Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi folks,
I haven’t been around the OLF much Lately. I’ve been trying to spend time getting my own financial house in better order.
As part of that pursuit, I just accomplished a long-time lutherie goal/ dream of mine and thought some OLF’ers might be interested. I also want to give a public thanks to Dave and Hesh at Ann Arbor Guitars.

When I joined the OLF, back in 2008, each page would load on my dial up connection line by line and Hesh was just another aspiring retiree builder. It took awhile for the envy to subside after he stole my fantasy job as Dave Collins apprentice but, ten years later, I’m over it, (mostly ). I’ve also hung my own repair shingle out in rural Colorado for the last 3 yrs, all the while trying to make sense of Hesh’s admonishments to us minutia worrying, business challenged, luthiers. “Hey Bozo’s, if you want to be successful, you have to wrap your head around some important business concepts! But don’t worry, it’s possible to do without selling your precious Geppetto souls” (That’s a made-up, interpretive Quote)

Hesh has made the most ridiculous and improbable leap, from the pinnacle of corporate America, to a two-man lutherie repair shop and lived to tell the tale. If you don’t listen and try to understand what he has been(endlessly ) saying, (and doing), I think you’re making a mistake.
Dave Collins has long had the well deserved reputation as the luthiers luthier and I don't think that begins to tell the tale. It seems everything I've ever mused about Dave has taken out to the vanishing point, done some testing, returned with any practical application, and then taught his findings to anyone who was interested.
With their repair shop, these two seem to have taken a friendship and created something more than the sum of its parts.

In my own shop, as I struggled to make ends meet, I would repeatedly think,” D@mn! if I could only ask Dave. He would know the answer.” and, “I wish I could understand Hesh, If I could just understand what the he11 he’s saying I could make this work!”

There is no way to adequately sum up my experience at A2 Guitars but man, what a privilege. To spend time with them, while they were in the shop doing their thing, was fantastic for me.
It seemed Dave and I could talk in short hand, he would clearly articulate answers, letting me just snap long missing pieces of knowledge into place.
Hesh was a patient, kind, professor, who genuinely helped the class knucklehead try and understand what doesn't come easily to him. He would often give an encouraging fist bump when he witnessed my ah-ha moments. .
Both Dave and Hesh stopped to ask questions and have discussions about my situation. It was clear neither was proposing I just duplicate everything they did. They were listening and working on ideas with, and tailored for, me. That kind of care and concern seems to be vanishing from the earth.

If your waiting to hear someone grumble and describe a less that Fantastic experience spending time with Hesh and Dave, good luck with that. It’s going to be a long wait. All I can do is add my name to the growing list of folks who feel lucky to be able to call them friends.
I’m returning home confident about what I need to change. I feel the push of my new friends desire for me to succeed and I’m determined to give it my best effort.

If I could, I’d ship a warm, sunny, Colorado spring up to them in Michigan as thanks.


If you ever get the chance, don’t think twice.

I took their fretting class last month and it was real treat tone able to absorb the knowledge of these two. I'll be back to take more classes in the future.

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https://www.instagram.com/fostinoguitars/
https://www.facebook.com/PuraVidaUkuleles/

Dave,
Sounds as if you had one of those 'only comes once, if you are lucky' experiences. I have never met either in person but I do feel as if I've known them for the longest time. It was a lucky day when they stumbled upon the forum.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

How cool is that David. Thanks for the report.

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

Glad you made it up there Dave, I couldn't agree more with your assessment.

It seemed Dave and I could talk in short hand, he would clearly articulate answers, letting me just snap long missing pieces of knowledge into place.

- He sure does have a knack for that. When I did the fretting/setup class I learned about so much more just because he could understand my (sometimes poorly articulated) questions then give the clear, concise answer that made it all come together and make sense.

Hesh was a patient, kind, professor, who genuinely helped the class knucklehead try and understand what doesn't come easily to him. He would often give an encouraging fist bump when he witnessed my ah-ha moments.

- One of the most helpful people I've met. Wish I could get back up there and hang out with him for a bit and focus on the business side of things. I really feel challenged in that area.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I was asked in a pm if I took the fretting class or what I did while at Ann Arbor guitars and realized I didn’t mentioned it in the haze of my mid travel post.

I worked out a deal to spend an entire work week there during business hours. Although Hesh and I had a few discussions, it was left up to me exactly how I wanted to spend the time. In the months before the trip I made notes about issues that came up in my repair business and formed them into questions I took with me and shared. I didn’t want to return home and smack my forehead about something I wished I’d brought up.

The focus of my trip was to learn what a successful repair business looks like in real time, how they deal with customers and instruments. Not a description of it, not an organized presentation of it, with the good stuff edited out, but as it really happens. How the sausage is made so to speak. Despite a lot of experience in instrument building and repair, never getting to work in a successful repair shop has left a gap in my business knowledge I’ve found difficult to fill on my own.
I went with technical questions too but mostly in the context of how good is good enough or how things can be done quickly enough to make money and still be up to snuff.

Hesh and I originally planned on a little bit of hands on work but there was so much to take in,my attention was often split. One of them working with a customer and the other at the bench. I quickly realized, to be head down, nervously focused on an instrument, would be a distraction for me. I just toggled between being a fly on the wall and grilling Dave or Hesh about what they had just done or were doing and why. Mercifully, there is at least one thing I’m confident about, or at least is not a weak link for me and that’s the actual hand skills.

I was astonished how much they indulged me. If I had someone in my shop watching me and asking questions for 5 straight days I think I would have lost it at some point. If anything, they seemed to have more capacity than I did. I was pretty much toast at the end of each day, falling spread eagle onto the hotel bed. To be sure, completely aside from instruments, we were compatible company. I had a strong hunch that would be the case based on interaction on forums over the years.

It would have been great if it could have been done at a more natural pace instead of cramming it in sun-up to sun-down, but the week was exactly as I had hoped. Literally, the only thing I wish I had done more was scrutinize every instrument after it came in. Most of them I did. I could have taken every missed one down and looked but things happened fast. Clearly out of habit, Dave and Hesh made the assessment, struck the deal and had the tag and instrument in the to do section of the rack before the customer was halfway down the stairs. In fact, that organized deal making and record keeping speed was one of the most important takeaways for me.

I was pretty much toast at the end of each day, falling spread eagle onto the hotel bed.

I think that's the norm when you go to their shop (at least is was for me), that and the feeling you just finished drinking from a fire hose all day

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Thanks for the detailed right up, sounds like a great experience!

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Pat