Sexauer/'15, (chapter 2)
 

Having exceeded the 300 posts in the Sexauer/'15 thread which AGF is comfortable with, this thread will continue on. If you want to refer back to the "old" thread, here's the link.

Playing the Memphis bound Pernambuco L00 this morning, I find it in good condition despite what is surely a pretty dry environment in its experience, and its sound seems even better than I'd expect. It is a very clear and articulated guitar to begin with, but seems even more so at the moment.

Looking forward to checking it out in Memphis!

My extended trip to Memphis was planned well in advance, although planned is the wrong word, I merely mean I decided to leave early and do some sightseeing.

I am holed up in Santa Fe for a couple of nights as the weather in inclement. We found a really terrific old school motor hotel on old Route 66 called the "El Ray". Too soon to highly recommend it, but I bet I'm going to.

The trip through Texas is increasingly looking like we may go through, but we won't see much, if we live. It's solid Lightning and thunder with a chance of flooding and tornadoes for the foreseeable future. Not just Texas, either, but New Orleans and even Memphis. Actually, it is too soon to think Memphis will have any particular kind of weather come the Festival. Keeping the fingers crossed.

Memphis is just a couple of days away from Santa Fe on I40, if you hump it. If it were me I would just stay in Santa Fe - lots to see and do in the area and more likely the weather will clear up at least some of the time.

I've stayed at El Rey, in fact I've stayed in most of those little motor courts along Cerrillos - they are definitely the best deals in town. Be sure to visit Bandelier National Monument, Taos Pueblo, and Ojo Caliente if you get the chance. Nothing remotely like them in Texas.

I agree with SJ Van Sandt, I would stay in the Santa Fe area. Tons of amazing places to see. Neat things downtown, too. I lived out there when I was in graduate school from 92-95, and been back many times since. It's a magical area.
I look forward to checking out your guitars too, Bruce. My name is Bruce also, and met you at Woodstock last year, remember? See you in Memphis. Have a great time in New Mexico.

We are indeed spending more time in Santa Fe. I'd be surprised if we lingered here till the very last moment and then hightailed it to Memphis, but I do think we will spend a disproportionate number of our "extra" days here. We are now committed to four nights in the El Rey.

Spent the day walking the downtown tourist area and had a very good time. The last time I saw a city with so much to offer a tourist I was in Prague about twenty years ago. Tomorrow we plan to hit the countryside a bit. Maybe some ruins and then Los Alamos for contrast.

Saw a lot of Oaxacan carpets made in the Navajo style today and then decided the visit a store that had genuine Navajo loom work. They have two kinds to offer, genuine antiques, and modern recreations in both traditional and traditionally inspired motifs. It occured to me that the guitar market is not much different. The carpet that Linda and I agreed on was a modern rendition of a traditional design, and amazingly, it was called a "tree of life". It cost about 50 times the price of of the cheapest usable one of the same size we found. In this case that's $3500 relative to $65. If we were instead talking guitars, it would be mine at $15000 compared to the least workable cheapie at $300.

If the show goes well at all, I plan to get that carpet for Linda, and I may do it anyway.

I remember you easily, Bruce, and I hope that Slobod you picked up is working well for you.

Bruce, I don't know which route you came into Santa Fe, so don't know what you've seen. Bandelier National Monument is very nice, and East of Santa Fe is Pecos National park is great to visit. Up North at the start of the high road to Taos is the Santuario De Chimayo. Very cool place to visit, although they have made " improvements " the last time I was there, and to me lost some of it's authentic feeling.You can look all these up. Bandelier is close and in the same direction as Los Alamos. Not much to see in Los Alamos IMO. Downtown, the St. Francis Cathedral, the Lorretto Chapel are nice. Canyon Rd. has lots of nice galleries and art, and the Farmer's Market on Sat. is really great. South,you can go down Route 14, the " Turquoise Trail ". Down that rd. is Cerrillos, an old town, fun to stop and see what it looked like in the old west. Hasn't changed. Then down further is the town of Madrid. A neat old coal town built by the railroad in the 1800's, was a ghost town for a while, now a neat art funky town. Pretty cool to visit. I lived there in a haunted old row house for a while. I'll tell you the story if you want in Memphis. These are just ideas. There are many different places to experience.
The Slobod is doing very well. Thank you. Great little guitar.

Another native craft from the area that resembles luthiery in some ways is pueblo pottery. Most of it is hand-coiled and fired on open fires and much of it is very finely crafted (and expensive). Check out shops in the actual pueblos - Santa Clara is a good one - for some relatively good deals, and to see a bit of living history. I used to collect the stuff but lately my disposable income has been going toward more musical artwork. ;)

Today we hiked in Bandelier national Monument and then drove through Los Alamos without actually getting out of the car. Wanted to have dinner at a non hamburger joint and so ate at the La Fonda spa/hotel right downtown. Had Fajitas and they were Okay but pretty tame compared to some of the other fare we had lately. Beautiful and romantic place though, which is what we were after. Thier $16 margarita was not up to the standard margarita at Del Charro, the hamburger joint we DID eat in the night before. of course we went there because it is said to have the best Margarita in Santa Fe.

Yesterday I met the owner and proprietor of High Desert Guitars, Steve, who I had previous had some dealings with over the phone. A few years ago there was a shop within his shop called Different City Guitars that some of you surely recall. The owner of that, Terry Ruby, made quite a splash in the high end handmade guitar world for a while. He ordered and received 4 guitars from me, one of which is the fanciest (yet totally reserved) guitar I have made to this date, which I call Terry Ruby's Fancy, or "the Fancy".

I remember that guitar although I never got to play it. It was spectacular of course and what particularly drew me to it was the tuners. I'm a big fan of banjo tuners (I know I may be the only one), and the tuners that Bruce used on this guitar are the ultimate rendition on the banjo style........ Elegant and exquisitely functional, overcoming the admitted shortcomings of the traditional banjo tuner.

I did get a chance to visit High Desert Guitars many years ago when Different City was there and played one of Kim Walker's 00's, it was probably the finest new guitar I've ever played. I haven't seen another one of Kim's guitars in person since.

The tuners Jimmy refers to were Rogers "LaCote", and they are the only set I have ever used or have ever seen or ever heard of for that matter. LaCote tuners were intended to be used in classical guitars, but I had a set made for steel strings. The entire mechanism of the tuner was inlaid into headstock so that only the shafts, one for the knob and one for the string, were exposed. I made a pretty arty design for the headstock, as you can see if you check out the page I linked earlier, and there was some question in my mind about whether the head was adequately strong for the long haul. But I haven't heard about it again as the years have passed, so I am thinking it worked out. As far as I am aware, that guitar stuck to the original buyer as I imagine I'd have heard about it if it came back to market.

I think on this forum it may be pertinent to clarify if this spot was picked for you and Linda, or you and the Pernambuco L00...:)

Santa Fe
 

Bruce, if you are into mysticism and such like, visit Puye. I'm not mystical in the least, but the place **** near made a convert of me. Take time there. Sit in a kiva it your eyes closed....

Well, we are planning on heading down toward El Paso tomorrow and maybe checking outnCarlsbad Cavern, which I have been hearing about since I was knee high to a grasshopper.

Puye I noticed on a map somewhere, but We will miss it if it is not south of here; I will check.

Tonight we went to SantaFeBite, renowned for its green chilli burger and recommended by many; an obvious tourist trap if ever there was one. Stunningly, the burger was right At the top of the charts! It probably helped that it was 10oz of grassfed beef, mixed sirloin and chuck, and well on the pink side of medium. Linda had the green chilli enchiladas and said they easily topped the upscale romantic meal the night before, not counting ambiance, I hope, as the place was on the plus side of cafe.

Earlier we walked the Canyon Art Row (or whatever they call it) and found a high proportion of decent work, as well as a good attitude at every turn. The prices made everything we liked into unobtainium, but that another story. Numbers were on the order of $18,000 for a horse sculpture that we liked, and $22,500 for a pastel on paper that really slew me. The Memphis show is unlikely to go well enough to make those number feasible.