my guitar

Here's a new addition to my collection that I recently found in a Newtown pawn shop. I am guessing that it's a 1960's (japanese-made) copy of the Gibson E-335. Despite the cool mimicked ancestory of the guitar, it was the brand that caught my eye. Jason!

Cheap reproductions from the 1960's aren't as bad as you may imagine. In my collection I have the Jason guitar and a Winston bass (copy of the Gibson SG). Both are project guitars and need a bit of work to make them truly playable, however there were some facets I liked when I first played both guitars.

The pickups are cheap and there's not much to them, though the tone they produce is unique and pleasant. The body wood is laminated, though with almost 50 years to dry out, resonance would be improved and the guitar much lighter in weight. The Jason guitar in particular is a semi-hollow bodied guitar with a great acoustic tone that is woody and quite loud. The necks aren't very wide and feature: string trees that apply even pressure to all strings; and my favourite the zero fret. A zero fret ensures the same tone for open and fretted notes.

To make one of these guitars playable you would need to: clean it; resolder all connections; potentially replace some electronics; redress, replace or remove the fretwork; replace the strings; and ideally replace all screws. Be careful when tightening old screws - I once sheared a neck plate screw, leaving half embedded in the guitar. Doh!

I do enjoy tinkering and cheap guitars are an ideal way to learn and practice on. I do also enjoy a guitar branded with my name - maybe my first born should be named Gibson? Which reminds me, my dream acoustic guitar is a Taylor!

what a party!

We had our all-day end of Financial Year party for Atlassian last Friday (4th July). Well done to Robyn and a huge thanks to Mike and Scott as this particular party would have to be one of the best internal events I've ever attended.

Yes, we celebrate the end of financial year at Atlassian, and yes we get a whole day out of the office! This year was themed the 'Atlassian Brothers Circus' and we all got to learn some essential circus tricks (in case we really decide to run away and join the circus).

Pictured here is my team for the day taking their well-deserved accolades for their re-enactment of a scene from the "Great Escape" (to the "Karate Kid" team note the word scene). Photo credit to Lachlan Hardy and pictured from left-to-right are: Dmitry; Kate; Lea; Dushan; James; Andrew; Tim (Steve McQueen); Miroslav; and Jeff. Nice t-shirts guys!

Speaking of which I have uploaded some of the graphics created for the day in the illustration section.

Been busy on the homefront and have added a couple of new t-shirt designs at RedBubble.

By the way, if the idea of working at Atlassian seems like a good one, we're always hiring.