Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi Mike,

I love working on instruments as long as its just for fun!
I will say that I got pretty tired of pianos after 4-5 per day for a good chunk of the seventies. Talk about aural fatigue!

Do you and your son fence at Seacoast? I thought I saw Mahar on a results list for the NE division. I'm one of the coaches at Candlewood in CT. My wife started fencing for the same reason as you.

Regards,
Chris

[QUOTE=EpeeDad]
Do you and your son fence at Seacoast? I thought I saw Mahar on a results list for the NE division. I'm one of the coaches at Candlewood in CT. My wife started fencing for the same reason as you.
[/QUOTE]

Yes. We fence at Seacoast. Steven E05 in foil Unrated in Epee. He's a better Epee fencer than he is in foil but it's hard to get ratings in Epee since the pool of players is so small few tournaments give out more than a single rating and sometimes not even that.

I thought I recalled seeing your name on a jacket at the big Y14 tournament in CT last spring.

Mike Mahar38644.4459722222

[QUOTE=Michael McBroom] [QUOTE=Brock Poling]
Be Warned!!! Before you *** REALLY *** get the bug consider that you could probably go out and buy yourself a Traugott for less money than what this will eventually cost you. [/QUOTE]

Man-o-man, ain't that the truth! But I am reminded of the old saying (in so many words): "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for life."

As it pertains to somebody like me, who has played guitar for many years, and who has often lusted over guitars that I couldn't afford without undergoing considerable sacrifice, now I can pick and choose which one I wish to have -- because I can build it, and I can do so for a small fraction of the cost of buying a new or vintage guitar. And as if that wasn't enough, I have found that the guitars I build almost always sound better than what I find on the racks -- even the high dollar ones. And I've been doing this for less than two years.

I consider myself to have reached the "experienced novice" stage. My builds have reached that point where I consider them to be good enough for me to put my name on a label and offer them for sale to the general public. For me, it took eight guitars before I was able to accomplish this. But it will likely take dozens more before I'll consider my build quality to be high enough to compete with some of today's outstanding builders.

Building guitars has been liberating for me. It has empowered me. True, I could have bought some excellent guitars for what I've invested so far in tools and tonewood, but where's the fun in that? I'd rather build and enjoy the fruits of my labor, and share them with others who can appreciate them as I do.

Best,

Michael
[/QUOTE]

I am sure you realize I was ** MOSTLY ** kidding... but there is no doubt that if you get bitten by the bug than you WILL have more in it than a Traugott before it is all said and done. (unless of course you already own an out building with a fully functional wood shop. Then you might get away with a mid priced Ryan...    )

I wouldn't trade building for anything.... but it can can consume all of your spare change... and then some.

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

Hi Mike,

I refereed foil and epee both days for the Regional Youth Tournament at SHU last spring. I don't remember if I reffed any of your son's bouts. There were a lot of fencers that weekend. I was the tall, bearded ref with a loud voice. My feet still hurt just thinking about it.   

Regards,
ChrisEpeeDad38644.7088425926

I've lost so many replies to this thread that now I'm just going to say a quick
THANK YOU to everyone - I really appreciate the generous spirit & overall
camaraderie here.

...and post it before something happens & I lose it...and post more (and
shorter) later.

on getting hooked by luthery:
I'm semi-counting on it.

If my first effort is not too wretched and I'm enthusiastic about making
another, then I will; if it's better than the first, and I'm still enthusiastic, I'll
make a third, and see if I can make it in less time than the others took; if I
can, and it's better than the others, and I'm still enthusiastic about making
guitars, I'll just make guitars & not worry about the rest of it.

If I can sell more than a couple of my first year's efforts, then I'll spend a
couple-three years making the best guitars I can & building up stock w/ an
eye to production; otherwise, I'll put aside numbers, scale back & it will be
more a selfish pleasure