Newport
Just got back from the Newport Guitar Festival in Ft. Lauderdale. It was a lot of fun, but a bit slower than I’d hoped. I got lots of good feedback about my guitars. The classical in particular received positive comments for it’s tone. It is built fairly light, but I didn’t weigh it until I got back– 2 lbs, 11.9 oz, including the tuners. Definitely the lightest I’ve gone. Then again, this is the first traditional classical I’ve built.
The best parts of these shows is always talking to other builders, and listening to some great music. In that respect, this show did not disappoint. I got to hang out with a number of luthier friends I hadn’t seen in a while, including Kathy Wingert, David Freeman, and Harry Fleishman. (Definitely worth checking out their sites. They are great builders, teachers, and just generally cool people.) The music was wonderful. There was a ridiculous number of really great players who were doing demos, playing concerts, sitting in song circles, and wandering around trying out the instruments. As a beginning player, I was completely overwhelmed by the caliber of skill I got to see and hear. In a couple of instances I had world class players trying out my guitars, and only found out afterward that I should have known who they were. (That might be the way to go, though. Not know, not be intimidated, and simply enjoy their incredible playing at face value).
Andy and Nancy figuring our their set. Wish I'd gotten a photo of Jamie playing too.
We all got time slots to present our instruments on stage (and I hear the performances will be available on youtube sometime soon). Two of my demos were done by Jamie Stillway, who is a great bluesy jazzy guitarist from Portland. In fact, I’m listening to one of her cds right now. Hearing her play was one of those world-expanding moments, where I was just sitting in amazement thinking “I didn’t know my guitars could sound like that!” Nancy Conescu and Andy Wahlberg shared the third slot. Nancy is an incredible celtic singer and guitarist, and Andy is probably one of the most entertaining people you’ll ever hear of. He played his harp guitar in the final all star concert, and whipped out this amazing instrumental version of Bohemian Rhapsody. Anyway, the two of them sat down for about 5 minutes at my table, figured out what they were going to play, and then at the demo produced an incredible performance of celtic and old jazz tunes. Nancy did a couple tunes by herself that were just beautiful after Andy left the stage.
A Huge thanks again to all three musicians!
So Megan’s Sunflower guitar is done. I thought it came out beautifully. The rosette was exactly what she wanted, and I did the bee as a bonus. It has long been packed up and shipped off (actually, she picked up while in town to run the Portland marathon) and I’m realizing now that I don’t have any good pictures of the full instrument. Details, yes, and I’ll post a few of those: 
