Official Luthiers Forum!

Howard, I was following the L-00 thread and followed the link off to your weblink page of video on YouTube. My my sir, great playing and fine guitar, oh it's just so nice.

I wish I played as well as you and made guitars as nice as Flammang. Thank you for sharing the link. I see you recorded those in Phoenix, pretty cool.

Where are you from by the way? I have a buddy in California who works out of Tucson frequently, he said it got pretty nippy there last few days. Maybe even damaging the beautiful saquaros?

Anyway, I wanted to let everyone know you had some great video of you playing your Flammang L-00, here is a link to your weblink page. Thanks for sharing it.

Howard Emerson on his Flammang L-00, Thanks Howard, keep on playing and singing.

Flirty Skirt on YouTube

Hi James,
Thanks for the kind words! I appreciate your taking the time to go and check out my stuff.......

I live in Huntington Station, NY on Long Island and it only got below freezing for one night this week. It's been remarkably temperate so far and I don't care if I have to 'endure' an LA,CA sort of Christmas with no snow this year............There..........I said it:-)

The videos you watched were shot in Mesa, AZ during my west coast tour last spring. I went from Seattle to Portland to many CA stops and finally to Mesa; 10 dates in 22 days via car.

David Flammang is a wonderful builder and a wonderful guy as well! He deserves all the attention he gets. He comes from a family of woodworkers. His parents, by the way, were in the audience at the final performance I did in Mesa!

Flirty Skirt tends to get a lot of attention it seems. Ellen Barkin in Sea Of Love (with Pacino) was my muse for that one.

I need for Leggs Pantyhose to pick up on the song for a national commercial spot..........I have the whole scenario worked out when they're ready:-)

Of course I'd have Dr.John do the vocal, because nobody can make 'sleazy' sound so sexy!

Take care,
Howard

Howard,
   
    Is it true that Flirty Skirty was used on TV or something without your
permission or knowledge a few years ago?

    Maybe i'm remembering wrong, but I thought I remembered something
like that.

    I've always loved your playing and your tone is inspiring...I'm big on
the belief that alot or our tone comes from our techinique...even though a
great guitar never hurts.

    I don't know if you'll remember when we met years ago as I was
delivering three Grand Concerts to Sam Ash on 48th St. I became a fan of
your great playing after meeting you that day and your stuff is a regular
listen in my shop.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars

Hi Kevin,
You are remembering correctly! The show on MSNBC, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, used a short clip of it while doing a piece on a guy in skirt caught dumpster diving, or something like that............

I only heard about it because an old friend in LA emailed me in time for me to see it re-run later that evening.

They never responded to my emails.

Yes, I remember your flat-butt guitars when you delivered them!

To all who don't remember, or know, Kevin used to build instruments that would stand by themselves, provided you didn't have an end pin in place.............Is my recall working, Kevin?

I hope you and your family are doing well and that you have a chance to relax during the holidays.

Be well,
Howard

Howard,

In that L-00 thread you mentioned that your guitar was "straight braced". Is that like what we usually call 'ladder braced' where the braces are straight across the body, as opposed to the more common 'X-braced' design?

CrowDuck

_________________
Chris Nielsen
Soquel, CA.

    My GC or Grand Concet model originally had a pretty flat surface there
at the butt. The sides would bend slightly from their continuous radius in
the lower bout to empty into that flatter area. It wasn't perfectly flat, but
appeared to be.

    They would stand if endpin wasn't in place and I still have customers
who request that original shape and opt away from my current shape that
has a more consistent radius all the way around the ower bout. The Ash
brothers sold a good number of instuments for me and that body shape
was, by far, their favorite.

     I'm not sure if I have any pics handy of both since I haven't
photographed every guitar that I've built. I do send photos of each guitar
to their owners, but don't save them for myself all of the time.

    Thanks for clarifying the story of that unauthorized use of your song
on TV. That's a cool tidbit for you to have and to share.

Merry Christmas,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars

Hi Chris,
Nope. Straight-braced as opposed to scalloped..........Maybe I should say unscalloped, but I think you're the first to ask me if I meant ladder-braced.

My 1920's Sovereign, which is for sale, has ladder bracing, and I recorded 3 tracks with it on my 'A Tale to Tell' cd.

Take care,
Howard

Howard,

We in the "business" (heh! ) usually just refer to it as unscalloped bracing. It avoids confusion.

That's some fine playing and singing, BTW!

Howard's style is just great, i'm a fan!

Serge