Mark was invited to build a guitar as a live demo over the weekend. Not to make things too easy he decided to use only power generated by solar and wind. The guitar was signed by most of the main stage acts including KT Tunstall!
Our Tent Before the Chaos
Yup. Building a guitar in a tent using a 4ft windmill, a 150w solar panel and 440ah of batteries (for the techies). All in a days work. The big windmill in the background is an 8 footer which will go up at the workshop as soon as we can get to it. It should produce 1kw in a good wind.
During
You can see the interest we attracted. People are fascinated to see the guitar emerge from raw wood into a guitar before their eyes. That’s Bills Mill in the background helping to keep the batteries charged up. Thanks Bill for lending it to us and doing such a great job of PR on our behalf. Also Thanks Jamie for helping out. Not forgetting Billy and Fionna for everything.
Mark Routing the Body
‘I used normal tools and techniques – the only difference was the power source (and the view!)
I wanted to to build the guitar totally using wind and sun power just to find out if it was possible. I had done some calculations and was fairly confident but you never know…..As it turned out I hardly put a dent in the batteries! This experience is really what convinced me it was possible to run the whole workshop this way.
The Finished Result with Signed Scratchplate
Thanks to the organisers of the famous Wickerman Festival for inviting us to their fantastic festival.
Also special thanks to KT Tunstall and all the other acts for signing the guitar.
The highlight of the whole event was when they raffled the guitar on the mainstage and Mark and Carol were invited up to pick the winning ticket. ‘It was the biggest stage i’ve ever held a guitar on and maybe next time they’ll let me plug it in!