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Gold/Mining/Energy : A New Age In Gold Refining -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Irv A. Weinberger who wrote (642)	2/22/1998 8:26:00 PM
From: JACK R. SMITH JR.	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 672

Irv, I like your license plate. I notice from your profile that you are a guitar based musician. What kind of guitar do you play. Unfortunately, I do not play the guitar, but I have made a few. This was many years ago. I started when I lived in the virginia suburbs of Washington D.C. I made classic style gutiars in the style of Torres with the help of books by Irving Slone and others. I visited the shop of a man named Joseph Wallo in Washington D.C. freqently in those days and his shop was a crucible within a facility which housed many specialist in stringed instrument repair. There was a long hallway and on each side were cubicles with half doors occupied by the specialists. Along the walls were pictures and notes from famous musicians that went somthing like this "Thank you for your very special care and repair of my Strad". These guys were running hot spatulas under the tops of Strads and Gurnerius violins and doing it casually. I was impressed, to say the least. Most stradovarius violins were worth only about 60-80 thousand at that time. Wallo did work on chello and large stringed instruments, also. He ripped me on the wood for my first guitar, but business is business. Not saying that I am a great guitar maker, but just saying that I have interest in the creation of instruments and the tonal quality of the wood and construction. I visited several places in europe where instruments are made. Spain, Idar Oberstein in Germany. Unique experiences, all. I still have in my garage some soundboard material for guitar that I bought in Idar Oberstein almost 17 years ago. Fine examples of German spruce. I may get back into it someday. It is very exacting work in wood, and I like that. The problem for me was that I could never find anyone who could play and appreciate the instruments that I made, and I certainly could not. I could figure the fret spacing for any string length, but I could not play. I envy you who can play!! Former and perhaps future guitarmaker, Jack!!