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Hi everyone

As a heads up, Ervin's voicing presentation from the last Healdsburg festival is now available as a DVD from LMI. I ordered mine this morning.

Thanks for the heads up! I wish free shipping was an option there. Feel like i have spent a fortune on shipping because i didnt plan out purchases from there. Oh well, will order anyway as always!

I hear you. I wish there were priority mail options for small (physically small) purchases. But the people from LMI are there to prepare and host the festival, record and produce the presentation for a DVD, and answer my email inquiry about its availability date, so happy to pay it. I discovered a lot of other really nice resources on DVD as I was looking through, too.

Guys, just a heads up. I was at the presentation at Healdsburg. The general concensus afterwards was that his lecture was not a lot more than a big advert for his courses/books. We really didn't learn anything much from the talk at all. When people asked him to elaborate on the real issues (like, "what does the bracing on that soundboard look like") he point blank refused to answer!! We were astounded to say the least. Thus, IMO, the video/DVD isn't worth it.

Just my 2 cents.

Cheers,
Dave Fifield

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

I attended the lecture as well and have to agree with Dave. The books were just coming out, nobody had really received them at that point and the lecture was a bit of a teaser for the books. That's my opinion anyway. Anytime you hear
Somogyi speak, you are entertained. However, if you are looking for hard facts, I'd go right to the books and skip this
lecture. Dave is right on, questions that seemed appropriate and timely were not answered. I'm not sure what he intended
to teach us at that lecture but what we got was a warm-up for the books. This should probably not be a surprise.
He's spent a tremendous amount of time on these books, I guess I'd not want to give away too much information just
about to hit the market either...
Bruce

_________________
Bruce Herrmann
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

have you guys read his books The Responsive Guitar yet? The two book set is almost $300.00 . I would love to buy it but there are so many other things I need right now.

Thanks for the heads up. I've already ordered it, so hopefully it's something I can return if that's the case. Can you describe any pieces you remember from the presentation?

Glad I read that review before i clicked checkout...of course, now I have to decide on whether or not to order all the other things I threw in there also!

I heard from a little birdie the little lady has gotten me the responsive guitar so I will stick with that for now

Matt, there have been a few recent discussions on the books. And IMO (although I don't have the books yet) the price is reasonable for such a focused study of a limited subject. Now if Ervin was writing a book about how to install hardwood flooring or "windows for stupid people" then he would have to be looking at a much lower price as there have already been many books written on these subjects and quite honestly there is very little mystery with those subject. Lots of mystery and little information on "The Responsive Guitar" coupled with Ervin's vast knowledge on the subject renders him one of the worlds only experts and probably one of, if not the only person to write such texts as his. This allows him to set a pretty high price for the books AFAIC and good for him. If I had $300 to spend on anything guitar building right now, I wouldn't hesitate in the least to drop it on his books. I'm sure I'd get way more than $300 worth of value out of them and my guitars would be the fruit of it. I have pretty much everything I need to make guitars, I now needing experience and knowledge to get me further. So if you need other specifics to get you building, get those things. Also get some builds under your belt (I don't know how many you've built yet) to understand the construction side of things, then look into the fine tuning of your sound. You'll be able to understand what Ervin is saying much better if you have a decent amount of experience in building versus jumping into his books without ever lifting a chisel (not saying this is you, so please don't take it that way)

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I agree that great information is worth the price. Its more me being broke and wanting to buy everything I can. I also agree I want to get a few builds down before I purchase books such as these.

I must say the books are outstanding.
i have read,read and read again the content (i have have had plenty of time during my sumer in hospital) and it is supurb.
it is a book that will be constant source of referance and ideas for the rest of your career.
i cant coment about the dvd,s however but i would (and have) recomend the books to anyone.

i also happen to know that his books have allready been put on the recomended reading lists of two of the major guitar making courses in he uk and i fully belive they will become the source book that every one recomends in the future.

its the new bible of guitar making imho.

that said there is some contraversial content that not everyone will agree with (he hints at slab sawn braces at one point) and i think what he is trying to do is encourage luthiers to think outside the box a little and take the initiative on themselves to find some of this stuff out themselves.
he just gives us a good kick in the right direction with these books without doing the work for you or giving away all his secrets.

well worth $300 in my opinion.

well done mr somogyi

J.

I have his books. Let me say that these are a completely different kettle of fish. The books are very much worth the money, IMO. The lecture however, was a big let down.

Regards,
Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

I agree on the books, they are the standard now and probably will be for a long time. You don't need to build according
to the Somogyi style to learn something from these books. They speak to issues broad enough to satisfy most of us.
It's a lasting legacy he's left to the world of guitar making.

The problem with that particular lecture was, in my opinion, that the books were just coming out, he was lecturing to
his primary buying audience and he was faced with the issue of how to present a subject or subjects, all of which were
discussed in his books, and still keep the audience wanting to buy the books. So it was a tight-rope of how too not give
too much away. It's difficult and I think it left most of us feeling that we got very little except a feeling of what might
be covered in the books. Expectations were high, it was the most talked about presentation there, pretty hard to live up to..

_________________
Bruce Herrmann
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

I have those videos, too. It will be interesting to see how they compare if I decide to open it.

There are a four primary types of teaching. We're most familiar with the classical where the learner is viewed as an information processor, like a computer. That kind of learner receives very direct, structured instruction. Somogyi fits into more of a constructivist framework where the role of the teacher is more to guide a schema/structure of knowledge that's best received when the student is actively engaged in the learning process. The teacher guides the student through questions and activities that help the student discuss, process their own questions, and create new understanding that's built on the schema that's been created. A lot of people are critical of the approach by saying it's too open ended, yada yada.

His books don't have all the answers, that's true, but they are a big step up in the amount of useful practical information given per dollar compared with the lecture. FYI, we had to pay to see the lecture at Healdsburg, which is why I'm a bit sour on the promo DVD thing.

Kind of reminds me of the Vegas strip club wallet emptying scheme where you pay to go in, then inside they have enticing looking closed-off lounges where they promise so much more if you'll just pay a few more dollars.......of course, there's nothing better in there at all, just more of the same.....

I'm just trying to be your good buddy and stop you from spending your money unwisely.

Dave F.

_________________
Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

I've finished watching, and while I wouldn't call it a voicing lecture, it could appropriately be considered a pre-voicing seminar. He sets the foundation for the conditions we need to keep in mind. He doesn't discuss technique, sequence, method, or any of that, but he talks about the principals of movement the top goes through as he has before in other pieces before, and the cube rule as well. What was new from past lectures was the introduction of a few bracing schemes connected to wooden frames by springs that I actually thought were extremely helpful. He doesn't talk about how manipulating the bracing scheme effects the voice of the instrument, and while he shoots down the audience member who asked to see his bracing scheme, I don't think it deterred from the lecture or was uncalled for on Ervin's part because that wasn't what the seminar was about. So "Voicing"? I wouldn't call it that. In fact, I think it's misleading. I didn't learn anything that will help me manipulate the sound of my guitars. "Principles you should understand"? Absolutely. I think it would stand as a very good introduction or lead in to a very good DVD series on voicing.

Im waiting tell I can buy them on Audible And I hope Ervin is the reader!

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