Wildwood Instruments :: What's New

We have a New Website!

2007-06-09T09:00:00.000+10:00

We have a new website! Jeff has redesigned the website to make it more user friendly, with drop down menus from the main categories, a new section of what services Wildwood Instruments can offer, feature enhanced roll over buttons and pictures, slide shows and a site map, so you can easily find everything. Some info on certian pages is still to come. However, please enjoy the new site, for your surfing pleasure!

Nick and Jeff will begin their mammoth 7 week road...

2005-03-02T23:36:00.000+11:00

Nick and Jeff will begin their mammoth 7 week road trip this Friday (2 days to go!). With a van absolutely packed full of musical instruments we will set off to the Nannup Music Festival this weekend. It looks to be a corker of a festival this year, which should be a great start to the national debut of Wildwood Instruments. The journey across the Nullarbor will take us 4 days, to arrive just in time for the Port Fairy Festival next weekend in Victoria. We will keep you posted as to how things go along the way, so keep an eye on this blog to see if we get lost in the desert or not!

We are currently in Esperance and have been lookin...

2005-03-07T21:05:00.000+11:00

We are currently in Esperance and have been looking for an Internet cafe. The first one was down, but we're here at the gas station for $1 per 12 min kiosk, so here's a quick update!

The Nannup Music Festival was a success! We've come full circle with this festival. It was the first festival for Wildwood Instruments a couple of years ago, and this recent one has rivalled the success we had at the Bridgetown Blues Festival in November 2004. We've had heaps of people coming through and working their magic on Nick's musical instruments. We also found the dulcimer with the pick-up to be very popular.

We set out pretty early today, and have passed through Bridgetown, Ongerup, Ravensthorpe and Munglinup. We'll be in Norseman tonight and heading across the Nullarbor tomorrow, and we'll keep you posted whenever we can!

Wildwood Instruments has been busy building a Jarr...

2005-06-10T01:42:00.000+10:00

Wildwood Instruments has been busy building a Jarrah kitchen of late. A work in progress pictured here on the right.

As the winter months set in, a bit of R&D (research and development) is planned. An all new, bigger and better Bodhran is on its way. A deeper shell with twice the number of pins and a single cross bar to enable easier hand movement whilst playing. Thanks to the feedback of customers over the past months, these improvements are on the way.

Another model of mandolin is on the drawing board, too. Improving on the original model, this one will have curved points on the upper bout (have to wait and see!), a WildDesign motif on the face, and a pick-up. Pics will be posted when the prototype is completed. Until then, back orders of mandolins are being built... they are on their way, I promise!

Goofing around in Melbourne yesterday.

2005-04-05T11:08:00.000+10:00

Goofing around in Melbourne yesterday.

Seasons Greetings! It's that time of the year when...

2005-11-28T00:15:00.000+11:00

Seasons Greetings! It's that time of the year when we buy lots of things for other people! Oh well, let's hope they buy lots of things for you, too! Why not send them a link to www.wildwoodinstruments.com.au just as a hint of what to get you this X'mas?

Wildwood Instruments will be travelling around Australia again next year. In March and April '06 we plan on attending six music festivals and several markets across the country (over 5,000 km apart). The trip looks like including Nannup, Port Fairy, Blue Mountains, Yackandandah, the National and Fairbridge festivals, and The Rocks Markets in Sydney, plus others still yet to be announced. So the next few months will be busy, busy, busy, getting all the instruments ready for the trip.

Thank you to all the people that bought instruments from us at the Blues at Bridgetown festival. It was a great festival and a successful weekend for Wildwood Instruments.

So much has been happening! As you can see the web...

2005-10-26T12:28:00.000+10:00

So much has been happening! As you can see the website has been upgraded to accept credit card payments through PayPal. Easy and secure online shopping for all your musical instrument needs!

We also now have credit card facilities avilable at our stall when we're at the music festivals, making it easier to purchase those lovely stringed instruments while still having enough moulla to enjoy the rest of the festival.

The Blues at Bridgetown festival is only weeks away and Wildwood Instruments will be there again this year. Come over and say hi at our stall located outside the supermarket on the main street on Saturday 12th November.

The new Deluxe mandolin is on sale now for only $325. Check out the details here.

A new version of the Bodhran is out now. It has a deeper shell, more fastening tacks for securing the drum head, and a single cross beam for ease while playing. It is available in a dark or light finish and goes for an incredible $140.

The beautiful Jarrah guitar stands are now even sturdier with a rear extension on the feet. This enables the instrument to sit safely, greatly reducing the risk of it going over backwards on the stand.

Oh yes, you can now order your instrument strings online and have them posted to you for only $1, anywhere in Australia. How cool is that! So easy you don't even need to leave home. Check out our Accessories page for details or Shop Online page for quick ordering.

The Deluxe Mandolin is the latest release from Wil...

2005-08-30T00:17:00.000+10:00

The Deluxe Mandolin is the latest release from Wildwood's hub of creativity! Packed full of features and priced to fly out the door at only $325.

The mandolins, fiddles and travel guitars are now made with jarrah back and sides. This is a beautiful timber and is a better match with the overall appearance of the instruments. All headstocks have been modified as well. Now an angled headstock with a jarrah veneer will be standard issue. This increases string angle and eliminates potential buzzing problems.

The new Bodhrans are on their way, too. Lots of improvements to keep you banging away in style! More details and pics to follow soon.

A series of dulcimers are under construction at the moment, followed by a set of travel guitars, then some fiddles (Wildwood should then be restocked after being cleaned out over the festival season).

All of the stringed instruments will now have serial numbers. This provides better protection for you and your instrument if it was stolen or misplaced, and better records for warranty and insurance purposes.

Back on the Road

2006-03-12T12:53:00.000+11:00

Back on the Road
Originally uploaded by wildwood instruments.

After almost a week of re-organising, we're back on the road again. It's a pity we had to miss the Port Fairy Folk Festival this weekend, but we're now headed for the Blue Mountains Music Festival happening next weekend. Check back soon for more updates on the road!

Car Crash!

2006-03-09T15:57:00.000+11:00

On Monday 6th March we were involved in a car accident. After the Nannup Music Festival, we were heading out of WA towards Port Fairy Festival when our van rolled. Jeff was driving when on a tight corner about 40km from Lake Grace (WA). He went into the gravel shoulder of the road, hitting a couple reflector posts, then over compensated and the van flipped, rolling 3 times we think. We are both ok, only a few scratches, bumps and bruises. Quite lucky really considering the van was a complete write off. Most of the instruments survived as they were very tightly packed into the van, though a number were thrown from the vehicle. The ambulance took us to Lake Grace hospital to clean us up and for observation. A friend from Bridgetown came and picked us up. We attempted to purchase a van in Collie the next day, however that didn't pan out. My brother came down from Fremantle to collect us and our stock but he also flipped his Landcruiser on the way down. He and his car were ok once kind passer-byers helped him get it back on it's wheels.

So we are back in Perth at the moment looking for another van. We have missed Port Fairy Festival but hopefully we can make the Blue Mountains Festival and the rest of our itinerary from there. We will keep you posted of whats happening on our 'crazy adventure' as we refered to it previously!

P.S. Yes that is a mandolin hanging off the wheel of the upturned vehicle!

Car Trouble

2006-03-07T01:32:00.000+11:00

Car Trouble
Originally uploaded by wildwood instruments.

We got into a car accident this afternoon. We're both fine, except for some bumps and bruises. Our van was so tightly packed, so we hope all is not lost. We plan to continue with our trip if we manage to find a new van.

Greetings from South Australia! We have crossed ov...

2005-03-09T00:08:00.000+11:00

Greetings from South Australia! We have crossed over, and will be spending the night at the Border Village Roadhouse.

We ran into a couple of delays today. Our headlights went out last night, and had to be replaced when we arrived at Norseman in the morning. We hardly saw any live wildlife, except for an emu, a kangaroo (which we nearly hit in broad daylight, but 'he was coming right for us!'), but heaps of 'roo carcasses littered along the road.

Nick also got breath tested when we were stopped by the cops after passing Cocklebiddy. It was just a routine check, and we were on our way after.

We're finally on track with our intended schedule, and should be in Adelaide on Thursday afternoon, and Port Fairy the day after for the Port Fairy Folk Festival!

We have arrived in Adelaide! Yes, we're finally in...

2005-03-10T18:22:00.000+11:00

We have arrived in Adelaide! Yes, we're finally in the City of Lights, and on schedule, too! We haven't run into any problems, except for faulty door locks, loose bolts on the roof rack, but they got rectified quickly.

The Nullarbor was simply breathtaking. We stopped along the way for photos, and the view from the Great Australian Bight was just AMAZING! We hope the photos will do it some justice.

We also found the Nullarbor Plain in South Australia to be much cleaner than the Highway in Western Australia. Not much roadkill, which saved us of the stench we had crossing WA.

We set up camp early yesterday. Well, it was 8p.m in the evening, but the sun hadn't set, which made us wonder if we set our clocks right. It turned out the sun's out quite a number of hours in SA. Anyway, we're spending this late afternoon in Adelaide, then heading south east tonight.

Tomorrow: Port Fairy Folk Festival!

P.S. We thought we'd be able to include a photo we took on the Nullarbor, but it's not detecting the memory card. Maybe another time!

We have arrived in Melbourne for a quick visit aft...

2005-03-16T19:04:00.000+11:00

We have arrived in Melbourne for a quick visit after an exceptional weekend at the Port Fairy Folk Festival, breaking all records for the Wildwood Instruments stall! We sold out of dulcimers with pick-ups! In fact, we have sold over half our stock of dulcimers so far with four more festivals to go. We have also pretty much sold out of harpsichimes, too. We would like to thank you for supporting Wildwood Instruments and making it such a wonderful experience. We've made new friends, and hope to return next year for the 30th Port Fairy Folk Festival.

At the start of this week, we took the Great Ocean Road from Port Fairy to Melbourne, and visited The Twelve Apostles, The Arch, and London Bridge, among others. It's been busy in Melbourne today, and we head off tomorrow to the Blue Mountains Music Festival of Folk, Roots and Blues for the weekend.

Last but not least, we miss you, Cajun!

We are currently in Sydney after spending the week...

2005-03-22T19:35:00.000+11:00

We are currently in Sydney after spending the weekend at the Blue Mountains Music Festival of Folk, Roots and Blues. It was another successful festival for Wildwood Instruments, and we'd like to thank the folks in the Blue Mountains for making it so. Like before, we had a great reponse from our visitors about the quality of Nick's musical instruments, and many have become instant dulcimer players after a couple of tries at our stall. We have also sold out of Harpsichimes and Guitar Stands, but we are taking orders online and at the festivals. However, orders will only be shipped after August 2005, as Nick will only begin building new instruments when we return home before May 2005.

It's been rather rainy in Sydney today (and for the rest of our stay), but we got to see the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge nevertheless. Other than that, it's just been a rush in the rain through the city streets. Oh, and if you know why the Australian flags are flying at half mast in Sydney, please tell us why. We haven't been able to keep up with the latest news while on the road.

We'll be in Sydney for three nights, and will leave for Canberra on Thursday morning for the National Folk Festival!

Apologies for the delay in updates. We were unable...

2005-04-04T11:30:00.000+10:00

Apologies for the delay in updates. We were unable to provide an update while we were in Canberra due to technical errors on Blogger, but we're back in Melbourne for the week with a double update!

The weather started to make a turn for the better the day we left Sydney, but we had to make haste to Canberra. We were very lucky that our foldable marquee, which had fallen off the roof rack at 100km/h, did not hit any vehicles behind us. Apart from a couple of small tears, it stood well at the following two festivals.

The National Folk Festival in Canberra was an amazing success! We sold out of mandolins in less than an hour, and we're also out of the small xylophone, and travel guitar (unless you're left-handed). However, feel free to make an order when you see us at Fairbridge Festival in less than two weeks, or make an order online.

We also met some wonderful people at the National, and would like to thank Liza and John of Real Ethereal Creations for a fantastic weekend. We also caught up with Ian Champ, who wrote a feature on Nick in the current issue of Trad & Now, The Australian National Folk Magazine.

We couldn't spend the Easter Week in the nation's capital without visiting the sights. We were at Parliament House, Old Parliament House, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Museum And Gallery, ScreenSound Australia, and the National Museum of Australia.

Our next stop after Canberra was across the Snowy Mountains to Corryong in Victoria, where we had The Man From Snowy River Bush Festival. We sold out of dulcimers over the weekend, and enjoyed the music and poetry readings which the high country folk had to offer. Hail the Man from Snowy River!

We will be spending the week in Melbourne before we hit the road and cross the Nullarbor back to Western Australia for the Fairbridge Festival!

Photos from the first week of our road trip are no...

2005-04-07T10:56:00.000+10:00

Photos from the first week of our road trip are now available for viewing.

Over the three photo albums, you'll get to see pictures from the Nannup Music Festival, our four-day drive across the Nullarbor, and our short stop in Adelaide before arriving at Port Fairy.

1. Nannup Music Festival - 4-6 March 2005 To find out about our weekend at the festival, read our previous entry here.

2. Across the Nullarbor - 7-10 March 2005 We had updates while crossing Australia, check them out here.

3. Adelaide to Victoria - 10-11 March 2005 Our short stop in Adelaide gave us a chance for an update, read it here.

Many thanks to Linda and Kim for the use of their computer!

Here is another round of photo updates for your vi...

2005-04-09T22:57:00.000+10:00

Here is another round of photo updates for your viewing. We have uploaded photos taken at the Port Fairy Folk Festival, the Blue Mountains Music Festival, and all the places we visited in between the two festivals. Enjoy!

1. Port Fairy Folk Festival - 12-14 March 2005. To find out about our weekend at the festival, read our update from Melbourne here.

2. Great Ocean Road - 14-15 March 2005. We left Port Fairy for Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road. We ran out of space on my camera here.

3. Melbourne to New South Wales - 15-18 March 2005. It was just a short stop in Melbourne before we hit the road for the Blue Mountains in New South Wales.

4. City of Blue Mountains - 18 March 2005. We just had to visit the sights the day we arrived at the Blue Mountains before we set up for the Blue Mountains Music Festival.

5. Blue Mountains Music Festival - 19-20 March 2005. To find out about our weekend at the festival, read a previous entry here.

6. Sydney - 21-22 March 2005. We spent a few days in Sydney before heading off to Canberra.

We have yet to complete uploading photos to the latter album due to time constraints. We will be leaving Melbourne for Adelaide tomorrow, then begin our trip across the Nullarbor from Monday through to Friday for the Fairbridge Festival in Western Australia!

Here's the final round of photos from our road tri...

2005-04-18T22:05:00.000+10:00

Here's the final round of photos from our road trip across Australia. We have photos from three capital cities, three music festivals, and the return trip across the Nullarbor. Go grab yourself a drink and settle at your desk, because you'll be here for some time!

1. Sydney to Australian Capital Territory - 23-24 March 2005. We had our second rainy day in Sydney, followed by clear skies as we left for Canberra. Read a previous entry here.

2. National Folk Festival - 25-28 March 2005. We had a wonderful weekend at the Canberra Exhibition Centre, and met lots of wonderful people along the way. Read about the National here.

3. Canberra - 29-30 March 2005. We took so many photos at the nation's capital, we had to group them in a couple of albums. This one has visits to Parliament House, Old Parliament House and the National Gallery of Australia.

4. North Canberra - 31 March 2005. More photos of Canberra, this time north of Lake Burley Griffin, where we visited Canberra Museum And Gallery, ScreenSound Australia, and National Museum of Australia.

5. Canberra to Snowy Mountains - 1 April 2005. We started out on a very misty Canberra morning towards the Snowy Mountains. It was a very steep and winding drive, but the views were spectacular.

6. The Man From Snowy River Bush Festival - 1-2 April 2005. Our final festival over east, where we sold out of dulcimers. It was a weekend of music and poetry readings.

7. Corryong to Melbourne - 3 April 2005. We visited Jack Riley's grave, the man of whom we had the festival for, and it was a day's drive to Melbourne after. It was good to catch up with friends that evening.

8. Melbourne - 4-9 April 2005. We spent the week in Melbourne, visiting the sights, and soaking in the architecture. Oh, there's also Linda and Kim's dog, Ziggy, who is now second most photographed dog in the world after Cajun.

9. Melbourne to Adelaide - 10 April 2005. The day trip to Adelaide seemed shorter than we thought it would. The latter would be our final city stop before our drive across the Nullarbor.

10. Across The Nullarbor - 11-13 April 2005. It took a day less to cross the Nullarbor, but I took more photos than before. Nevertheless, the Great Australian Bight was breathtaking.

11. Fairbridge Festival - 15-17 April 2005. We've come full circle with this festival. It was our first biggie last year, and it was a good way to end our festival circuit for 2005. Read Nick's round-up here.

After travelling 10,000 km to six fantastic music ...

2005-04-18T22:37:00.000+10:00

After travelling 10,000 km to six fantastic music festivals across the nation, Wildwood Instruments has returned home to Perth. An awesome adventure that could become an annual event for Nick and Jeff.

The last stop was at Fairbridge Festival last weekend. We sold out on what stock we had left and took another bunch of orders to add to the bucket load we already had, enough to keep Wildwood Instruments busy for quite some time.

Thank you to all those people who helped us out along our travels, supplying accommodation and the like. And of course to everyone who supported us by buying an instrument. Thank you so much for making it possible for me to follow my dream and make musical instruments for a living, to be able to provide affordable, beautiful instruments for everyone.

Everyone deserves music in their lives!

We are off around Australia again in March and Ap...

2006-01-20T23:19:00.000+11:00

We are off around Australia again in March and April for the '2006 Australian Tour'. This year we have a few new places to visit as well as some of the old favourites. The itenerary is as follows:

* Nannup Music Festival (WA) - 3rd to 6th March
* Port Fairy Folk Festival (VIC) - 10th to 13th March
* Blue Mountains Music Festival (NSW) - 17th to 19th March
* The Rocks Markets, Sydney (NSW) - 24th to 26th March
* Yackandandah Folk Festival (VIC) - 31st March to 2nd April
* The Arts Centre Sunday Markets, Melbourne (VIC) 9th April
* The National Folk Festival (ACT) - 13th to 17th April
* Fairbridge Festival (WA) - 21st to 23rd April

It's going to be a quick drive across Australia to get from the National in Canberra, to Fairbridge just outside of Perth, in just four days. We will be stopping for petrol and that's about it!

Hope to see you at one of the festivals or markets where you can try out our funky range of instruments. If not, you can always order online to get your Wildwood goodies. Orders, however, will not be filled during March and April while we are away. And of course we are not sure what we will have in stock upon our return (last time it wasn't much!). Restocking can take months so if you're keen, best to get your order in before then.

Things are hectic in the Wildwood workshop at the moment. Many instruments still to be built with only 6 weeks to go! Yikes!

Okay, okay, I'm going back to work now...

Not long now till we hit the road (see post below ...

2006-02-20T22:25:00.000+11:00

Not long now till we hit the road (see post below for festival details). This will be our journal/blog posting place, so visit here regularly to keep abreast of our crazy adventures! The mini pictures to the right (Click on the pics to see the full size version) are going to be updated literally as we take them, so it will be like you are right there with us over the seven weeks! (except you don't have to put up with the flies!)

The Tour Begins

2006-03-02T00:55:00.000+11:00

We are off on our road trip with the first stop being the Nannup Music Festival. A great way to kick off the tour with a "relatively" local shin dig, before we hit the Nullarbor. A quick trip down south on the WA Labour Day long weekend to get us started and hopefully earn enough to get us over the Bight with those outback petrol prices $$$. We will keep you posted as to how it goes.

Nannup, Day One

2006-03-06T02:31:00.000+11:00

Nannup, Day One
Originally uploaded by wildwood instruments.

It's been a swelteringly hot day at the Nannup Music Festival, and it's just begun to cool down for the evening.

Blue Mountains Music Festival

2006-03-19T12:34:00.000+11:00

Blue Mountains Music Festival
Originally uploaded by wildwood instruments.

It's been a very enjoyable weekend at the Blue Mountains Music Festival. The sun teased for a minute or two yesterday, but it's cracked through the clouds on this fine Sunday. It was well worth the six-day drive from Perth, with some time for sightseeing.