Official Luthiers Forum!

Joe White and I took a road trip to Buffalo this weekend and had a fantastic time with Uncle Bob/Zootman, JJ, Anthony, Rich and more.

I have a tone of photos that I thought that I would post and I am going to need multiple post to get them all on-line so bear with me please.

It was a great time and very much like the Ft. Erie gathering of 2006 except that we all missed Alain, Serge, and Coach Tony Karol this time.

This was also my first visit to the new zoot cave and let me tell you that part of the visit was enough to make a 14 hour drive worth while. Bob has FAR more zoot available then what we see on the web site. In fact this is the largest concentration of tonewood that I have personally ever seen in one place at one time. Taking it all in was impossible - but I tried........

This is the long wall of Bob's new facility and it is lined from floor to ceiling as far as you can see with beautiful tonewood!







Here is the shop part of Bob's facility and his collection of tools is superb - more on this later.



I thought of my buddies Dave White and Colin when I saw this stash of Cuban Mahogany.



And here is part of the gang from left to right we see Bob's son Pete, Bob, Rich, Anthony, JJ and Al. Al should be joining the forum and is interested in instrument building.



To be continued........

Here is Anthony with his new guitar. I think that he likes it!



Here we see Rich and Anthony jamming. Both Anthony and Rich are excellent players and during this visit I got to hear Rich sing and he is fantastic. A digital video recording was made of some of Rich's tunes and we hope to get that on line for all to see.



A little joke that I played on Anthony......... When Lance sent us our bulk string order last year it included a bunch of these tags.......



But Anthony was a good sport about it......



Here is JJ playing for us.



And here is Uncle Bob playing as well.



to be continued........

_________________
My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Here is OLFer Joe White playing for us. Joe did the finish on Anthony's new guitar and everyone agreed that this was the best finish that we have seen and this was a though room to please. Many thanks Joe!!!!



Here is Rich and Anthony jamming and Rich brought a couple of beautiful guitars that were a real pleasure to play and hear.



This is my favorite photo of the day. Here we see Uncle Bob, Bob's son Pete, and the beautiful Rosie.



These guys are smiling for a reason - this is an extraordinary billet of curly ebony and will be available from Bob at some point.



Here is JJ, Anthony, Rich's grand son, and Joe.

Sorry Rod bro I am trying and have many more pics - please stand by.......

Just teasing ya bro

_________________
My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Kinda resembles my stash... ! Thanks for the Pics Hesh. Looks like a fun time.

Your guitar that everyone's playing...Is that an OLF SJ design? Killer looking board on it .

Dennis who is building Bob's new web site asked me to try to get a good pic of Uncle Bob - I like this one.



What happens when you get a bunch of OLFers in your shop............





When I was resizing this photo I thought that our bro JJ had a look of great pride on his face.........



This is for our pal Michael Payne who will be receiving some of this beautiful curly Nara. Bob sliced it up while we were there and it was very interesting to watch. The Laguna bandsaw is a very serious machine that seems to be able to handle any thing that Bob throws at it.

Bob resawing the Nara.



JJ and Bob running the Nara through the thickness sander.



And the results - beautiful!!!!!!



For me it was a great day and many thanks to all present and especially Bob and Rosie for putting up with us - especially JJ...........

Rich buddy that is indeed an OLF SJ from the superb plans that Michael Payne gave us.

Thanks folks - thanks for looking

Right on Hesh!!!

That SJ looks excellent, I'm sure Anthony will treat it right.

Great looking shop there Bob. You're set up so well, I'm sure the process has gotten easier.

Sure wish I could have been there guys.

_________________
My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

OH, and that curly ebony is killer.

I've got dibs wonder if the bank account will allow for it though.

_________________
My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Hesh, you cant do this too us. I'm drooling all over from all that zoot! You must have been dealing a lot of WAS, how did you ever get through it?

But it looks like a great shop, and I can't wait to see what Uncle Bob is going to have on his website. It looks like Uncle Bob will have all our zoot needs covered for a long time!

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-Rob Eckert
Ann Arbor, Michigan

Hesh Man, You guys have all the fun. Makes me jealous.

Thanks for posting and thanks for my daily dose of WAS. I think I have SAS (Shop Acquisition Syndrome) now, too. Thanks a lot!! I'm planning to move to a bigger shop in the spring. Seeing a large well organized shop gets me excited.

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Don Sharp
Got Brazilian?
http://www.sharpguitars.com

Thanks guys.

Don buddy any time you can get together with other OLFers be sure to do so. This was not easy for Joe and I and we logged about 800 miles but it was worth it. The last 30 miles to my place at 2:00 AM today was white knuckled all the way. The freeway was covered with black ice and I counted over 40 cars in ditches and the police were checking everyone out. You couldn't go more then 10 miles an hour either.......

But is still was completely worth it and all is well now!

Is bob actually resawing with a lit cigarette hanging from his mouth?

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

He's 'old school"

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Jamie M

Howard it wasn't a doobie.........

Howard I don't normally do that. I said the same thing when I saw the pictures. I usually wear a respirator.

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Hesh I happy to read that you made it home safe and sound. I was worried about you and Joe.
The pictures look great.

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Great stuff Hesh. Looks like fun (& I'm sure Anthony is happy!)

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Dave
Milton, ON

HUGE offtopic coming up:


to quit smoking IS easy, if you really want it. I was smoking two packs a day and I quit cold turkey 4 months ago. Not sure that starting to smoke was the dumbest thing I ever did (they are several) but quiting certainly was the smartest

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Build log

Hmm,

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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...

Guys,

A number of years ago, I never would have known that a meet at someone's workshop would have been so fascinating, fun and filled with wood-lust (with a few stunning guitars to boot)

All I can say from this is never be surprised as to where life takes you next!

Great thread, I really enjoyed reading this.

I wish I knew some OLFers in my area! We don't get black ice down here just tornadoes and hurricanes. Glad you made it safely!!

_________________
Don Sharp
Got Brazilian?
http://www.sharpguitars.com