Official Luthiers Forum!

Greetings OLFers. In an attempt to try some thing new we have invited Ervin Somogyi to the OLF and asked him to share some of his ideas and approaches to guitar building - particularly those associated with voicing the top and back plates.

The information presented will consist of 3 formats:

1) A series of video chapters which are a presentation of a mini lecture that Ervin gave at the 2005 ASIA symposium. This material covers many of the ideas learned in the week long class.

Simply Click to view each chapter. I would highly encourage you to watch the chapters before engaging in a discussion and questions about the material presented.

2) Ervin has provided us with a fairly indepth description of the class which will be released in the form of 4 separate posts. These are informative in their own right, but provide an excellent glimpse into the subject matter discussed in the class.

3) Finally Ervin will make himself available for questions and comments from the community for some period of time. Please understand that Ervin is extremely busy and we want to maximize the value of his contribution. While I am sure he will appreciate warm wishes and "chit chat" please try to refrain from this as much as possible so we can focus on the material presented.


I think this is a wonderful opportunity for OLFers to gain some insight into the mind of one of the true masters of our craft. Please give Ervin the respect and attention you would as a student in any serious academic environment.

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

WOW!!!!! Thankyou!!

What a great opportunity! Thank you to all involved!

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

How cool is this!!! Thanks for making this available, Brock!

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

This is so cool!

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Joe Breault
Merrimack, NH
Perpetual novice

Thanks for putting this together!

I was there at all his lectures, for me it was one of the highlights of the ASIA 2005 symposium. I took lots of notes!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Wow! Too cool!

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

What an incredibly generous thing to do for us all, thank you Mr Somogyi and thank you Brock and Lance.

Hip Hip Hooray for the OLF

Cheers

Kim

very very incredibly awsome.What an oppurtunity.Thank you, I was at 2005 symp. But was unable to attend Ervin Somogyi's classes. A 2nd chance is unthinkable.
Tim

I just signed up for the Feb Class. Thanks for the information and the reminder to sign up for the class.

Ron

Thanks to all involved!

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

This is very cool!! Thanks a lot

Of all the pieces of building a guitar that rst in front of me... thi sis the thing that holds the most mystery. Thanks for posting this stuff and thanks to all those who put this together....

[QUOTE=RobLak] Of all the pieces of building a guitar that rest in front of me... this is the thing that holds the most mystery.....[/QUOTE]

Hi, Rob Lak and everyone:

Thanks. It IS a mystery how the guitar makes its sound . . . not in the sense that it's incomprehensibly baffling (although there's plenty of that to go around), but rather in the sense that all significant forces and phenomena are mysteries: they are things to be amazed by whenever for whomever pays the least attention.

I try to make room, in my voicing class, for both attitudes: first, that the guitar can be understood as a "rational" system of physical [as in Physics] and mechanical elements that interact according to certain principles and rules . . . and second, that the guitar can never be fully explored because those principles and elements [and not to mention the costantly fluctuating ones of taste, convention, and social/musical use] are capable of infinite variation and combination. It's not unlike the fact that the measly little ol' twenty-six letters of our alphabet are capable of infinite combination.

The year before last I had only one student, so I cancelled the class for lack of interest. Last year I had an overflow and taught this voicing class twice. I don't know what's going to happen this year. But as the class fills up I'm starting to think of offering it again in October. I have too many shows to do and projects and deadlines, etc. that will keep me busy over the Summer months. I hope to see a lot of you in one or the other class. Cheers, Ervin Somogyi

All this and more! Good JOB Brock!

Hey Brock!
I seem to remember a certain someone asking me, not too long ago, what the class was "really going to be like..."
.


Ervin,
Welcome my friend, and Thanks for being YOU!

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Dave Bland

remember...

"If it doesn't play in tune...it's just pretty wood"

[QUOTE=Dave-SKG]what the class was "really going to be like..."
.[/QUOTE]

Who? Me?   

Yeah... I am very glad I did it.

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

Hi Brock,

I can't seem to find the links for these videos. Can you tell me how to access?

[QUOTE=mfranks] Hi Brock,

I can't seem to find the links for these videos. Can you tell me how to access?[/QUOTE]

You're not the only one, but then again, I'm just an old luthier trying to stumble through the cyber-age.

Where did you hide them, Brock???

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Hank Mauel

I think it is supposed to be here:

http://luthiersforum.3element.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID= 9668

But it said the link has been removed. :(

There are some issues with the videos. We are trying to work it out. Sorry for the inconvenience.

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

No prob Brock, we understand.

Sorry guys

I had to take the videos off the website.

Cheers

Bob

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Bob Connor
Geelong, Australia

Way to go Bob!

Thanks from me two was able to watch the last two session with your help.

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"It's a Tone Faerie thing"
"Da goal is to sharpen ur wit as well as ye Sgian Dubh"
"Sippin Loch Dhu @Black lake" ,Kirby O...