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OK... we have have until October, but what do the UK crew think of meeting up when all finished up, bringing the guitars we made and sharing in some playing and chat about all things wood and guitar?

I was thinking about finding a sort of old fashioned village pub, with a few rooms for staying over on a saturday night, drinking a few too many beers /drams, playing, a few more beers and some food and the n heading abck home on the Sunday.

I know its very early days but these things always take time to organise, given, work, wives, kids, travel, money etc.

So would be happy to look into it if there is interest out there. Always really interesting to see and try out others work and learn from the experience and have a few beers...

Add to the thread if you fancy it and I will use this to post a few ideas, locations etc - somewhere central - but a place where they wont mind a group of folk making a noise and talking about sawdust, tools, near misses.

Cheers

Frank

What a great idea!

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Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement.

Sounds like a good idea, depending on where the meet up is, I would be interested.

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk HD

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Nick

Follow my musings on getting started in luthiery http://www.tredwellinstruments.co.uk

Would be great to meet you all, but I will have just finished college, and hopefully just started a new job, so I haven't got a clue where I'll be in October.

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"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

I'm in. I recomend somewhere in CAMBS. Only joking. Great idea.

Thanks the replies so far - hopefully we can make this happen.

My guess is would be to pick somehwere reasonably central - I know a great place just west of Oxford, but we can look at that later. I would be happy to provide a lift for anyone in the North as would be coming down form Scotland.

So far we sort of have

Frank - Fife, Scotland
NTredwell - Norfolk
Peter F - Milford haven, Wales (but maybe somewhere else by Oct)
Hastings Guitars - Cambs

Who else is up for it?

Count me in if the location is accessible (Oxford sounds perfect)

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http://www.bobmatthewsguitars.co.uk

Will add you too the list Bob - though suspect you may bring along one that is not number 2

If we can get teh place I have in mind which is on the Oxfordhire part of the Cotswolds, w may be able to get teh owner of teh pub to publicise a mini exhibit of the guitars made ( I know him)... so hopefully the UK contingent will be able to make it work

why don´t you guys meet in the sunny south? portugal is so near and warm...

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

Maybe us Canadians can get together at a central location as well. That way nobody has to drive more than 3,000 km.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

just be glad you´re not in siberia...

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

Sunny? Warm? I don't think I know what those words mean.

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"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

it means that you can wear a t-shirt outside in mid-october. (well, sometimes you can )

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

I was wearing a T shirt outside this weekend, mid january and highs around 70! And then it went away. Currently my car is covered in ice and its gonna be in the 20s tonight. What weird weather we are having.

This sounds brilliant. Provided I actually have something finished by then, I would definitely be up for it. Actually even if I didn't, I'd probably still want to come. Would be great to see other people's work.
Good idea. Well done that man.

Sadly will need to stay in UK, we like our rain

So how many is that now?

Frank - Fife, Scotland
NTredwell - Norfolk
Peter F - Milford haven, Wales (but maybe somewhere else by Oct)
Hastings Guitars - Cambs
Bob Matthews
wtholmwood

Next steps:

a) agree a date/weekend - I will post suggestions

b) agree venue - again will post suggestions (most pubs I know with rooms tend to want you to book the Fri and Sat when booking over a weekend - but as its October, we may get more flexibilit.

What sort of price range would folk be willing to pay for Accommodation? I know this the owner of this place http://www.thekingsheadinn.net and as its Oct could probably get a deal, especially if having dinner etc - It also has a room of the bar which is perfect for evening beer and playing - could also open up to public /mini exhibit on the Saturday? (Might seem a bit much, but might a swell do it properly!)

c) Open up to other UK builders not involved? Up to you guys but might be nice to have one or two more experienced builders around for constructive critique?

Let me know your thoughts.

Don't count me as a definite. I don't know how money will be in october.

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"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

No worries Peter, understand the dynamic - location + new job + cash etc... 43 year old miserable grumpy folk like me have forgotten those heady days of youth!

Its early days, and no idea whether enough folk will be able to confirm yet, so as we get some ideas together we can make some decisions etc.

I have yet to tell Mrs C of the plan and it will usually go something like this;;

Mr C: er...um.... I was er wondering if it would be OK to have a weekend down south ... with a bunch of guitar building guys to share our experiences and build techniques...some time in October?
Mrs C: you mean a weekend drinking beer and playing guitar?
Mr C: not at all, it would be a serious day evening as we llok to learn and appreciate the craftsmanship of each other - will be a really good learning opportunity
Mrs C: Ha ha - you mean drinking beer and playing guitar?
Mr C: well there may be some beer involved and some guitar playing obviously
Mrs C: There is ALWAYS beer involved. So how much is this going to cost, what with travel, accommodation, beer, food, beer, etc?
Mr C: er....
Mrs C: You already spend goodness knows what on wood, those odd looking tools, more wood and then complain when I spend £50 on a haircut...
Mr C... Well mine cost £7 so you can see my point...
Mrs C: Wellyou will have to save, that means stop spending our money on wood andbeer....
Mr C: er... yes...yes ofcourse - and I'll stop complaining about teh cost of having your hair washed by that young Italian bloke - ...
Mrs C: hes not that young, he's 27 and he flirts with all his customers not just me...



Or something like that anyway

Love it. Sounds likemy house too.

Ed

Ok - please check out the link in the previous post - The Kings's Head Inn in Bledingdon, Oxfordshire - this is a great cotswolds traditional pub with rooms - fantastic place , a bit pricey but with a part of the pub that we could use all day/night on the saturday to show/play etc. In additio,n there is a pro classical builder in the village called Steve Rees who would be happy to come and give us a talk. I will also invite David Whiteman, a friend and great pro builder o see if he would be interested

We would however, need to book rooms for two nights Friday and Saturday, and I appreciate its expensive, but they do have twin rooms which halves the cost if anyone is willing to share. To ensure Mrs C and Junior C (aged 8) is 'comfortable' with a guitar weekend, If this goes ahead, would bring them along as she has friends in Oxford to visit whilst we are talking guitar during the Saturday - would be great if better halves/kids are brought along too as a nice weekend.

I appreciate its quite a time away, but would need to book soonish to ensure we get roms for the weekend.

So if still interested, please PM me with email address , Format would be along the lines of:

Friday 18 Oct - evening arrival and late dinner - beers
Saturday 19 Oct - endulgent breakfast - set up 'mini' expo'
Saturday PM - Expo + talk from Steve Rees
Saturday evening - Group dinner + beers and Jam session
Sunday 20 Oct - late breakfast and depart


Come on - will be fun! Hope there are enough willing to take part to make this happen