Official Luthiers Forum!

Was going though old pics and found some that you guys might be interested in seeing. Dave Collins and I put on a gathering in Ann Arbor at the Black Elks Lodge in 2008. OLFers attended from several continents including down under so the turn out was great.

And of course we held it at a place with a liquor license which always helps attendance with this group too... . And weed was always legal for the past 40 years in Ann Arbor so lots of folks came...

Lots of pics so I'll post them and put notes on each pic.

Thanks

More pics:

More pics.

Wow! Any more info on the behemoth Andy Birko is holding? Impressive.

Hard to believe that was 14 years ago. I still remember how nice that Mario Proulx guitar was. You guys did a great job putting that event together.

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jw ( o)===:::

What did you like about the MP?

Pat

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Pat

That's a bandora and I think Andy built that one. He's a sponsor here so he may weigh-in although he's been busy his wife and boy are Ukrainian.

Hey Buddy and thanks!! Yeah Mario's guitar was incredible and a burst too which I would not have expected from him but my favorite.

In short everything! It was and is what a small builder, Luthier made instrument should be which is in my view superior to commercial, factory instruments in nearly all respects. The value of hand made or Luthier made should be higher standards than even Martin in my view and that is not all that difficult to do either for someone with some talent.

The workmanship was superb, fit and finish excellent, it was also light and responsive and had a fast neck with great fret work and it played like butter.

You would be surprised how most of what we see from small builders is not up to speed in major ways. So much so that we often will not work on small builder stuff and turn it away.

Mario clearly wanted to build top shelf guitars and that what he brought to the event. Expectations were very high with this group and there was a lot of unspoken competition too.

The best way to judge where the bar is in my view is to attend Healsburg not as an exhibitor but as an attendee and meet the builders and check out their stuff. That's what I did and I found the bar lower than I thought it was as a result and then and only then did I feel comfortable selling my own stuff.

Anyway Mario back then (and now too I'm sure) had something like a five year waiting list his stuff was so very coveted.

Pat, from my perspective Mario's guitar was very responsive. In other words it seemed to take very little effort on my part to make music with it. Fit and finish were no doubt spot on but the thing that stuck with me was how easily playable the guitar was and also how darned responsive it was.

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jw ( o)===:::

Thanks for the feedback on Mario's guitar. That's awesome that he impressed a bunch of luthiers! Interesting commentary on going to Healdsburg Hesh, thx.

Also interesting perspective about working on luthier made guitars! LOL I have experienced the same thing on most luthier built guitars that I have come across that are not well known. I'm evaluating it, pause, and then "What the wha?!"
Pat

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Pat