Official Luthiers Forum!

Well,

It looks like I may be moving to Cincinnati this summer. Are there any builders in the area? I've been delaying starting any new projects because I'm afraid the movers will ruin anything in progress? Does anybody have any pointers for moving your entire shop? How do you assign value to things like wood, homemade jigs, etc for insurance purposes? Any other advice?

Cheers!

John

I think Brock and Tim are in Ohio.

John,
I know of one great builder, and a really nice guy--Larry Mills. If more info is needed, I can look it all up for you.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

I am in Columbus, and Tim is about an hour north of here.

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

There are quite a few luthiers in Cincy. Larry Mills mentioned in another post is a friend of mine. I started and ran the Midwest Luthiers Guild for five years here and I had about 50 members all from this area. I am a full time luthier myself doing stringed instrument repair out of my home shop. I also build guitars with Dann Ross in nearby Guilford, IN. We also are teaching guitar repair seminars and acoustic guitar building classes out of Dann's shop. Feel free to e-mail me for more information. You can read more about me on my website.Neil38425.0630902778

John:
I am 3 hours north of Cinci. Feel free to call on me anytime. Neil will also be a good source of help as he has many more contacts in that area than I do.

Neil: Welcome to the forum. Hope to see more of you here in the future. This is a great place to openly exchange and share ideas.

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

Thanks for the welcome, Tim. This looks like a good forum. Much better than some others I have belonged to in the past.

Wow, that's great to hear there are some other luthiers and resources in the area. I'm stuck in Nebraska now and most people I talk to don't even know what lutherie means. That would be awesome if there were resources in the area like other builders, classes, etc...

Tim...I'm orginally from Cleveland (Brunswick actually) so I'm sure I will be driving through your neck of the woods visiting family quite a bit over the next 3 years until the Air Force moves me again.

Cheers!

John

Neil,

I just saw your website. That's some great restoration work you have posted there. I may need your help replacing the binding on my old Gurian someday. I'm scared to remove the neck. It's one of Gurian's/Cumpiano's pinned necks which I'm totally unfamiliar with. I wouldn't even try without a lot more knowledge about the neck joint.

When or where do you post the schedule for your classes? That sounds like it would be a great opportunity. Also, do you know of any cabinet shops in the area that charge to let you use their drum sanders? I'm debating buying a smaller one, but at 3-4 guitars a year, it might make more sense to just rent the time on one.

Cheers!

John

John: Hmm, Air Force??? Are you going to Wright Pat by any chance?

Please plan a pit stop in our area when you are making the trek back home. We are only 3 miles off of State Route 23.

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

Tim,

I'll eventually be heading to Wright-Patt. For the next three years the Air Force is paying me to get my Ph.D. Right now it looks like the Univ of Cincinnati is where I'll be going to school. Following that I have a 4 year payback where I'll be teaching at the Air Force's graduate school at Wright-Patt, sooo, it looks like we might me neighbors for quite some time. I can't wait to settle in one area for awhile so I can setup a semi-permanent shop (9 moves in 13 years is rough on the family, especially now that the kids are getting older). I'm already dreaming of how I want to setup the new shop.

Cheers!

John

I got my master's degree at AFIT. My advisor, who was Dean of Engineering last time I looked, is a Cinci grad. Every once in a while I think about seeing if they'll hire me.

I never used the wood shop at Wright Patt. The one at Hill AFB in Utah had a 24" Hitachi resaw bandsaw and a 48" belt sander.    That was guitar heaven. I wouldn't guess the wood shop at Wright Patt is too bad, the auto hobby shop had two full-sized paint booths so you could paint your car. Of course, I've been out for 10 years, do they still have the hobby shops? It probably would be worth the hour it takes to get up to Fairborn.

Hi John,

I’d be happy to work on your Gurian for you. I haven’t set the date for the next repair seminar yet. I can put you on my e-mail list if you would like. I have a homemade thickness sander at my home shop and I also use the Performax at Dann Ross’ Tanner Creek Guitar shop where I build. I’m sure we could arrange for you to use one of them when you need to thickness. By the way I wasn’t in the Air Force, but I was born on the base hospital in Greenville, Miss. My Dad was a pilot for over twenty years and is now a retired Lt. Colonel.

Neil,
John Denver's dad was base commander at Wright-Patt. Depending on your musical tastes, you might consider yourself in good company.

Oh, and to John, the original poster, assuming it's an Air Force move, don't let the movers tell you they can't move wood. It's crafts materials, not building materials. I knew a guy who threw away some lacewood and zebrawood because the movers wouldn't take it. I move my valuable stuff myself, the movers that the government hires to prey on the military are a national disgrace. And the government people who handle the moves are worthless at best, and on the side of the movers at worst. You can do a partial self-move, which is what we did last time. Let the movers take the big stuff, and the stuff they aren't going to screw up, like sofas and clothes.

I did have wood that curled when I moved from Utah to Pennsylvania. I had braced a guitar back and broke the sides while bending, so I never finished that guitar. It curled up like a wet noodle.

I'm not worried about whether the movers will take the wood, I'm worried about what it will look like when it arrives. Picture this...I had a desk once the movers decided to load on the truck on it's side so the legs were parallel to the ground. They then decided to load my piano on top of the legs...hmm, I wonder why the legs snapped right off.

I'd consider doing a DITY move, but after 10 moves in 14 years, I'm getting too old for that. Plus I have a 7000 pound boat I need to tow that takes up a good portion of my weight limit.

I guess I'll just have to wait a little longer before I start any new projects.

Cheers!

John