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Just wanted to drop by and let everyone know I haven't fallen off the face of the earth just yet, it's been a very busy time for us. At this point we are pretty sure there is not much in the Boise area that we have not looked through for housing, we actually found a house, put an offer on it and the owner was flake and after two weeks of proving that we had a loan we finally told them to either sign the offer or drop dead.

Unfortunately they are still kicking around and we lost about 2 weeks worth of house searching time, very very frustrating for us. The bright side is that we finally found some very nice houses this time in our price range with good size 3 car garages and some buildings with Shops, so this time the pickings are looking a little better. I must say that this is the first time I have actually lived outside of California (been a native all my life) and I really really like it here, very pretty country, taxes and prices are hard to beat and the people are just wonderful. It's a little cold (was down to 24 this morning) but I'm fine with it, my wife is dressing like Nanuke of the north much to my amusement! The one thing that still makes me laugh is you cannot buy hard alcohol at a grocery store, you have to visit a *real* liquor store and they have very limited hours, not that I'm a big drinker but a little rum in my nog this time of year is a good thing, imagine my surprise!!! I told my wife I bet they take your picture and then follow you home if you buy anything over 80 prood

I'm still working for Macromedia and waiting for the shoe to drop and that's the one unknown for us right now, but Michelle loves her new job and has so many opportunities that even if I lose my job there's no doubt we would be fine (I'd just do what Woolsons doing for a while). The hardest part is that I can't build, I have 3 of my guitars with me at our apartment and I've had time to start playing again and it feels good to get back in the groove. There's a very nice woodcraft here, I'll miss the Rockler in concord and some of the bay area perks like Fry's Computers (for those who don't know, fry's is like an ultra super large geek store, with everything from music to computers to Audio Video, it's geek heaven).

The one thing we are going to do this time is spend a good deal of time just making the shop right, I've decided I'm putting up beadboard so I can hang shelves where-ever I want, I'm going to put in a raised wood floor to keep out moisture and prevent damage to falling tools. I'm running a full dust collector system and putting the dust collecter and the aircompressor out in their own little building to keep the noise down and save space. I'm also doing 220 for the big tools this time, it's going to be alot of work but in the end I want a shop that I just focus on building in, that's the goal.

There doesn't seem to be too many builders in the area, there is Bolen Guitars who make custom electrics, I have not had a chance to stop by and chat with them yet but I will at some point. I have seens a couple of other builders but not many and certainly not like the bay area had, it's not bad just different.

Anyway I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving if I don't make it back by then, I'll be around and will post pictures as soon as we have the keys to something...

Cheers All...

-Paul-

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-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

Best of Luck Paul, Hope you are soon settled the shop ideas sound fantastic.

Boise, isn't that the home of the Gibson acoustic division? That might make an interesting tour and you might just meet some guitar makers there.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

Wow, it sounds like you have a great attitude about it all. Remember, pictures, pictures.....and best of luck with everything.

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

Hi Paul:
Great to hear from you. Hope all works out and you find the "right" place with a HUGE shop ;) Please keep us posted about your progress.

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

[QUOTE=John How] Boise, isn't that the home of the Gibson acoustic division? That might make an interesting tour and you might just meet some guitar makers there.[/QUOTE]

John, you are thinking of Boseman (Bozeman, Boss-man, Bo'sun, something...) Montana. And they will NOT give tours. My wife and I drove through there trying to get to a GAL convention in Tacoma, and they said we were the third or fourth luthier to drop by. But what with OSHA, insurance, etc, they could not give tours.
So much for that. They may have relaxed their policies since then, but I doubt it.


Paul--I love the sound of the shop you are designing.
It's gonna be a showplace for sure.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Nice hearing from you, Paul. Best wishes and have a great Thanksgiving.

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

Thanks for droping that line Paul. Sounds like a great little adventure. The very best of luck to you and your family. Looking forward to the neat shop ideas you incorporate!

Shane

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Canada

Yes, that is Bozeman. I was there a week after you were Steve and got turned away also, but apparently they are now offering tours.

Paul, have fun with the shop and post some pics when your done.

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Scott Thompson
Port Townsend,WA

"In a perfect world we'd all sing in tune
But this is reality so give me some room"
-Billy Bragg

Davis. great to hear from you. Sounds like things will work out just great. Keep plugging away, it'll come.
Blessings, Woolson

Thanks for checking in Paul! Good to hear from you and I hope you find that perfect house soon.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Hi Paul
Good to hear from you. Glad things are going OK. New shop plans sound terrific. Stay in touch.

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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

Good to hear how you are doing Paul, glad it is going well. I would enjoy seeing pictures of how you do your shop. Feels good to do some playing doesn't it! But building is always in the back of your mind.

Keep us posted.

Jeff

[QUOTE=Steve Kinnaird] Boseman (Bozeman, Boss-man, Bo'sun, something...) Montana. Steve[/QUOTE]

I believe it's BOH-zuh-muhn.

Hi Paul.
I don't know if your aware of this site or not, but it lists lots of homes in all areas of the U.S., plus prices, without needing to drive all over until you know you at least like the looks of the photos.
Hope this helps!
Best of luck.
Craig Lavin

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www.handcraftinlay.com

I was a native Californian for 55 years, then I moves to Washington State last year. Wish I would have done it 30 years ago. Hope you find everything your looking for.

[QUOTE=BlueSpirit] I was a native Californian for 55 years, then I moves to Washington State last year. Wish I would have done it 30 years ago. Hope you find everything your looking for.[/QUOTE]

Doug, I didn't realize you were a newcomer. Welcome! I DID move to Washington 30 years ago and still love it here.

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Scott Thompson
Port Townsend,WA

"In a perfect world we'd all sing in tune
But this is reality so give me some room"
-Billy Bragg

Also a CA native-OR transplant.
A cousin of mine (from here in OR) calls us "equity immigrants".
Going from the SF Bay Area to Portland has been as culture shock free as we
both could have imagined. Being able to buy a house outright really helps
too.
Now, going from CA to Idaho may be a little different... Best of luck to you in
your new digs.
Change can be good!
-C

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Freeborn Guitars
and home of BeauGuard©

Thanks Scott. It is beautiful.
We've been here about 7 months and love it.

Thanks Chas,
Idaho is beautiful country.

Thanks for the kind words all....

We finally found a real estate agent who we can trust, we looked friday and all day saturday, we found some wonderful ones in a place call nampa but it was just a bit too rural and the commute would have been long for Michelle. So in the evening we packed all the kids in the truck and looked at a couple closer to Boise central. We found one that was done in a Federal style, it's 1900 sq ft, 4 bdrms on a qtr acre lot. It has a music room, and a nice family room, along with a great master bedroom. The only downsize is the grage is a touch larger than a standard 2 car garage, and both the AC and the water heater are located there, but it does have a shed in the back which helps (I can store my wood there). I will need to downsize a bit but that's fine.

We made an offer yesterday and are negoiating price right now, they made the mistake of leaving the house dirty and did not take the time to prep it for sale, so they have not been able to move it at all. Which is OK with us, because we wanted something that we could work on, all that's left now is the game of pricing... but even if they back out the real estate agent is awesome and we have 2 others we found that can fall over too if we want.. And.... there are more coming on the market so this time around things look good.

I've got a large collection of woodworking magazines out and I'm planning on ways to fit everything in the new space, including a new edge sander from Grizzly that's waiting to be delivered

If we get this one it's going to be a ton of fun, it needs some design help, we have already started planning on ways to make the inside match the outside.. Once we past the offer stage I'll post some pictures...

Cheers

-Paul-

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-Paul-

Patriot Guitars