Official Luthiers Forum!

I'd like to thank Doug and Marta for opening their house to a bunch of general guitar freaks. Good company, great food, a beautiful day in a quiet suburban back yard with just enough wind and occasional sprinkles to keep us on our toes. We'll not forget Doug's tree that was shedding tens of thousands of these little pollen pods that filled our hair, guitar cases, beer, etc.
So many wonderful gutars. Kevin Mason's archtop was real sweet. Ed Lysne's inlay was even better in person. The Claro/Cedar that Doug built for his daughter is fabulous. Being a fan of the unusual, I really enjoyed John Ressler's OSB Dread. It weighs a ton, John said it took a lot of epoxy to fill it for finishing.
Joe White and John Watkins were very generous with their door prizes. Thanks to John I now have my very first piece of Braz Rosewood, a perfectly machined Martin style bridge.
Lastly thanks to the guys who played my guitars (and everyone else's). It's nice to hear actual music coming from something I built.

Steve

What? No pictures??????

YEAH!!!...what Hesh said...No pictures?

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

A great time indeed! Awesome food, good company and the best hosts! Thanks Doug and Marta!
I enjoyed meeting everyone and also walked away with some awesome Cherry binding (Thanks Steve!) and an incredible segmented rosette of Dougs! John's OSB guitar kicks butt!
An inspiring day with all the great guitars and knowledgable builders to gather wisdom from.

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jw ( o)===:::

Sounds like a great time was had by all! And what? ...no piccies?

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Jim Howell
Charlotte, NC

Glad it was good. What, no pictures?

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Pics coming!

I would also like to thank Doug and Marta for opening their lovely home to us. The food was excellent, as we all agreed and the gathering was fun, educational and a great success for all, I think.

Also, many many thanks to Steve Wheeler for providing binding sets, Doug Mills for also providing rosettes, John Watkins for proving a Watkins neck and two gorgeous bridges, and Joe White for providing free finishing for one guitar body as door prizes!!! Everyone at the gathering won something and some of us two door prizes!

There were so many instruments being handed around, I can't remember who each belonged to - so I apologize for not being able to identify each one of them.

Continued Pics:

Very nice gentlemen...I'm sorry I couldn't be there. I made a rare visit to the local Doc-in-the Box clinic about the same time you guys were swilling beer.

Great pics...I particularly like the rosettes...nice work, Doug.

Looks like Mr. Watkins just got off the golf course...his wife always dresses him so cute...I like the argyle touch! Nice bridges my friend!

Good to see Joe representing the Hoosier State. I was so hoping to bring a few examples of his fine finish, but it looks like someone will see on of their guitars so adorned soon.

Doug...be forewarned...you're on the list of folks to visit as I make the WI run.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

JJ, we were all sorry to hear that you were not feeling well and couldn't make it in person, everyone was looking forward to your visit. Joe and John both were full of great stories of your travels all over the Midwest in the pursuit of guitar knowledge and of making personal connections with other guitar nuts.

Get well soon.

That OSG(Oriented Strand Guitar) is awesome! How does it sound?

Looks like everybody had a great time! Thanks for posting pix and keep the rest of us up to date on the good times!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

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

Thank you all for coming. It was a most excellent little guitar party. We’ve got to start doing this more than once a year!

Sorry for the June snow storm. You know, there’s not a speck of flower buds coming out of that tree today of course. If any of you have never had the chance to see Joe’s finishing work, let me tell you it’s some beautiful work. Joe, you got to stop putting in those 36 hour days so you can have a bit of spare time to start a new guitar with those door prizes you scored. Steve C., that myrtle box of yours looked sweet. Hurry up and get those binding on so you can post some pics. Steve W., thanks again for bringing all those binding sets for prizes, and John the neck and bridges you brought are going to high light some great instruments this next year. John, I realized after you left that I didn’t get a chance to take you down to the inner sanctum and show you my modest little shop. Next time. I know we are all looking forward to seeing your shop if that works out for one of the future gatherings. And speaking for those of us with marginal playing abilities, it was great hearing Kevin, John and Ed make all of our instruments sing. JJ, hope you are feeling better. You have an open invite to drop by if you are ever in the area.

Thanks again guys for coming and showing off some incredible work. Now, off to dig into some more BBQ chicken and Italian sausage you guys missed during the grazing yesterday.

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Doug Mills
Chicago, Illinois

Doug
Thanks for your generosity in opening your home to us. Your radial rosettes are great - can't wait to make some. It sure was great putting faces to the names here. It was great meeting all of you. JJ - I was looking forward to meeting you - next time! Hope you are feeling better

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John Ressler

Good show guys and thanks for the pics too!

Remember never, never, never miss out on an opportunity to meet a fellow OLFer!

Doug, Marta.... thanks again for opening your home to us and giving us a chance to meet each other. It was great event... I wished I had a arrived a bit earlier. Hopefully we can do it again... I'll be a bit more prepared and bring some more of my work. The sharing of information was great and I've been thinking all day of some new things to try. I'm thinking I might need to do a dread now...

Thanks again and lets keep in touch!

Ed Lysne

It was great meeting everybody that came. Very nice guitars from everyone. Doug, you have a beautiful home and it was very gracious of you to have us all there. Great food as well. JJ, sorry you weren't able to come. I hope you're feeling better.

A good time had by all. Maybe we'll do one here at the shop sometime before the real snow comes back.

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John Watkins
CNC Guitar Parts

Looks like y'all had fun!

Hey John, you gonna start offering OSB necks on your website?



Some fine looking git's there...

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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 enjoyed meeting everyone. The opportunity to examine, play, and talk about the work of other guitar makers is greatly appreciated. I learned a lot. Special thanks to Doug and his family who were gracious hosts.

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Kevin Mason
Mason Guitars and Ukuleles on Facebook
http://masonguitars.net

Can you guys, especially John, give more comments on the OSB guitar. Having spoken with Joe after his return, I was impressed by his thoughts...and Joe always has honest thoughts! He described it "as a guitar he could proudly own"...and I've seen and heard the guitars he owns.

So let's hear it...how much OSB was used on the guitar...and which components were NOT OSB? Why would such crappy wood sound so good? (no offense, John...quite the contrary!)

EDIT:...Perhaps a separate thread would be in order...I'll start one

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

I was late to the party and only the locals were left. My wife and I sure had a great time anyway. I go to play four very nice guitars. I was very surprised at the tone of the osb guitar. It was quite even/consitant tone over the spectrum. It was heavy compared to the rest of the guitars left. I think it goes to show that if you build a guitar with the particular wood you are using in mind, you can make just about any wood sound good. As far as I could tell, top, sides, back and neck was all osb. I forgot to look at the bracing.

I will be taking my Clarendon Hills buddy up on watching the benedetto vids and blue prints. I also realized that i gig in towns close to several of the other members and will try to incorparate q visit with my work.

Joe

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Joe

PS: If you guys want to do this again in the fall or next spring, my wife and I can host the event. I am just a little farther west of Chicago than Doug. Right off I80 and I55. So its a conveinent location too. Just let us know.

In the meantime, I hope to meet several of you again in the next few weeks as we build new friendships with our local luthier buddies.

Joe

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Joe