‘Keeping violin strings clean is essential for maintaining tone.

Alcohol fluids work but are way too volatile.

Wine corks are popular, but only address 50% of the surface and easily break up.

The swipe is a complete and elegant solution – I always keep two in my case, one to use, and one to help out a fellow performer.

Sonic Violins are delighted to be associated to The Swipe team and their excellent Product’

Richard Roberts. MD. www.sonicviolins.co.uk

Hello People

It’s been a while since we added anything to the blog, mainly because we have just had the most ridiculous amount going on! Its been a busy time! Anyway, we will be blogging more frequently from now on, as there is going to be a lot to tell, so keep checking us out! We are off this coming Friday to The Great British Guitar Show in Birmingham, which takes place on Friday and Saturday, and we really hope that if you are in the area, you will pop over to our stand! Anyone who mentions reading this blog will be treated to some of our new branded Swipe plectrums….now there’s an offer!

Hope to see you there.

Giles

Hello People

Just a quick one to say that The Swipe is going to The London Acoustic Guitar Show at Olympia this coming weekend, if you are around, please come and see us…check out the website at: http://www.londonacousticguitarshow.com/

Well, we got back from The Larmer Tree Festival yesterday, having had an incredible time, both workwise, and socially! The festival was in a stunning location just beyond Salisbury, in some huge and wonderful private gardens, with oversized, brightly coloured Parrots and Peacocks flying about, lots of interesting areas, with walks laid out in woodland lit by strobes and tiny spot lights and smoke, making you feel like you had landed on a different planet! (They also had a massive mirror ball high up in the trees, being hit by a laser, then reflected onto the mesh they put over the grass….this caused me some stability problems!) There were five different music stages, with one of them being right opposite our Swipe tent, which was cool, and loads of other stuff going on. The food was great, with a huge selection, the people were lovely, I met loads of other traders from other festivals which was great, and the music was really diverse and superb, with my personal favourites being Asian Dub Foundation, CW Stoneking, Seasick Steve, a fantastic Ska and Reggae band called Boy Le Monte, Vieux Farka Toure (son of the late and great Ali Farka Toure) who is one of the most original and best guitarists I have seen for years, an LA band called Ozomatli, Jools Holland, Pronghorn and of course ‘DJ Derek’….an 80 year old maniac white man, who played Ska, heavy dub, and Reggae, and who spoke in Patois! You really had to be there!!!! Anyway, it was a great festival, if a bit wet….but the sun shone through! Here are a few pics.

These 3 Tipi’s were joined together to form ‘The Social’, which ended up being our late night retreat, with some great late night bands, disco, a bar, and loads of dancing….my hat off to whoever ran it, because it was very cool, and stayed open until about 5 every morning!

Me with Jools Holland’s long term guitarist, (15 years!) and really nice bloke, Mark Flanagan. He came over to see us, and then quite badly cut his guitar playing finger on the end of one of the guitar strings from our demo guitar!!! He was very cool about it, and The Swipe did a great job mopping up the blood! Sorry about that Mark, and I wait to hear from your lawyers!

Our stall at night….working REALLY HARD, whilst having a beer with the guitarist from Pronghorn!

Our stall in daylight….still working REALLY hard!

It got a little muddy, but no one cared, apart from this person who just decided to vaporise!!!

The main stage after Asian Dub Foundation

The superb and totally insane ‘DJ Derek’!

A bonkers break dancing old man?!

Some really helpful folk, who wore suits made out of fresh cress, and made people sandwiches simply by trimming their jackets….???!!!

We had a really fantastic time, despite the weather (although it only really rained for 24 hours out of 5 days) and will definitely be going back next year….a big thank you to all we met, to all who bought The Swipe (pretty much every band!) and to those who organised the whole thing so well! Roll on next year! Check out the slightly odd video I made of setting up The Swipe stall before the festival started, and before any of The Swipe crew arrived, on You Tube   www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ_N5-ODENo

We will post more stuff on here about our next festy soon! Thanks for looking and reading! G.

We got back from the festy a day ago, and had a fantastic time….the weather was pretty awful until half way through Saturday, but great music, people food and beer helped us get through it, and avoided our spirits getting dampened! We saw some very special musicians, with Todd Sharpvill being one of our favourites, but then we saw Marcus Bonfanti….and we were just blown away! What an incredible guitarist/singer/songwriter/performer….one of the best live acts I have ever seen….anyway, there are a few pics of it all below! Now looking forward to The Larmer Tree Festival in mid July….we will keep you posted on that.

Our Stand stayed up in the high winds and rain (unlike at the Acoustic Festival of Britain where it just disappeared one night!) with our very smart new marquee…which is supposed to take 20 mins to put up, for 1 person….it took 2 of us an hour and a half…

It got pretty muddy, and there was a lot of sliding around, but we stayed standing!

We were determined that the weather was going to change and get really hot, so decided to prepare ourselves by buying straw hats??!!

The trusty pink Stradivarius…which got taken by the wind a couple of times, gathered a few dings, but is still priceless!

OK, by Sunday evening we were tired, had worked hard, and decided to shut at 7 to partake in what was occurring on the last night, so we thought we better leave a note to that effect!

The lack of sleep finally took its toll, and it seems that I decided that I looked rough enough, mad enough and old enough to become a serious Blues frontman! Without any apparent talent!

This guy, however, was the biggest talent I have seen for years, and he is going to help us with The Swipe, and we want to get him to play for us at some point….meet Marcus Bonfanti….have a look at his website (on our ‘Friends’ page) and witness for yourself the beginning of a massive career and rapidly rising star! Just awesome!

Not too sure who this beautiful lady is, but she’s pretty and sang like an angel! Think she was from ‘Chichester School of Rock’…who set up this cool college band.

This is Ben Prestage…He is a true Mississippi blues man, he plays Harmonica, Guitar, Drums, Fiddle, Banjo, lap top steel Guitar, Resonator Guitar, and sings, generally all at the same time!!! He was a great man, really liked The Swipe, and was captivating!

Our humble abode for 4 nights….luxury!

We really enjoyed ourselves, made more friends, sold lots of Swipes, got involved with lots of the bands, and especially want to thank Julian Moore, who owns the venue and is the organiser….he kept his cool, dealt with the weather and mud, made everyone happy, and was a real gentleman. We also want to thank the guy who made the curries, and the guy who cooked us breakfast every morning, Oh, and the bar staff…who kinda got to know us! Finally, the biggest thank you surely has to go to a man who came up to our stand, read all the literature we had, studied the massive Swipe banner, and the pop up banner outside the marquee, looked at The Swipes, and then asked if by any chance ‘we sold nail clippers’!!!???!!! We assumed the home made cider had just completely turned his brain into a pickled walnut, but it made us laugh an awful lot, and we are considering adding nail clippers to the Swipe website sales….if you are reading, my very ‘special’ friend….try Boots The Chemist….I believe they also sell Swipes and guitar strings!  A VERY big thanks to all we met, and to all those who complimented The Swipe!

The Word is spreading!!! Our new Swipe stickers have arrived….get a free vinyl ‘Swipe’ sticker with every Swipe you order.

We are off to Blues On The Farm (Pump Bottom Farm, Birdham Road, Chichester) on the 16th – 19th of June! I have been there many times as a ‘punter’, but we have never had a Swipe stall there, so we are very excited about it all, as the music there has always been superb, with a great and friendly crowd of people. Also, it will be the first outing for our new Traders Marquee, having sadly ‘Lost’ our old one in the wind at the Acoustic Festival of Britain. Well, we didn’t exactly lose it, it just got destroyed! Anyway, try and get there, and if you do, mention this blog, and we will give you a free Swipe! Hope to see you there. http://www.bluesonthefarm.co.uk/

Giles.

Hello people

Sorry it’s been so long since we posted anything on the blog, but a lot has been going on! The company has recently changed hands, and to cut a very long story short, I have now got the business back in my control, which is great news! There are going to be a few changes to the site over the next few weeks and months, but The Swipe will not change at all, and will remain the greatest string cleaner on the market! Anyway, our first venture as a new company was to have a stall at The Acoutic Festival of Britain last weekend. It took place at Uttoxeter, Staffs, and was really good fun. We saw some incredible bands (my personal favourites being Hayseed Dixie and Cerys Mathews) and made some great friends. The only down side was the wind!!! We lost our stall (like it blew away!) on the morning of the last day, and the main music marquee and bar also started to lift off, and had to be shut down! This was not a problem though, as they opened other tents, all the bands played, and there was plenty of beer on sale everywhere, which kept us going through the gales! There are a few pics of the event below, and the next thing we are attending is ‘Blues on The Farm, near Chichester, on 16th-19th June…its a fairly small festival, but with a lot of muso’s attending, so we hope to do well, and will certainly enjoy some great music. We are having stalls at quite a few festivals this year, and will keep you posted as to their dates and where they are.

Giles.

The stand, having been a little twisted by the wind!!!

The stand, having been VERY twisted by the wind!!!

2 good friends we met, that kept us up all night...TWICE...much against our will!!

Compared to the two ‘School’ people, these

guys were really normal, if a little on the quiet side!!

We wanted a violin to demonstrate The Swipe on, and our mates at Hobgoblin sold us this one...OK, it's pink, but it cost us under £30!!!

Hi there!

Well, 2 days ago Karen and I went to see Alister Atkin of Atkin Guitars, based near Canterbury  (www.atkinguitars.com) and gave him dozens of the newly branded Swipes to send out with every new guitar he produces……he loved the changes we have made to it all, and was (as ever!) full of praise and appreciation of the Swipe guitar string cleaner. Alister kindly gave Karen a tour of his hi-tech and awesome workshop, and explained briefly how the whole process worked: Karen was blown away by seeing large lumps of raw Rosewood and ebony timber, which are then lovingly transformed into Alister’s stunning range of guitars. This brings me to a very exciting bit of our day, which was that Alister had made a guitar which I have bought, and it was the first time I had seen it! It is one of his ‘Retrospective’ series…an OM size. It instantly struck me how beautiful it was, and how superbly crafted it was. I got very over excited and insisted that Alister and Karen left me alone in his demo room, for me to acquaint myself with my new beauty! I played it, a lot, and it was beyond what I had even hoped for…it felt like silk to play, with one of the lowest and easiest actions I have experienced on any guitar. Its tone was also dreamy…very responsive and when played lightly it just sang, and when played hard, it just literally seemed to come alive. It is a dream instrument, and I feel very lucky to have it. We have taken some not very good pictures of our time at Atkin Guitars, and of the aforementioned Atkin Retrospective OM. After we had finished at alisters workshop, we thought it would be sensible to go for a beer…which we did. All in all, it was a great day, spent in the company of great and talented people! Not a bad way to spend some time!

The Swipe crew are off to Olympia, London, to have a stand at this years biggest guitar event…Guitar Nation (www.guitarnation2010.com) which takes place on the 13th and 14th of November. Check out their website and try to come and say hello to us! It will be a great show for anyone interested in Guitars, and there are also some awesome bands playing! If you come and see us, and mention that you found out about this on our blog….we will give you a free Swipe, guitar string cleaner! We will even offer you one of our newly designed (and priceless!) T’Shirts!!!! Life does not get any better!  Bodfest tickets will  be for sale on our stand….scroll down further to find out more!

One more thing that we are really looking forward to…we are off to see Alister Atkin (Atkin Guitars, www.atkinguitars) on Wednesday of next week, to give him some more stock of our Swipes, to catch up on things and see what he is up to, to arrange his slot on Saturday 27th Nov. at Bodfest, and (very excitingly!!!) to pick up one of his astoundingly beautiful guitars: a new line for him…’The Retrospective’ range…an OM….check them out on his website. When we have got the guitar home, and when we have played it for so long that our fingers are unable to function anymore, we will post some pics of it on this blog.