Official Luthiers Forum!

I really enjoyed today's Open House at Blues Creek Guitars near picturesque Hegins PA (sincerely - what beautiful scenery!). I met everyone today for the first time, and while I usually feel utterly uncomfortable in a group of people I don't know, I felt none of that today. It was great to be with such down-to-earth, smart, and funny people. The demos were informative, the food was delicious, the music was fun, and it was clear that a lot of effort went into planning and preparation to benefit the guests. Thank you John Hall and family for having me. I look forward to the opportunity to see all of the attendees again.

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Cheers,
Curtis Olson
Hamilton, VA

Definitely a great time! Nice meeting everyone, and thanks for putting it on John!

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Rob

Left at 4am got home at 10:30 PM! Man! I had fun! Lots of pictures coming. For now zzzzzzzzzzz

It was, absolutely, a great and fun day. Brenda and John bent over backwards to make this an outstanding day, and they couldn't have done more to make us welcome and comfortable. I enjoyed meeting many of you for the first time, and seeing others of you again. What a bunch of nice folks to have together at a gathering!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

In the blazing hot sun for hour after hour, no less. A happy and generous guy with some great work.

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Cheers,
Curtis Olson
Hamilton, VA

Dittto all above! Thanks John and Brenda for hosting such a wonderful event. Aso, thanks Todd, Rob and John for the thorough demos. It was nice meeting you all in person!

Chuck

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I agree - Awesome time! Thanks John and Brenda. I took a ton of video, and in the next few weeks I will be downloading and editing.

Glenn

Brenda and I are so glad all had a great time. The open house couldn't have happened without a lot of effort and not just on my and Brenda's part. My son Shawn helped not only in the clean up but with setting up the sound system. The food that was just over the top. Pete Fornarucci made the pulled pork . That was just over the top. Mike Wendt made enough pasta salad to feed at least 1/2 of New jersy and then helped with hot dog and hamburger duty. Steve brown brought the donuts and Todd Stock the bagels.
The demo guys were outstanding. Todd with the sharpening and Hot hide glue and Rod with the carving. I wish I had more time to sit in with those. Todd also helped out with the scheduling of the demo's and some of the planning . My hats off to you for that Todd. Peter Cefalu was here representing RC Tonewoods . Poor Zootman was home getting over his illness but I am sure he was here in spirit.
I also want to thanks Glenn Lasalle for the video's he took and will post on You Tube and also to John Kitchen , for his photo talent and offer of writing an article for ASIA's Guitarmaker . All that came , I loved the positive attitudes , the kindness and support for Brenda and I. I need to say that no one becomes successful on their own . It takes others to help , in ways one often doesn't understand till later in life. I know I didn't get to this point without help and guidance that was offered to me along the way.
Blues Creek Guitars would not exist without it. My wife Brenda , her support now and early in beginning help to get this rolling . I am a lucky man. To all the customers and friends that support us a big Thank You.
We hope we can do this again.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Thanks again John, it truly was a great get-together. My apologies to Brenda for not being able to find her and thank her personally as I was headed out the door. It was also great for me to meet some "classical" builders from PA, Steve and Bill, as well as Waddy and Filippo. Thanks for Todd and John for their (as usual) well thought out and thoroughly discussed demos. I'm sorry I never made it to the carving station.

Jim

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

John I didn't know what you wanted to call the gathering. Let me know. My first title was:
Blues Creek
Food Guitars and Fun

What great time seeing all! It was great seeing so many friends from A.S.I.A and meeting so many more!

John and Brenda are two of the most unselfish people that I know. John's willingness to share his knowledge is a great example of what make the OLF a real community. Knowledge is one of those rare things that you can give away and still have it enlarge both the the giver and the recipient.
Thanks for the awesome get together. The food and the friendship was spot on.

To the OLF - support YOUR sponsors, especially Blues Creek Guitars!

I think it was safe to say it was a success . I am sure there was some friendships made . We meet so many people in our line of work and how beautiful it is that we can say most of the customers become friends. Again Thanks To All .

John & Brenda & Shawn

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Thanks John, Brenda and Shawn for being great host. Thanks Todd for the demos and the bindings. I wish you guys had taken turns on the demos. I would have loved to seen Johns demo too. Thanks John for the shop tour friday and for showing me your guitars. Thanks Steve, Frank, Rex and Joe for making a new guy feel like part of the OLF family.

Steve Gillespie

Yes it was a fun day. Four of us drove together and the six hours of driving (swapping stories and probably telling a few lies) the time went by fast. Brad Goodman who drove was the first guy that I asked if I could visit his shop back when I first got interested in building. He was good enough to spend time with me and answer alot of stupid questions. I have spent my adult life in the education business and it is wonderful how open most of the people of the people I have met through the Olf and A.S.I.A. People with passion and enthusiasm make great teachers. Thanks to Todd Stock for sharpening my plane iron and jointing my top. I'm no fool that saved me alot of work. John is a prince buy his stuff!

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Mistakes are mandatory-learning from them is optional. http://www.opensourceluthiersupply.com

Paul and I arrived at my place about 4pm this afternoon, great trip home and a fantastic time at Blues Creek. Much thanks to John, Brenda and the others who worked putting this together. It was a pleasure to make a bunch of new friends and couple names from the forum to faces.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Wow, what a great gathering! I'd like to thank John, Brenda, and Shawn for everything you did to get this together. Thanks to Peter Cefalu and Rc Tonewoods for donating the granadillo set as a door prize which I'm now fortunate to have in my stash. Last but not least Fred Tellier for the ride there...8 1/2 hours of guitar talk there and back, well we did take a 2 hour break at Grizzly. Definitely a success!

Paul

I had a lot of fun.

I ended up buying a couple of molds from John and a really nice African Blackwood set from Mike Franks.

John Halls demo on rosette repair was fascinating. He can rout a rosette , hold a conversation and drink a soda at the same time!!!

I definitely learned quite a few things. ( don't use a ruler and trust your eye!)

It was a blast to see and play all those great instruments

Thanks to John and Brenda and all who made this a success.

Brad

Best advice we got was from Waddy: wax your wedges!

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Cheers,
Curtis Olson
Hamilton, VA

I want to say thanks again to John and Brenda for the open house. I enjoyed meeting and talking to many of you OLF'ers there. Nice to put names and faces together and I think I may have even learned a thing or two while there.

Dan Reese

Special thanks to John, Brenda, and Shawn for being great hosts, and to everyone who pitched in with door prizes, demos, food, and friendship! I had a great time and got to recharge my "guitar batteries" with some comraderie and lots of guitar goodies. Thanks again to all who participated and it was great to meet so many folks in person!

-Jay

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-Jay

I will echo all of the above - a great day - nice people, good food, and great guitars - what else could anyone ask for? I particularly liked John's inlay demo - and it was fun to connect with the nylon string folks. Thanks to John and Brenda, and to all who put it together. Bill

Many thanks to John, Brenda and Shawn for your generosity! What a thoroughly enjoyable day.

It was great to meet some folks that I only knew through OLF or on the phone. Thanks to all for the demos - it's always nice to learn some new things. It was also nice to touch base with some classical builders - Jim K., Waddy, Filippo & Luigi, and, of course, my neighbor, Bill T. Hope I didn't miss anyone. Wish I had had more time to see all of the guitars that everyone brought.

-Steve Turns

It really was a great day. John, Brenda, and Shawn were the perfect hosts. It was nice to meet some new people and also to see some people again I had met at ASIA last year. I was able to play some really nice guitars that people brought too, that was really nice. Thanks again to everyone involved in putting it together!

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

I had a good time! thanks to the Halls for opening up their home ( and shop) to us and for preparing a great lunch ! . The presentations were enlightening , I floated from one to another and got some good insight for each task presented.
Thanks to Brad for driving, and to Burton and Bill , for keeping the drive intersting by sharing ideas and guitar talk.
I wish i could have spent the entire day there, but it just didnt work out that way this time ! Jody

I too would like to thank John and Brenda for their hospitality. What a beautiful place you guys have there. It was very nice to meet all of you and match faces with names. Let's hope this becomes a regular event. I have some videos and will post them on our Picasa site. I will put links on our gallery page at rctonewoods.com.
p.s.
The zootman is feeling better but still recovering. Although, I had to kick him out of the shop today before he over did it.