Some riffs sound good for hospice
BY ANTONIO BRADLEY
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Upper Hutt Leader
Te Omanga Hospice could get a funding boost thanks to a moonlighting engineer's passion for guitars.
Upper Hutt resident Frank McLoughlin will auction his latest hand-crafted guitar, to be signed by local favourites The Fourmyula.
The 59-year-old, who spends working hours making packframes for the army, started guitar lessons two years ago and crafted his first electric guitar a year later.
"You're never too old to learn," he says.
He has now built seven, inspired by his neighbour, a violin maker, and his guitar tutor, who makes jazz guitars.
Mr McLoughlin crafted the guitar that is up for auction from a totara tree in his front lawn and Wairarapa poplar.
It is a Fender Stratocaster imitation, with a white paint job and tortoiseshell pickguard a la Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler.
But while his licks can't match the Sultan of Swing, Mr McLoughlin's passion for the Fender models could.
"[They've] got better curves than any woman can." Mr McLoughlin would like to focus his business on crafting guitars to "get away from the grime and engineering".
"Once you make the first one ... and get a sound out of it, you can't wait to make another one."
Fellow organiser and Upper Hutt City Council business liaison manager Paul Lambert says he and Mr McLoughlin thought Te Omanga Hospice was a worthy charity that could benefit from The Fourmyula's recent publicity.
The auction is likely be hosted on Trade Me soon after The Fourmyula's reunion concerts in Upper Hutt this Saturday and Auckland later this month, he says.
- Upper Hutt Leader
