Official Luthiers Forum!

I am interested in more electric builds and particulary noted some more electric builders in a luker and name yourself thread. Might be interesting to have an electric forum as this tends most to be for acoustic. Gosh love Saul and some others being here. I have bunch of questions and maybe a seperate forum could work. Works here too, just a thought though.

This seems to come up every couple weeks. I think it's a good idea too.. If we can justify a reso forum I don't see why we can't have an electric one.

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CVT Inc.
A tour of our shop (Somewhat outdated)
My Personal eBay profile. BCWoodBug

Stan...I've been asking for well over a year now until the Dudes in the front office wore me out with ambivalence, disinterest and non-commitment. In the past year there have been more requests for an electric section by more than just me than there have been posts on the Resonator Forum! Go figure!

Here's where I go for answers http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/ MIMF still has an active electric section as well.

Lots of other Electric OLFers there as well as other serious electric builders.

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

That's not very nice... and unnecessary....

We have chatted about this before and Lance and I have both said that we are more than happy to create an electric discussion forum but we just want to make sure that there is enough interest to keep it active. You're right, we occasionally get a request but I wouldn't call it "a lot".

If the desire is there make it known. We will create a discussion area.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

We'd love to be completely wrong, but it is the perception we're receiving. Hesitance because of lack of interest just doesn't feel right. You have a resonator forum that usually goes months without posts, and a very lightly tread, brand new forum for kits that I never saw any public requests for. Only one thread there is specific to kits. Yet there have been a number of public requests for an electric forum. It's hard not to come away with the frustration JJ expressed.

+1 vote for an electric forum.

Thanks-

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John Lewis
Wannabe builder owned by 2 crazy dachshunds

Okay, I'd like to see an electric forum...I've built one and have another on the bench...access to the wisdom the OLF has given me much wisdom in regards to acoustic building...I'd welcome that same wisdom in the electric arena!

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http://www.presnallguitars.com

This comes up every couple of months, tis true. And I still primarily build electrics (of the 7 currently in various stages of construction, only two are acoustics). But do I really feel the need for yet another electric guitar making forum? In all honesty, no.

The reason? I've got ProjectGuitar (with tons of knowledgable folks, years of collected wisdom, and a very free approach to discourse) and MIMF (more tightly reined in, but the quality of information - in all sections - is not to be scoffed at, and the library is a gem of a resource). Add to that a Dutch forum - which is interesting mostly because it's local, which is nice, and has let me meet up with a number of builders in the Netherlands - and I'm really pretty much set in terms of electric building.

There's been a reasonable amount of cross-pollination from ProjectGuitar over this direction, less in the other direction; in theory, PG has an acoustics section, in practice its a bit of a sideshow with an occasional build thread, and not one tenth of the information you'd get from here or the MIMF in response to a question, simply because that's not what people go there for.

I understand the 'wish' for an electric section from a community standpoint; to many, this forum is 'home', where people feel most comfortable. Thing is, most of the builders here are acoustic builders who occasionaly build an electric (with notable exceptions), so you won't get the same level of in-depth discussion generated as on some of the other boards. So while it's a pleasant thought, I'm not sure it's terribly valuable. I feel perfectly comfortable sharing new electric creations (when I feel it's warranted, or just have pretty pictures) in the main discussion forum here; no need for a seperate subsection that only a fraction of the current forum population will inhabit. And with other sites out there with more information, more active electric guitarmaking communities, I have serious reservations about its usefullness.

The OLF's strength is it's open, friendly community feel and quality acoustic-guitar-related information and threads. Why try to make it all things to all builders?

You know this forum thing seems to confuse me somewhat. If MIMF has a good electric section then why is there a real need for it here if most of you are acoustic builders. Me, I dabble in it all sooner later.
I hope this isn't

Chris, the logic carries that the MIMF had more acoustic information than the OLF currently does before Lance even started it. It isn't that I can't get the information anywhere else, it's just that I'd like to, as Mattia I believe correctly intuited, talk about it here.

We're not all primarily acoustic builders, but it's the commercial focus of this forum. I've built more amps and electrics than acoustics.

Didn't mean for this to cause a problem here. I am one of the original guys on this forum and 5 + years ago when started, it was acoustic as the focus. There was very little sponsership etc. Over time this has changed, particularly in sponsers. Good thing. All I was noting, is in that time from when about 50 folks over 3000 now it has change dramaticaly. It isn't the same and never will be. I just seen a lot more electrics in threads and in the lurker and new member threads more electric builders. Sure they may make a few acoustics. I just think keeping it separate from acoustic would be beneficial in several ways. Going to other forums for information can still be done, but this is now more commercial than when started so keeping more folks here for lack of better term "one stop looking or shopping" helps the forum as a whole more.

There are forums out there that are related to CNC, Resno' whatever. I just think with the increase here of electric folks might be a good thing to have those separate discussion area's and then back to acoustic or whatever. Comparing what OLF is now than when we started is comparing apples and oranges. I plan on getting into electrics more. I can do it here or go elsewhere for the information, just soon do it here. I just like the format here more, but will do as others will get it elsewhere if have to. Not that that matter much, just don't see the problem, particularly from guys who have only been here awhile.

The problem as I see it is just like the acoustic section in a way. Right now I have to go to 4 discussion groups to post a question to cover all bases. There is a lot of good people here as well as people there. But for some reason some don't go here or there and some do as there are alot of people I know here from the other forums but if I want to get some advice then I have to post at 4 places to get the advice I'm seeking to make a good judgement of where or what I might want to do. It really gets to be alot sometimes. It would be nice not to have to do that for electrics also to tell you the truth. We are all on the same team aren't we?

TBH, I don't see why you wouldn't create a separate electric section of the forum if there is even a little demand for it. It's not as if it takes a tremendous amount of effort to create a new section on the forum dedicated to electric guitars (it's but a few button clicks away with most forum software). I would also imaging that there's probably a lot more interest in electric guitars than there is in resonators, but maybe that's just me...

Particularly with forum membership slowly growing, I would think that separating discussions into more specific fields would be better to help people find what they're looking for as well as filter out information that doesn't apply to them.

I don't buy the argument that there are other resources out there simply because that's always the case... Plenty of people had access to acoustic guitar resources long before the conception of OLF. But because this forum is here, it provides another place for people to converge and share ideas. I don't believe telling electric guitar builder to go to another forum that has more of that focus is the answer. If you provide a section here with that focus, you create an environment for people with that focus to come here.

Just my 2 cents regarding the matter...

On a side note, what's with all of the dead links on this site? I think the site is due for a good house cleaning.

That's another good point as that's more work for these guys to manage. They are probably putting in more time then you think to manage this forum. Deb over at MIMF has her time filled with managing the forum and that's pretty much her main job. It might be just a few more clicks but a lot more to manage in time. We should thank Lance and the others for the fine job they are doing with this forum. Thanks Guys.

Another vote for the electric forum. I am still wishing we had a "classifieds" forum set up like the one at sawmill creek. I agree that too much fragementation is not good. Yet, I hate to see this board lose (or not gain) talented folks because the board does not accomodate broader interests. I would not mind seeing this board grow to accomodate classical instrument builders also (violins, cellos, etc.)

As for having to scan (or post to multiple forums), that will settle itself out. The guitar builders forum will always be the "bread and butter" of this forum. Specialization is not a bad thing.

Mike

Edit: BTW, if a new forum "fails", whats the damage?

Well, that's why most forums after growing to a certain size set up a staff of moderators to help them manage forums and I'm sure there would be trustworthy people here that are willing to help out.

I have been forced into electric guitar stuff because of economics and skill level on acoustics not ready to sell. With my overarm pin routers and two other router tables I can do good electric bodies that are worthy of selling.
The atmosphere here is generous. I just unwittingly broke the "no sharing tools-no requests to borrow a template" rule at MIMF, and was soundly chastised. I had totally forgotten that regulation. I understand Deb's reasons, but I do not think they would come into play here. So, I have been thinking the same way about a sub-forum here-here, such a request is routine on this forum, and is not viewed as asking someone to do your work for you.

I want to emphasize that MIMF has helped me greatly and still provides good advice, so it is worthwhile for me to respects Deb's choices- I just think her rationale would be less likely to be an issue here. I try to do the same here: respecting the rules.

So, I, too, ask that a sub-forum be considered. Thanks, Mike T.

I think forums like clubs develop an identity, a personality, an ambiance, whatever. It 's like asking someone "Why didn't you join that bowling club? It's nearer to where you live than this one", and they'll say "Oh, I tried it, but I didn't feel as if I fit in. I feel much more at home at this one"

I was a staunch supporter of the MIMF and still visit regularly. I didn't look at the OLF much as electrics were what interested me and I got the impression that they didn't interest the people here. The OLF was also so excruciatingly slow that I used to lose patience and log out. Now, perhaps because I'm starting on an acoustic instrument, my first for 37 years, I visit here much more.

I've only made 3 electrics (basses) and each time I showed one on the MIMF it aroused a fair amount of comment, interest and questions. I have now shown all 3 here (much later) and it was remarkable how much less interest was shown. Even the members who comment on nearly every thread on the forum (especially if it's a 'my latest instrument' thread) just ignored them. I was left with a slight feeling of not being 'one of the gang'.

Hold that thought.... That is coming.

We have a handfull of new features to roll out and that is in the mix.

We just set up an electric forum.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Can we please have a banjo section

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