Official Luthiers Forum!

I would imagine most of you are aware of this, but I just thought it deserved a plug. The Guild of American Luthiers convention in Tacoma, Washington, will be held June 21-25 this year. If you haven't been to one of these, you don't know what you're missing. It's very well organized, packed with excellent presentations/workshops, very welcoming to newbies and oldies alike, and includes great evening concerts. Tons of fun and tons to learn. I could sing many more praises of the GAL and its conventions...

I HIGHLY recommend making the effort to get to this (I'm in NY State, and I find it well worth the trip), and I hope to meet, or re-meet, many of you there face-to-face.

Registration begins in March. See www.luth.org for details.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Hi Todd,
I refuse to send a fellow New Yorker there alone so I will be going also, looking foward to meeting you.
Evan

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http://www.NewYorkGuitarRepair.com

I've got a wedding that weekend. Just two days ago my son and his sweetie set the date! I'd like to be there with you guys, though. Sounds like great fun.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Bruce, you might invite them to come with and get married under this Sitka sapling!

John and Steve Kinniard posing for the pick

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Support the OLF! Bookmark our STEWMAC link Today!
Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Wow....there's a lot of guitar tops in there I'm willing to wager! Except it will probably never get cut down...

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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."

Your're probably right Don, But I bet it blows over! Also, those big BIG fellas usually have lived too good a life and their ring counts are too low for guitars, great for bass violins though!

Shane

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Canada

Tacoma is but 3 hours drive from me, so I really don't have any excuse for
not going...
For those of you heading out up or down to the convention, a recent issue of
Sunset magazine had a little spread on day tripping to the town of Gig
Harbor, which is only a few miles away. It looks like there are some nice
shops, restaurants and galleries for when you or your faithful significant
other gets overloaded on lutherie talk..
-C

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Freeborn Guitars
and home of BeauGuard©

This is a creek running on top of the mountain. The wedding will be at a pavillion in the Petit Jean State Park. Just couldn't find any good pics.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

I promised myself I would be going after all the fun I had at last year's ASIA symposium. I was going to bring the family, we have some old friends on the west coast that invited us and we were all looking forward to meeting each other again. Well, that and a whole lot of other plans had to be changed because we're getting another baby this spring; this seems to be the current trend here on the OLF!   

I'm going to miss being there; hopefully I'll make it next time. You guys have fun!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

i've booked my ticket,

gona be in the us from 17th june til 5th july, mainly for the GAL but i want to do a guitar themed roadtrip probably down to california, maybe las vegas, i cannot wait, and hopefully i can meet some of you guys, i'll be wearing a red dress, with a daffodil

[QUOTE=Arnt] ... we're getting another baby this spring; this seems to be the current trend here on the OLF!   
[/QUOTE]

Man! You guys have got to start spending more time in the shop.

I'll be there too! I can't wait, and I had such a good time at the last one. I even stayed around an extra day! I had some great adventures.

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Mark Swanson
Swanson Guitars
http://www.MarkSwansonMusic.com

Mark;
I enjoyed chatting with you & Ellie Ericson a few times over lunch or dinner at the last convention.
I met a ton of great folks & learned more than the poor old brain pan could properly retain. After the three days, I felt totally saturated!
I'm hoping to make it this year, but my daughter's getting married the week before & I'm planning a vendors booth at 2 music festivals this summer...
It's gonna be an expensive year & I may have to take a pass this time.
So, if i don't see ya... Have a good time.
To the first timers... Take a camera. (& don't leave it in your room when you go to a workshop... DOH!) You'll probably see a hundred great new ideas that will be a lot easier to remember if you have some pics when you get home.

Man, I haven't missed a convention since going to my first in '92. But it sounds like I've been missing some OLF'ers while there. Mark, did you see my bro's table? Well, and mine too, I was right next to him.
Have we met, and I just don't remember? I'm gonna have to farm out the finishing process, and quite smelling all those lacquer fumes....

Anyway, whoever can, should go. Those meetings are simply fantastic.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

[QUOTE=Bruce Dickey]

This is a creek running on top of the mountain. The wedding will be at a pavillion in the Petit Jean State Park. Just couldn't find any good pics.[/QUOTE]

Bruce, me and the missus have vacationed here twice. Beautiful place! And congrats on the upcoming daughter-in-law.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Steve, sure, we met there! I remember you and John too. You guys came up to that Tower room when we were all jamming up there!

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Mark Swanson
Swanson Guitars
http://www.MarkSwansonMusic.com

One thing about growing older: you get to meet a lot of great folks, over and over and over.......

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

I'm planning to attend. Two years ago I went and really enjoyed the whole
event. Afterwards I spent a week backpacking in the Olympic National Park.
You should see some of the spruce lying on the ground out there -
blowdowns seven feet in diameter! Of course all that wood is protected,
even if it's fallen.

Ok, Mark, I can sort of remember that event. And I can remember Don McCrostie (sp?) to our left. He made an impression because he had just cut off his moustache. Man, I'm embarrassed! Which one were you in that circle?
(Alright, that's nearly an impossible question to answer. Tell you what, we'll try this again this June.)

SK   

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Yes, that was the time! I was sitting to your right, across from Don and I had a guitar made of cherry with a vine on the fretboard...remember now? We had a great time!

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Mark Swanson
Swanson Guitars
http://www.MarkSwansonMusic.com

I'm going to be there if at all possible.It's from one corner of the country to the other for me. But with people coming all the way from Europe,Thats no excuse so It will be great meeting you guys face to face.Can't wait! ASIA was my 1st one and I had a great time there!

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

[QUOTE=Mark Swanson] Yes, that was the time! I was sitting to your right, across from Don and I had a guitar made of cherry with a vine on the fretboard...remember now? We had a great time! [/QUOTE]

It's starting to come back. But you will admit that it was late at night by that point, and worse, internally it was two time zones later for me... 3 for my bro!

Perhaps there should be an OLF rendezvous at the convention.

SteveSteve Kinnaird38773.9646064815

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

thats a great idea steve....... perhaps lance could get some OLF t-shirts made up so that we can walk around in gang colours!!

I've already got mine, Paddy! you better get your shirt quick!

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Mark Swanson
Swanson Guitars
http://www.MarkSwansonMusic.com

While you're in the area, try to spend a day or two in Seattle if you've never been there. It's one of my favorite US cities. Even go up in the space needle - I know it seems like the ultimate touristy thing to do, but it really is cool being up there.

Wherever you are, take every opportunity to be awed by Mount Rainier. If you take a walk around the campus where the convention is held, you can see it from several places. I remember flying out of Seattle the last time I was there. The plane was going right over Rainier, and I was almost afraid to look for fear it would look small from up in the sky and my image of its magnificence would be a bit diminished... wrong! Even from up in the sky it appeared breathtakingly huge, absolutely dwarfing everything else - including many other sizeable mountains - as far as the eye could see. Mt Rainier just blows my mind, and I love having my mind blown.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/