Official Luthiers Forum!

Just out this morning on MLIVE which is both a conventional newspaper sold all over Michigan and Michigan's largest on-line news site.

They got a few things wrong but hey they always do, Fake news....LOL.... We are celebrating the end of our 5th year with double digit growth every single year!

http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2017/12/ann_arbor_guitars.html#incart_2box_news_ann-arbor




Thanks for looking!

Nice article and well deserved! Merry Christmas you two!

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

So, Hesh..... How many things DID they get wrong?
Merry Christmas from Kansas!

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Congratulations Hesh!

I guess, like the photo of Dave shows, repair lutherie isn't so much about romantic plane shavings as much as throwing sparks at the disc sander!

Nice article. Congratulations. Hesh - you said in the article you plan to do this for 4 or 5 more years before you retire from lutherie... You are about my age, why wouldn't you just want to keep doing it? Your having fun, right? What else are you gonna do?

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Nice article, and well deserved! This is a great primer for the general public to see what Hesh and David do, but many of us here know that it shows just the tip of the iceberg of the services, and skills, that you both provide. There's a lot that goes on in that small third floor space!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Many thanks folks!

Chris whenever the press does a story on you there are things that you wish that they would have got right.... But we expected this.

My background for one, although a highly trained programmer I never did any programming for a living (I only did it to cheat on my expense account) because I was promoted to my highest level of ineptitude nearly at once and was put in management. I was trained to run corporations and did some of that making me uniquely capable of shielding the real talent from the BS associated with being in business these days. That's really what the story should have said that I'm the business puke and Dave is the real and extraordinary talent of Ann Arbor Guitars. I do work on hundreds and hundreds of guitars and people like my work but Dave is who taught me how to do this.

The other thing was it wasn't the fast turn around that grew our business it was the superb quality of the work AND the honesty and fast turn around. The writer kind of made it sound like we have a great business breakfast even though the rooms might have bed bugs..... Me, I'm not picky....

Another thing that bothers me is a HUGE percentage of our business is new instruments that were never set-up or never set-up properly or the manufacturing is not complete for one reason or another..... Many of our repeat clients pick-up a new ax and bring it to us at once for these reasons....

We do some restoration but avoid it these days because it sucks too much time. The guitar that needs "repair" that I am holding in one of the pics is a very valuable 1920 Herman Hauser in original and good condition. It's been pick-up now so I sleep better...

Steve since it was in the press lately the word "dotard" has been frequently in my vocabulary.... I've always been fearful that when I'm past it I won't know it and may be harming others in my own obliviousness..... Seriously those who know me well know I speak like this and bring it up. Another way to perhaps describe it is Jewish Guilt..... . Seriously though I am concerned that I may be the last to know that I stayed too long.....

Anyway Dave and I know a Luthier personally who "stayed too long" and as a result messed up client instruments. I don't ever want to be that guy.... and even started proactively getting out of the way in my real job some years back for the same reasons.

I do love what I do now and love it more than anything else that I have ever done. I've also very much enjoyed how easy and responsive a small Luthier business is marketing it and branding the real talent. In a former life you go on these five year marketing missions where no one has ever been before and you really never know if you are doing any good.... or your life has any meaning.

With this business it responds and so too does the market at times nearly at once (for better or worse....) and that makes it much more like one of my other favorite things, mowing a lawn with my former zero-turn Gravely (I moved into a condo and no longer have a lawn). You can look behind you and know that you achieved something....

Anyway I'll still do some repairing because I love it but won't be involved in it every day and it will be time to get out of Dave's way too.

On my list is learning to fly fish, continue growing my orchids (not exactly very exciting but I've done it for decades now), building that N scale layout that I've been collecting train stuff since I used to work for a locomotive manufacturer, doing some repair work, jamming with my drunk friends, continuing to partake of my medical pot.... and..... er..... I forgot what I wanted to say....

Thanks everyone!

A little disappointed. They failed to mention how incredibly good looking you both are! Haha I guess the pics speak for themselves.

Very cool! I hope to stop on in one day.

Cheers!

Nice article with great photos. It looks like you have a pretty cool shop to do your work in. Is it always that neat and tidy? That's impressive, if so.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Obviously more fake news

A good end to what I hope was a great year.

Best to you and Dave and have a great holiday.

Steve

It’s cool to see the slotting jog in action! As the kids would say, that thing’s “fire.”


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I dunno..... Chris asked me what they got wrong.

Do you think that this pic gives folks the wrong idea? No wonder the client kept scooting his chair back.....

There are always things that you wish had not happened.......

Hmmm ... Hesh channeling Austin Powers?

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Nice. A little luthier love!

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Pat