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I am deeply saddened to announce the passing of inlay extrordinaire Lawrence John “Larry” Sifel. Larry died this past Monday of a heart attack. Larry was an exceptional guitarmaker and incredibly creative inlay artist and machinist, who along with Chuck Erikson invented laminated shell product called Abalam. His company, Pearlworks was responsible for much of the inlay seen on guitars by C.F. Martin, Fender, Paul Reed Smith, Taylor, and others. In particular his recent efforts yielded the PRS doubleneck Dragon and Martin’s Night Dive a collaboration with his long time friend William Grit Laskin. He was semi-retired and was looking forward to getting back to guitarmaking as well as some inlay projects with Chuck Erickson the likes of which Chuck remarked haven’t been done in hundreds of years. He is survived by his wife Jean, and son Ben and his mother Irene along with many nieces nephews, cousins in-laws and close friends. The family will receive friends Thursday, May 11, 2006 at the BRINSFIELD- ECHOLS FUNERAL HOME, 30195 Three Notch Rd., Charlotte Hall, MD 20622, from 5 to 6 p.m. with Time of Remembrance at 6 p.m. Interment will be private. Memorial contributions may be made to Calverton School, 300 Calverton School Rd., Huntingtown, MD 20639 or to the charity of your choice.
David D. Berkowitz
Berkowitz Guitarsdberkowitz38847.4473958333

Thank you David,

Sad news .......

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Wow... what a bummer.

Thanks for passing this along David.

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

This is truly a tremendous loss to the world of lutherie.
If I'm not mistaken, I believe he was at the ASIA symposium. If it was him I'm thinking of, I had a chance to sit down and talk with him and a few others over a meal while there. He was a really nice guy.

Our thoughts, prayers, and well-wishes go out to Larry's family and close friends.

Thanks for letting us know David...

Can we as a cummunity do something together to honor this man's memory? Maybe we can make a group donation to that school....Lance? Brock?

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

I love that idea Don, let me discuss the logistics with Brock and get back.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Sad news. Don I think I met Larry at ASIA as well -- he was very nice low key kinda gentleman. Don that's a great idea on the group donation.

While I can't say I knew him well, I did know him and spent time with him at recent and past ASIA meetings. He was always open and friendly, sincere, and caring. He will be missed. He did so much for luthiery, and inlay especially.

This is a shock.

Inlay has lost one of it's modern founding fathers..
Chuck, of course you'll carry on his vision and dreams.

Sincerely, Craig Lavin

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www.handcraftinlay.com

Our prayers and deepest sympathy to you and his family.

Serge Poirier

We've lost one of the greats.

I knew Larry mostly through his friendship with Dave Nichols, whom I partnered with for several years.

We shared a few days of laughs during a symposium in the 90's. I specifically remember him telling me how he couldn't believe he even took the risk of using every last cent to buy his first cnc...And how glad he was that it paid off.

First class all the way.

Our hearts go out to his family and many friends.

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Paul Bordeaux
http://www.bordeauxinlay.com