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going to keep us in suspense? It appears that your Healdsburg trip was quite successful. Been waiting for you to tell us about it. I know your a very modest man but we want to know. Bobc38588.3069097222

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Might have been a better spot to break that sentence...   

Jerry I thought it was a great spot.

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Jerry:
Only Mary know's for sure

Bob:
Well, since Paul W isn't speaking to me I have been reluctant to share my success so.. Don't read this PW ....

I measure my success at HB on the fun-o-meter and it bent the needle. We had a terrific time, met hundreds and hundreds of kind, considerate and extremely talented people. The best part was meeting my fellow compadres' from the OLF. I only wish we could have been in the same building but I was banished to the "newbie" building and they were blessed with being in the "veteran building".

Mary & I went with the attitude to just experience the HB extravaganza and if we sold a guitar, OK but if not, then we were just going to laugh, have fun and experience life as a week long date for us. I was getting a bit discouraged as my sales were in a bit of a slump and Mary just kept pushing me to keep on building. She said "when God is ready He will open the doors" ... and she was right (I hope she doesn't see this). We builders sometimes think we are ready for the major leagues when we build a nice shiny box that makes noise but it couldn't be further from the truth. If you are going to play with the Big Boys you had beter have your stuff together or you will be sorely dissappointed. Had I made the trek to HB two years ago I would have been extremely embarrassed by my work next to one of the other luthiers and would have come back home with my tail between my legs.

I think we can all look back over our previous work and understand what I am saying. My biggest fear was how was I going to fit in with the rest of the pack. IMHO my work wasn't on the bottom nor was it on top but somewhere mid-way. This is incouraging as it keep us reaching for new levels as the quality bar is continually raised.

Was it a success, yes. Will we do it again? In a "New York Minute". Oh yes, we did sell 2 guitars (curly walnut/redwood OM-D, Hickory/59 Sitka OM-D) and took a deposit on one (Hickory/59 Sitka OM-D), which was an unexpected blessing.

For anyone planning to attend in 2007 - DON'T take any Dreds. My Slope D got picked up all of about 6 times the entire weekend!

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

Hey Tim thanks for the report. I'm glad you did well my friend. Maybe we should re-name the dred to dreaded. Tim your right on about the big leagues. Reminds me of when I was a youngster playing baseball. We had a short stop on our time that was a fantastic ball player. Had hands like bushel baskets. Nothing got buy him. Well he got drafted into the Yankees farm club syetem where he did pretty good. Got the call into the majors and failed miserably. Yep the big leagues is a whole new ball game. Your competeing with the best of the best and I'm sure your well on your way to the big leagues.

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

    It's always nice to hear of good things happening to good folks. I'm glad the festival was fun time for both of you to spend together. My wife, Paula, and I spend alot of time together and really have enjoyed the shows that we've attended to exhibit guitars at. Our favorite was the '97 NAMM Show in Nashiville. I got notice that there were additional booths added across the street from the convention center in the arena just 6 weeks before the show and built 7 guitars in those six weeks for display. We sold all 7 at the venue. The first four sold before the doors opened on the first day of the show, but we insisted that they stay for display for the duration. All owners agreed and picked their guitars up at closing time on the final day of the show.

   The funny part was that when I'd applied for a booth, I was told that show had sold out and no vendor spots were available. That was 10 months before the show when the entire disply area was to be contained by the convention center there on Broadway. When they called back six weeks before the show, I had moved on to my workload and backlog to continue building. They said that my booth would be at the far end of the venue near a restroom and across from a refreshment area. I told them that I'd take the booth and it ended up being a great location with lots of traffic past us by those using the rest facilities and the refreshment area across from us turned out to be a comfy cafe style setting that provided seating for as many as 150 peopel as players did short sets through the small PA that I had designed into my booth for demos of the guitars that I'd installed pickup systems in. A crowd would gather quickly as one artists after another popped in to check out guitars and would then graciously agree to sity down for a few songs.

   We met so many people and had so many great artists stop in and agree to play in my booth that it was flattering and overwhelming and blur in many ways. It was my first NAMM show and I as a little nervous about the botthe design and the guitars, but all worked out nicely in the end. I have my sites set on the Newport Show next year and possibly the Healdsburg Show in '07.

Regards and congrats again,
Kevin Gallagher

Thanks again folks for all of the kind words and encouragement.

Kevin: That is a great idea about installing pick ups in your guitars. Can you, or anyone else, recommend a quality yet affordable small acoustic amp for such a venue? [Manufacturer and model number too please]. I have another show coming up and that would be a great attraction, if done tactfully.Tim McKnight38588.4630787037

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

Small is a relative term... but I am partial to the SWR California Blonde. It is about 50 lbs, and I think the footprint is 15"x15"x24"

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Not sure I should share this but for the next show I'm installing a pickup in every guitar going and providing headphones and a small mixer so people can sit and really hear the guitars. A P.A. or amp would be too much for HB IMO but something with headphones would be perfect. HB was so noisy in the main hall that you had to talk loud to just be heard...

Kevin... someday I'll go to Namm.... someday....

-Paul-

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-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

I was visiting Bruce Sexuar's table and he had a setup with a mike/mixer/headphone. You could play in front of the mike and he had some sort of noise canceling filter that phase shifted the room noise 180° resulting in cancelation of the room leaving only the guitar in your headphones. I didn't try it out but it sounds good in theory.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

Bose makes headphones that are noise cancelling. Not cheap, nothing Bose makes is, but it's amazing to listen with them.

[QUOTE=Brock Poling]
Small is a relative term... but I am partial to the SWR California Blonde. It is about 50 lbs, and I think the footprint is 15"x15"x24"

[/QUOTE]

I totally agree!! It is a great sounding little amp!!

Tim, ok, I guess we're publicly speaking again.
The success you had couldn't have happened to a better man (well maybe to me but that's a different topic all together )
Interesting observation about the dreds. There were two across from our table that were getting picked up quite a bit. Sven Gonstead had two resos that didn't rest the entire show. Something different...

Yeah on another forum someone made the comment that builders should worry about sound before they put inlay in, but I know the person who wrote that and the only ones he played where the "famous" builders. I can't tell you how many people would just strum the guitar and gauge it's sound on that, with all the noise in that hall there was just no way you can tell. And to be honest unless you play something just strumming the open strings doesn't tell you much either unless it's very very very quiet.

I think either a small amp or something like what bruce did is the best way to go, I'm also going to put out a listening chair next time and take guitars that I'm not worried if people scratch (unless I see Pete Townsend coming).

Tim's advantage was twofold to where we were, he had room for people to sit and 'listen' and 'play' his guitars without all the hassels of the tags and getting pressed in by people around him and carrying them across a busy floor. And his area was MUCH quieter than ours. Not taking anything away from what he did because his stuff was awesome to boot, but I almost sold one that someone got to play, he just didn't like the fingerboard width but loved the sound and I'm sure had more people been able to play that one it would have been sold. I've had a bunch of working musicians play it and got nothing but good comments on it, but they liked the wide fingerboard... can't please em all

Cheers

-Paul-

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-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

Paul, I think "something different" is right. FWIW, I'll share some thoughts as a guy who didn't bring any guitars and just went browsing.

Normally, when I browse at guitars, I like to pick up as many as I can and play them. When I do that, I invariably find myself most amazed at the sound that comes from guitars that I never would have guessed would sound so good. They aren't necessarily visually unique, but I pulled them off the shelf just because I was pulling guitars off the shelf. I guess that's my personality with most things --- it's fun to look at things that are kind of on the edge, but the things I would actually purchase and own are more traditional.

The Healdsburg format is not conducive to selling guitars to people with my tastes and habits.

The guitars are so crowded together, the aisles are so narrow, and there are so many people crammed into a small place that I mostly just tried to avoid knocking things over. I knew it would be a hassle to play anything, so there was a strong presumption against even trying. I knew I would create a bit of a "road block" if I stopped for more than few seconds to look at anything, so there was a heavy presumption in favor of "keep moving."

As a result, most of the times I stopped or played anything were when something really unusual caught my eye as different. Accordingly, the guitars I took the time to check out were not the sort I would actually own.

If the Healdsburg objective is to give people an opportunity to take a good look and listen to some custom guitars, I don't think the format is very conducive to that. It's too loud to hear, and to crowded to comfortably take the time to play a lot of guitars. I'd like to see the organizers find a way to spread things out a little more, breaking things up into smaller rooms with fewer builders in each.

If they don't, I'll still come back in two years.

Tim,

Congrats on a great show. Your set-up looked great and of course so did your guitars. Congrats on the sales and who knows what the next couple of months may bring as far as orders. Your success from the show may just be begining.johno38588.6138425926

Tim...Thanks for the report, and congratulations on your success. Personally, I think your well thought out display (at least from what I've seen in the photos) probably played a big part in getting people to spend time at your table and to try your guitars (which then sold themselves). Nice job! I'm glad to hear that people are finally getting wise to the fact that dreadnaughts are not the best design for a guitar. Of course, the year you don't bring one to a show is the year everyone will be looking for one!

Kevin...From what I've heard about NAMM, it's like Healdsburg times ten! Genius idea, though, to incorporate a sound system into your booth to take advantage of your location. I'm curious--at the '97 show, did your guitars sell to attendees for their personal use, or to dealers for their stores?

Bob...Thanks for getting Tim to come out of the woodwork, um, so to speak.

Tim,

Let me add my congrats! It really couldn't happen to a nicer guy. It's also nice to hear that your best seller was made from good ol' local hickory.

Gosh guys, cut it out .... coz I'm blushing.

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

Tim,

Congratulations on a great event. Enjoy your success, you earned it with all that hard work!

Jeff

Congratulations Tim! You've worked hard to get where you've arrived. There's no substitute for hard and smart work. Now...go out and play a few well-deserved rounds of golf.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Tim,
   I would advise attending a NAMM SHow as a spectator forst before securing a vendor's slot. It is the epitome of the retail game and is geared totally toward the retail market which means broadening your retail dealer network. If that's the direction you're looking to take, go for it and NAMM will serve you well, but if you're looking to be a smaller shop catering to the needs of a selct clientele of custom guitar buyers, Healdsburg, Newport and the Long Island shows may be the better fitting ticket. It's all relative to your vision for your business.

   I would suggest that you just continue to work the way you are in establishing a smaller loop of dealers and keep yourself able to take on commissions from individuals too. I really enjoy dealing with the stores and the fine people who ownd and operate them, but there's also something special about a custom order and being able to hand someone something that they were a part of from design to final set up.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars