I ain't goin' nowhere. I love this place. You can't run me off!!!
The simple fact of the matter is 90% of the people on here are better guitar builders (luthiers, termites, etc.) than I am and I know it. 25 guitars from now, I will be 10 years older than I am today (if I live that long), and my total guitar volume will have amounted to what some of you true pros build in ONE year or, gulp, a month. In my view, that gives YOU the right to impart wisdom as you see fit. I'm electronically sittin' at the feet of the masters...and I'm A-OK with that. And I'm smart enough to notice that Grumpy's "sighs" are usually followed with something I did NOT know. I don't care if somebody thinks I should, or shouldn't, build with CNC parts, or dead animal glue. Hey, they can chew the wood down to proper size with their teeth for all I care. But I'm going to read that post and take it for what it's worth - then choose to apply it to my building as I see fit. I mean, really, how many people roll their eyes at you at work, or church, or home, at a family reunion, on the freeway or at "the club?" It happens. Big deal. Grow up.
So here's what I'd like all those pros to do: call me a moron, a dope, a dunce, a goober. Imply that I don't know what I'm doing, and that I'm somehow less of a man for it. Suggest that I quit working with wood, and take up paper mache', or crosstitch. Criticize me if I say something stupid, and belittle me as much as you wish if that will help get your point across. I'm 45 years old, and you're not going to hurt my feelings. Hey, I got lifelong friends that when I answer the phone say, "What's goin' on bonehead?" I can take anything this beige-colored forum can dish out. So bring it!
But PLEASE, sincerely please, do not stop offering advice, giving opinions, offering links to web addresses, making recommendations on tools, referencing suppliers, posting tutorials, and participating in the overall comraderie that we have here. I appreciate your presence, I enjoy what you write, and I absorb what you have to say. AND, with your generous help, someday, my guitars will be better than they are today.
Carry on...oh, and Merry Christmas.
I'm here to learn all I can about the techniques of others and grow from that. Not everybody likes chocolate, that's what makes us unique. Folks need to stop taking themselves so darned seriously.