Hi Everyone,

here's a post about guitars for a change!!

I've seen quite a few flood-damaged guitars - some are fixable and will be fine, and some won't.

But there is another issue with prolonged wet weather, and that is that some guitars will get moldy.

It's a weird thing - for example I have about 10 guitars stored in a wardrobe, all are in their cases, and some are covered in mold and others are totally clean. They are all old guitars that are finished in lacquer. I have no idea why some would get moldy and others wouldn't. I can only be something about previous handling or storage.

Most guitars these days are finished in either polyester or polyurethane, both of which are inert and will simply wipe clean.

Older, or higher quality, guitars are usually finished in lacquer (usually nitro-cellulose) and although it is a better finish in most respects it is also volatile and will react to most things that it come into contact with.

Mold is one of these things. If you have a lacquer finished-guitar (such as a Gibson, Martin , Guild etc.) and it is covered in mold, you will notice that the mold has marked the finish slightly. This won't wipe off, but can be cut-and-polished away.

The best gentle cutting compound that I've ever found for nitro-cellulose lacquer is, believe it or not, Brasso!!! I have used it for years (decades) to cut and polish the finish on guitars that I have made or restored using nitro-cellulose. It also cleans away mold discolouration (and it has a tiny bit of ammonia in the solution, which should kill the mold spores. It has NO negative affect on the lacquer.

So that's hopefully a decent tip for some of you!

If you have a guitar that HAS been flood-damaged then please call me about it. Some will be fixable, and there is no charge for assessment and quote.

Back soon!!!

Andrew

Hi Everyone,

well...the best laid plans and all that. 

Looks like the re-opening of the shop will be put back a couple of weeks. The place is empty at the moment, so all I have to do is hose it out again and clean the floor and walls. Again.

If you have an instrument with me then please email. Still no phone, and that may be a while yet.

If you have an instrument that you need me to fix, I am taking in repairs via Byron Music and Valiant Music (Brunswick Heads). If you leave an instrument with them, please let them know that it is for me.

I'll be back open ASAP.

And yes, I AM looking at options regarding my premises. For the moment I intend to continue in the same place, and I have always been able to remove the guitars from there if there is the slightest hint of a flood, but it IS getting to be a bit of a hassle...

Twice in a month? Yes. But maybe not again for 100 years. Frankly, nobody knows.

And those "one-in-a 100", "one-in-ten" stats are actually bullshit - they are simply Insurance Company devices to let them know how much to charge you. Not science. Ignore them.

OK, keep well. Email me if you need to.

Andrew

Hi Everyone,

just a short post this time.

I've cleaned the shop and will start to move back in next week. It will be a very minimalist set up at first, essentially just as a meeting place for you to drop off or collect instruments.

When power is restored I'll gradually refit the shop and move back in fully.

So. From next week we'll start to call people who have instruments to be collected and arrange a time to meet. It will be by appointment at first, and then I will eventually re-open with regular hours.

I will also be taking on new work, so please call with any enquiries.

Still no shop phone for now, so please contact via email.

I'm also taking work through Byron Music and Valiant Music, as I always have. Please feel free to either contact me first, or just drop the guitars off at the shops (letting them know that the job is for me to do). Hopefully Planet Music will be open again soon as well.

OK. Order slowly emerging from chaos.

Best wishes to all,

Andrew

Hi Everyone,

best wishes to everyone who has been affected by the flood disaster.

In case you missed the last post on this page, I moved all of the repaired and repairable instruments to higher ground and safety in the days before the flood. They are in a storage shed and are fine. So far I've been dealing with clearing and cleaning the shop, but I will sort out the instruments over the next week or so. Then either Lisa or I will call you regarding collection etc.

Your patience is very much appreciated.

I WILL be re-opening in the same place in Molesworth Street. The building is structurally sound, and I believe all of the tenants are going to return. We have a very good landlord (he's a guitar-player!) and we want to support him. The building is in the process of being cleaned and dried, and I am in the process of restoring the benches and shop fittings.

When the shop is clean and dry, and power and security are back, I will gradually move back in. Until that happens I should be able to deal via a "pop-shop" in the carpark of the building, or even do "home-deliveries" if required. Keep in touch with this "Journal" page for updates.

Back in 2005, when I knowingly opened a shop in a flood-prone town, I always had a contingency plan. Most of you reading this probably know that my "shop" is only open three (half) days a week. That's partly so that I can do some of the work without interruptions, but also so that not all of the guitars are in the shop at any given time. 

This is the way it works: I do any repairs involving glue, noise, sawdust, spray-painting etc. in my workshop at home, and do the set-ups, wiring etc. at the shop in town. This means that perhaps half of the guitars I have booked-in are at the shop and half are at home. This way, if I DO have to evacuate the shop, it's not such a big job.

I've emptied the shop at least a dozen times since I've been here, every time there has been even a slight hint of danger. Sometimes the potential flood hasn't eventuated, but even then it hasn't been pointless - I've improved the system each time.

Compared to many businesses, my shop is relatively portable. I don't have huge machines or thousands of items of stock to move. Guitars are easily shifted, I put most of my parts and accessories into storage boxes after 2017, and I can move almost everything in five or six trips in the commodore wagon.

It works!

The next phase of this strategy is to figure out if I can afford to buy a Hiace (or similar) so that I can do it in one trip rather than six!

This time I lost less - I lost some parts and tools, my magazine collection, and all the office stuff (phone, modem, printer etc.). So not too bad. My little Epiphone test amp was also flooded, but it was back in 2017 and worked fine after it dried out for a few weeks!

By the way: electronic stuff can often survive inundation. It pays to keep it and have it checked out, rather than chucking it away.

Guitars can survive too. Today I saw an expensive Martin that had come apart at almost every seam, and it is probably repairable. I'm certainly going to give it a go.

Ironically, the cheaper guitars that are held together with epoxy and finished in thick polyester, often survive better.

So. I will re-open in Lismore.

Lismore has been good to me. In 2005, after over 20 years working as a guitar-repairer in Sydney, almost always out of other people's shops, I opened up my own guitar-repair shop in the centre of Lismore. This was a huge leap of faith, but I was immediately accepted and covered the rent in the first month and began to sneak into the black soon after. 

The guitar-players of Lismore, the general region including Byron and Ballina, Mullumbimby, Murwillumbah, Tweed, and even folk as far away as Grafton, Armidale, Tamworth, Stanthorpe, Gold Coast, Coffs etc., have trusted my experience at this doing this stuff. as well as the old clients from Sydney, the Blue Mountains, and even as far away as Indonesia and Fiji (!). I thank you all.

And, if you've got this far into the post...we need to consider Russell.

Russell's Music was flooded, but so was his home.

Russell Adams has been a stalwart supporter of both the professional and the amateur music scenes in Lismore for over 20 years. Russell has lost a LOT in this flood.

Planet Music too. We need a proper music shop in this town, and Peter has made a huge commitment to that. A town as big as ours needs a music shop like Planet.

Hopefully they will both re-open and everyone will support them.

So. More updates to follow. Phone's not working, so please contact me via email:  ak@andrewknightguitars.com.au

Otherwise we'll be in touch.

Keep well, and best wishes whatever your experience of this awful event.

AK

 Hi Everyone,

 YOUR GUITARS ARE SAFE AND WELL ABOVE THE FLOOD PLAIN!

Words fail.

I started moving things out of the shop on Thursday, and all that is left in there now are some of my own bits-and-pieces and humorous knick-knacks that are there as jolly diversions for you to browse while I deal with other customers.

If you have a guitar with me, please rest assured that it is well above flood-level and quite safe. I have storage way up above the flood-plain.

As it was with the last flood, it will probably take me at least a few weeks to get the shop back open. There are protocols regarding drying and mould-reduction that have to be followed, and it will take me a week or so after that to get my poor little shop back into some semblance of order.

I know that some of you would dearly love to have your guitars (completed repairs) back ASAP, but that might take a while. I DO have a storage facility way up on the hill, but during a flood evacuation the instruments get stored (stacked) as they come to hand, and not in some kind of either booking, completion, or requirement order.

Sorry 'bout that. But thanks to my five (actually six) trips into town with the aging Commodore wagon to cart each one of your guitars to higher ground, we won't have any guitar casualties.

So. Please contact me via email (the phone will not be working) about your repairs and I will get back to you. This may take a few days. Sorry.

YOUR GUITARS ARE SAFE AND WELL ABOVE THE FLOOD PLAIN!

As we get past this, either Lisa or I will contact you  about collecting your completed repair.

Repairs booked in but not yet completed may take a little while yet to finish. Apart from the obvious complication of the flood, I was already dealing with a large backlog of repairs and may be playing "catch-up" for some time!

Next plan is to buy a Hiace (or similar) van. This way I could do the exodus in one single trip, and wouldn't have to worry about being cut off by flash-flooding (as happened in 2017).

I don't want to move the shop. It is a well-known and seemingly well-loved space. And loved by little-old-me especially.

And when I moved here from Sydney in 2005 the idea of having a guitar-repair shop smack-dab-in-the-middle of the biggest town in the region seemed to be a no-brainer! A good thing for you guys!

When I set up the shop back in 2005, and organised the required mandatory insurance, I asked about flood insurance and every single insurance salesman laughed in the very same spooky cackle!!

YOUR GUITARS ARE SAFE AND WELL ABOVE THE FLOOD PLAIN!

If you have a guitar with me then please email. My shop 'phone answering service will be out of order.

Stay safe, keep well, and we'll talk on the flipside.

AK

 

 Hi everyone,

MY SHOP IS BACK OPEN FROM TODAY! YAY!

Back to the regular opening hours: Tuesday , Thursday, and Friday 1.00pm  5.00pm.

Andrew

 

 Hi Everyone,

due to the ongoing Covid situation, and the need to isolate my seriously-ill wife Lisa from any potential infection, my shop will be closed for another two weeks.

If you have followed my entries in this journal you will understand my reasons for this.

I will definitely re-open on Tuesday February 1st.

Strange days, my friends. From what I can gather from recent correspondence, and my occasional trips into town, it would seem that lots of other folk are "hibernating" during this latest outbreak too. That would seem to be the sensible thing to do.

So. Keep safe and well and I'll see you all soon.

Andrew