Official Luthiers Forum!

Just received this email

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

That's a shame...

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Yup. I'm really going to miss the show, and the city, but not the hassles at the border.

We're back to trying to establish a major East Coast show that can balance out Healdsburg for those of us who don't particularly enjoy flying to California with guitars. Woodstock is a great show, I've heard, but small. Maybe they'll make the effort to enlarge it now that Montreal is gone? We can hope.

Alan, if I may ask: on which side of the border were you experiencing hassles?

Thanks.

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Oh. I thought maybe the blame would be laid at the feet of the Obama administration closing everything they can get their hands on....

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Well, there's the Ottawa guitar show. We're just a couple of hours down the road from Montreal. It's been small and just local luthiers up to now, but I suppose we could make it bigger. I won't try to make it the classy international event that the MGS was (I can't afford to lose money either) but for eastern Ontario/western Quebec/northern NY luthiers it might work.

Hi Mike .. so when is your show in Ottawa .. would love to exhibit at that one ...

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Ottawa might be doable for me also, how many people does it attract Mike

Fred

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

Last two years we did a one-day show on fathers' day. That's right around the time of the ottawa international jazz festival. We also have a major blues festival in July that I could probably try to catch some synergy with. We must have attracted a couple of hundred visitors each time, though they often stuck around for a while, took in the mini-concerts etc, so it often felt like more. We didn't take attendance figures because it was free and we didn't think we would get near the building capacity (might have been wrong about that).
We kept it to 12 local luthiers, on account of that's about all we could comfortably fit in the rooms we had. If there were enough interest I might rethink it and rent a larger space.
Up to this point it has been a pretty small community-building exercise, run on a shoestring budget. In order to make it worthwhile for out-of-owners I'd definitely have to invest more in advertising, maybe make it a two day thing, and probably charge more for tables too. I know there are more local luthiers who would like to take part but we just didn't have space. If anybody else is interested in next years' show, by all means let me know.

PM sent!

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

That is a shame. And it would explain why I haven't had any responses when trying to contact the MGS people recently.

I'm also interested in the show in Ottawa.

Josh

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Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com
https://www.facebook.com/canadianluthiersupply?ref=hl
House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com

Woodstock is indeed a great and fun show, sort of like A.S.I.A. but with lots of potential clients.
The problem is I think that it would be very hard to make the show bigger without losing it's charm by having to move it to a new venue.
Baker has offered half tables in order to increase the number of makers attending (fine for me as I exhibit a few demos as I pretty much just build on commission these days) but it does limit the number of guitars that can be displayed.
With the demise of Newport, Newport/Miami and now Montreal
there does seem to be a void here on the east coast.
Alan, Boston would be ideal....!...maybe the luthier org. over that way could be the genesis of something?

I agree Boston would be ideal. We have talked about it within the NEL group enough to identify some spaces that could work.
The time commitment and logistics are the kicker - no one person has the resources to take the lead. If a small group could be put together to each tackle a specific part it could start to look more do-able.
I also agree that Woodstock, apart from space, is pretty great.

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

Even after only a couple of days there's a fair amount of buzz going on this, so I suspect something will happen eventually here in the US Northeast.

I had hassles on both sides of the borders, coming and going.

One year after the festival when we were on the way home the border agent asked what the nine guitars in the back of the car might be worth. When we gave him an estimate he perked right up. 'How do I know you didn't just buy those in Canada and you're trying to smuggle them in?" We couldn't seem to come up with the right answer until my player friend, Ken Bofield, asked him what we should have done. Then he told us about the little form (CPB form 4457) you get on the way up that describes the object. They inspect it, sign and stamp the form, and when you come back in, you're covered, at least for that angle.

The following year Ken couldn't see any good way to stop in at US Customs on the way north, so we stopped at Canadian customs. They said we'd have to go back south to get the US form, but then we needed to stop and talk to them too. That used up more than two hours, iirc. As part of the proceeding they called the customs broker the show retained, as detailed in the form letter they had sent us.

The next day at the show somebody from the broker's office stopped by at the booth and dropped off an envelope. "You'll get a bill in the mail" was his only comment. A few weeks later, almost literally as I was on my way out the door to go to the GAL Convention, I got the bill: $500 for a 'Customs bond'. There was no indication of how I was to see about the return of what was probably a payment to cover any duty I might have owed. The problem is that more than half the instruments in the car were not mine, but private property of Ken's, which were not dutiable so far as I could tell, but when we tried to break it down the Canadian border people wouldn't hear of it: we had to give them the total value of all of them. Anyway, I hadn't sold anything, and so should not have owed any duty.

In my mind, this was the one big failing of an otherwise superbly run show: we US luthiers simply had no clue as to what the laws were or how to comply. They did make some effort before the first one, but my understanding is that one of the US luthiers who had tried to comply was nailed anyway for something they hadn't covered: he lacked a Canadian work permit and thus technically could not sell anything. I was venting about the whole episode at the GAL meeting, and one of the fellows from LMII heard me. He said that they had a package they sent to all the Canadian luthiers going to Healdsburg that detailed all the regs and the paperwork they'd need to have for the show. Had there been a Montreal show this summer, I'd have asked them for the same courtesy. As it is...

Burton: has there been talk on the NEL mailing list? I've been booted off, and unable to get back on. *sigh*

Man, what a bummer. One of the great things about the Montreal show was that it was a great mixer for American, Canadian, and French luthiers to learn from and borrow from each other. If your thing in Boston goes ahead, and my thing in Ottawa goes ahead, we'll be segregated again.

Alan, No the talk has been more informal. I sent you a PM-

Yes, its true, Montreal was a great middle ground and during a great festival. As was Newport (in RI), which also perished.
The "Boston thing" is far from being a thing!

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

Hi Alan .. I sent you a PM about your post

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

RE: Tony's PM:

I don't remember who it was from LMII that talked about the special package of info for Canadian luthiers. It's possible that there is no such thing, and that some of the folks there think they're taking better care of our northern neighbors than they are. It's one of those things that I think show organizers ought to do, even if they don't, especially in these days of proliferating regulations. Montreal did, after all, retain a customs broker, who must know about this stuff: why not tell us up front?

Thanks Alan, I will check with LMI to see what they have .... it all seems to be a little grey ...

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"