Official Luthiers Forum!

I think Kevin has a great eye...in all respects. Great aesthetics in his instruments, great work in general.
I wish I had half his talent and brains....and I mean that with all sincerity. I've seen his guitars, played a few, and met the man. All of it is impressive.

But that wasn't my point. I'm just saying that if you put two pieces of anything together, I'm going to see the joint. That's all. What it amounts to is an overly anal-retentive personality on my part, which can amount to a "curse" in the humorous sense here. Meaning that no matter how well the product blends to itself, more than likely I'll see it and it will bug me, not because the product is in any sense inferior or bad as compared to anything else, but simply because it's my nature to get bugged by it. Being a perfectionist IS a curse, because rarely do you ever attain to it. Follow now?

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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."

Don,
go to the link on the first post and get the FAQ's page. I think all the questions you asked and a few more are already answered there.
You can also go to Kevin Ryan's page and see pictures for guitars he has built with this product.
I have seen them being used and I've seen the end result. If its good enough to go on one of Kevin's guitars its definitely good enough for mine.

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Kevin is this the material used in the "eye candy" portion of an asia article about a year (or little more) ago. I worked for Moll in his shop then and know he was really impressed with it as was I and of course had to do a build, but yours looked thinner or whatever term would be than ablam cuts. I am going to try this out for next build. Thanks Kevin and Peter.

Oh I think it's a terrific product, don't get me wrong. All I'm saying is that there's nothing wrong with discussing the merits of the product in this thread, along with why we would want it or not. I think some will conclude that it's great for them, while others might not for whatever reasons they have.
I wish I could buy some, but alas I just paid $380 for a plumber to fix a leak...and I'd have much rather spent it on Kevins great looking ZipFlex stuff.

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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."

Don your right. Things such as asked is information to determine if one will be interested interested or not. If say this was Joe Newbie selling stuff, all would be asking even more questions and most would be dubious at best. Kevin is proven quality guy and product, so that is not an issue. Though, this is still a money issue also for shops, and particularly pro shops. How this or any product effects the shop in cost, time, uses and other things is all good, who knows someone may have a question not in the FAQ area's. But say again, Kevin is a proven guy in all aspects so if I swing it, I am going to give it a try, there is such a thing as upcharge on build if customer wants it and it is as fast and easy as any other purfeling.

Don you are correct, I think I was having an out of body experience (or out of brain one atleast). My bad and I appologize for stomping on Michaels toes (I pm'd him the same already).

Oh and Don, you are in a bad state to be cursed so... but than again you have to be the one to live with it. A curse indeed.

Waddy, exactly

I posted in Michaels thread regarding comparisons of apples to apples as we need to do here and from where I'm sitting it sure looks like the zipflex wins hands down.

I'm looking forward to working with this on two Aussie blackwood (Tazzie acacia etc...) guitars.

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Hi Kevin, Welcome. GLad you & Peter get together. That's blessed me, and encouraged me in a couple ways. Thanks for that. I hope you can make time to pop in and post in the future. Glad to have you here.

But the real question is, how much for the brazilian it is sitting on!

Peter, thanks for getting this together, they look really great! You will have an email from me soon!

Thanks

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

Due to the fact that one product is made from the other and they are both used for the same function it would seem to me I was comparing apples to applesauce

I give no matter how may times I keep saying that the numbers don't work for ME it seem that others want to think I was making an unfair comparison. Considering that I was making a comparison on how the cost vs. time savings affected MY bottom line and the fact I was explicit on that. I have a hard time seeing how I was not comparing equal use materials.

I am sure any product Kevin produces as well as the Duke are top end products. I have the utmost respect for both.
But to say that comparing the material cost and labor cost of the two products is not comparing apples to apples is wrong. they are two or three product intended for the same use. So the comparison is more than appropriate it is realistic and pertainate

If that were the case than everyone would drive a ford and everyone would sit on the same sofa and everyone would use the same computer and everyone would live in the same house because obviously there is no difference between any of these things because they all offer the same use....

Again Ferrari's and Fords, two different products both doing the same thing...

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

I will throw my 2 cents in Michael .. even 70 cents per inch is high ... Andy makes and has alot of great products, but strips can be had for almost half that again from MOPsupplies in Oz .... I have ordered form both and see no difference in quality .... Martin (in Oz) has some of the best shell blank and strip prices out there ....

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Thanks to all that already placed their order.

If you prefer to send a check or money order, please send it directly to Kevin at his shop address (you can get it from the website or PM me) and make sure to write a note with your shell preference. If Paypal works best, please send payment to info@cornerstoneguitar.com
Remember, $6.00 shipping is a flat amount regardless of how many strips you order.

Thanks again,

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Hey guys....

Let's step back and review for a moment, shall we?

Kevin Ryan just showed up in our forum and I am not sure the is the warm welcome that we really want to give him... do you?

The purpose of this thread is to solicit for folks interested in a group buy, not to discuss the economics of instrument building. If you want to discuss that let's make a new thread to do that. But we have been there before, some guys like to McGuyver every jig themselves, buy raw lumber and resaw it, cut their own linings etc. They will go to the ends of the earth in terms of time invested to keep the "cost" of the guitar low. Others will buy elaborate jigs and tooling, and in some cases parts, in order to make the process more efficient. This is a valid discussion ... just not one for this thread.

Let's keep this thread for what it was intended. Finding out who wants these ab strips.

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

"...Every party needs a pooper, that's why we invited....."

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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'm the life of the party!

Oh and if I used ab very much I'd give these a whirl....I haven't built one of my acoustics though in a year and a half or so...

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

paypal sent Peter

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

thank you!

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

I would be interested. Does anyone know how much it would take for a soprano uke and soundhole?

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Zac

Anchorage Alaska

Finshed my 1st! See #1 here

I think 3 strips would do but I am not sure. That would be 45 inches of shell....

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

That's what I want to know too. It's easy enough to sometimes sand through the top layer of ablam. What is the thickness of the shell?

Chris, all you want to know is here:

http://www.projectzion.com/zipflex

Thanks,

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Zak ,take a piece of string and wrap it around the uke where the binding goes and you`ll know how much you`ll need.Same for the Rosette.Let me know what you come up with.There is a Uke on the horizon for my grandaughter.
James W B

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James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

What kind of shell is in the picture in the thread's first post?

James,
that would be Blue Paua.

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Thanks, Peter. I'm thinking about it.