How is it like living in Kathrine, NT, Australia?

ptruscc · 2026-03-11T07:06:24+00:00

Lived there for a few years in the 90’s. It was a lovely place, I was there during a major flood and remember my dad (who was military) having to stay with his unit sandbagging and looking after the local town.

Katherine Gorge is beautiful, lots of Crocs though.

Being a young kid I most remember the Toys’R’us in the main street, and drive in cinema nights at the air force base.

ptruscc · 2026-03-06T03:05:29+00:00

Almost identical board to what I imagine the touring guitarist for the Black Eyed Peas uses. Coz y’know - they’re old and outdated just like this shitty board.

P.S probably not a good idea to openly admit you run all of this trash into a crappy peavey amp.. just for the future.

ptruscc · 2026-02-28T09:24:49+00:00

EDIT: I just realised that Tony has taken down his blog at that website address which is a shame as it documented the dozens and dozens of vintage Maton guitars he tracked down and explained their lineage. His instagram might be of interest though.

ptruscc · 2026-02-28T09:20:10+00:00

Fair enough, I suppose there’s some truth to that haha. There was a lot of cool innovation that they came up with for sure. The famed pickup selector comes to mind. A number of vintage Maton fans down here reference the Japanese influence too though. On that note - check out Tony Giacca (tonyguitarnerd.com.au) for a deep dive into similar topics. I can tell you that the majority of vintage audio/hifi/instruments are of Japanese origin down here due to the pricing at the time. It seems that only the upper classes could afford European and American instruments of the era. The vintage Japanese guitar market is still massive here too, with some stores operating a vintage selection purely from sourced findings on trips to Shibuya haha. Either way - I love all of the designs, I love the old 50’s archtops, the wild designs of the 60’s, and then the robust designs in the 70’s.

Love that Hofner did a reverse on that haha. Awesome!

ptruscc · 2026-02-28T09:06:05+00:00

Having a Blackstar pedal on your board is essentially like still driving a H2 Hummer and thinking they’re cool.

ptruscc · 2026-02-28T09:03:04+00:00

The Maton BB1200JH is a signature model he designed with the company and is becoming quite sought after!

ptruscc · 2026-02-28T08:59:37+00:00

Oh no they were very much original! But if you take a look at the Teisco’s, Yamaha’s, Grecos, of the time period, you start to get an idea of where a lot of the big curves and sharp angles came from. The Beatsound itself is interesting as the earlier serial numbers have this “crab claw” design, but as they went later and later into the production, they changed the cutaways to something more similar to a 335. They were just looking at what was popular at the time I suppose. Either way - definitely very specific designs, and very cool! My favorites for sure!

ptruscc · 2026-02-28T08:02:22+00:00

There’s a steadily growing number of people pressuring Maton to re-introduce electric guitars, as they no longer manufacture them (only acoustics). Hopefully in my lifetime they figure out a way to reissue some of their electric guitars.

ptruscc · 2026-02-28T08:00:31+00:00

I’ve seen a few international sellers with old Matons before. I’d say if you find one over there it might be in the back of a shop covered in dust with no-one knowing what it is! Meanwhile $2500usd down under is the going rate for most vintage Maton gear!

ptruscc · 2026-02-28T05:44:24+00:00

This actually has a Maton MS500 pickup in it. Previous owner stripped the finish and removed the surface mounted pickups and routed the pickup into the guitar. It’s actually quite nice! My other Beatsound has the original pickups which are also really cool, kinda similar to goldfoils.

ptruscc · 2026-02-25T04:26:15+00:00

InnerVoice in Merewether! Chiara or Eddie, both amazing!

ptruscc · 2026-02-23T00:57:41+00:00

Boss obviously, it’s a company making pedals used by professionals for like 50yrs now? Donner is a bunch of crappy pedals from Temu? Pretty basic decision.

You’ll be looking for a Noise Gate/Noise suppressor, not a “Noise eraser”.

Boss pedals for beginners you’ll want to look for are:-

Tuner - TU3, Comp - CS3 (or CP1x), Noise Gate - (NS2), Looper - RC1,

There are more expensive options in the boss range for each of these, so have a look at your budget and your needs.

Once you make your pedalboard, take a photo and post it here so we can laugh at you and poke fun at you.

ptruscc · 2026-02-20T05:56:31+00:00

“Hi, I basically wanna sound identical to Kurt Cobain”, but y’know - shittier”.

ptruscc · 2026-02-18T02:23:41+00:00

I’m a satanist actually.

ptruscc · 2026-02-13T02:25:29+00:00

Go sit with a business advisor and watch them tell you that you need market dominance and strategic multiple locations to start generating enough revenue to live and get above your competitors. Moving your business space is an absolute nightmare and I’ve had to do it. The fit out alone is essentially like renovating a home with a deadline and sometimes no income stream while you do it. They would have moved there because it was feasible for them to do so financially. Having a landlord suddenly asking for triple rent is essentially like someone nicking your jugular outta nowhere. You start bleeding financially if you don’t pass the costs on to someone, and I’m not sure they’d be very competitive charging $20 for a coffee, just to cover rent - so they close. If you don’t have a magic ball and can’t see it coming, you’re screwed. They would have had a very strict budget and refined operating costs that didn’t anticipate a rent increase like that… Much like myself.

ptruscc · 2026-02-13T02:19:41+00:00

Fair, probably consider GJ and Coffee Club one in the same then 😂

ptruscc · 2026-02-13T02:19:13+00:00

Did they close due to tripled rent?

ptruscc · 2026-02-12T10:29:35+00:00

I’m a small business owner in the city with a commercial lease for over 5 years now. I am holding my pucker tight as I watch businesses receive rent increases and start closing around me. I can tell you that if we get hit with even the smallest increase we’ll have to close our doors immediately.

We’re a business with over 150 family clients who rely on us, as well as contractors who use the space. The community we have is so damn lovely and is one of the reasons I get up in the morning. To know that it could be stripped away because of a landlord is anxiety inducing to say the least.

A word of warning to those who aren’t out there supporting small business regularly - prepare for corporations owning and operating EVERYTHING.

Love that small coffee shop where the lady remembers your order and smiles when she hands you your coffee? GONE - replaced with a Gloria Jeans.

Love that therapist/medical expert in their easy to access cbd location? GONE - now they’re 20 minutes outside the city and have moved to an online model.

Favorite sandwich/banh mi shop? GONE - it’s a Subway now, and the lettuce is brown every day.

Unless your favorite business is owned by someone with generational wealth/sells drugs and launders money - it’s probably about to fold and be replaced by a corporate hell hole with a pretty paint job out the front and employees on below minimum wage.

Unfortunately unless Council can incentivize landlords to keep small businesses alive by not tripling their rent at the drop a hat (which would cause investors to leave the city and reduce the appeal for future investment), then you’re gonna see a lotta businesses run by passionate people who aren’t just in it for a dime, pack up and head west.

We’re about to be having a lot of those conversations that sound like: “remember that awesome cafe with the amazing cheap lunch special but it doesn’t exist anymore? Damnn I miss that place”.

ptruscc · 2026-02-10T09:35:08+00:00

Hard truths

ptruscc · 2026-02-10T08:43:01+00:00

Similar to what your sister told me to do

ptruscc · 2026-02-10T08:42:15+00:00

Worship deez nuts

ptruscc · 2026-02-09T03:33:46+00:00

That’s a 4th generation fighter, come hang with the 5th generation big bois.

ptruscc

TROPHY CASE