New Member intro

[BruceSmith]

Good day to all, I have been researching on this forum for awhile and finally decided to join up. I am an a amateur
builder - on my second Hauser ‘37 inspired build. I am retired and have time to mull over the details. I recently acquired Trevor Gores books and have found them very helpful.
I am from Maryland, USA. It's cold up here now! Send up some heat!
Regards,
Bruce Smith

[kiwigeo]

Welcome to the forum Bruce. Nice to have you on board and looking forward to a few pics of instruments and builds.

[BruceSmith]

Thanks Martin, Does the gidgee tag refer to an individual with a hard head or one who has a body odor problem?

[kiwigeo]

Nah mate, Gidgee represents perseverance and tenacity. The wood tags are actually assigned by the forum software..it was set up by Bob who started the forum.

Thanks Martin, Does the gidgee tag refer to an individual with a hard head or one who has a body odor problem?

[c_add_nine]

Hi

I'm also a new member. Just browsing the forum and found this post which I thought I'd ride the coat tail of.

I'm new to luthering. I've been playing for a long time and eventually I've been able to afford some nicer quality instruments. Having being a hoarder, I couldn't bear to part with the old low budget ones, so I planned to invest some time into improving neck quality and hardware to make them into more playable instruments.

I've also picked up a few old guitars, including 7 string Russian folk guitars, a balalaika and a mandolin which is over 100 years old. They were mostly bought with the idea of restoring for decoration only, but I did think of trying to copy them and build new ones from scratch. When I asked on a forum previous for advice, I was told I should try to build one before restoring antique guitars.

So I've started with an electric kit guitar. It's a fender strat knock off made from zebra wood. I don't expect to get a lot out of it, but I'll put in some learning to getting the neck and the body set well. The experience so far has taught me that I need a dedicated shed, which I'm in the process of building now.

Anyhow that's my story. I've got my zebra strat as my main project but also have a few more stripped down for cleaning and repairs. Hopefully this is a nice place to start in preparing for my first ground up build.

Cheers

Phil

[Dave M]

Good luck with the building Phil.

If you are anything like the rest of us here you will find it quite addictive. You think well I'll just try one or two to see how it is done and after not too long you are pasting a label in that says number 10!

Cheers Dave