Meeting Notes

Tuesday, November 9, 2004, one day shy of six years from their first dinner meeting, the Seattle Luthiers gathered at the Sea Garden Restaurant in Seattle. Attendance was the greatest since that first night, and for a simple reason: they were there for a surprise tribute to Michael Gurian, founder of the event, friend, teacher, inspiration and provider for instrument builders everywhere but especially to those near the shores of Puget Sound.

What do you give the man who has everything, including things you've never even heard of? Something consumable, communal, yet personal. Several early, unworkable ideas were superceded by Greg Oxrieder's suggestion of wine. Rob Lane furnished an empty case, members selected bottles or contributed donations toward purchase, Jay Gordon and Tribute Czar David Brooks shopped and pasted on labels provided by members. David Haxton, a past honoree himself, further contributed by offering to lead a song of praise, and, then, by refraining from doing so. There were several individual gifts as well.

For his own part, Mr. Gurian, claiming to be speechless for the first time, made a gracious acceptance speech and had kind words for the group itself.

The tribute was preceded by an excellent meal. Dishes at the Sea Garden are sometimes more difficult to identify, but nearly always easier to swallow, than those encountered at previous venues. Mention must be made of the reincarnation of the Honey Walnut Prawns, the absence of which had been keenly felt by many regulars.

A guitar made by Rob Girdis and another repaired by Cat Fox made appearances. Besides these, topics of casual discussion included customers who are hard to please (or hard to get payment from).

Not shown: Sue and Ray Mooers, S. McKee

Chris Burt, accompanied by a companion to keep him awake on the drive home, travelled from the lutherie district of rapidly growing Sequim to address an audience of a couple dozen at the shop of Rob Girdis on October 12, on the subject of carving plates, sharing from his wealth of training and experience in building violins and related instruments and now mandolins.

Photos displayed on a large computer monitor introduced many to techniques they may not have had the chance to use themselves. Actual tools appeared for the purpose of illustration. Behind these particulars was a method that would be useful in any shop: careful establishment of reference points and strict respect for and adherence to them. The philosophy is that "close enough" really isn't. We were warned, for instance, against "the illusion of progress that going on to the next step provides."

Before and afterwards there were instruments to look at and some announcements, including calls for instruments to be heard at the planned December guitar-listening session.

Popular with newcomers and old-timers alike was the venue, which we first visited, it turns out, nearly six years ago (though it has recently been improved by the City with a pleasant little park and playground across the street). Mr. Girdis dispelled one participant's illusion that the shop is always a picture of ordered perfection, by hinting that he had spent the day tidying up.

Tuesday, September 21, found a dozen or so of the lutherie faithful arrayed about another round table, this time upstairs at the Sea Garden, the restaurant that Michael Gurian says that he meant to arrange for our dinner back in March.

There were no eggrolls. There were no Heavenly Walnut Prawns. There was no Peking Duck. And yet . . . there were dishes galore, they were all wonderful, and they were headlined by two big meaty crabs that eclipsed all else. Mr. Gurian's prayers for forgiveness for his earlier transgression were eventually granted, in full.

August saw no regular Seattle Luthiers meeting, but instead a gathering of the Steering Committee at the at the Chili Pepper Restaurant in Wallingford on August 10th.

The group made progress in charting the course of future meetings, ultimately announcing an October presentation by Chris Burt on the subject of carved plates; a steel-string listening session in December; and in February a meeting with structural and acoustic engineer Evan Davis.

It was Tuesday, July 20, perhaps a week later than the sages predicted, but well worth the wait nonetheless as a score or more gathered aboard the Gurian Instruments barge for the annual Summer Potluck.

A chill breeze kept much of the conversation indoors, but the outdoor grill, once stocked with sausages, retained a loyal following well into the evening. Topics ranged from travel to the filmography of Charlie Chan.

Among the events noted was the debut of Artak Kalantarian's first guitar, gleaming with French polish on Alaskan yellow cedar. Robert Lane (turning a new leaf himself by bringing to the dinner fruit not fermented, let alone distilled) played the new instrument for a delighted audience.

As snacking subsided, a discussion billed as a Steering Committee Meeting drew a healthy number of the attendees. Astern, a fiddle-and-banjo duet went practically unnoticed.

Another swap meet seemed in order, and took place on June 8 at the Bellevue home and shop of Jay Gordon.

Wood went well this time, but machinery moved more slowly. A router table, in its original packaging, languished against a wall, much like a coal brought to Newcastle (though the location was actually more like Somerset). David LaVallee brought a small compressor that not only looked like a curling stone, but appeared to work pretty much like one also.

Everyone seemed to leave with more than he or she had brought. This would be a logical or physical impossibility, were it not for the generosity of Mr. Gordon himself, who gave away items as large as (in one case) a fairly complete electric guitar.

There was also a reminder of the field trip the following Friday to Hammond Ashley Associates for a last raid on their supply of walnut gunstocks before it falls into private hands. With the onset of an evening rainstorm the guests departed, allowing our host to return his automobile to the space vacated for the swap meet. Doubtless the sight of the lemon-yellow 'Vette would serve as an inspiration to many beginning luthiers.

Sermon on the Bout. At right, French-polish grandmaster Eugene Clark addresses the assembled multitudes at the offices of Gurian Instruments on April 13. Less about chemistry than some may have expected and more about calesthentics , Mr. Clark's presentation was a reflection of his work, which might fairly be described as perfection in detail through simplicity in technique. The level of that detail was emphasised by the choice of OptiVISORS as headgear: "Don't work at 1X," Clark says. "I will be looking at your work at 2X." Think of highlights from the very beginning. One of the biggest obstacles to success? "Too much shellac on the pad." A drop turns out to be a lot, according to Clark, because he makes sure that it all gets applied to the surface. French polish is not a wiped finish, but a "choked" finish.

The tools and materials of the finisher's art are abjectly simple as well: bits of wood in useful forms, scraps of leather that keep their shape, a workbench the proper height. The best shellac (and how to test for it) but the cheapest alcohol. "Threadbare" would be pejorative in most contexts, but in the search for T-shirt material for pads, it's the prime specification. The multitudes referred to above, numbering over two dozen, included other distinguished visitors from Tacoma and a new member from the growing Sequim luthier colony. Longtime e-mail member Mannon Wallace brought his first guitar, a cutaway with nice low action, to show and play. A potluck dinner in the "unseasonably" (that is, "almost") warm April evening preceded the lecture. Photo at left by Rob Girdis, all rights reserved.

Exiled for yet another month from the shuttered Fortune City Seafood Restaurant, the Seattle Luthiers this time took to the nearby Four Seas with its capacious parking lot (unused by most of those accustomed to the Tuesday-night parking-space search). There were tasty soup, egg rolls, noodles, rice, a vegetable stir-fry, breaded fish, chicken with nuts, and anything the menu lacked in flash it made up in quantity.

By unofficial count there were fourteen for dinner, resulting in initial crowding, followed by annexation of a second table and eventually some table-hopping as well as conversational focus shifted.

Those hearing for the first time welcomed the news that famous luthier Eugene Clark would appear at our next technical meeting, to be held at Michael Gurian's shop, to talk about French polish.

-- a report by Jay Gordon

On February 10, The Seattle Luthiers Group gathered to discuss guitar construction, with the focus on necks -- design, fabrication, fitting, truss rod treatment, attachment, etc.

Sixteen members assembled at Rob Girdis' shop for a very informative and lively evening. Rob most graciously and meticulously 'walked' the attendees through his design-and-build process, with a focus on jointing and alignment. The emphasis was on hand tools with minimal dependency on machines (careful hand planing being the name of the game).

Conversation then moved to the next phases of construction and Mr. Girdis' Spanish style building techniques - side-to-neck attachment, fitting of individual kerfing blocks for tops, and carefully bent, solid back kerfing. Members were treated to a chance to view a number of of the maker's parlor guitars in progress, and all were impressed by the variety and beauty of the tonewoods employed, from yew, to ebony, to rosewood, to myrtle.

After this look at Rob's ultra-light approach, Jay Hargreaves took us in the opposite direction. The Hargreaves philosophy features mass and rigidity, with carefully machined surfaces. Jay described the extensive use of pin routers and an entirely different assembly technique, with kerfing replaced by a carefully applied and hand-balanced epoxy and micro-balloon fillet.

To top off the evening, a large selection of ebony and topwood was available for purchase and tempted more than one of the attendees. The availability of a bit of scotch no doubt added to the willingness to deal.

The evening concluded with the announcement that Eugene Clark will host a French Polishing evening at our April meeting.

Due to a month-long closure of the favored Fortune City Seafood Restaurant, the Seattle Luthiers had a chance to try a different dinner venue a couple blocks away -- the Shanghai Garden. There were no complaints from the thirteen who attended. The biggest differences may have been the color scheme (red in place of green) and the lack of stairs.

The hot topic of the evening was the question of establishing a cooperative shop and/or shared retail facility. Michael Gurian reported that an excellent shop space is currently available near his barge, and suggested that those interested may want to meet soon to consider it. The leader of this project, for those who may be interested in becoming involved, is James Campbell- Drury

Robert Lane brought a flamenco guitar that he had refitted with machine tuners. No one attempted to play it except for Brett Johnson, whose duet with the restaurant sound system brought the evening to a close.

The Seattle Luthiers returned to David Haxton's shop on December 9, 2003, for an evening of talk about guitar necks.

Because a couple of other scheduled speakers were unable to attend, Mr. Haxton found himself in the spotlight alone, but had plenty of tricks to transfix the audience, which eventually swelled to sixteen or so, drawn from as far away as Bellingham.

There were plenty of very specific fixtures, templates and guides to look at, all of them springing from a basic devotion to accuracy and repeatability, and frequently providing a starting point for discussions of more general questions like joint design and choice of materials. Artak Kalantarian brought a guitar needing a neck reset for the members to disagree about, and David LaVallee showed the results of a fretscale program he had created for his new project, a tenor guitar.

Mr. Haxton also announced that, due to other commitments, he would be handing organizational tasks over to Jay Gordon for a few months. Mr. Gordon began his tenure by asking for a show of interest for importing a famous and possibly expensive lecturer for a special meeting, an idea which seemed to cause some excitement.