Official Luthiers Forum!

What a nice time I have some photos that I will post when I get a chance. I got to meet and hang out with, (there was an auction and some of our folks got nick names)
Shane (What a nice guy)
Todd (the guy)Rose great guy but did not spend enough time talking.
Sylvan first OLF guy I met there, we had some nice talks.
Mark Swanson (Ervin ran a steel string listening session and Mark's favorite was my worst and vice versa).
Paddy (O' Furniture) Dane truly one of the funniest people I have ever met. He also now owns most of the wood in the US. Check your seat his name is probably on it. .
Steve Kinnard just a great guy with some gorgeous guitars.
Scott(Just Scott) Thompson he and I really became friends and wound up hanging out quite a bit. Just a great guy all around.

Just a shout out for Kevin (New Guy) Chubbock who signed up this morning under GAL greenhorn. We hung out from the minute we registered and he is a really cool guy. He works for Santa Cruz guitars so he is NOT a greenhorn! Sorry I blew your cover Kev. He also showed me a beautiful cutaway Dobro he made. Very cool guitar!
I am sorry if I missed anyone but it is all a blur and I got in at 1:30 am last night. Now back to work for a bit.
EvanEvan Gluck38894.5952546296

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http://www.NewYorkGuitarRepair.com

Thanks for the feedback Evan, lookin' forward to see your pics!


Serge

Hey Evan! Glad you made it home safe. So you had a little delay at the airport? I called ahead to warn them about the weapon of mass destruction that you were carrying on, so it's nice to see that they are doing their job.

Evan and I hit it off great for a couple of guys from totally opposite universes. I'm frightened of tall buildings and too many people and he’s scared of driving off a cliff or getting eaten by bear.


It was great meeting all of you. We all had a wonderful time I think. I’ll post a couple more pics when I get a chance.
Scott Thompson38894.5609259259

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Scott Thompson
Port Townsend,WA

"In a perfect world we'd all sing in tune
But this is reality so give me some room"
-Billy Bragg

Thanks for the airport tip Scott I actually got on the plane 3 minutes before they closed the doors It was a photo finish.
Evan

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http://www.NewYorkGuitarRepair.com

Hey Evan,

It was a great convention, wasn't it?
I just got home myself. I am in serious need of sleep.
But driving home from the airport (with one eye open) I was reflecting how my lutherie batteries are now fully charged. The dial that measures inspiration is reading 11, on a scale of 10. And that's what I always bring back from these gatherings-- a desire to try new things, change a few old ones, and in general do better work.
Now this time, I'm coming away with a bunch of new friends. The web is nice, but there's nothing like face-to-face encounters. I enjoyed meeting my OLF brethren immensely. And one of the sweet things was actually beating Paddy to a piece of wood and buying it right out from under his nose. It wasn't easy, but the victory is all the more savory!
Pictures will follow at some time.
I'm afraid I didn't get everyone from the OLF that was there, but how about this one?




Pretty cool dude, don't you think?


Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

What about this mug!!

He was located across the floor from my table. What awesome guitars he had!!!



And how about this? Larry Davis (Gallery Hardwoods) brought some awesome bits of wood and got good business as was deserved by the selection he had. Luckily Paddy was around so that there was little to load back up after the show!



And here was my little corner of the show. It is good that I had a corner because I ran out of table space .



So, I did meet a few of the OFL'ers there, Stephen Kinnaird, Larry Davis, Evan Gluck, Paddy Dane, Scott McKee, Scott Thompson, Todd Rose, Mark Swanson, Sylvan Wells, Ervin Symogi. Probably missed a guy or two....I know that Frank Ford was around somewhere. I was too busy at my booth to do much cruising around. I will need to bring help next time as the workshops were reported to be TOP NOTCH!!

As Steve said, the jets are re-fuelled to get back at building!! Just have a few more orders for wood to cut and then back in the shop! I bought a Viola!! CHEAP! Don't know what for, but I have it .

I looking forward to more pictures over the next few days from all the 'shutter bugs!'

Shane

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Canada

Here I am pointing at Frank. Not sure why I am pointing but I am putting this one in my shop.
Scott and Sylvan discussing the future of all things luthiery related. My new Texas buddy Steve. Shane probably talking to Paddy




I will post more later
Great time had by all!
EvanLanceK38896.2944675926

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http://www.NewYorkGuitarRepair.com

I'll post some pics in the next day or two. I didn't take very many, though, other than shots of instruments and stuff. Anyway, I, too, had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed meeting Evan, Shane, Scott Thompson, Paddy, and Larry (I already knew Steve, Mark, Ervin, etc) - sorry if I'm forgetting anyone... I'm fried as well. I missed Sylvan somehow, so I'll have to meet him another time.

After I recover a bit more, I'll write more about it. It was a blast, and I learned a ton and got oodles of inspiration...

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Todd. truly mised not having the opportunity to chat more. Your two visits to my tables, and I seemed to get customer distracted and you were gone like a ghost. I think your approach to wood utilization in a guitar is interesting and wanted to chat about your philosophy. had a few things to show like the acrylized woods.

Here's Shane hard at work. He's really evil and planted a seed in my brain to have a guitar made for myself. Top will be his great Lutz and body will be ziricote, ebony or BRW with amboyna burl rosette and maybe head plate. Lots of fun thinking to do here before it's finalized.




Here's Paddy, the new amboyna burl king of GAL with his zoot. More pics to follow.

Thanks for showing us more pics guys, it just makes the wait for BobC's gathering seem nearer and i just can't wait to see my big brothers there!

Yeah, i'd have a large grin too if i was holding such beautiful zoot too! I'm sure Paddy was saying "Mine, All mine"! Serge Poirier38895.0163657407

Paddy did get a lot of that beautiful burl, but, luckily for me, he missed one!!

Larry I really wasn't working that hard during that picture, that's Richard Brune, so I was shuttin' up and paying attention! Thanks again to you for the great little talks and the short visits. I hope we get to do this again sometime and play that new guitar of yours!

Larry has truly amazing bits of wood and some wonderful ideas on how to make some unique pieces. Thanks Larry!

Shane

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Canada

[QUOTE=Serge Poirier]
Yeah, i'd have a large grin too if i was holding such beautiful zoot too! I'm sure Paddy was saying "Mine, All mine"! [/QUOTE]

Serge, that is EXACTLY what Paddy was saying..no foolin'

Good on ya Shane, i'll bet you had to be pretty quick to get that remaining chunk huh?

Thanks Larry, i just knew!

Serge

I had a great time as I usually do! I see from names posted that I missed getting to say hello to some of you, sorry about that! I guess I still have that in my future to look forward to. There's only so much you can do at these gatherings, my brain was on overload as it is...(not that hard to reach that state!)...
To those I did meet, thanks for the good times and I can't wait to do it again.
I learned a tremendous amount this time. Here is a shot of Harry Fleishman playing my guitar- he really liked it, I am happy to say. He used this guitar as the example in his "Voicing through the access panel" workshop, and I got to help out by doing the work inside while he guided and explained what to do...So what a lucky thing that was for me! I got some hands-on teaching about guitar voicing, on one of my own instruments from a great guy like Harry!
And when I walked out, the guitar sounded quite a bit better. Sylvan was also there in that class. I don't remember who else was there- I was only thinking about what I was doing!
Mark Swanson38895.4528703704

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Mark Swanson
Swanson Guitars
http://www.MarkSwansonMusic.com

I'm back to post a few pics.

Larry, I'm sorry I didn't hang out and talk with you more. I would have liked to. There's just so much going on at these things! I get so much out of the scheduled workshops, so, with those going on, I never find enough time to hang out at the exhibit, shop for wood, etc. Plus, I was already nearly at my budget limit for this trip, so I couldn't buy a lot of wood in any case. Getting a good batch of tops was my priority - and I got several great ones from Shane that I can't wait to start using.

Likewise, I would have loved to spend more time talking with each of you who were there. I look forward to more opportunities.

Anyway, here's a few shots. The first is Marshall Brune (great to meet you, Marshall) with Manuel Velasquez. In the background are several notables: Cindy Burton, Jeffrey Elliot, Fred Carlson (with funny hat), Frank Ford, and Harry Fleishman.

The second is of me and Shane. I'd hoped to get pics of other OLFers, but never got around to it.

The third is an interesting head carving on an old harp guitar/lute. There were many historical instruments on display to admire and learn from.

Finally, a view of Mama Mountain (aka Mt Rainier) from a window in the dorm many of us were staying in.

This convention was truly a feast of people, instruments, music, education, and inspiration.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Todd, I do understand the time constraints of the convention. Just not enough of it.

Here's Mark Swanson, way handsomer in person that in a thread post    Another fellow I'd like to have more chat time with to pick his brain a bit.

Larry Davis38895.5296296296

Hey Larry, you also have me in the baseball hat chatting with Scott Thompson in the right side backround. Sorry we did not get a chance to connect. My fault it seems as I was obviously close enough.
Evan

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http://www.NewYorkGuitarRepair.com

"(Ervin ran a steel string listening session and Mark's favorite was my worst and vice versa)"

I'm intrigued. How much consensus was there?

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Hi Howard,
Ervin divided us into 4 groups with about 12-15 people each, we each took 10 guitars and did listening tests. We were instructed to bring back the best sounding and the worst sounding. Everyone voted on the guitars. I was the only one that thought #4 was the best. Mark was the only one that voted #4 as the worst. It was weird because all the other guitars illicited more responses. I suggested to Mark that we build a guitar together that we could both tolerate
Evan

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http://www.NewYorkGuitarRepair.com

Hey guy's. I too was at the convention for my first time, it was incredibly inspiring and by the time I left I was saturated. I was very disapointed with the steel string listening session and thought it was a very flaky approach to try and tackle with that many people. My feeling is, that would be an interesting thing to do with 5 guitars and 30 min. Not 40 guitars 80 people and 2 hrs. I also thought that it was really about Somogyi and less about the Guitars and there builders. Unfortunate, because I'm sure there where some amazing guitars that barely got out of the case. I was wondering how others felt who were there. Maybe it got better after I got frustrated and left? But to end on a positive it was a great convention.

Howard,

The really interesting thing about this was that one of the guitars voted into the bottom three was one that Ervin had brought as an example of a great sound. It was a Martin from the 1920s!! He was at a loss as to why people had disliked it.

This was supposed to be a morning session, but Ervin invited everyone back after lunch for a very fascinating discussion on some of his theories on voicing. I am really dying to take his voicing class more than ever.



Steve Kinnaird's ambrosia maple was in the top 5. Mike Doolin, who was the player for the test, actually broke his neutrality for a moment to give a "Wow" when he saw it.

Here is a shot of Ervin drilling a small hole through Steve's top in search of the answer to it's great tone.


Actually, he was using a jewelry box type musical crank to drive the top of the guitar.

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Scott Thompson
Port Townsend,WA

"In a perfect world we'd all sing in tune
But this is reality so give me some room"
-Billy Bragg

[QUOTE=Todd Rose] I didn't take very many, though, other than shots of instruments and stuff. [/QUOTE]
Yeah, too bad. We don't want to see any of THOSE!

Thanks to everyone for the photos!

Jimmy,

Good to see you here. You have to post more though! Keep that BC contingent going!

Shane

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Canada

Great pictures, Larry I wished that I had more time to talk with you, too! But the more time I spent around you and your booth, the more I wanted to buy wood with money I didn't have. <G>

I was one of the many who thought the steel-string listening session was a waste of time, at least it ended where it should have begun. All of that time choosing guitars, some the "best" and some representing the "worst", should have been spent hearing and learning right from Ervin about the what and the why of it all.
It would have been much better to just give each guitar a number, and draw ten numbers from a hat and work with those.

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Mark Swanson
Swanson Guitars
http://www.MarkSwansonMusic.com

What Ervin was trying to do with the listening session was certainly ambitious, given the number of guitars and people. Nevertheless, I found it immensely more educational and worthwhile than the listening sessions I've been to at the previous two conventions. I really appreciated that Ervin made the effort to have it be an opportunity to really compare the sounds of different instruments in a controlled way, and to learn something about what we were hearing. It was only scratching the surface, but for me (and others I've spoken to) it was extremely valuable.

There was a great deal of consensus (not unanimous, of course) about which instruments' sounds were preferred and which were not. Steve Kinnaird's guitar was my personal favorite. If I ever build a guitar that sounds like that one, I'll be thrilled.

BTW, Ervin never actually said anything about "best" and "worst" guitars. None of the guitars were "bad". I really liked them all. But some had something really remarkable about their sound which had wide-ranging appeal to a diverse group of people.   

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/