Meeting Notes

Despite being short-handed (and short of oranges for that matter), the Fortune City Seafood Restaurant hosted a lively dinner meeting of the Seattle Luthiers on Tuesday, September 9.

There was much talk about the Big Annual Show, less than a month away. Jay Gordon (perhaps in return for the spontaneous acceptance of his application to exhibit) successfully strongarmed several nearly innocent bystanders into "volunteering" to help with logistics. Gordon also passed around a router attachment he had modified and was persuaded to talk about his current bending-iron project.

A couple of nice chunks of increasingly-scarce ebony changed hands. Zane's father's first mandolin made its debut to the whole group, and was played at length by Eric Foulke. An oud received some kind words and some detailed suggestions from Michael Gurian; and in fact, violin pegs were discussed at greater length than usual. It was getting along towards ten o'clock before the harried staff made much progress at clearing the table and the few remaining luthiers began the journey to their cars (a journey made longer, as we learned, by a concurrent baseball game nearby).

Clint Farrell hosted the somewhat-annual Seattle Luthiers swapmeet at his Bellevue home on the evening of August 12, and though attendance was small the selection and the hospitality were on a suitably large scale. Clint has built more stringed instruments than many of us, and certainly instruments with more strings than most of us hope to.

The bargains this year were in wood, and, besides a portion of the material that Clint has collected over the years, the selection included a big stack of spruce sent by Bruce Harvie and two varieties accompanied by Rob Girdis (some sawn Adirondack and a wonderful Sitka billet). The big supply and small demand meant that prices were low on the wood that actually changed hands, and the tradition of giving some items away for free was honored in the form of some laminated binding strips. A well-used smooth plane failed to find a new owner, but may have found a new home in a sense (a door-back shoe holder just like the one full of all kinds of planes in Clint's shop).

Classical builder Greg Oxrieder arrived fashionably late, to be greeted by a big fan, classical guitarist and beginning luthier Brett Johnson. But, as Joe Bob Briggs would have lamented, there was no single-malt tasting -- and no Ethan Deutsch! It is to be hoped that at least one of these traditions will be revived in the near future -- perhaps at next month's dinner.

How could the Fifth Annual Seattle Luthiers Summer Potluck be held in the same place as last year's event and yet at a location miles away? With Gurian, all things are possible, and the familiar barge with its new view of the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks & Carl S. English Jr. Botanical Garden welcomed over two dozen merry-makers on the evening of Tuesday, July 8.

Food was plentiful. Among the highlights were the Krauses' curried crustaceans, Spencer Lerner's homemade rum-raisin ice cream, and two varieties of brownies, one bearing the Hargreaves imprimatur. There was also the increasingly traditional whiskey tasting, plus one serious tequila.

David Bennet brought a nice-sounding archtop guitar, but the evening's conversation was dominated by mandolins. David Haxton brought his first, still in pieces, and received a lot of advice. Bruce Harvie had with him (besides a van full of spruce in the round) another which he played to the delight of those grouped around the busy grill.

Clint Ferrell offered to host the meeting in August, a month when many are distracted by the show in Healdsburg.

The party wound down around dusk, but not before the now-traditional flamenco guitar performance by Ethan Deutsch

The food tasted particularly good at the Fortune City Seafood Restaurant on the evening of May 13, at least according to many of the seventeen luthiers gathered for their regular meeting.

Newish member Spencer Lerner evaded the traditional duck's head by allowing old-timer (but new Fortune City visitor) Jason Lollar to convince himself that he, as the newcomer, deserved it. It appeared however that Mr. Lollar absorbed enough Honey Walnut Prawns to outweigh any unfairness.

There was news of two upcoming shows -- the Second Annual Puget Sound Stringed Instrument Exhibit, October 4-5, for which commemorative T-shirts had been printed and were issued to prominent members, and the imminent Northwest Folklife Festival [note: click here for an account], where even fancier T-shirts would be on sale.

Clearly doctored pictures of a not-quite-finished oud were handed around, and then myrtle master Rob Girdis produced his latest little guitar for inspection.

"Rosettes -- Mild to Wild," the big-budget remake of the critically-acclaimed but under-attended inlay extravaganza of October 2001, took place April 8, 2003, at the shop of Dave Krause, and indeed drew an audience of twenty from as far away as Albuquerque. The original cast, augmented by a couple of additional characters, looked at the decoration of soundholes from a number of different angles.

This time Rion Dudley's presentation was text-based rather than visual; but pictures of his freehand, horizontal-veneer method are available in our original review, found by following this link.

Greg Oxrieder was back, this time with two versions of a sophisticated veneer-thicknessing device and with a nascent rosette that had grown to include a beguiling line of redheart. David Haxton displayed part of his ever-increasing vocabulary of soundhole enhancements, along with a new aid to producing them -- a jig for cutting the correct tile-side angle on his table saw.

New to the program was a look at a traditionally-made rosette by Rob Girdis, both in tile-log form and in a lovely little guitar just getting its French-polish finish. Jay Hargreaves revealed what may be the least-traditional rosette of all, existing as it does in a different dimension, not lying flat around the soundhole but instead replacing its lip through the entire depth of the guitar top (not to mention being oval at the same time, vying for highest honors in the categories of innovation, elegance and simplicity).

Of course interest in Jay's bracing system soon replaced all thoughts of rosettes and individual conversations sprang up. Some tinkered with an electric bass brought by Inez Lindsey. Jet-setting Founding Father Paul Hass offered items of welding equipment to a distinctly buyer's market. New member Spencer Lerner quickly saw through assertions that his first guitar was forfeit to the group as an initiation fee, and even asked promising questions about next month's dinner meeting, which should be May 13.

"Upstairs!" is the cheerful message greeting a Seattle Luthiers member arriving at the Fortune City Seafood Restaurant for the bi-monthly dinner meeting. At once comforting and slightly unnerving (exactly how do they recognize the instrument makers anyway?) that phrase welcomed, by official count, fifteen or sixteen of us on the evening of March 11, including two or three new faces.

In between, there were appearances by a couple of instruments, including for most of us a first actual look at the LaValle pinless-bridge asymmetric-soundhole model.

There were no official announcements, although David Haxton, in response to a question, stated that next month's meeting would be a reprise of the fascinating but overlooked Rosettes Colloquium, but held at Dave Krause's shop. This announcement was quickly follwed by a request to Greg Oxrieder that he repeat his demonstration there, to which the latter quietly assented.

"Jigs (and jiggers)" was the theme of the February 11 regular meeting, attended by over a dozen. There would have been more but for the difficulty in finding the new berth of the Gurian barge, which, befitting the emphasis on Michael's nautical trade, is now fairly well defended from the landward side, at least at night.

Those who slipped through the gap in the fence and made their way aboard were treated to a snack, then chips and drinks, a bit of swashbuckling (both the Jolly Roger and a cutlass, doubtless very sharp, were briefly displayed), an array of Scot's whisky brought by members for tasting, and then a show of jigs and shaping devices. Among the entrants: David Haxton and Greg Oxrieder both had devices for securing or shaping the very different necks of their very different instruments. Jay Hargreaves passed around his elegant little gramil, a device once essential to the luthier but now exotic to many. David LaVallee brought his high-wattage grill-lighter bending iron -- and a reference to Guitarjigs.com, which sells a selection of molds and radiused boards that were formerly shop-made. Captain Gurian himself offered two typically simple and versatile devices: a plane iron captive in a block of wood, capable of thinning strips to any desired guage; and the ultimate clamp for curved surfaces, appearing to the uninitiated as no more than a couple of bits of lath.

Mr. Haxton also announced that the date had been set for this year's Second Annual Puget Sound Stringed Instrument Exhibit, namely October 4 and 5, again at Renton Technical College. He further suggested that there were still openings for volunteers to participate in its planning and executing (which is probably still true by the way).

After a deck tour for newcomers most of the crowd drifted off. Those who stayed till the very end were rewarded with much-sought-after Gurian Instruments laser-cut keychains.

There was something very special on the menu at the Fortune City Seafood Restaurant Tuesday, January 14,2003 -- a tribute to Seattle Luthiers founder David Haxton.

In presenting the award, David Brooks called to mind a number of events on the group's journey, from the initial exploratory meeting at the Haxton home in September 1998, through four Folklife appearances and the First Annual Puget Sound Stringed Instrument Exhibit and months and months of regular meetings, all with Mr. Haxton's sure but gentle guidance. There was a certificate, then princely gifts from several individual members, and a not insubstantial stipend to be redeemed for goods from a favorite supplier; a round or two of applause and a few other spoken tributes. Mr. Haxton graciously accepted the adulation, saying that he had received more than he had given.

There was plenty to talk about besides the celebration, for the seventeen who attended. Dave Krause is organizing this year's Folklife booth, and asked again for a quick response from those interested in exhibiting. Preliminary work has also begun on the group's next Puget Sound show. Newcomer Artak Kalantarian asked several cogent questions of the group about lutherie in general and bracing in particular; adding up the suggestions he offered about managing our e-mail list, he's probably so far given more than he's received.

Unless of course you consider the food, which was tasty and plentiful as always. There was some discussion of trying a different venue, and, truth be told, epicure Michael Gurian (his shop again recently relocated) is ever on the lookout for new spots; but, as was pointed out, the people who come to the dinners are the ones who are happy with the current arrangement, those who want to eat somewhere else never get to vote, the status quo is retained by acclamation, and change is unlikely. It may also be that Honey Walnut Prawns are mildly addictive.

And speaking of plentiful, a stray remark about water fowl during a discussion of Nature's bounty apparently prompted one of our waiters to produce a second, non-Peking duck course. There being no objection, we consumed it and adjourned.

From as far away as Sequim they came to Seattle's Interbay on Tuesday, December 10th. There were two big attractions: the hospitality of Ray Moores at the new Dusty Strings production facility, and a presentation by Allen Katz.

The spacious green building is surprisingly airy -- surprisingly, that is, until you learn that the architect took to heart the desires of the workers, who had, after all, inhabited a basement in Freemont for the previous fifteen years. There's now room for a group of twenty appreciative visitors to move about freely or congregate around big machines (those who attended know what the dental-chair lifts are for).

There are in fact three distinct levels, including a mezzanine devoted to R & D and tool production. Noting the neatness of the shop, one luthier observed that the staff must have spent the whole day cleaning it; another, glancing at the scrap barrel, suggested that it might be worthwhile to volunteer. Each harp or hammered dulcimer gets all of its matching wood from the same billet where possible, and some of those blocks, especially in the case of the harps, are pretty good-sized.

A scene surpassing the best Christmas morning awaited the group returning to the spacious lunchroom: six open guitar cases, each containing a jewel of a pre-war Martin guitar. The unusually trim Santa in this tableau was Allen Katz, co-owner of the on-line vintage guitar store Jet City Guitars and a professional musician with a particular affection for the small-body Martins. For well over an hour Al played and talked about the history and workings of these little gems, joined at one point in a duet by kindred finger-picking spirit Rob Girdis. In the comfortable livingroom atmosphere several parallel conversations sprang up, around the excellent foodstuffs and the illuminating Dusty Strings Through the Ages scrapbook. Small wonder it was difficult to leave.

It was an unusually jovial bunch of luthiers, fifteen by some counts, upstairs at the Fortune City Seafood Restaurant on November 12, including three newcomers. Jay Gordon brought a koa-backed and cocobolo-bound twelve string, his first commission, which Rob Girdis and others played enthusiastically for some while.

Following fish soup, the fare was familiar but welcome, including the Honey Walnut Prawns which for some are the raison-d'etre of the event. The breaded fish, as it turns out, is Ling cod, or was then. For some reason, the ducks seemed to receive more of a ribbing than usual; one lost its head (to a possibly underfed Gurian worker).

There were pictures from the First Annual Puget Sound Stringed Instrument Exhibit, and David Haxton announced that next month's meeting would occur at the new Dusty Strings shop.

An autumn thunderstorm, complete with hail, provided quite a show in the street outside, but relented in time for a 9:30 adjournment.