Official Luthiers Forum!

I know I've seen her website on this forum but I can't remember her name. She's an asian/american lady, I think.

ring any bells?

Here you go! Kathy Matsushita

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

thanks!

She is also here on our very own Luthier's Forum as kmatsu

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"After forty-nine years of violin building, I have decided that the search for a varnish is similar to the fox hunt. The fun is in the hunt."
Jack Batts Maker and Repairer of Fine Violins

I love her website. She is the reason that I knew it was possible for an individual to make guitars. Before seeing her website many years ago, I thought all guitars came from factories.

It is interesting that, as an amateur builder, she is better known than a lot of the better professional luthiers. Definitely check out her website.

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John Lewis
Wannabe builder owned by 2 crazy dachshunds

She surely has been an inspiration. Kathy is the very first luthier that I saw on the internet. After seeing her smiling face and being so happy I knew then that I wanted to build. She brought my idea of building guitars down to a level where I thought I could do it. I would sit and dream on her website for hours. Little did I know how easy she makes it seem. And the cost of tools…..unbelievable. Didn’t dream they would cost as much as they do.

Anyway, thank you Kathy for stimulating my imagination and inspiring my dream!

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"After forty-nine years of violin building, I have decided that the search for a varnish is similar to the fox hunt. The fun is in the hunt."
Jack Batts Maker and Repairer of Fine Violins

I think that a great many of us can thank Kathy for giving us the inspiration to get started. She certainly was mine, and I'll be forever grateful that I found her website.

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Allen R. McFarlen
Barron River Guitars & Ukuleles
Facebook
Cairns, Australia

Kathy is a really class and gracious lady. Both as a teacher at the high school she teachs at in San Jose and in her wanting to show and help others in buildiing. Her site is outstanding.

Another Kathy fan here. Her site was one of the first I found and I still go to it all the time.

Thank you Kathy.

Darrin

There is nobody, save possibly Cumpiano that has got more people started in guitar building than Kathy.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Yeh Kathy, and she is always willing to answer your email questions. I think she should write a book.

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

When she posted on the forum sometime ago, I said something like she was a Star! She balked!

See Kathy, I told you, you were famous!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

I too read Kathy's web site before my first build. The charm of her site is that she is an amateur and shares the joy of discovery that comes with her projects. She evokes an image of "Hey guys! Look what I did!" and seems as surprised as anyone at how well things turned out. She doesn't claim to be an expert and doesn't lecture.

The fact is she's a darn good writer. She has Clear, Concise, and To the Point down pat. (It's good to know that at least some English teachers can actually do what they tried to make us do.) Her selection of photos is also very good.

Thanks, Kathy.

Okay....I just went to Kathy's website on all of these recomendations here. The "easy jointer" rocks!!!
She surely is a very inpsiring woman, and I gotta get me one of those!
David

I'm another Kathy M. fan. Her website was my inspiration, after I was pretty daunted
when I first looked at the pile of boards that made up my unserviced LMI kit. Her tool
and jig lists were great for seeing what I really needed to do a build, and her build
descriptions were extremely clear and detailed. I used to live about 10 miles from
her in the South Bay area, but I never made person-to-person contact.

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Gene

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason- Mark Twain

And I too am a huge fan of Kathy and will add that my interest in doing tutorials came from Kathy and her excellent web site.

There are many, many talented luthiers out there/here but few if any have the ability to explain things as clear, concise, and as interesting as Kathy presents her information to us.

If this is the golden age of Lutherie I nominate Kathy for Queen!

BTW - Kathy's shop is always very clean too....... (I had better qualify this remark - I am a neat freak and appreciate neatness so this was NOT intended to be a sexist remark....I don't do that)

Hey....it's me here ("that lady that builds instruments")!!! I just noticed this thread today. Wow. I'm very, very appreciative of all the very generous and nice comments you all have made of my site. THANKS! The comments made me smile. I'm glad my site has made people less intimidated to jump into this wonderful hobby of building guitars; that makes me happy!

I feel bad that I don't really post much here — I do lurk nearly every day, but I don't really have a lot of time to post. When I do my projects in the summers, my whole day is spent either building or writing up that day's progress for the website. Then, in schooltime (which just began today for me), I really don't have much time to spend on the site.....

Anyway......THANKS SO MUCH for the very nice comments. They made my day.

Kathy

P.S. Oh, yeah....I am now nearing the end of the awful "waiting" period for the guitar I built this summer — that is, I completed the finishing on August 14th and told myself I would wait two weeks before I did the rubbing out of the finish (and all the rest). So....this Labor Day weekend I'll probably be able to finish this guitar!!! I can't wait to see how this one is going to look and sound....

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Kathy Matsushita
San Jose, CA USA
http://theamateurluthier.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kathy.matsushita

Find a moment to post your some final shots, Kathy. We'll be waiting.

I'm glad to know you are not bummed out to be "Than lady that builds instruments"!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I will do that....once it's all done. What I do need to do is to learn how to take better photos of the finished products, to better show the gloss, colors, etc. (And to have better backgrounds than just my workroom or my carpet or my sofa!!!!)

Had a fantastic first day back at school with the kids today...This year I have all freshmen...and even though we only had 1/2 hour classes with them today, I am totally exhausted!!! Anyway......about not being "bummed out to be 'that lady that builds instruments".....I actually chuckled when I read that and thought it was kind of cute/funny!!!

Kathy

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Kathy Matsushita
San Jose, CA USA
http://theamateurluthier.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kathy.matsushita

Teachers can handle anything. I would assume a sense of humor is mandatory, for sanity.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Must have been back in about '98 that I first found Kathy's site.
Has it been that long?
I must say also that she (you, Kathy) was a very early influence for me.
I'm always a little nervous when writing something that Kathy may read.
Our first born teaches high school english so should be used to it by now, I guess.
Is it english teacher or English teacher. Hmmm.......
Nelson

Kathy is fantastic.

I was quite daunted at the prospect of building a guitar the first time.
I knew nothing about wood craft, and I knew absoultely that guitar building, for me, was just a crazy dream that I could never do.
Then I found Kathy's web site.
Very inspirational.
I wrote her and she was quite encouraging.

Now I'm building guitar number 8.

I'm sure that I'm speaking for alot of people when I say Thank you Kathy.

cheers,
Claire