Official Luthiers Forum!

We had to go to our local Gas-n-sip to find hand sanitizer for an unavoidable trip to California on Friday. The grocery stores are out. There are recipes for home brewed hand sanitizer on the net with the main ingredient binging Everclear. Most of us have that handy.

M

The combination of a steady drum beat of sensationalistic articles and panic buying of water, which is extremely unlikely to be needed, is what I was referring to as stupid and I stand by that. If you have knowledge that your specific water system has issues, then taking that into consideration makes sense. I have no reason to think that applies to the majority of water systems in this country. I may have missed it, but I have not seen any report of interrupted or reduced water, electrical, gas, or sewer services in China which has been hit much harder than we probably will be assuming we have our act together and take advantage of what's been learned from the experiences in China and other countries so far. I would be more concerned about necessities that depend on international supply chains such as medicines.

_________________
Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Turning into r/collapse in here! (If you don't know it, look it up)

It's super weird how this has been politicized. A friend on facebook started his 10 point diatribe with "To be clear, I don't believe the virus is a hoax, but...". That's crazy! How the heck did we get here?

Now go wash your hands and get them dirty building something.

_________________
Insta - https://www.instagram.com/cbcguitars/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/cbcguitars

"Masks"
"We don't need no stinkin masks" to paraphrase that famous Bogie film.

I think we should all get bandannas!
More of the cool factor, and probably just as effective as masks. Plus if the SHTF we'd be all geared up to rob banks.

Exactly Clay and this is an important fact. The mild cases are not being reported and folks may not even know they have the infection. So it's highly likely that the number of cases is way higher than we are hearing. Since we hear of the deaths right away seemingly the percentage of deaths or mortality rate is likely lower than what they are reporting the 2 - 3% which is good news.

Something else to keep in mind is folks with some level of compromised lungs, smokers, woodworkers.... who do not wear masks or have HEPA level dust collection often have compromised lungs and COPD. I do....

I stopped smoking pot two weeks ago for the first time in my life and instead I'm enjoying the edible products and enjoying the 6 hour high and some of these things especially the chocolate are pretty good. Wow man... . Anyway my lungs may be less compromised if I am not smoking pot is the idea. Also, never mind I forgot what I was going to say...

But you are right we may be hearing of the worst when the best is simply staying home and getting better. Let's hope so this is scary especially if you have very old folks in your family.

I'm off to go eat my bat salad for lunch.

There is an episode of the Sopranos where Tony passes out and the ambulance driver does a wallet biopsy... not knowing that he's ripping off the Don of New Jersey....

I've been stocking up on hand sanitizer for years.

I saw this on Colbert the other night and thought this crowd would especially appreciate it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ4Y9QPOzmA

there's one huge difference between Chicom and most of the rest of the planet...they can (and most likely will) shoot you if you don't go do your essential services job...isn't much we can do here in America if some people decide not to show up to work.

it's always a good idea to have a couple of weeks worth of essential supplies on hand just in case...hell, you might need them after being sick with whatever for a couple of weeks and having to take an unpaid vacation...and in case you haven't been paying attention to reality, a LOT of water supplies in the world (and in America) are tainted and you roll the dice drinking public water...me?, I drink tap water, the wife drinks bottled water from HEB (regional grocery chain who's prices are nowhere near as high as fancy shmancy Fiji, Evian, or what the hell ever...sheeshus...water is 2 atoms of hydrogen and 1 atom of oxygen, with some minerals added for taste)

That’s some kind of will power, i could never keep that much on hand without constantly checking that it hasn’t gone bad. I think a 15 y.o. Cardhu would round out that collection nicely.

B

_________________
My memory is so good, sometimes I remember things that never happened.

Ok I give in... What is a wallet biopsy?

Wallet Biopsy. A cynical term used in fee-for-service health care systems for the assessment—e.g., examination ('biopsy')—of a patient's wallet for insurance coverage information to determine whether he can pay before admitting him to a hospital or performing expensive procedures.

Like other Robbers they wear a mask....

My tee-totaling, exceptionally Baptist mother used to keep a bottle of Everclear in her desk when she worked at a print shop as a layup artist (how many of you know what THAT is?). It made a superior cleaning agent to get leftover wax and tape residue off her glass-topped light table, leaving a streak free surface ready for the next days' work. I think she still has it in a high cupboard at home "just in case" she needs to clean something stubborn.

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

_________________
Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

I like that Bri, checking to see if it goes bad.

I tend to rotate bottles in and out and have the open ones upstairs for easy access. Being cheap... as I am I like to buy scotch and squirrel it away for at least five years before enjoying it. It does help it to be older at least to my taste.

Another interesting thing about getting older is I'm a much cheaper date now. I use to have a couple of drinks a day but that would make me drunk now. So I have one and maybe none if I don't remember to have a drink.

But I may have to check it to make sure it's OK as you suggested.

The purpose is supposed to be the civilian equivalent of dog tags so they can identify you. The Sopranos episode also included the ambulance driver helping himself to two large from the Don of New Jersey's wallet. He had to return it or risk dismemberment and his body parts scattered in the Hudson River. I love that show

Stopped by Costco today and the place was packed with people panic buying.

Elderly lady in front of me was getting a giant bag or rice, 4 cases of beans, and 4 gallons of vodka.
Man behind me had an entire cart full of large boxes of sugar-laden cereal, another cart with cases of baby wipes, hand sanitizer and bottled water, and a third cart full of tp. He was surely ready for Armageddon, just think of the energy content contained in that cart of cap`n crunch.

Wallet biopsy is an ancient term. My grandfather who was a rather taciturn but very witty Dentist in Western Nebraska wrote a delightful treatise on a trip to the Mayo Clinic in 1936 for what turned out to be a terminal illness.

It was laced with humor and cynicism including the statement “I think the only thing they really wanted to biopsy was my wallet”.

_________________
It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

One of my grade school age nephews came home from school awhile ago and announced that they talked about "Crayola virus" today in class....

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Odd, I was at a Costco today in Oregon and there was plenty of parking and no shortage of anything.

That's a pretty colorful description

The puns are getting thick around here.......

The laughter is infectious.

I have missed this place...

Basic stuff:

- Panic is an irrational response to a perceived threat; avoidance of that perceived threat is the rational response, primarily through appropriate preparation and changes to behavior.

- The primary purpose of a mask is to keep us slightly evolved edge-dwellers for touching our eyes, nose, and mouth 90 or so times a day, and thus transferring a contagion from a surface where it is essentially harmless to one where it can reproduce and make us sick (our mucus membranes - eyes, nose, mouth, tik-tok no-no square). Worry less about the filtering capability and more about keeping your bugger hook out of your nose.

- Wash your hands with soap and water; provide anti-bacterial soap in the rest room (if hands are clean, even habitual nasal mucus removal aficionados reduce their risk of introducing something like the flu or COVID-19 virus into their respiratory system...although there is nothing to be done about the social stigma...second grade is forever, Billy F., wherever you are)

- Consider restricting use of the rest room to employees, and up the frequency of cleaning with anti-bacterial detergents. Don't forget the mirrors.

- Provide hand sanitizer where customers enter the shop, and on each bench (Don't pay stupid prices for the last bottle of the stuff - it can be made made with Everclear, etc. in a pinch for less than the price-gougers are trying to extort from you on Amazon)

- Elbow bump for acquaintances; knuckle bump for close friends (consider posting this policy at shop entrance, along with whatever else represents a change to your usual policy of bear-hugging/Russian mouth-kisses for new clients)

- No 'just got back from overseas deployment' hugs or Hollywood air kisses.

- Wear nitrile gloves when handling instruments/cases/cash ( a good idea, in any case...we kept a minimum of a case in stock when I was at Greenridge, and at least 50 pairs of appropriate size gloves were stocked at each of the benches)

- A 20 dollar bill may be handled a few times per day; the keys on a card reader or touch screen will see several dozen unique contacts a day in a busy shop...include register/terminal/card or chip reader in the high-frequency cleaning cycle (door knobs/grips, rest room door, sink, commode, TP holder, etc., reception counter). Worth recalling the recent news story re: every touch screen sampled at a major fast food restaurant tested positive for fecal coliform bacteria (aka, poop)...if you use your phone or iPad as a terminal, you might consider a reasonably frequent cleaning cycle.

The bigger issue:

There is an unknowable-for-now chance that your business will be closed as a result of quarantine action due to a relevant exposure to someone infected with the virus. Besides the loss of revenue, there is the small matter of finding yourself restricted to your home for 14 days and understandable reluctance of Door Dash to continue to deliver to a house/apartment/cardboard condo posted with brightly colored quarantine notices. 14 days of the essentials - Netflix binge-worthy snacks, MaCallan's 12, and tissues for the tear-jerkers - should be available, as well as the non-essentials, such as 90 days of prescription meds, dried and canned staple foods, drinking water for each person in the home, TP, paper towels, analgesics and fever reducers, etc. Expect utility disruptions and slow restoration of service if in an area of the country with an overstressed power delivery system or abundant thunderstorm or tornado activity...can you prepare your SHTF foods without electricity or gas? Consider stashing a week or two of protein bars/freeze-dried foods/other ready-to-eat stuff at a minimum of 1200 calories a day per person. If on well and septic, how will you pump enough water to ensure that toilets can be flushed if power is interrupted?

If well-prepared for quarantine, zombie apocalypse, or other civil disturbance, try to avoid advertising that fact. No one needs to know about that recent delivery of 50 cases of MREs (hold the vegan/culturally appropriate entree option) or the fact that you have 15K 'freedom seeds' and an infantry squad's worth of caliber/range-appropriate seed-launchers stowed or cached against need.

Understand the difference between reality and the deranged nonsense the 24 hours news organizations have chosen to pedal to prop up their 'latest outrage' fueled ratings. My rule of thumb is that if someone have been lying to me for the last decade or two, that behavior is likely to continue into the foreseeable future, so worth taking anything presented by them with abundant care and extensive cross-checking. Consult multiple, cross-channel sources when the 'facts' seem either dubious or fantastic.

_________________
For the times they are a changin'

- Bob Dylan

And this place has missed you too Woodie and I know that I most certainly have.

This is exactly what I was looking for and the excellent humor is on the mark too and welcomed as a nice break from the seriousness of the coronavirus.

There are at least several ideas that I'm integrating into our shop tomorrow morning - many thanks!!!