Local instrumental in musical success

IT came as no surprise to Allen McFarlen how skills he had perfected over more than 30 years as a spray painter could be transferred over to a relatively new passion for instrument making.

The Mt Sheridan-based craftsman turned his hand to making guitars about 11 years ago but now specialises in ukuleles.

“I think being able to be cre- ative is the best part about the job,” Mr McFarlen said.

“Being a spray painter, those skills came over well into ukulele making for finishing them and getting them shiny.”

The 56-year-old taught himself the craft and said the hallmark of his success under the brand Barron River Guitars and Ukuleles was constant analysis and criticism of his work.

“You have to be absolutely critical of your work and, if it isn’t right, it goes in the bin,” Mr McFarlen said. “It gets easier as you go; you know what will do and won’t.”

It takes up to 50 hours to handcraft one ukulele but, with a few orders on the go, Mr McFarlen said he could often reduce the timeframe to 30 hours.

Kuranda band Bosko & Honey and several European professional musicians own one of his instruments, most of which are shipped to overseas clients.

“One hundred per cent of my work I get from the internet and word of mouth, Mr McFarlen said.

“If it wasn’t for a web presence, I’d have no business.”

A tough job to recommend to others, Mr McFarlen said you “have to love it”.

“It’s like any artistic type of expression — You won’t become rich at it; it’ll take a lot of work,” he said.

“It’s somewhat easy to build the instrument; it’s more difficult to sell it at a reasonable profit to keep you going on.”