No more High Mountain Lutz?

[Kamusur]

Just read this bit of info posted by Shane Neifer from HMT on another site, it looks like he is moving on and this is to be the last log he is going to process so stay posted and watch his movements if you want any Lutz from him..see the link below. (the mods can move this post to a better spot if necessary)

http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/view ... 01&t=41923

Steve.

[kiwigeo]

Just read this bit of info posted by Shane Neifer from HMT on another site, it looks like he is moving on and this is to be the last log he is going to process so stay posted and watch his movements if you want any Lutz from him..see the link below. (the mods can move this post to a better spot if necessary)

http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/view ... 01&t=41923

Steve.

Shane has some offers to buy out HMT and hell probably stay on as an advisor to the new owners...that can only be a good thing. Its been a really tough time for Shane over the last few years. Ive had two orders with him for some time but he came through with the goods and also copped the increased freight charges so you couldn't ask for better service than that.

I shall miss Shane....one rarely comes across businessmen who display his level of integrity and honesty.

[Shane Neifer]

Martin asked if I would post something on the ANZLF about my recent decision to leave HMTC. First off I have to say that although I don't post often on this forum (or any others of late) I do check in fairly often and am always refreshed by the humour and friendship that prevails here. Bob, Kim, Martin and many others have been excellent people to "speak" with over the years. Hell, Steve "from Austrailia" and his family even dropped by earlier this year for an afternoon visit. It was a wonderful time showing them the sites.

Anyway, High Mountain Tonewood Company has been a part time project of mine for almost 11 years. When I started with my first tree it took a bit to see if I could figure out what was fully required to process tonewood. I read a lot, cut a bit, spoke at length with people like William Cumpiano (I even went and had a visit in his shop), Roger Siminoff, John Greven, and so many others, then I cut a bit more. But as a part time affair spending the time to hunt down appropriate logs/trees was something I just couldn't do to the degree required to go at this venture full time. And then the product found favour and the orders now typically out strip my ability to process enough. Coupled with that the forest industry went on a major down turn and any logging was done only to export to Asia so there were even less logs available in sort yards. THEN....my wife had a stroke and got screwed over by our motor vehicles department. It took us over two years to resolve that issue which included launching a complaint with the Human Rights Commission. Although we were successful in the end it took a lot out of us.

My current day job is the Workers Compensation Board as a Safety Officer. It has been interesting work and has been my career for the past 15 years. Prior to that I worked for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans as an Officer then as a Fishery Manager and before that I was Journeyman Carpenter. Anyway through all of this I have discovered that I just don't like the black and white world of enforcement (that is a bit of a black and white statement...sorry) so I have decided to leave my day job and branch off on my own. I have started a consulting company that will be primarily health and safety related but I am also working with a group that wants to produce their own sitka logs into tonewood products. In other words, in the near future, for the next few years, I think I know what I will be doing but after that it is a bit of a guess, scary and exciting at the same time!

I can do my consulting role from pretty much any location but my wife would like to be closer to her brothers and my oldest boy (13.5 years old) has dreams of making soccer his career and works hard at it. So these and other factors have lead to a family decision to move to a larger town closer to my wife's family and where there is a great soccer program. Unfortunately that city is not close to large Lutz Spruce logs. Also, I started this whole tonewood venture as an offshoot for guitar making but it consumed all of my free time so now I will be able to spend that free time guitar making and rcheering my boys on in their endeavors. All in all this is a good decision, the right decision, but I don't make it without some apprehension.

Back to the current Lutz Situation. I have three logs from one tree that I am currently working on. I bucked the first block off of it yesterday and the wood is beautiful but it does have a bit of twist. I am off to the saw today to see how they will turn out but I am sure that I can get some nice better than 2A and into 3A sets from much of this tree. And the tree is large so there are a fair volume of sets available. Here are some pictures from yesterday in the wet snow (should make your beers taste better seeing these.....I was looking for the woodstove. My poor dog shivered all the way home in the truck!)

3 logs 1.jpg (88.16 KiB) Viewed 35913 times

3 logs 2.jpg (85.17 KiB) Viewed 35913 times

3 logs 3.jpg (62.71 KiB) Viewed 35913 times

Anyway, I will be processing as much of this wood as I can between now and the middle of January and am hoping that one of the couple of groups that are looking at this company find a way to continue to offer this spruce to you all. As Martin has said above I do plan on giving everything I know to anyone that wants to give this a go therefore, hopefully, decreasing the required learning curve. In the interim I will be offering assorted boxes of 12 sets (better than 2A up to 3A) for $500 and singles in 2A for $30 and singles on 3A for $65. A few people from down under saw the post I did last night on the OLF and have already claimed rights to some of these sets. I am taking names!

Thanks again for all of the support over the years and we won't be strangers as I have long plans for guitar making and have amassed the wood to carry those plans out

Shane

[kiwigeo]

Thanks for the post Shane...much appreciated. Good luck for the future mate.

[Bob Connor]

I think we all wish you the very best in any future direction you take Shane and I'm also sure it will turn out for the best for you and your family.

Please keep in touch and let us know about the venture with the new wood company.

Your fantastic tonewood and service will be missed here at the ANZLF and I'll be putting up my hand to grab a box from the new tree.

I am pissed off about one thing. I've always wanted to visit the Terrace area of Canada and catch up with you in your own habitat. I guess I'll have to strike that off the bucket list now.

All the best

[ozziebluesman]

Thanks Shane for posting on our forum.

I have been lucky enough over the past few years to be able to buy some beautiful wood from you and your service and a friendly manor was second to none.

I wish you all the best in your new ventures and look forward to you posting a few pictures on our forum of your guitar build when it is finished.

Cheers

Alan

[Kamusur]

Good luck Shane.

Steve

[56nortondomy]

Good luck Shane, i couldn't believe you sent me an order once before i paid for it, very trusting. Wayne

[DarwinStrings]

Bbbbrrrrrr, those photos are great, they seem to be keeping my beer cold. Good luck with the important things Shane, family and guitar building.

Jim

[Dave White]

Shane,

I posted over on the OLF but I'll say again thanks for the wonderful wood over the years in all shapes and sizes but most importantly first class quality and service. Going solo can be scary but at least you are in control and usually things go better than you think especially if you have skills, dedication and integrity which you certainly have. I hope your family life gets better as that's the bedrock for everything and I look forward to seeing your guitar finished.

I'm definitely in for a box of 12 sets from the new log.

[Steve]

As Shane mentioned, we dropped in on him for a visit back in August. I had originally asked him if he could point me in the right direction for a bit of bushwalking - I like the look of standing trees as well as what they look like on the inside. Any of you who have travelled through BC will already know that it has to be the friendliest place on earth - while we were waiting to meet up with Shane we'd already been hugged & kissed within an inch of our lives by a couple of ladies out on their morning walk that wanted to welcome us to Terrace. Shane met up with us & then took us for a drive up into the hills to show us where he was getting this log from (nice work getting it up the hill to the roadside Shane - I wasn't sure that you were going to manage that). We didn't get down the hill to check the log out - it was pretty overgrown, steep terrain & it was the first time that we'd been shown what bear-poo looked like, so we were a bit distracted/spooked looking out for hikers wearing brown suits, if you know what I mean.
It all looks a bit foreign now with snow on it - here's what it looked like back in late summer - we got buzzed by a hummingbird, skipped stones & saw salmon actively spawning...

All the best with your new ventures Shane - I'm sure that you will do well with whatever you choose. Don't forget to drop by & visit us in Australia - I'm sure that you will find plenty of people that would be keen to show you around.
Steve

[Eric Scheper]

I would definitely like to get on the list for a box of the Lutz

[kiwigeo]

For those of you interested in grabbing some of the "last Lutz" email Shane direct. Go to his website for contact details. Be aware that Shane is flat out so there may be a bit of a wait for your wood...but its well worth the wait.

http://highmountaintonewood.com/id29.htm

[Shane Neifer]

Thanks for posting those coordinates Martin. I am checking here and on the OLF and am keeping a list for sets. I will post a few more pictures tonight. I processed those first few billets yesterday and they are much nicer than I expected. It is snowing now so I am heading back up to the logs with help and my trailer and we plan to spend the day trying to fill the trailer up with more billets. Anyway, hopefully more pictures soon.

Thanks
Shane

[Shane Neifer]

I think we all wish you the very best in any future direction you take Shane and I'm also sure it will turn out for the best for you and your family.

Please keep in touch and let us know about the venture with the new wood company.

Your fantastic tonewood and service will be missed here at the ANZLF and I'll be putting up my hand to grab a box from the new tree.

I am pissed off about one thing. I've always wanted to visit the Terrace area of Canada and catch up with you in your own habitat. I guess I'll have to strike that off the bucket list now.

All the best

Tell ya what Bob, you make the effort to get yer butt all the way to Terrace and I will come back for a couple of days and show you around. We will go find a few nice big trees to hug and find a few cold ones to tip. So don't spill it out of your bucket just yet!

Shane

[Shane Neifer]

I had a chance to saw up the billets that I pulled off the log last week and they are nicer than I expected. Here is a picture of one of the sets:

2013 top.jpg (39.59 KiB) Viewed 35397 times

Here is close up of that some top showing the even colour (even with the poor lighting) and you can see the medullary rays quite well:

2013 closeup.jpg (51.24 KiB) Viewed 35397 times

These are the sets and bracewood processed along with a few cedar sets for the personal stash and some autoharp sets for a customer:

2013 sets.jpg (54.05 KiB) Viewed 35397 times

A bit of a view from the front porch of the resaw shop. This is why we are "High Mountain Tonewood Company"

2013 view.jpg (34.97 KiB) Viewed 35397 times

We billeted up three more rounds yesterday and plan to do more next the weekend. We will be sawing all next week as we try and beat winter before the snow is too deep to get back to the logs.

Shane

[Kev3]

Hi Shane,
firstly I wish you all the best with future endeavours.
Secondly - it's great to see some images of the starting point of the timber that goes on to make some great builds. The ultimate build thread will be to see where you take some of your "personal" stash with these as a reminder of where they started.

Thanks

[ozwood]

I had a chance to saw up the billets that I pulled off the log last week and they are nicer than I expected. Here is a picture of one of the sets:

Lutz


Thanks for the Update!

[Bob Connor]

Tell ya what Bob, you make the effort to get yer butt all the way to Terrace and I will come back for a couple of days and show you around. We will go find a few nice big trees to hug and find a few cold ones to tip. So don't spill it out of your bucket just yet!
Shane

You got me with the coldies. I'll let you know well in advance when I'm coming.

Regards

[Shane Neifer]

Hi Shane,
firstly I wish you all the best with future endeavours.
Secondly - it's great to see some images of the starting point of the timber that goes on to make some great builds. The ultimate build thread will be to see where you take some of your "personal" stash with these as a reminder of where they started.

Thanks

Hey Kevin, good idea! Document from live tree to sweet strings! I will indeed be sure to put something like that together when I get the new build space set up and start working on instruments again. In the mean time here are a couple shots of me bucking the log yesterday. Should make all of your summer that much better!

2013 buck 1.jpg (86.47 KiB) Viewed 35365 times

2013 buck 2.jpg (75.45 KiB) Viewed 35365 times

2013 buck 3.jpg (79.45 KiB) Viewed 35365 times

Winter is just starting, before too long there will be a few feet of snow in this area so we are trying to get as much out of the bush now as we can. The rest will be hauled out in the spring.

Thanks
Shane

[Shane Neifer]

Tell ya what Bob, you make the effort to get yer butt all the way to Terrace and I will come back for a couple of days and show you around. We will go find a few nice big trees to hug and find a few cold ones to tip. So don't spill it out of your bucket just yet!
Shane

You got me with the coldies. I'll let you know well in advance when I'm coming.

Regards

Totally looking forward to it my friend!

Shane

[Shane Neifer]

I just posted some shipping quotes on the OLF. Here is the link:

http://luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopi ... 3&start=50

Thanks
Shane

[kiwigeo]

Heres the relevant information:

Australia

$99 by ground, $180 by air (8 weeks vs 8 days)

For payment I accept paypal to [email protected] or I can process Visa and MC. If in Canada e-transfer is the very best to this same e-mail address.

[ozwood]

Got my Lutz yesterday , well worth the wait , the first thing that struck me was how light the package was , upon opening were 20 beautiful, uniform ,defect free and completely dry tops.

Now as witnessed by the above pictures , it was havested by a couple of hairy blokes in the snow (not gypsie virgins by the light of the spring moon), no GPS co- ordinates provided( I don't give a shit anyway, not like I wan't to visit the stump), it did not have a name like hairy arsed albino bear Lutz and was probably dropped during the day ( not the third night after the blue moon af July on the second leap year of the new century).

What I did get was well prepped , dry , even coloured straight grained Lutz that was well packaged.

I hope Shane's Successors follow the same ethics.

Cheers,

[Bob Connor]

Mine arrived today.

I'll echo Paul's description and add the tap tone from these sets is bell-like.

Thanks to Shane for his outstanding service over the years and I hope that new ventures and locales treat him well.

Regards