Aloha from Columbus, OH

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Curt808
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Sep 09, 2013 9:10 pm
Location: Columbus, OH

Aloha from Columbus, OH

Post by Curt808 »

Land locked here in the beautiful midwest since 2005, originally from the Islands of Hawaii. By trade I am a Pedorthist, and Orthotic/Prosthetic technician. But was greatly affected by our countries financial woe's in 2008...which ultimately cost me my position. Though I currently work as a Sterile processing technician, I greatly miss building custom projects...as well as the personal fulfillment of helping enhance another persons quality of life. I grew up with music, its in the family and the guitar and ukulele was always around in our house growing up....played at family gatherings, hooked up with some other guys in high school and played alot of music. Well fast forward and a busy life that left me hardly any time to seriously play, I made a commitment to pick up the guitar this year 2013 and take it to a level that would allow me to financially compensate some of the income lost to the household...and of course be my outlet to feed my musical passion. Early this year in the process I injured my cervical spine at work that knocked me out of commission for almost 3 months, and today I'm still not 100%....but much better...and extremely careful (proper body mechanics everyone). This summer I made a financial investment to my goal and picked up a new Larrivee L-05 ( I haven't purchased a guitar since 1998) , beautiful quilted mahogany with an alpine spruce top...but more important it was the pick out of many guitars in the line up....all custom models of Martins, Larrivee and Taylors....this one stood out to me the most sound wise...its true that the right guitar will speak to you. Upon taking it to a custom guitar shop for set-up and electronics, I was able to watch technicians working on guitars....hand tools, work benches, scent of glue, shop noise, machines!!!! I was struck with the thought that just maybe I could learn this craft. When I came back to pick up the guitar, I had a good long talk with the owner who was nice enough to answer my too many questions regarding the trade of guitar building. From that day on I researched a path and plan to learn guitar building with the idea of it becoming fulltime, along with my music. Taking a guitar building class (which was first on the list) is out of my means at the moment, so I decided for now to invest in required tools, equipment, books and videos to start me out. I'm glad to have called John Hall with Blues Creek guitar who provided a complete bending machine that just arrived last week. I have access to a family friends work shop as a place to start building, he is retired but still works on smaller projects...luckily he has some machines that will be helpful....and of course knowledge of wood. I have lots of experience in custom fabrication with metals, plastics, carbon graphite etc..., but not with wood. I am hoping that my skills will transfer over to guitar building. From what I have researched so far, for me I feel that joining the neck, fretting correctly, binding, set-up and finishing will be the most challenging for me. It seems each process has its own area of expertise that needs to come together to produce a high quality instrument that looks and most importantly sounds fantastic. I am hoping to start building in a few months, and would greatly appreciate all advice from builders...new or seasoned of what to do (and more important what not to do!!), feedback and any critical aspects that a noob like me should now. Constructive criticism is also welcomed.....I would not be offended, but thankful if it saves me a ton of grief.
Thanks for taking the time to read this looooong intro.....best regards.
Curt
JVan
Posts: 143
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 7:03 pm
Location: White Pigeon, MI

Re: Aloha from Columbus, OH

Post by JVan »

Welcome to the forum Curt, I believe you find all the info you will need here, Hookin up with John Hall was a good place to start.
Have fun~
JV
Curt808
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Sep 09, 2013 9:10 pm
Location: Columbus, OH

Re: Aloha from Columbus, OH

Post by Curt808 »

Hey JV, thanks for the welcome! and yes I am glad to meet John Hall....he has been so generous with advice for me, and I'm sure with many, many other people like myself who are just getting started. I am looking forward to getting my first builds under my belt, and with the help of other generous people and examples on this forum I'm hoping it will be a really good start. I will take my time through out each process...and post questions, and I'm sure mistakes.....and photo's along the way. I am encouraged by the many other builders from new to pro...who show their work, asks questions and share advise.....awesome!
Kevin Sjostrand
Posts: 3712
Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 8:06 pm
Location: Visalia, CA

Re: Aloha from Columbus, OH

Post by Kevin Sjostrand »

Welcome Curt. Glad you are on board.

Kevin
Built2play
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Nov 09, 2013 9:38 am

Re: Aloha from Columbus, OH

Post by Built2play »

Hey curt! My name is Mike and we are sorta kinda neighbors. I'm down here in Orient if you ever want to talk shop and swap ideas. I have one BCG dread under my belt and working on #2. Give me a shout, I'd be glad to help or learn.
B. Howard
Posts: 709
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2012 9:42 pm
Location: Hummelstown, PA
Contact:

Re: Aloha from Columbus, OH

Post by B. Howard »

Welcome. You have found a great place to get advice so don't be shy. Ask questions as they come up and someone here will be able to help.
You never know what you are capable of until you actually try....

Brian Howard
www.brianhowardguitars.com
Taylor authorized service
Custom finishing services

Brian howard's guitar building & repair blog
http://www.brianhowardguitars.com
tippie53
Posts: 7011
Joined: Fri Mar 03, 2006 7:09 pm
Location: Hegins, Pa
Contact:

Re: Aloha from Columbus, OH

Post by tippie53 »

I am sure you have some skills that will be a help to many here.
John Hall
Blues Creek Guitars Inc
Authorized CF Martin Repair Center
president of Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans
http://www.bluescreekguitars.com
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