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Old 10-09-2019, 08:36 PM
collingsnyc collingsnyc is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 114
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Random story: in the summer of 1999, I decided I wanted to build a guitar, and started writing letters and calling luthiers to see who would be willing to let me apprentice under them to do so. In the end, Hank Mauel in the Grass Valley area agreed to host me. Hank was a terrific guide, and with his equipment and tutelage, I built a redwood walnut 000.

Hank was good friends with Lance and Harvey, who (perhaps together with others) became the regional luthier mafia of sorts. We spent a bunch of time at Lance’s shop, where i remember seeing the most outrageous figured walnut. Lance also let me play his personal Italian / Brazilian grand auditorium which I still remember as one of the most extraordinary instruments I’d ever played. I remember talking to him about his use of laminated necks in particular, which he preferred given the natural stability provided by oppositional grain. I loved his aesthetic, including the knotted rosette inlays that often included the fingerboard.

Lance was generous, patient and funny. A master at his craft. We lost him far too soon.
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