Official Luthiers Forum!

Oh and I'll be doing the fretboard...Glad to help.

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

Hi,

Well, as a newbie, I'm sure no one wants me to do something for the first time on an instrument of this status. So, that leaves materials. John Mayes said he'll be "doing" the fretboard, but I could "supply" the fretboard.

Although I'm convinced the instrument's value will stand on its own, don't underestimate the power of celebrity to take its value beyond reasonable. In other words, it might auction off for $3K on its own merits, but might auction off for $30K if one or more super-celebrities sign it. I don't know what B&S set Bob Cefalu ("zootman") has donated, and if it would be a crime against nature to allow celebrities with a permanent marker to f*&!-up the exterior. If the zoot would be too valuable to scribble on, maybe make some space on the label for the celebrity autograph(s)? The celebrities would not necessarily have to be guitar players, or even musicians. For example, I'm guessing Oprah Winfrey's endorsement/autograph would add a lot of "cha-ching" to the final tally.

Dennis

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

[QUOTE=highdrawlicks] Hank,
Fantastic! You got the fret job. I'll expect the finished board to be on my porch next Tuesday.

   I think it would work better if the fingerboard was attached to the neck, which in turn was attached to the guitar body...the backbone connected to the neck bone, the neck bone connected to the head bone...tra la la

I'm late again but if you need anything else please count me in for some task or material along the way.

We need to consider assigning a "manager" to this project. Not to point fingers at anyone in particluar, [as we are all involved as a group] but look what happened to the OLF project guitar when we lost Bruce as our "manager". A manager can keep track of where the pieces / parts are and keep a fire lit under each of us. We need to assign a timeline and completion dates to each task which drives accountability and ownership.

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

Personally, I think ebay is the wrong place to try to sell an instrument like this. ... in fact... I am sure of it.

Ebay is "the world's largest garage sale". The only thing you get there are bargain hunters.

Not knocking it... I love ebay, but you need to recognize it for what it is.

If St. Jude's is going to be the charity... (and might I suggest you look at Columbus Children's Hospital if you are going down that road. They are really top shelf and I know a lot of their staff personally) then I would contact their foundation folks, let them know you are planning on making this donation, and ask them if they have charity auctions and fundraisers throughout the year.

I am sure they have some several of "black tie" events throuhout the year. The guitar could be auctioned off at one of these to be a way to get everyone pumped up and to have a little fun. (Think about it... what kind of people are likely to be there -- these things are NOT cheap to attend.)

I have seen things like this work like gangbusters at events like this.

Furthermore..... once you know the charity you are going to target, I would focus the design and inlay on the subject matter of the charity -- not the OLF.

If we stay with the St. Jude's theme perhaps do an inlay of a physician helping a child, or an evolution of sickness to health, or something that captures the spirit of healing.

My guess? Not only will the donors line up to buy that... but you will have many of the staff's physician's lining up to bid.... whether they play the guitar or not.


Brock Poling38531.365150463

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

I agree with Brock 100% regarding contacting the facility of choice and letting THEM do the fundraising. Ebay is the last place we need a guitar of hopefully this magnitude "winding up". Brock, as far as inlay goes I took on that role completely (hopefully). But I think that the organizations logo would be a better, cleaner statement of the goal. Anything to fancy and it looses it's meaning. Plenty of very high end wealthy people collect charitable organization materials.
Thoughts?

Craig Lavin
www.handcraftinlay.com

I like St judes because they do an enormouse amount of actual research.

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www.handcraftinlay.com

The medical logo- snakes, etc.. inset into a big heart. Gets across easily the idea of medical research and caring. Easy to do, not time consuming ( for me.. )


Craig L

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www.handcraftinlay.com

[QUOTE=clavin]Thoughts?

I like St judes because they do an enormouse amount of actual research.
[/QUOTE]

Thoughts... sure. Physicians are strange birds (and I mean this in the most complimentary way.... ). They are very connected to the visuals. That is why I thought they would be really jazzed up to see something more personal.... and... I think that doing something as predictable as the snakes and the staff is a little too "obvious"... but that is just my opinion.

If you want literal, I might go for one of their buildings or something a little closer to home.

But again... that is just me. I realize that everyone has their own sense of what the visuals should be.

I was just thinking about what will make it sell, not so much what will make it pretty.

Brock Poling38531.4261574074

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