Official Luthiers Forum!

At the very first meeting of the New England Luthiers Group (NEL,) I brought up the fact that there were some members from Western Mass (I am not talking about Worcester, more like the Berkshires) that had been talking/thinking of this sort of guild. With the start of NEL, we postponed the Western Mass get-togethers. In the time that NEL has been up and running, some of us (westerner’s) have been only able to attend a few meetings as it really does take up an entire Sunday for us to attend.

In these days of blogs, forums, facebook and twitter, it seems we are losing (valuable) personal contact. We have decided to “try-out” a Western Mass Group NOT to compete with NEL but as just a way for some of us who cannot make it down to the meetings in the East to be able to “keep-in-touch.”

We are not sure exactly how this will pan-out, the group could be kind of small and it will probably take some tweaking, but for now this is what we are thinking:
~ Meet once a month (or every other month to be determined) but not to conflict with NEL meetings.
~ Meet on a weeknight
~I will be willing to host the meetings at my shop (default location)
~Topics to be determined (that should be easy)
~Have a kick-off meeting in June (Tuesday 6/23 see below)
~Have a weekend get-together to include some of our NY/CT friends in early August (Saturday/Sunday 1st or 2nd maybe)
~ Start a “regularly” scheduled weeknight meeting in the fall
~Offer to host a (Sunday) NEL Meeting out here (my shop?) sometime

Kick-off meeting * Tuesday 6/23 *
7:00 Meeting/Shop Tour
5:30ish Hang-out , Hamburg/Hot Dogs. Nothing Fancy but I will provide dinner for those who want to come out before the meeting.

For some of our friends from further away (NY, CT, etc) we hope you might be able to come out for a get-together that we (I) will host on weekend in August . I would not certainly call it an “OLF get-together” as many of our members do not regularly participate on the forum(s) but it would be good to have a bunch of OLFr's come on out. Date and details of this meeting will be announced after the 6/23 meeting. Of course you that are further away are all invited to any and all meetings out here too.

Thanks,

John Osthoff

Hey, John! Good to see you! Are you going to be at the Symposium next week?

I'm really glad to hear this western Mass thing is going to be happening. Kudos to you for initiating and hosting this. As you know, I live in that western-most region of Mass known affectionately as New York state. Unfortunately, I'm busy that first weekend in Aug, but I'll be keeping an eye on when you guys are getting together and hope to make it sometime. I might even be able to make it to one of your weeknight shindigs at some point, if I can coordinate it with a visit to my brother's place in Litchfield (CT) and/or my buddy's place in Northampton.

We'll be in touch, and I hope to see you soon.

_________________
Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

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

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

If anyone is thinking about going I would encourage them to definitely do it. I had the pleasure of attending an NEL meeting at John's shop a few years ago and he is an excellnt host and his shop is a really great place. I attend the NEL meetings outside of Boston and getting to see people and talk face to face is a great thing, not to mention being able to see everyone's work up close each month.

Plus, the drive through Becket beats the drive through Medford. By alot.

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

John,
What is the closet airport?

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

As of right now there looks to be about 12 members, some who will probably only be able to attend once in while. I also know a couple more people that may come in for an occasional meeting from a little further away.

Hey Todd,

Yup, I do plan on going to the symposium. I have jury duty on Tuesday, so I hope I don't get picked for some long trial, assuming the civic duty only lasts the one day, I will be there Wednesday night. I am looking forward to it.

I was hoping to have the (Aug) weekend get-together to get a few of guys who otherwise might not be able to come out a chance to meet. It is tough to find a time that works for everyone. With the symposium, Montreal and Healdsburg, I needed to find a date somewhere in between all the stuff

Burton,

I was talking with Steve and we will have another NEL (sunday) meeting out here sometime. Of course your welcome to come out to the other (weeknight) ones too.

Lance,

You can't get here from there.

Hey Lance,
If you want to come, fly into Boston. I will pick you up and drive out to John O's.