Official Luthiers Forum!

I am thinking ...Ervin Somogyi ....Bill Tippin ...Wayne Henderson ...Ed Claxton ... top class luthiers one and all ...yet they never venture onto the interweb.

Is there any kind of moral/ lesson to be drawn from this ?

People will pay for Ervin's advice via his books so why would he dole it out for free?
The rest are probably too busy actually making guitars or not willing to get into a debate with a beginner who already knows everything.

I was wondering the same thing. Great answer Dave!

Michael

Which makes me thankful for the ones that do. What great guys to help us beginners and learners with some reality. Thank you luthiers.

Many get fatigued with armchair experts and arguments. I applaud any that continue to offer their sound advice every time a beginner asks for it, over and over!

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

I don't blame them.

Can you imagine Cumpiano getting on here and answering a question about his methodology and getting criticised by Todd Stock and told that his method is inferior and he should abandon it in favor of the more consistent superior method Stock uses, even though Cumpiano's made almost 400 guitars successfully and knows his method inside and out and has no problem with consistency?

It's an almost laughable scenario.

If I were Bill I'd say "No thanks" too.

I don't know how Gore dos it!

Those guys have nothing to prove and don't care what the amateurs think. People seek out their expertise directly and are grateful for it when they get it without the BS.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

Yo, murrmac...

Sorry dude.... yer out to lunch on this one...well ok...perhaps your not a member of all the various isums and 'asums and 'spasum of the guitar world type forms....however
me has had personal responses on forums from some of these dudes you mention and on more than one occasion...it all depends on the topic being discussed dude.

Perhaps what appears to you as they "never venture onto the interweb" is one of the ways they can get any work done by not wasting their time and so leave all the B.S. (like this thread) for the likes of Shirley, Flipo and yours truly to answer. So don't be deluded by appearances. Not that Todd, side kick and me are in the same ball game.

May me also MHS you stop thinking! Das right, leave your mind in its natural state and perhaps the divine might grace you with some original ideas.

Now regarding morality...dude, you gotta be kidding us.


thus spaketh
?adma

Right!


Ps. Yo, whisper...Gore sells books... then some dudes are just more helpful
than others. Simple eh.

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Hmm, Padma. You make a good point. Maybe they just don't venture onto THIS forum, for some reason.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

Somogyi has posted to the ANZLF.

Rick Turner, David LaPlante, John Arnold, and others of that caliber have posted here.

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

I guess its to each his own. Many world class Luther's post here. Some just build instruments and some take on students, teach classes and write books. If anything, their being here gives them exposure and is a help, not a hindrance to these activities.

I consider myself very fortunate to get their input from time to time.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Well gee Todd,
since you offering cheese and wine, please make mine a Gorau Glas smothered over rair flamed beef and servered with a nice deep purple Pauillac from Duhart-Milon, if you don't mind. oh and hold the veggies.

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Ah yes! Flipos genius come through.

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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I don't think Wayne Henderson knows how to use a computer. That really limits his ability to post to a forum.

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

No cheese for me thanks, just a bit of the whine and some of that rare beef the Padma is offering. That is one swell offer ......... Light up that bar'be Padma

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

The ones that are good are too busy to spend their time on the internet. I know for a fact that Ed Claxton delayed putting up his own website because he was too busy doing other things. If you ever have a chance to see his shop you can appreciate what I just said. We do have several luthiers who do post on this forum, just not on a daily basis. To say that people like Claxton, Richard Hoover or Roy McAlister don't like to teach or won't blog on a forum unless they derive financial gain from it is just not true. All of them offer their knowledge freely, all you need to do is ask. Just read somewhere that Roy McAlister took a part time teaching job in a high school wood class. What does he have a 5 year backlog? Maybe it's just different if you are talking live rather than blogging, nothing like up close and personal. Probably why Somogyii does so well with his classes.

Tim

Ervin Somodgyi has posted here before. If you wanted to take the time I'm sure you would find him 3 or 4 years back.

I don't know how the other guys do it, but (by choice and it suits me down to the ground) I don't have a wife, kids or a TV. Now, just think how much time that frees up! Neither do I need a huge amount of sleep and I live in a fairly remote area. Once the 4-6 hours/night for 4 years of research/book writing stopped, I had to find something else to do that didn't involve rotating machinery. (One of my "rules" around here is that machinery only works in daylight). Fun on fora fills only a small part of that time.

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

I've been around since close to the beginning. There have been, and still are, plenty of people here that have the credibility and experience to be taken very seriously.

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

Ervin Somogyii, Mark Blanchard, Rick Turner, Al Carruth, Trevor Gore, Laurent Brondel, John Arnold, Howard Klepper and others. hey how about the guy who runs the forum. Like I said they do post here, but not on a daily basis. Trevor more so since his book was published and Al Carruth post fairly regular. To run a blanket statement saying they don't like to teach or will only do so if they get paid is false. That's my personal experience. If they would rather spend their life doing something they enjoy, and that doesn't coincide with what you like, that's up to them. Doesn't mean you need to come up with libelous statements about people you know nothing about.

Tim

[quote="Trevor Gore
I don't know how the other guys do it, but (by choice and it suits me down to the ground) I don't have a wife, kids or a TV. Now, just think how much time that frees up! Neither do I need a huge amount of sleep and I live in a fairly remote area. Once the 4-6 hours/night for 4 years of research/book writing stopped, I had to find something else to do that didn't involve rotating machinery. (One of my "rules" around here is that machinery only works in daylight). Fun on fora fills only a small part of that time.[/quote]

And that translates to a lucky break for guys like me!!!

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Who ran a blanket statement saying they don't like to teach or only teach when paid?

However the content of the thread has brought to light many top builders who have posted here in the past and a few who continue to post today.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

I'll add a few past and current guys which have not been mentioned.

Paul Woolson
Hank Mauel
Robbie O'Brien
Simon Fay
Kevin Gallagher (RIP)

Besides, pretty much everything that's being asked has been asked, and in some cases several times already. I would think many of the Pro's get tired answering the same question every 6 months or so.

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

For better or worse, this forum is pretty lightly moderated.

I spoke with one pro who used to post here and he lost interest after the Gibson Raid thread that deteriorated into a lot of political ranting.

Kevin Looker

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

I'd be careful about reading too much into why some luthiers post a lot while others do rarely or not at all. Those that do not post may not like spending time on their computer, they may be shy, they may may check the forum only once a week or so and, by then, most questions have been asked and answered. Or, they simply just don't enjoy that sort of thing. An on-line presence is low down on their list of things that are important to them.

On the other hand, (I'm talking about you Al ), some people are pathologically compelled to teach. They answer questions, clarify the finer points of a discussion, and offer the insight gained by decades of working on their craft. We love them for this because they make forums like this and mimf a place where we can come to learn instead of just verbal mud wrestling.

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