Official Luthiers Forum!

Although I never got a chance to met Mr. Hostetter, his website, www.lutherie.net, was of great value to me a student repair tech and novice builder. Mr. Hostetter was a very active contributor to the Mandolin Cafe's various boards, where I often found that his advice to be all that was needed to accomplish some hitherto daunting task. For those not familiar with Mr. Hostetter's work, it is worth the time to explore his site a bit, and I very much hope that his family maintains it as a memorial to an obviously thoughtful man and patient teacher.

Rest in peace, Mr. Hostetter.

_________________
We have become a civilization that elevates idiots, prostitutes, and clowns. Am I still to defend it? Yes, for its principles. Yes, for what it was. Yes, for what it still may be.

-Mark Helprin, The Oceans and the Stars: A Sea Story, A War Story, A Love Story (A Novel)

Sad to hear.
He was generous enough to post that site, and all of the knowledge contained within it. That speaks loudly.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

I also gained much from his website. Would loved to have met him. RIP.

_________________
It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

I hope Mr. Hostetter rests in peace, and I'm thankful for the substantive content of what he has contributed to the instrument making community.

However . . .

If someone here has a connection to his family, and in particular to whoever will take responsibility for the website referenced above, I think they would benefit from understanding how the hobo clown cartoon character on the website could be taken as a racist image, and therefore should be removed from the website. One does not need to dig very far to find the connection between hobo clowns, blackface, and minstrel shows. Websites that show such images to explain their historical significance are one thing; websites that gratuitously post such images, just for fun, are something else. I make no judgment of Mr. Hostetter; I'm just noting that there are people who would be offended by those images. So, if somebody is in contact with his family, perhaps you could pass this suggestion along.

Simply put, it takes no particular effort whatsoever to find someone willing to be offended on behalf of others by even the most innocuous and innocent things. Hobos? Wait...I vote for unicorns and rainbows...there has got to be some pretzel logic that results in imagined linkage to things wicked and vile when horned horses and ROY G. BIV are involved.

With the functional definition of racist having now devolved with extreme overuse to "Someone that disagrees with or has different thoughts on a subject than someone else", you'll have to forgive me, Mr. Parker, if I take a detour around this particular parade of fools.

_________________
We have become a civilization that elevates idiots, prostitutes, and clowns. Am I still to defend it? Yes, for its principles. Yes, for what it was. Yes, for what it still may be.

-Mark Helprin, The Oceans and the Stars: A Sea Story, A War Story, A Love Story (A Novel)

Well, Woodie, take a discerning look at the cartoon on the website, and maybe look a bit into the history of the hobo clown. And if you still think I am a snowflake liberal raging pinko nutcase after you do those two things, that’s fine. I can live with that. I’m just trying to pass along how some folks might see the cartoon.

That's too bad, sorry to hear it. I've come across his writings online a time or two but never that website. I'll be sure to comb through it on my spare time for sure though. RIP Mr. Hostetter, God Speed and best to family and friends.

Perhaps we can engage in ethical ambulance chasing at some future, more opportune moment, Mr. Parker. For now, it seems like some recognition of and appreciation for Mr. Hostetter's life work might be more in order, rather than a demonstration of the lengths to which some of us might chose to go in our quest to deposit something positively distasteful in the community punch-bowl.

In rereading my earlier, I fail to see where there is cause to believe that I would think of you as a 'snowflake raging pinko nutcase.' I'll assume this is simply an attempt to misrepresent my argument to a) shift your own point of attack to ground you feel you might be better capable of advancing over, and b) imply that I am the source of that vulgar ad hominem, rather than your own obviously fertile imagination.

_________________
We have become a civilization that elevates idiots, prostitutes, and clowns. Am I still to defend it? Yes, for its principles. Yes, for what it was. Yes, for what it still may be.

-Mark Helprin, The Oceans and the Stars: A Sea Story, A War Story, A Love Story (A Novel)

For what it's worth the character on Mr Hostetter's website is Jiggs, from the cartoon strip "Jiggs and Maggie" or "Bringing Up Father ". One of my favorites as a kid in the 50's. Seeing as how Mr. Hostetter is about my age and has an obvious sense of humor I am guessing he liked the strip too.

It ran from 1913 to 2000. Jiggs was actually an Irish hod carrier who immigrated to the US.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bringing_Up_Father



The Irish had to also endure a bit of demeaning characterization in the cartoons that was not quite as lighthearted as Jiggs.

_________________
It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Rest In Peace


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If I offended anyone, I apologize. I don’t come here to fight, so I’m not going to respond on this forum. Woodie, if you have more you want to say to me, you can call me during business hours and communicate it directly. My contact information is easily Googled. We needn’t burden others here.

A fascinating video interview and profile with Mr. Hostetter from the NAMM organization from a few years ago. Worth the watch, despite too little on his time at Motown Records during the mid-1960's.

https://www.namm.org/library/oral-histo ... -hostetter

_________________
We have become a civilization that elevates idiots, prostitutes, and clowns. Am I still to defend it? Yes, for its principles. Yes, for what it was. Yes, for what it still may be.

-Mark Helprin, The Oceans and the Stars: A Sea Story, A War Story, A Love Story (A Novel)

Great interview. I was also born in 1945 and was in Denver from 1963-1967. I was a folkie. Wonder if our paths ever crossed?

Looks like a delightful human being.

_________________
It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Paul's two daughters are friends of my daughter in Brooklyn - one lives there and one lives in Ethiopia and both make great music. I never met him, but was an email buddy for the last 7 years. We both worked on boats in our youth. He was a Nick Lucas Special expert, having interviewed Nick before his death in 1982, and helped me greatly in building a replica. He designed the H-13 (Nick Lucas Special variant) for Santa Cruz, in the 70's if i recall, and it is still in production. He had a fabulous instrument collection and knew everyone in the business. He will be missed, but hopefully his fantastic website resource will be part of his legacy - lutherie.net.

Ed

What a great interview thanks for sharing. Seemed like a wonderful human being.

I forgot about his website, what a great resource. I hope it stays up.

I emailed him about 4 years ago with questions when building an L-00, 13-fret, Nick Lucas inspired build & he promptly replied. I wish I would have bugged him with more questions...

_________________
I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

I have loved and benefited a lot from the knowledge and wisdom on Paul Hostetter's website. I had a couple of email and forum conversations with him when I was building a Nick Lukas style L-00 and he was very generous with time and knowledge. I think his design of the Santa Cruz H-13 guitar is one of the instruments I would most love to play or own one day. A sad loss to our community.