Official Luthiers Forum!

Ok, we're all friends here, right?

I think it is a lot of fun seeing pictures of other forum members in their right environment, with instruments, costumes and all. I thoroughly enjoyed the old picture of Colin playing the banjo in another thread, and who can forget the snapshot of Lance posing with his '80's metal band a while back?

So let's dig through those scrap books and share some almost forgotten, funny, embarrassing, cool, new, whatever moments in time with the rest of us! I dare you!

I'll go first. This is yours truly slinging a 335 with Bigsby and the singer in a rockabilly band I was in some years back. We went through cases of hairspray before each gig!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

That is some shot Arnt....Hey there's a loaf of bread on your head!! Dang,I wish I had some old pics of the bands I was in,Well,maybe not !
Cool pic Arnt!

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Chicken!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Aww,I wish I did have some.I had looong hair down my back! Like most kids back then.

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Here's one for you Arnt, i was 14, yep, 26 years ago already! I was at Grandma and Grandpa's place, the good ole days! my first mandolin!

Here is a picture of JJ Donohue and I when he visited my shop a couple years ago.
John How38869.538599537

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

A bit of old and a bit of new. First is a shot of me playing my old Strat at a gig, circa 1981:



Next is a link to a page at the Cathedral Guitar website, where you can select between three Quicktime video clips of me playing two different 10-strings I built and the Jose Ramirez 10-string I used to own.

Be patient, it takes a while for the QT clips to load.

Best,

Michael

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Live to Play, Play to Live

Here's one of me playing a OM EIR/Cedar that I was going to ship out the next morning. Allways a very nervous time for me wondering what the customer was going to think of it. Thank God he was very happy.

Hey Arnt: I have a Gibson 345 with Bigsby and stereo from 1968.

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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

Man, Arnt, that's some hair!!    Are you Dusty or Rusty?   Actually, I'm a little bit of both.


Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Ron, Arnt is playing the caliber .335!!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

Thanks guys, nice pictures!

Serge, I was 14 years old 26 years ago as well! I did not play the mando yet then, but I did pick up the guitar that year after I broke my while leg ski jumping and sat around with nothing to do. What's your story, when did you start playing?

John and JJ, looks like you guys had a great time! I can see you were playing in the key of D, but what was the tune?

John, nice blurry action shot!

Bob, I recognize the picture (actually I think I have seen several versions of parts of it around here ), but I never knew the story behind the guitar. My 335 is just a cheap copy that I "worked on" and "refinished" ages ago; it is UGLY but it sound good. I put Seymour Duncan '59's in it when they first came out so the sound is fine; the Bigsby came off a Gibson and was given me.

Ron, I'm a LOT of both too these days! The story behind the rockabilly band is it was formed for someone’s birthday party. We dressed up like these cartoon type rockabilly characters, this shot was one of a series of about 25 of the band members (yes, those were some pretty lame made-up names ) that were projected on the stage backdrop during the set. The party was a success, so we continued for a while after that.

Hesh, you are right, I did some heavy Photshopping on that shot, however the hair is real -- real wigs, that is!

Billy T, no shot of you wise guy ?

This is fun, keep 'em coming guys! I'm sure there are more gems tucked away out there.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

One of Me

Me on Lance's gitter at ASIA last summer

Terry Stowell38869.7431134259

Arnt, i started playing guitar and mandolin just the year before that, i was 13, i sure was quicker at learning back then than now! We got a long history of family and folk music in the Poirier family! The mandolin was purchased by my brother Martin at first but he didn't feel interested in pursuing so i bought it from him and my Dad has it today! My first guitar was a Yamaha 12 strings and the mandolin is a Como! Serge Poirier38869.745625

This is me playing at my own wedding with an R&B band I was with in Aug 2004.
Evan

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http://www.NewYorkGuitarRepair.com

Wow how do I make myself not so freakin huge??????
Sorry,
Evan

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http://www.NewYorkGuitarRepair.com

please bear with me... it's my first attempt at posting a picture on the forum. I'm the nerd on the far right. This was taken in 1980 at the Cattlemen's Casino somewhere in Nevada. Band was the Judy Lynn Show from Vegas and I played pedal steel.

Arnt, That's a great promo picture, it's fantastic! I bet that loaf-o-bread hairstyle took some time to prepare before shows! Did you do any recording with that group?

A few years back, playing at a local Art & Wine Festival...



Hesh: I used to have a Custom just like that.
Arnt: What a great shot...Roy Orbison comes to mind.

I KNEW this would produce some interesting insights!

Buddy, I absolutely dig those outfits, do you still have yours? There are stories begging to be told following a shot like that!

No, my rockabilly band did not record anything, nothing that was released anyway. This was just a fun live band, and we did mostly over the top cover versions of the classics; Gene Vincent, Cochran, Duanne Eddy, yes also some Orbison, Stray Cats and some jump blues and doo woop stuff. Lots of twang and echo, wish I'd had a Gretch!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

OK then,

Every year for a week in August I go away to the Burwell Bash to spiritually recharge my batteries. So here's a few from last year.

Playing the guitar-bouzouki:



And again:


And finally "performing" a Burwell ritual dance (don't ask ) that's me on the right:

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010