attending a trade show in Melbourne to check out some of the lastest gear and unexpectedly had a few spare hours before his plane left so he headed out to see the lads at Maton. The factory is in Box Hill and is fantastic place to visit if you're ever over that way. Graham went for a walk around the factory with Andy from the Maton Custom Shop who showed him a couple of the latest designs he is working on... in particular Maton Custom Shop "Traditional" which is little more old school in design & will suit all those fingerpickers out there very well.  It is about the same size as a Martin 000 (funny about that!).  :-)    Andy is holding one he is half way though making... and Graham just couldn't resist ordering it (no surprises there!). It looks like it's going to be a stunning guitar.

The guys in the "Mini" Maton section were also pleased to see Graham... especially as they told him Concept Music is one of the biggest "Mini" dealers in the country!  We have sold over 80 of them since they released them only 5 years ago!

Great work Maton... keep it up.

Kim Falcon Gretsch Calendar

The thoughtful people at Gretsch have just sent me this rather stunning calendar of gorgeous Gretsch gal Kim Falcon... and they had it personally autographed!  I'm not sure why they thought I'd be interested but it does certainly have some stunning guitars in it so I'm sure that must be it?   I have to admit that when I first saw a photo of Kim Falcon in a Gretsch catalogue I didn't realise she was real person... but she certainly is as you can see!  And don't worry, if she's ever in Perth for an "In Store" you can be assured we'll let you know! I'll put the individual months up on our Facebook page.

Where did our "little man" come from?!

One of my staff recently asked me "Where did the Concept Music ganster came from?".  He was assuming I think that it was a generic photshop image I'd found in "word" or from an Adobe disk or something.... but the reality is that our little guy has been around since well before personal computers came into being! 

I first saw him in a Japanese Music Trades magazine back in about 1975 (though exactly what he was promoting I'm not sure... the Japanese text next to him wasn't giving much away!). Nevertheless I liked him & tore the page out of the magazine & filed him in my "ideas" folder in my filing cabinet (I still have one of those!) & forgot about him. 

A few years later when I decided to open Concept Musical Instruments I pulled out that file trying to think of ways I could get people to promote my "new" store for me that would be fun.  Out came my little guy... "How could I use him?" It was about the time car stickers were appearing around the city saying "Mafia Staff Car" & so I had the idea of making him into a case sticker & adding the words "Keepa da hands off!" as way people might be able to (politely of course!) say "This is MY instrument... don't touch it!" and hence WANT to put it on their cases & get the Concept Music name out there in a subtle, friendly way.

31 years later, our little ganster is still there & the only change has been the recent addition of a splash of orange on his hat & platform shoes to macth our current logo. The sticker still appears on cases all over the world & he is also on our VW Caddy Van as well our free notepads &... as of last night, on the side wall of Concept Music espousing the message: "Lifes' Better When you Play!" courtesy of Drew from The Graphite Crew.  And yes, we still have the stickers & they are still free any time you want one... just drop in!

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!