Official Luthiers Forum!

OK, boys...it's time for some of the attendees to show some pics and provide accounts of the meeting!

Let's have them

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

I was there Friday and videotaped portions of Johns bending/preparing sides workshops. I will download the pictures/video in the next day or 2. The good news for me is I went home this weekend and bent 2 sets of sides for 2 guitars I am working on (L-00 and Jumbo Prairie State type guitar - my take on Larson brothers PS). - my first sides bent. John had a bunch of great tips, and a process that i think is straight forward and repeatable. I actually bent my first side in the workshop, as John needed a volunteer to bend a cut-a-way side.

I thought the show was great on Friday - Johns workshop and David LaPlante's french Polish workshop were awesome! I promised myself I would not buy any wood .... I got adi bracewood, nice set of palo escrito, and 2 sets of HOG.

Glenn

It was great! I took a camera, and didn't take a single picture. I didn't want to distract myself by taking pictures. There were too many classes I wanted to take, so I missed a couple of good ones. Really was a bunch of nice folks.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I took a few photos from time to time and I will try and get them up later. I'm still a bit dizzy from the whole thing. All I can say is that I hope I never miss another one of these. It was so great to meet and talk with builders/suppliers and sit down, have a meal together. The workshops were priceless!!!

I know I will miss a few but Waddy, John Ostoff, Kevin Ryan, Craig Lavin, Dave and Nadine Nichols, Bob Cefalu and sons, Chris from LMI, John Kitchen, Todd Rose, Dick Boak, Pat Diburro, Grit Laskin, Burton LeGeyt, Linda Manzer, Chris Martin IV, John Monteleone, Richard Sprouse, John Miller, Bill Tippin, Sylvan Wells, Kief Dowden (you should see him cut inlay!) and of course my traveling buddies Mike Franks and Rex Ellsworth were the absolute highlights of this event. I know I have missed some as well but again. It was an incredible event!

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jw ( o)===:::

This was one of the best Symposiums in a long time. It was a honor to he a presenter and to have so many people come to hear me was humbling. I was most impressed that people like Linda Manzer and Sylvan Wells took the time to drop in . I am happy that some of the hints I passed on helped

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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

It was an absolute blast! Never thought I would meet all of those heavy hitters in one place and that they would be so kind and willing to share their knowledge.

John it was a pleasure to meet you, Sylvan talks about you all the time (all good)

Rick

I had a blast. It was great to put some faces with names. I was glad to meet Joe White, Todd Rose, Bob C, Waddy, Mike Franks, Rex, John Hall, Jody, Corky, Todd, L, John K, and a whole slew of other people who don't post here but were all very cool (and probably some people who do post here that I didn't make the connection to). I got to hang out with a bunch of the New England guys I don't see very often too which was great. In the auction I got some spruce that had started at the Steinway factory, then was bought by Maccaferri when he was in New York and was then inherited by Monteleone who brought it to the auction. It was really cool that John brought it and even cooler that I was able to get it! I have to think up something special for it. I carpooled with my buddy Mike and we talked about everything for the entire 6 hours on the way back. The highlight for me was by far Ken Parker's talk where he went through the process for building his new archtops and a couple of other projects he was working on. It was fascinating. I got to play some amazing guitars and I had a blast seeing all the wood and tools people brought. I may have purchased some of that great wood too... Not to discount what happens on these great forums but those couple days were worth a thousand internet posts for sure.

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

Sure was a fun trip even though it was overcast and rain most of the time. Got to put faces to many names and meet a lot of new people. Evan Gluck is a blast. Thanks for all the laughs. My son's really enjoyed it too and are asking me to help each of them build a guitar. Should be fun.
One highlights for me was listening to Frank DiBussolo play his DeBenedetto archtop. Totaly awesome player. http://www.frankdibussolo.net/biography.html
My son Pete took pictures but I need to get them from him.

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

I stopped at a friends house in Hellertown till 7pm. I bent his ear for 9 hours. I never turned on the radio on the 7 hour drive home. Thinking and planning my future with a whole new perspective on guitar building and repair.
Wow, is my head full!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I made so many friends, contacts. EVERYONE collectivily found out I am nuts....got that out of the way LOL
Wow the ideas are a blurr!
I took 100's and 100's of photographs, you guys will see all of them. Resizing and editing will take a few days! If you want higher rez stuff just contact me.
What a great time. I love the new paths to explore! Wow!
A.S.I.A has my vote as the best part of my summer.
Seeya all.
John Kitchen
isimon PHOTOGRAPHY
ibisimon@hotmail.com

You did a great job John and yes you are NUTS

Can't wait to see the pictures

Rick

As ASIA conventions go, this one certainly ranked high. It was fun to meet all the new members and to touch base with old friends.

Glad those of you who went for the first time enjoyed it and found it worthwhile!


Burton, I saw that spruce too, it was labeled Sitka, but someone told me that Steinway only used Red at that time..........I noticed that it was long enough for tops!

Hi Guys. Well after almost pulling an Elvis on 2 computers.They hate me and I hate them lol..

Here is a taste.I am posting a link to a Photobucket account where I will be placing the photo's for everyone to view. http://s112.photobucket.com/albums/n163 ... MPOSIUM09/
As said; I don't enjoy computer tech. If there is a better way to post these images here and elsewhere and it is SIMPLE to understand....shoot
Someone please verifiy I did it right before I edit 700 images (Yep)
All I ask is if you use them or pass them on "i,simon PHOTOGRAPHY 09' " stays with the images. I would love to find these spread out in magazines and web sites but I will get yicky if I find someone elses name on them (a Few magazines proved I have to say that, sorry)
I managed to get the room filled and the last group photo done in 5 minutes. Check out the clock! Check out the smiles. They were laughing at my Cartoon run to sit down front row right. 30'? from a camera and 4 studio lights, dive off stage, run sit down, yell SMILE!. It was funny.

I wish it had not rained the Photo location was not even the 4th choice but to keep things rolling it was the best.
Thanks to all at A.S.I.A This wasn't a convention. It was a conversion.

Man - I concur on the raves - what a blast spending three days thinking about nothing but guitars and music, and meeting and learning from some of the most talented luthiers out there.

Great picture John! I guess you missed the one with me using my auction number as prisoner number 56! Enjoyed checking out your parlor restoration and having a couple of beers with you. We'll have to make it a regular thing.
Burton - great meeting you - thanks for your two cents on my back and sides purchase. I"ll be saving that for a time when I think I'm ready for it - which won't be for awhile yet!
Bob Cefalu - great meeting you and your sons - you've got a great family.

The only downside is - I'll have to wait for two years for the next one!

Ah well - I'll try to make it to any meetings that are within 100 miles of me - if anyone's in the Westchester County, NY area - let me know.

It was great seeing friends I've made at past events, and making new friends, including several who hang out here (I won't list names, because the list would be very long, and I'd surely forget someone and feel bad about that). The feeling of camaraderie at these events is priceless, and it just gets better for me as I get to know more and more people in the lutherie community. I didn't spend much time in any of the presentations, because I had a table in the exhibit hall, and, even though it was often quite slow, plenty of people came around to keep me busy much of the time having great conversations about guitar making. When nobody was coming around, there were other people's instruments to play and talk about, and wood and tools to peruse, too. I managed to slip out from time to time to take in part of a presentation, and got a lot out of those as well. I'm deeply grateful for the great generosity of spirit that everyone seems to bring to these gatherings. It's a wonderful thing.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

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

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

This was one of the best symposiums I have been to in a while. Bear Acker , Tina Acker , Dave and Nadine Nichole's all deserve our deep thanks. The work they did to pull off such a smooth hitch was extensive. The most memorable part for me was Thursday , when Willard and Dick Boak , Jules and I hope I am spelling names right , Chris from LMII and so many I can't rememeber played from 8:30 till 4 AM. I am looking forward to the next one.
My first one was in 2003 and this one was the best so far. ASIA is on the mend and heading in the right direction. Hope to see you all again, as this was so much fun. Thanks for the picture John .
john hall

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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

I'm glad to see that so many of you had a great time at SYMPOSIUM. I did too, and I have a feeling that A.S.I.A. is now on a growing curve. Lots of new faces, names, and presenters. Too bad that those of you who would like to have been there weren't able to. 2011 will be another good one if we all keep this excitement. We need new members to make this happen, as well as article submissions and new ideas.

As a current member of the A.S.I.A. board, I have lobbied for a column in GuitarMaker dealing with electric guitars and related amps or instruments. This is not to say that I am not a lover of acoustic guitars, of course (in fact that's about all I'm playing these days).

Thanks for being there! Dan Erlewine

I had a great time! Hanging out with Matt, Paul B. finally meeting Bob C and his family.
Seeing Todd and so many others again, and connecting with John Hall and Steve Kovachik.
Hanging with Chris and Natalie from LMI was awesome. Really fun.
The presentations were great. Listening to Kevin Ryan and Ken Parker was amazing.
Great repair panel with Charlie Hoffman, Dan Erlewine, Bryan Galloup , and Dave Nichols.
Bear and Nadine did such a great job this time around, simply top notch.
I really encourage anybody who is interested in joining ASIA and supporting this wonderful
opportunity to get together and share knowledge and ideas and sometimes beer!
Looking forward to the next one,
Best, Evan

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http://www.NewYorkGuitarRepair.com

Evan: My wife and I visited NYC in October and loved it. Next time, and we're anxious to go back, I must visit your shop — it sounds like the coolest situation I've heard of! You should write an article with photos for GuitarMaker on your unique setup. Thanks! Dan

I would love to have you Dan! Lunch or dinner is on me. It would be great to try and give something
back to you after all these years. Bring the family. I spoke to Bear about doing something for Guitarmaker
and am thinking about doing something on running 1 person shops efficiently and with maximum exposure.
Just a thought. Great to see you last week and sorry we did not get to spend as much time chatting
as I would have liked.
Best, Evan

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http://www.NewYorkGuitarRepair.com

Evan, if was so exciting why did you fall asleep.

I had a great time as well, It was good to see old faces and new ones. For me the highlight was Grit Laskin. His presentation was great. He talked about his building for 30 minutes and then showed slides of all his new inlay since his book came out. Also, he's hilarious.

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Matt Jacobs

"Don't tase me bro"

Well Matt I was absorbing the info subconsciously
It was too much info to not have a sensory overload
Best, Evan

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http://www.NewYorkGuitarRepair.com

First of all I’m glad I got to meet some of you but I wish I had managed to meet more of you. It was over so quick, and as a first-timer, my head was swimming the whole time.
A few things I picked up on:
Rex plays a mean piano;
Chris Herrod does a nice “Dark As A Dungeon”;
Ron Berlanger can sing every song that driver ever knew,
Todd Rose makes some cool instruments and blows some dirty harmonica blues;
David La Plante makes French polishing look easy;
Mr. high-tech Ken Parker uses tru-oil on his new archtops;
It was cool to re-connect with Tom Thiel, the wood dealer, who I knew as a maker of exquisite dulcimers back in the early 1970’s in central KY. Tom went on to making real nice speaker cabinets and is now a logger (which I was in western Washington in the late 60s);
Dale Unger (my mentor) besides making awesome archtops, is one of the coolest and nicest humans on earth;
Tracy Cox’s clever way of hiding a slip of the router on his Dylan guitar;
Ray from Grantham, NH does a rendition of “Take This Job & Shove It” that puts Johnny Paycheck’s version on the shelf – at least I found it truly inspirational – and decided to retire from my day job in a few months;
Grit Laskin is one the funniest guys I’ve encountered. His imrov with Linda Manzer was worth the price of admission; not to mention his simple instructions for the “Laskin Armrest”.
And did you see that guitar that John Monteleone had with him?!? I love that green/salmon sunburst. He said it was inspired by a sunset over Manhattan. I think it’s going to be included in an exhibit of 4 of his guitars at the Museum of Modern Art.
Anxious for the next one,
Walter

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Walter Lay
"It's taken me so long, but now that I know
I can see. All that I do or say, is all I ever will be"
- Billy Joe Shaver

And Walter Lay is one mean blues guitarist, especially with a slide. I could listen to him play all day (and if he let me play with him some more, by the end of the day I might be getting some of my old blues harp chops back). I'd love to take some blues guitar lessons from him, as a matter of fact. That stuff he was playing was seriously juicy!

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

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

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

Hi Luthiers,

I want to extend my thanks to all of you who attended ASIA Symposium '09. I was concerned that the economy would take its' toll on how many of you would be able to attend, but fortunately, that was not the case. Although I didn't get around to meeting everyone there, maybe next time I will. It was a year in planning, but the fact that everyone who attended had a great time will spur me on to soon start planning Symposium '11. I'll continue to work in bringing ASIA into larger membership, Guitarmaker to four quarterly issues on time and containing hands-on articles, and Symposium an event that unites everyone who loves the art of lutherie. I cannot thank you enough for your support and kind words about the times you shared with old and new friends, and the efforts of the great workshop presenters to share their knowledge with everyone.

Thanks, and regards,

Alton "Bear" Acker, Executive Director, ASIA
Editor, Guitarmaker

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Bear Acker
Amherst, Massachusetts






"If you knew what you needed to know, you'd know, ya know"

Kudo's, Bear. It was a great time and a good venue. You did good, as did all the people involved.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars