Series 3 Calder guitar cases - first sketch

I'm working on a new design - a stripped version - smaller and simpler - probably using Cordura rather than leather. Here's first sketch

Abbey Road Studio 2, Shaun Keaveny & luthier Sam Walker

Shot in Studio 2 Abbey Road at The North American Guitar gig - BBC Radio 6 man Shaun Keveney talked to Wirebird guitars founder Sam Walker about how it all started.



And here's Shaun with one of Sam's most elegant creations.

The North American Guitar at Abbey Road Studio 2

The North American Guitar is a new company set up to help people who want the very best hand built (really hand built) guitars find the very best luthiers. Best luthiers - not the most known luthiers. They work with people like Brent McElroy and Sam Walker.

This week they hosted an evening in the magical Studio 2 at Abbey Road Studios - it was a kind of guitar heaven - with some very good wine thrown in.

Here are some shots





This old mike was very beautiful to see - as used during Beatles recordings



And here's Neville Marten and Jason Sidwell from Guitar Techniques magazine playing some slick blues on a couple of Wirebird Tele's.

Violin case wabi sabi

I've written before about my enthusiasm for Wabi Sabi, the aesthetic of Zen Buddhism. Wabi Sabi is an expression of the transience of all things on this earth, and places objects that shows signs of age and use in high regard.

Here's a lovely old violin case that hit the button for me at Mondo Musica in Bologna last year. I hope my cases will end up looking as fine as this.

Calder Classical Guitar Case in Barenia

Spent a happy day polishing up some shots of our first case made with the renowned Barenia leather from Tanneries Haas. Normally I avoid flash photography but this time I found flash brought out the lushness of this leather.

The client asked for flat fitted velvet rather than the crumpled arrangement we use for our electric guitar cases.

Calder new classical guitar case in Barenia leather

We're just completing a classical guitar case for a US client. The client wanted this completely clean interior without the crumpled velvet effect that we use for our electric guitars.

The exterior is covered in Barenia, a classic French leather with a wonderful look and feel. Barenia used in some of the very fine leather goods made by Hermes.

The way the light catches the interior shows the irridecence achieved by hand painting the silk velvet.

Calder violin case interior layout

Following my conversation with Marco Coppiardi in Cremona I decided to look for further refinements to the interior layout. I'm looking for solutions which will make the case look even simpler and which will be straightforward to build. Here is a layout I came up with yesterday.

Report from Cremona Mondo Musica violin fair

Cremona Mondo Musica is one of the world's largest trade fairs for violin makers & dealers.

The tools used to make violins are things of beauty in themselves - like these tiny brass and steel planes and violin pegs.





I went to discuss my new red violin case with Boston based master violin maker Marco Coppiardi - here he is on the right with fellow luthier Luca Salvadori.



Carbon fiber expert and cello maker Angus Noble was at the fair with me and we were invited to the launch of a new 4 volume book on the violins of Stradivarius by Jost Thone of Violin Expo, with superb photographs by Jan Roehrmann- seen here on the left.



The launch was in the studios of another master luthier Jens Gosta Jahansson. Jen's studio is in the magnificent rooms of a former palace.



Here's the Calder red violin case at Marco's Cremona house - it was a proud moment for me when Marco put a Guarneri violin in it.





Over coffee, Marco showed me these violin pegs to demonstrate the difference between modern and 18th century workmanship, the latter has much more depth in the carving and much more character.



I was very taken with this beautifully bashed up old leather covered case - I hope mine will age this well. This is whole magic of leather - it just looks so good when it is worn - great illustration of wabi sabi.

Calder violin bow holder development

I'm exploring the potential of a new type of bow holder using magnets. This is not simply for the sake of being different, I want to see if I can come up with something that is in keeping with our overall design, which protects the bow, is easy to use and simple to make.

In the first series, the Calder violin bow holder was made entirely of leather with a magnet to hold the bow in place.





I liked the simplicity of this design and the fact that we were using only leather and a magnet. The downside was size - the holder was twice the size of the traditional Hill type holder. Size is particularly critical in the second series violin case as we have reduced the overall width by about 20%.

Over the last week I've been working on a new arrangement, still using magnets but this time incorporating a small block of wood. Here's a couple of shots the first one shows a rough working model with a magnet sewn into the restraining strap.





In the second version the magnet is set at the end of the support block and a strip of metal sewn into leather. The block I used in this second model is way too big because I didn't have a smaller magnet to hand.





I'm going to discuss all this with master luther Marco Cappiardi at Mondo Musica in Cremona later this week - it will be interesting to hear what he thinks. I suspect he may tell me that violinists will be happier with the traditional bow holder...