Hello - just joined

[Murray Leshner]

Looks like the last newbie here (2020) might have considerable experience now.

A lot has happened since 2020...I bought Hurd's Left-Brained Lutherie end of 2020 to read while I had 'The Plague'...directly from him.

I say I don't have time to practice guitar, so I might as well not have to r to build either, & started collecting books & DVD's.

I bought my first guitar in '86 while studying saxophone. I sold the horns to pay off credit card bills (made a profit on those), but I tend to keep the string instruments, all of them.

I am still in my mid 60's, not sure when retirement looms ahead. My background d is in electronics but did woodworking on high school decades ago. So I hoard pieces of wood with nice tap tones.

I gave away most of my cigar boxes...I have really never heard a cigar box guitar I liked, and have been disappointed cigar stores only sell bodies and not necks. Some day I'll build a neck.

I will be posting some questions about a worthless (no name, splits in top & back & confirmed worthless) student classical guitar from Germany to the US in the 1930's that has an interesting historical aspect...a tapered fingerboard like (if I read my history correctly) a Stauffer 'after Legnani' model I think C.F. Martin was also inspired by. My questions will be leaning toward using that guitar for incremental repairs instead of starting from scratch on a new build. it was stored in a canvas bag in the crawl space of a Michigan basement for many years.

I have built some partscasters, own a couple archtop guitars, and have an obsession (on & off) with polymer ribbon piezo sensors. I built a couple pickups for violin and started one for double bass.

I study music theory as a (weird?) hobby to keep from getting frustrated with guitar. I think that the better I know the neck, the easier it will be to pick up where I left off with guitar. I still don't know which end of the guitar goes in my mouth (saxophones are gone). I may never understand alternate tunings until I actual have some hands-on chops instead of theoretical.

I have a problem finishing projects, as I get distracted my new ones. But I type well and have a sense of humor, even if it is unrecognizable to some.

Another project is intonating a purchased baritone uke sort-of converted to a short tenor guitar (steel strings with same total tension). Turns out the nut is too far from the first fret (took some help to figure that out-almost ended my amateur luthiery interests early on).

Another is a hammered hard-drive-o-phone. I have tuned 5 hard drive chasses (aluminum) chromatically and needed a break from it. I need to actually mount some & confirm they still resonate and that their intonation is ok or can be fixed if they shift. Since I started that I discovered the cimbalom, so maybe this isn't as crazy an idea as it seems.

Thanks for reading (those of you who are still awake).


Murray Leshner
Holland MI

[Barry Daniels]

I have a few unfinished projects. I think I hold onto some of them for some odd longevity issue. Sometimes I think I will restart one of these and get it out of my shop. But then I usually decide to start something new.

[Jim McConkey]

Welcome to the Forum, Murray! There have actually been quite a few new members the past several years, but many prefer to remain in the shadows.

[Karl Wicklund]

Welcome!

[Murray Leshner]

Thanks all.

I went thru the recommended books list & couldn't resist the cardboard instruments book & ordered a copy.

I may be surprised, but assume that I will learn how NOT to do things.

[Eric Crawford]

Welcome aboard, “unfinished projects” sounds familiar, it can be hard to focus with the Lake there to distract you, and if you are like me, the puzzle of the concept and attempting to design a weird idea into a physical product can be a distraction if the last Idea’s project is still incomplete.
I left Michigan 20 years ago, I still miss the big Lakes.

[Eric Knapp]

Welcome! I'm still very much a rookie here and have learned a ton from the group. Questions get answered by some very experienced builders. That's a huge help.

I grew up in Grand Rapids, MI and know Holland well. I also miss the lakes and beaches and get back there from time to time.

-Eric