Official Luthiers Forum!

That is how I feel after the Somogyi course. (It will finish up today)   
Learning Ervins systematic approach is eye opening. The difference in
perspective is like going through life thinking the world is flat and you
were just informed that it is round. (huh?????)   I certainly cannot describe
the details of his course, but I can say, if you get a chance to take the
course, DO SO, DO SO, DO SO!!!!!!!

It is well worth the week. As Brock said after finishing the course last
year, your understanding has leaped about 20 or 30 years and you will
never build the same way again. You won't be aimlessly walking in the
dark.. You can systematically approach problems and "hopefully"
getpredictable results.   I haven't made a guitar in the post Somogyi
"Round" world, but we will see. I cannot see how my guitars wouldn't
improve!!!!

I brought one finished top to course as he requested us to do. I thought
it was a pretty nice top.
WELL, when I get home, all the braces will be chiseled off and I will
certainly start over!!!!   

It is that different...I do prefer the round logical world. Now if I keep
walking, I won't fall off the edge of the planet!!!!!

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

Andy...You're like all the rest with that blank stare now after drinking the Kool-Aid! I hope to drink from the spring one day...good luck, Doc!

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

Sounds like another convert to the Church of Somogyi....

_________________
"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."

Soo I guess you liked it then Andy?

I wish I was a fly on your x brace for that session.

Do tell,

Wade

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Wade
Nashua, NH
http://www.wadefx.com

[QUOTE=Wade S.] Soo I guess you liked it then Andy?

I wish I was a fly on your x brace for that session.

Do tell,

Wade[/QUOTE]

Careful Wade....you might get chiseled off!

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http://www.presnallguitars.com

It will make me slow down, but not that much. It is just different. It is
actually a more organized approach. Voicing is now not a blind process
aimlessly swinging in the dark!!!

As far as rooms filled with BRW.....They are sweet. Steve S probably had the
prized sleeping spot. It was on the floor of the set up room. Under the
bench there are 3 finished guitar settling in. Stunning guitars. You have to
see his carved rosettes!!!!

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

I dunno- sleep deprivation, confinement in a small area with other recruits, failure to recognize/accept past reference points, talk of Kool-Aid...it all sounds familiar somehow.....

[QUOTE=azimmer1] I brought one finished top to course as he requested us to do. I thought
it was a pretty nice top.
WELL, when I get home, all the braces will be chiseled off and I will
certainly start over!!!!   
[/QUOTE]

Andy, why? Give us a clue. My round world is still flat.

_________________
http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Andy I posted this in your other Ervin thread but mabye I will just ask here as this thread seems to be the focus on this subject now.
what happened with the guitar you took with you to potentialy have inspected and adjusted?
was it the mcassar ebony travel guitar, just to refresh my memory?
Glad you enjoyed yourself, and learned alot!
Cheers
Charliewod

[QUOTE=azimmer1]
WELL, when I get home, all the braces will be chiseled off and I will certainly
start over!!!!   

[/QUOTE]

That's what I did when I got home from Ervin's class!

Andy, thanks for sharing the info. I am planning to take it next year.

BTW, as the result of this class, do students deveop their own voicing, or do they end up voicing much like Ervin's guitar?

I think a little of both.

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

[QUOTE=dgalas] [QUOTE=azimmer1]
WELL, when I get home, all the braces will be chiseled off and I will certainly
start over!!!!   

[/QUOTE]

That's what I did when I got home from Ervin's class! [/QUOTE]

Why?

_________________
http://www.dickeyguitars.com

How?

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If God had wanted us to drink beer, he would have given us stomaches.

Very sharp chisel and a cabinet scraper....not as hard as it sounds.

When?

Who's this Somogyi fellow I keep hearing about?   

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I'd like to be able to prove, just for once, that money wouldn't make me happy...

I'd love to hear some concrete examples. So far I've only heard about how good this course is, and how it radically changes how you view making a guitar. But, for those of us who live on the other side of the planet and will probably never get to one of these classes, how about some real examples. I'm not asking for the whole course in detail of course, just a few points to think on.

[QUOTE=azimmer1] I brought one finished top to course as he requested us to do. I thought
it was a pretty nice top.
WELL, when I get home, all the braces will be chiseled off and I will
certainly start over!!!!   [/QUOTE]

Why? What will you do when you replace them, and why? Please stop teasing us...

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If God had wanted us to drink beer, he would have given us stomaches.

Nicely put Hesh.

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Aoibeann

What Hesh says is true, but that is only part of it.

We normally exist in a world where we gather bits of information here, and there, and try to build a working methodology out of it. How thick shoudl a top be? Where should the braces go? tuck or no tuck? what kind of glue is best? What kind of spruce is best? ... this is the normal stuff of our world.

Ervin's class throws all of that out -- takes you clear back to the tree, educates you about wood, how it grows, what to look for, the variances, how to pick it, etc. And from there he rebuilds your thinking into a methodology that allows you to work in a much "smarter" way and have a good handle on how to control the system (as much as it is ever possible to REALLY control it). He essentially gives you a whole new perspective.

So when presented with questions such as how would you brace this top, or how thin should it be, or whatever, that is trying to adapt his thinking into the "old" way which we all have learned from -- and honestly, it just doesn't work like that.

This is a comprehensive system and to try to explain any one piece of it would be doing a disservice to you because taken out of context this information is not particularly valuable.

But I can tell you this, when you walk out of this class you feel 30 years wiser, and like you are setting on the tracks pointed the right direction with a HUGE spotlight on your head.

I know that if you talk to people that have been there everyone talks about it in vague mystical terms, but to the best of my knowledge you will not find one single person that says you shouldn't try to move heaven and earth to get there.

it is that good.

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

Would you say that there are any "Prerequisites" to this course?

I mean, would someone of little or no lutherie experience be able to keep up with the course or is it something that would only be reccomended for someone who has a few years under their belt?

I guess what I'm trying to say is that right now someone like myself wouldn't even know the difference between the Flat world and the Round world. Maybe it would benefit me to learn about the Round world without ever even knowing about the Flat world, or maybe the Round world would just make more sense if I knew about the Flat World first...

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Thanks,
Blain

http://www.ullrichguitar.com

"89.67% of all statistics are made up on the spot."

Well I just got home after an 8 hour drive from Ervins. Mentally and
physically drained.
A lot of discussion above I see.

Brock has summed it up very well. You have to experience the entire
package.    To some extent, so has Hesh.

Blain...prerequisites. You have to know how to build the box. Learning it
by starting with a kit or being an apprentice or following a book are all
good starts. Personally, the more guitars under your belt, the better. Just
because I learned "when the world was flat" doesn't mean that was a bad
way to learn. This class is really an advanced class. Granted it has totally
changed my thinking, but you really need the foundation first. I wanted
to take the class last year, but I am VERY glad I waited a year before
taking it.

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

I'm sorry, but as many of you know I work as a Professor of Geology, and I can most assuredly tell you that the world IS flat . Well at least in any specific location to a first order estimation. It's only when you step back and look at the bigger picture that it becomes round, again to a first order estimation.

Glad you enjoyed the course.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.