Official Luthiers Forum!

With all of the talk about OLF gatherings in various places, we didn't want to be left out.

John Watkins has graciously agreed to host a Chicago area gathering at his CNC Guitar Parts facility in Lake Zurich, IL (Chicago suburb) We had a great time at Doug's place last year and would love to see many more participants this year. John says he has plenty of room for everyone. You might even get to see and play John's new Acoustic Les Paul!

We would love to see some of our OLF sponsors join us as well.

Any suggestions for someone to give a demonstration, lecture, etc. would be welcome

Details
Date: Saturday April 18th
Time: TBD
Location: CNC Guitar Parts - Lake Zurich Industrial Park. 490 Telser Rd., Unit C, Lake Zurich, IL

Please post here if you are interested in attending. We will ask for RSVP (food planning purposes) as the time draws near.

If you PM me your e-mail address, I will put you on a list for updates and details

Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

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John Ressler

Count me in!!! Thanks to both John R. and John W. for taking the initiative and volunteering your digs, respectively.

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

Well, Hello Chicago!!! Sounds like a great time to me!

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jw ( o)===:::

Hopefully we can get a really good turnout. I don't know if we'll be able to top the hospitality that Doug and his family showed us all last year, but we'll give it our best shot. I can promise good food, cold beer, fun with robots, and some pretty cool door prizes.

If anyone has ideas for activities, entertainment, how-to's that you'd like to see or present, please let us know.

Thanks and see you there! (I mean here).

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John Watkins
CNC Guitar Parts

I like fun with robots. Count me in!

I'm in!!!

You can email me at:

jjdonohue at kconline dot com

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

Woo Hoo! Party time!

Thanks to the John's.

JJ, stay healthy this year so Joe doesn't have to drive alone. Is the angry puppy coming?

Steve

I wish! Chicago's just too dang far, though, and I'm too busy this spring to make a trip like that. I used to go to the windy city frequently when I lived in Ann Arbor. A bunch of my theater and music friends had moved there from Ann Arbor (ever hear of Theater Oobleck? -they're my pals), including my girlfriend at the time, so she and I were back and forth a lot. I still have lots of friends in Chicago and consider it one of my homes away from home, but I haven't been back in years. I miss it. Maybe next year if you guys do this annually!

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Count me in...

Yes, count me in.
Kent

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone there.

Todd - wish you could be here - Theater Ooblek? Hadn't heard of it before. Looked it up - looks like an interesting place

Where are all the Chicago area luthiers???

Of course everyone is welcome, even if you aren't from the Chicago area. How could you pass up an opportunity to visit CNC Guitar Parts? You might even get a pretty good deal on something (we'll snoop around until we find John's privat stash!)

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John Ressler

Are any members from the Detroit area contemplating attending, I wouldn't mind attending if someone wanted to car pool with me.

Fred

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

I'm fairly new here, but I would like to attend. So I guess you can count me in. Maybe you could have people bring one of their guitars like a show and tell I would be very interested in seeing others work.

Hey Mark,
Welcome to the board.
Everyone brings a guitar with them. If they have one to show off that is. I'll be bringing 2 or 3. Ok 2, I think, I can't decide. Just wait till you see what John Ressler has to show off. And you get to see John Watkins wacky thin line no sound hole acoustic in person. Hopefully Kevin Mason and Joe E. will show up with their archtops. In other words, We'd love to see your work.

Steve

We would love to see you guys from the "other side of the pond". I hope you can make it.

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John Ressler

Hey Mark - Welcome to the OLF!

Trust me - there will be plenty of guitars to drool over. There are usually some that are partially done as well. This is a good opportunity to gather ideas, get feedback on your work and see a lot of pretty cool guitars

PM me your e-mail address so I can put you on the update list

I'm looking forward to meeting you

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John Ressler

Thanks for the welcome. I'm looking forward to the get together. By the way nice bike Steve.

Please count me in. Looking forward to it.

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Kevin Mason
Mason Guitars and Ukuleles on Facebook
http://masonguitars.net

I may try to make it - I'd love the opportunity to see John's shop. How far a drive do you reckon it is from Ann Arbor? Or perhaps better yet, is it in decent proximity to any train stations - I'm less than a mile from the Amtrak station here, and it may be easier to take the train.

It's shaping up to be a busy spring so I'll have to check my schedule, but I'd like to give it a shot.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

I'm in! How about you Mike Franks??

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jw ( o)===:::

David, I made it back from the Ann Arbor gathering last year in about 3 hours and 15 minutes. However, SOME people say I'm a MILDLY sporty driver and it WAS 4:40am on a Sunday. Count on about 4.5 hours under normal conditions. It would great if you could make it. If you'd like to take the train, the Amtrak comes into downtown Chicago and from that same train station you can catch the commuter rail out to our area. I'd be happy to pick you up and take you back to the train station. It's only a few blocks from my house and about 5 miles from the shop. My wife takes that train every day and it's pretty nice. Count on about 45 minutes for that leg of your trip.

Joe, unfortunately for us (but fortunately for him), Mr. Franks will be on an aircraft carrier out on the ocean that weekend. That guy has all the fun!

I'm glad to see a few new faces coming out of the woodwork to RSVP. All are welcome!

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John Watkins
CNC Guitar Parts

I'll be there!

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Doug Mills
Chicago, Illinois