Official Luthiers Forum!

I think this is very very true. This is one reason, I thought I could be succesful at building guitars. I know a good one when I see/feel and hear it. That with the right woodworking skills may be an advantage over someone who has not been exposed to a large number of guitars.

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Joe

Meh.. not too fond of Miles Davis (or Yngwie for the matter). I was just saying that my fingers don't move anywhere near as quickly as some of the more technically proficient players out there. Personally when it comes to electric guitar, I'm more into Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. For acoustic, I'd have to say my favorite player is probably Paco de Lucia.

I love to play

OK, I'll chime in too. I'm 54 years old and I've been playing for 42 years. Age 12 seems to be a common age for starting. For most of that time, however, I've just chorded along while singing. About 8 years ago I bought a nice Martin and decided to try to learn how to really play. I've made pretty good progress but not great progress. I started to learn how to play other instruments during that time as well, (old-time banjo, mandolin, fiddle). That's distracted me from guitar playing so I've kind of stopped progressing.

Does it help me as a builder? I can't say that it has all that much. Having a good idea as to how an instrument is supposed to feel and sound doesn't mean that I can actually build one that does what I want.

I'm 57 and also play as well as build instruments.I build mainly for feel and tone.As those two elements mean the most to me as a player.I've been building electric guitars since 85.I've just started building acoustic guitars though.I've been playing music since i was 8. I played keyboards at that age though i have been playing guitar since 69.I also play and build native american flutes.I do find that building takes up alot of my practice time and some times my hands are too sore from building to practice every day.So i'm not as good as i could be if i wasn't building them.I do think anyone with the skills can build a great guitar,but also feel that playing has it's advantages.The main reason i build is to make an instrument out of wood i sellect that would be hard to find in a store that produces great tone as well as looks.At the end of the day,i can't wait to hear for the first time a new instrument to cry out it's own tone as no two are alike.

Been playing since '76. Started building last year. I now look at instruments differently. I got kind of bit on the first build. I am starting to build another to try to get "the sound" that I will only know when I hear it.

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Mark Ewing
Columbus Ohio
"Trees are an important and precious thing. We should build good things with them. Building good guitars with heart are the best use for them." K. Yairi.

Hmmmm. I just came back from an NCAL meeting at Santa Cruz Guitar Company. Out of the 30 or so builders there none felt like they were good enough players to give any of the instruments people brought a decent playing. Lot's of "Black Bird" and such. This includes me!

Greg N

I am a player of Texas style backup guitar to Old Time fiddle music. I can saw out a few tunes on the fiddle and pick a few tunes on the banjo. Mess around with blues on my Stratocaster and used to play bass in a country band. I also can pick out the same fiddle tunes on my mandolin since it is tunes the same as a violin.

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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

Player for 24 years and builder for 5; I think it makes a difference.

I can grab a barre F with no buzzing....
I can fret Bbmaj7 in the first position...
I can keep time with no metronome...

And I can ride my bike with no handlebars...

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The member formerly known as erikbojerik....

I've been playing on and off for 42 years. The past several years I've been focusing on theory, modal playing and scale work. Right now I've been practicing for about 4 to 5 hours per week. Before I started raising my family I practiced sometimes 2 to 3 hours per day. Playing skills are diminished when I don't practice, but they come back when I put the extra time in. I've spent so many hours studying my blues hero, Stevie Ray, that I found mistakes in the Wolf Marshall method one time when I was going through the books at my local Guitar Center. Right now I've been studying Joe pass and learning to use my fingers as well as a pick.

As far as building goes, I'm still on the first one and I had to put it aside to get things done to make the wife happy. Now that she's happy, I'm back to jig making to work on my first neck and fingerboard. Guess I'll find out soon If I can call myself a builder.

Vince