Will Clift was nervous - he was worried the guitar was going to get damaged in transit from Nashville.
Still just a teenager, he'd spent his life savings on the 2003 Epiphone Dot .
He'd seen his heroes absolutely wailing on guitars with a similar shape. Eric Clapton. BB King. John Mayer. Giants of blues and rock.
The key word here is, of course, similar guitars - not the same. They were mostly using top-of-the line Gibsons - works of art, known for the iconic shapes and warn, thick and rich tones.
But the Epiphone Dot was a more affordable and a suitable substitute for a teenager still cutting their teeth in the world of music.
Will in the UniSC studio (not with the Epiphone Dot)
Finding the right sound
Will started playing guitar when he was just 12, playing mainly with older musicians who were already performing on stage in front of people.
By the time he turned 16, he knew he wanted to make a career out of music.
"I knew I wanted to play guitar," Will says. "But I knew you needed to do more than that if you wanted to make a living in the music industry."
Contemporary Music senior lecturer Dr Briony Luttrell says UniSC's Music program was designed for this specific reason.
"We not only help students develop their music production and sound design skills in our studios, we go into the business behind the music," Dr Luttrell says.
Will understood this early in his career, branching out into producing when he was still a teenager - a move that his seen him work alongside industry heavyweights such Uncle Kev Starkey , an Adnyamathanha and Torres Strait Islander man who created an original score called Oro Yarta Milyarra to play at UniSC's graduation ceremonies for the academic procession.
Will has spent a great deal of time not only at Uncle Kev's Darkwood Studios but also in UniSC's recording studios, helping produce work from other student artists under the tutelage of UniSC's Music lecturers and sound technicians.
For Will, the process of producing music elicits conflicting emotions.
"I'm a firm believer in focusing on the process more than the outcomes.
"You never know what's going to happen to a record once you put it out. It might blow up, or it might just disappear.
"But when you hit that moment - that vibe where a song starts to come alive - you chase it. That's the magic."
Will in the UniSC studio producing Taylah
Holding on to what matters most
Will's career in music is moving forward but there is plenty from the past he's bringing with him - in particular the Epiphone Dot he ordered from the States as a teenager.
Despite his fretting about its safe delivery, it arrived unscathed.
"If the house is on fire or there's an earthquake, that's what I'm grabbing because it's the most important to me," Will says.
"It just speaks to me in a different way - it's intangible."
As for the future, Will is focused but grounded in his goals.
"It's not necessarily about reaching the top," he says.
"I want to do well - I want to be comfortable, take care of my partner and have that stability.
"But more than anything, I just want to be making music every day, doing it with people I love."
