Official Luthiers Forum!

Todd Lunneborg (TL Guitars) will be exhibiting at the Healdsburg Guitar Festival for the first time. I would ask some of the 'old timers' (exhibitors with a notch or two on their guns), to make Todd feel welcomed (as much as possible, considering you're all competing for the same buyers.)

Some of you guys that are HGF visitors or are helping to man a booth (but have some time to wander), be sure to stop by and say "hi!" to Todd and play his guitars, photograph him, you know, make a big fuss!

And someone teach him the exhibitors' secret handshake!

Dennis

_________________
Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

This is one of Todd's photos I stole from his website. His model "R", with the unique extended width back on the bass side, allowing an arm bevel without subtracting from the top's real estate.

Dennis

_________________
Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

Hmmmmm... he may not be a virginal as Susan never been kissed Boyle, but he still sounds like a first time exhibitor to me.

Chris, while you're mobile, snap some photos or maybe even some footage, por favor.

Dennis

_________________
Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

Todd's work will speak for itself and he will do just fine. It's only a guitar show.

Just tryin' to give a friend a 'shout out', not make his career. Yes, he will do just fine without my noise.

Dennis

_________________
Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

The nice thing about Todd Lunneborg other then his fine builds is that he is happy if not eager to share his technic and methods with us . Which can be seen if anyone is interested in nice stuff and the school of Fancy and another type of method some of which I think he got from Olson can be seen over at the luthier community.
http://luthiercom.org/
You can see Todd's stuff in the builders section, TL Guitars.
If you are like me and can't afford to fly across the country to these get togethers. Then stop by my friend Todd's table over at the Luthier Community and say hi. I think you will be glad you did, I was.
How's that Dennis my friend?
Two birds...

Yep, very cool that Todd has taken the time to document and publish his methods to share with all of us.


I do have to gently disagree on this point, though. The Healdsburg Guitar Festival was "thee" show up until a few years ago, and is certainly still within the top 3 guitar shows in North America for a luthier to try to launch from relative obscurity to "the big time." Realizing that there is a degree of psychology in guitar sales that includes the stature and how well known a luthier is (at least to some buyers), these big trade shows do actually make a difference in either launching a career or in climbing a rung on a PR ladder, or at the very least (for the luthiers that are already well known) to keep their brand names recognizable and solid.

Brock recommended a book a couple of years ago, "Full Frontal PR", that was an eye-opener to me about the power of PR. One truth from that book is that if someone has a bad product, no amount of PR or advertising or marketing will work long term - the buyers will eventually find out. But for those that do have quality products, then PR, advertising, and marketing are essential tools to build brand awareness and "buzz."

Dennis

_________________
Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

It's the same reason Kevin Ryan says that any changes to his guitars have to have a "Wow factor".

_________________
Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Jim Hansen captured a piece of Todd's soul:

_________________
Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

Dennis,

Unfortunately, you can't link directly to to pictures in the picasa photo album. It's just a convenient place to sync my photos to while I'm travelling, until I can get them posted somewhere more permanent.

You are welcome to download and repost it somewhere if you would like.

Jim

Edit:
Here ya go (I uploaded the individual photo to my personal site)

_________________
Jim Hansen

Thanks, Jim!

If I could go back and edit my previous post, I would. I guess that will be a broken link when you have moved the files from there.

Anyway, thanks for snapping this photo of Todd and his guitars. It must be overwhelming for guitar lovers to go to shows like this!

Dennis

_________________
Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

Dennis,

Technically, the link is broken now. The only reason you can see it is because it's still in your browser cache from viewing my album.

I tried to take as many pictures as I could, without any specific goals. I'm glad I got a good shot of Todd's set up for you.

And yes, this was my first big show, and it was overwhelming (exhausting). I was there all three days, and it was pretty much packed just like you see in the pictures the entire time.

I was a little surprised, as I had thought that a show like this would be a bit more of an intimate affair

_________________
Jim Hansen