Official Luthiers Forum!

A quick question and I'm sure someone on the forum can point me to a quick answer (I just couldn't find it).  Could someone share with me the poop on subscribing to the OLF?  What's the cost; benefits of membership (apart from the obvious ... supporting what strikes me as a newbie to the forum be a phenomenal resource and venue to exchange related thoughts and ideas, issues and solutions while promoting the craft).

TX!
Rick

Subscribing to the OLF?

All you need to do is sign up(you did) and be here...

Hi Rick,

Welcome to OLF I'm new here also and I had the same question. From searching the archives, I found out that the subscription process happens at the beginning of the year - you get membership in GAL, a subscription to 1 or 2 magazines (foggy memory) and discounts from sponsors. I decided to wait until Brock or Lance announce the next round.

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GregH
Fot Wuth

ASIA membership, Fretboard mag and Acoustic Guitar. Last I checked.

Yep both Mario and Greg are correct.  There is no charge to participate here.

If you are interested in helping to support this fantastic forum you can also become a subscriber.  All the benefits that Greg mentioned were available to subscribers this year and the fee I can't recall what it was last year.

But I have found that the discount coupons are pretty useful and in my case more than paid for the cost of subscribing.

GuitarMaker and Acoustic Guitar are great as well and nice to get in your mailbox.

I am sure that Lance and Brock, our hosts here on the OLF, will fill us in when they have the 2008 subscriber program worked out.

Welcome here Rick, With the subscription you get a one year membership to ASIA which also gets you Guitarmaker, ASIA's quarterly magazine. You also get a one year subscription to Acoustic Guitar magazine as well as a one year subscription to The Fretboard Journal, another great magazine. You also get a bunch of sponsor coupons if you chose to buy from the OLF sponsors, these coupons (if you use most of them) will save you more than the cost of the subscription.

But wait.....there's more.

You also get an OLF coffee cup and a OLF tee-shirt.

Very good value in all of that and you get to help keep the doors open.

Where in Canada are you?

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Right, so sorry Mattia the subscription also included, for this year anyway, The Fretboard Journal.

Coupons! COUPONS????
I got the Asia membership...I got the Mug... I got the Magazines... I got the T-shirt... I even got the Satisfaction of supporting this great forum.
BUT... Where's my blinkin' COUPONS???
But seriously folks... If you can spare the cash & you find this on-line community essential to your mental health, why not shell out a few bucks & join the growing crowd.
Our hosts do an incredible job here for very little reward. They deserve our support.

This is an unsolicited, free time endorsement of the Official Luthier's Forum.

Rod .... Oakville, Ontario.  How about you?

Rick

TX for the info everyone.  I look forward to Brock's and/or Lance's announcement.  I presume it is a general post here on the Main Discussion Forum???

Rick

for very little reward

Ummm, last time I looked, there were a LOT of advertisers here. They are the ones who are supposed to pay the bills, and our support is in the form of buying from the advertisers, if/when it fits our needs. I did some quick math one day, mostly calculated guesses, but it's fairly simple, count the number of advertisers, guess at a rate, and do some gozintha's. Methinks the "reward" is already a touch more than "very little", as it quickly rose into 5 figures, the first of which wasn't one, nor two, nor.....

I wasn't aware of this fund drive for support, in the form of subscriptions. It comes as a surprise to me, today, and seems, well, strange. I mean, public TV has find raisers and subscriptions because they DON"T have advertisers, and network TV sells advertising, but never asks for subscriptions. Same with everything else I can think of(regular radio has advertisers, subscribers support non-commercial satellite radio, etc, etc, etc...).

Is the OLF a registered private business?  Or is it a non profit organization or for profit organization?

A Saturday morning surprise for me...

Mario, I am a subscriber to the forum, and the donation I made to help keep the doors open was strictly voluntary. I have never been asked to subscribe, and I doubt I ever will. The benefits for me were the subscriptions to ASIA and GAL, and also the other stuff...coffee cup, t-shirt, and the coupons for discounts from the official forum sponsors. I have used a couple of those coupons and all in all the donation I made has paid for its self.

Most of all, I just wanted to help pay some of the bandwidth costs for the forum so that we could all share in the joy and knowledge of lutherie.

This is the most hassle-free forum I have ever belonged to. I will gladly continue to support the forum with my annual voluntary contribution.

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Reguards,

Ken H

What ? No HAT.I really like the hats.
                    James

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James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

For the moment we are not taking new subscriptions ...

About this time of year it is always tough, and in the past there has been confusion about which year for ASIA is being subscribed to (in this case 07 or 08) so it is best that this late in the year we just focus on our 08 plan.

And as Filippo has stated shipping the cups and shirts and other physical goodies have become a strain as the OLF gets larger.

We are working on a new mix of products and a new operational model now. Our hope is to have something announced before the end of the year.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com