TIM GUSTER:

Amongst the instruments Tim makes are Hurdy-Gurdys, an instrument designed by a committee if ever there was one. I must be very careful what I say here as someone who has done some work for me, Claire, is a Hurdy-gurdy maker! Tim told me an undoubtedly very old Hurdy gurdy joke:

Q: how long does it take to tune a hurdy-gurdy?

A: no-one knows yet.

Very cruel. They do make a great sound and it was fun for me to see some up close and to hear Tim play.

A few of his that I photographed while I was there are shown here, I'm sure they are all distinct and different but I haven't captioned any because I wouldn't know which was which.

For some reason I didn't take many notes while I was there and it is a while ago so I haven't written very much text here - but I do remember that he also makes very beautiful lutes and mandolins and that his work is of a very high standard.

He also makes a speciality of a certain sort of harp, a moderately priced 'classical' [non-ethnic] instrument. He had been in partnership with a friend of his doing this but had just recently taken it over on his own. He now offers a good quality and very reasonably priced 'starter' harp and most of his time is now [or certainly was then in 1998] taken up meeting the demand for these instruments.

Tim was then the chair of an organisation with as elegant an acronym as I have come across: MIMOSA - Musical Instrument Makers of South Australia. Unfortunately, though, Mimosa is considered a weed by some, but they donÕt let that worry them, its too good a name to be wasted!

These are just a couple of images from the first trip I was pleased with - a bird - somewhere in Sydney, and a time-lapse shot of Perth taken from Jacob's Ladder.
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I do intend to go back to Australia when I get a chance - maybe this coming summer, 2001 [our summer, their winter - am I bonkers?]. Actually, it will have to coincide with a gamelan festival in Java that a group I am involved with [the gamelan MetalWorks] have an open invitation to perform at.