This
is probably more of a rambling blog page than anything else but
hopefully I will keep it updated.
It has been an exciting year so far and its only May 11 as I write this. In February I played one of my carved top mandolins on stage at Celtic Connections in Glasgow with Saltfishforty. I was part of an Orkney music showcase gig and there's me with said mandolin glancing at one of my electro-acoustic 30 string harps. A great gig and huge buzz as well as a chance to put the mandolin through its paces. It should be getting its own page on the website soon.
In March I gave a brief talk at the start of a very special concert. Stromness Museum, here in Orkney, had commissioned me to restore a violin which belonged to the famous Arctic explorer Dr John Rae. Once in playing condition it was beautifully played by Jennifer Wrigley (of the Wrigley Sisters) who also played a tin fiddle which had been made around 100 years ago by a herring fisherman to take to sea. I had also restored this for the concert. What was exciting was that we strung them both with contemporary gut strings so, although the Rae fiddle was last played publically in the 80's this was the first time it had been heard as it would have originally sounded. (Note to self, avoid gut strings on fiddles, very tricky to get right!)
Custom design work has been a feature this year too. Why not have a look at the "Combolins and Custom Instruments" Page for more details.
One nice feature of the John Rae fiddle project was that gifted local photographer Rebecca Marr produced some lovely images of the process in colour and black and white. So, the good pictures on this site were probably taken my herself and the rest usually by me. The stage shot above was by Catherine Moldau.
Keep coming back, I have all good intentions of keeping this page current....
It has been an exciting year so far and its only May 11 as I write this. In February I played one of my carved top mandolins on stage at Celtic Connections in Glasgow with Saltfishforty. I was part of an Orkney music showcase gig and there's me with said mandolin glancing at one of my electro-acoustic 30 string harps. A great gig and huge buzz as well as a chance to put the mandolin through its paces. It should be getting its own page on the website soon.
In March I gave a brief talk at the start of a very special concert. Stromness Museum, here in Orkney, had commissioned me to restore a violin which belonged to the famous Arctic explorer Dr John Rae. Once in playing condition it was beautifully played by Jennifer Wrigley (of the Wrigley Sisters) who also played a tin fiddle which had been made around 100 years ago by a herring fisherman to take to sea. I had also restored this for the concert. What was exciting was that we strung them both with contemporary gut strings so, although the Rae fiddle was last played publically in the 80's this was the first time it had been heard as it would have originally sounded. (Note to self, avoid gut strings on fiddles, very tricky to get right!)
Custom design work has been a feature this year too. Why not have a look at the "Combolins and Custom Instruments" Page for more details.
One nice feature of the John Rae fiddle project was that gifted local photographer Rebecca Marr produced some lovely images of the process in colour and black and white. So, the good pictures on this site were probably taken my herself and the rest usually by me. The stage shot above was by Catherine Moldau.
Keep coming back, I have all good intentions of keeping this page current....
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