Last year Andrew Stott bought his fabulous Gramophone Grooves to the Wedding Fair and we're thrilled he's joining us again.
Gramophone Grooves is the epitome of the vintage era - A Tune and a Tipple - a vintage bar and gramophone from a big perambulator!
You can have a short, a nip, a tickle, a wee dram, your own tipple of choice, whilst choosing from a selection of original jazz, blues and dance 78s from the 20’s to the 50’s.
In the last year they've had lots of adventures at weddings and events but I thought it would be nice to be reminded of Andrew's diary piece from last year about the making of Gramophone Grooves!
Gramophone Grooves is the epitome of the vintage era - A Tune and a Tipple - a vintage bar and gramophone from a big perambulator!
You can have a short, a nip, a tickle, a wee dram, your own tipple of choice, whilst choosing from a selection of original jazz, blues and dance 78s from the 20’s to the 50’s.
In the last year they've had lots of adventures at weddings and events but I thought it would be nice to be reminded of Andrew's diary piece from last year about the making of Gramophone Grooves!
* * * * *
"Hopeful that I can turn an old pram into a quirky, compact, off-beat way to serve drinks whilst enjoying some vintage tunes, this is the story of that transformation from ad hoc party wagon to chic speak easy. Using the finest of leftover materials and a vague plan ... will I succeed?
This first
image is the party wagon in full swing in its first incarnation. From these humble beginnings I realised it
was a good idea but needed polishing with a more defined concept and look.
The second
image is the start of that process. Here is the basic liner in the pram. I used
cardboard templates to create the pieces and lo and behold the pram wasn’t of
course, straight or equilateral in its construction! So every part had to be
hand fettled to make it fit, but after a lot of whittling and re-cutting it
finally came together. OK, it may not
look like much but it's a good start.
From these modest
foundations a party pram will be built!
I was thinking about how to make a feature out of my
78's. So here is the mock-up for a potential slot for them – a kind of
slanted ‘78 library shelf. I want my punters to be able to easily select and
then play a ’78 and I'm hoping this will help to make an interactive
experience.
As a DJ with
over 20 years’ party experience, I have had to accept the iPhone shuffle,
pause, select and change mid tune current mindset; seamless 8 hour sets of
furious dance funkiness has been usurped by immediate instant gratification
machines. Forget listener experience. …
“I want it now” wins out.
I could be
miffed, but hey that's progress grandpa - get with it you ‘78’s dinosaur! As the
HMV 101 is the original picnic gramophone, designed with a handy slot in the
lid for your rapid choice and deployment of those wickedly decadent jazz tunes,
I can’t be glum as, If you will, it is the originator of iPod shuffle
haphazardness. The originator of
customer choice and sub instant gratification - no band needed it's all on a
disc. It's hard to experience that
quintessential revolution now but it changed music history forever, Although
they may not know it, pop music and teenagers owe it all to the 20’s newly-empowered flapper heiresses.
Stick a
needle in, crank it up and let it go daddy-o.
Actually it's surprisingly loud, as 'put a sock in it’ aptly
describes. The machines I use may not be
the epitome of gramophone chic - no big brass bell and absence of Gothic
woodwork, but the HMV 101 represents the zenith of gramophone design - compact,
audibly efficient and modern style all in one. At its time a very expensive bit
of upper class flapper picnic kit. For
me they are robust for professional use and sufficiently of the look to engage
my slightly bemused public.
There is a
decade between my two machines and the only change is an automatic stop arm in
the 30’s version. Ten year upgrade period anyone?! So what's next? NOT a ten
year upgrade.
So – pram ...
check. Gramophone ... check. 78's. … check.
Er ... bar…
I need a bar... on a pram?
So the ‘Tune’
bit of ‘Tipple and Tune’ is sorted. But
for the ‘Tipple’ bit to work I need a bar. There has to be a bar - it’s in our DNA, I know it’s a pram but to enjoy a tipple you
need a bar to rest on. It's an adjunct
to a conversation, the foundation to witty and repartee. It may be small, but
it’s huge in my plan to turn a big pram into a small party.
So today was
about turning a very dodgy old door into my new very important bar surface. Using reclaimed wood is cost-effective but
creates its own problems. But here's the thing - it creates new unforeseen
parameters you have to work around. Often when you get into a project, the
possibilities seem endless - this is like a white blank canvas, it's pureness is
often daunting. Dirty it up, beat the
white and you can find yourself already immersed knee deep in your effort. I find its good to be curtailed by the
properties of a found object. It forces you into thinking laterally, like
dirtying up a white canvas.
But it’s
freezing in the garage this morning, with the first sprinkling of snow turning
to ice outside, and making my creative thinking work is a painful process. At least a mooch about in my local ironmongers
provides part of the solution. Window catches
to hold on the bar - quick, strong and presentable. Who knew?
Now what to
do with the bar top? As it's a paneled
door there is a rebate. - not too clever to balance your tipple on. Also the
door panel is damaged so I have to cover it with something. I have some scrap 6mm ply, which I have been
saving for some unknown purpose for ages. It's just a tad too thick and not
quite wide enough... um …
I'm sure I can pull off a bit of marquetry if I make
an inner band using the plywood on edge so the layers of ply make
a stunning/amateurish detail. Then I can make an inner panel to fit. Just
have to get some circulation going in my hands so I can attempt to measure and
cut accurately! Well at least I'll try
the second time.
There's a surprise!
The door is not straight ... or parallel, so yes all the pieces have to be
fitted individually. Obviously this is a
lesson I still have to learn, and re-cutting the pieces a third time makes the
point - don't make assumptions without checking first. Still, I can do very
simple rough marquetry with very poor quality scrap wood... oh yeah! Tipple I
up! We have a bar! This might just work
…
The bar took a lot more planing and sanding than I could ever have imagined - still, kept me warm! Managed to get a coat of the ebony exterior stain on, which was bit of a revelation. I did a sample test, which indicated that it could be applied to create tone. Essentially it's like transparent black varnish, so by varying the depth of application all tones from light to dark could be achieved all on top of of raw MDF.
With the final top coat the effect of dark wood is very convincing. It also has created an aged vintage look to the interior of the pram, like haggard laquer, its faded glory telling a story it ain't earned yet.
Well it's all done bar the shouting and the dressing up. The big pram with little party posibillities is ready! Come and check it out at the Bristol vintage wedding fair at the zoo March the 13th.
Email: smashitstott@yahoo.co.uk
Tel: 07867 977890
