Originally Posted by TomB'sox
I also have not been to Harrisburg, but have been to Woodstock several times. I met Srick there as a matter of fact and well as Mr. Kraus.
I have a love/hate with Woodstock. It is cool, pretty, but always seems to be raining. I have gone 4 times, and the parking lot was mud all 4 times because of all day rains. It is held that time of year in Upstate NY...That being said, once inside it is cool, but so crowded with every corner packed with people and guitars. It is a little ironic in that you are there to try out and purchase luthier built guitars, but you can't hear anything nor really have a conversation without yelling. There are few places to try out guitars....let's just say 500 to 600 people in a room smaller than an elementary sized gym, filled with guitars, and there is one room 5 by 8 that has a door to try out a guitar. You can go upstairs to a small sitting area, but you still have the ambient noise of the room preventing you from hearing what you are doing. As it turns out, the alcove outside of the bathrooms is probably the best area to try out a guitar, but it is often in use because only one person can sit there.
There is a second building which is even smaller, more cramped, hardly enough room for two people to walk down the aisle together and to try out a guitar there, you have to go outside into a tent they set up. I am always afraid I am going to knock someone's guitar over in there. One year I wanted to try out a guitar made by Bill Kraus and it was raining so I did not even want to go out to the tent in the rain with this several thousand dollar guitar.
Now having said all that, to some, this is what makes it a great show, the crowds, the noise, the people, the excitement. I obviously have gone back and back again, but if you think you are going to give a $30,000 Ryan a good go, forget it, just not going to happen. I did once get to go downstairs with a luthier to a little room they had access to and that was nice, but I don't quite know if anyone can go there or not. It looked to be just for them to store stuff etc.
It was because of Woodstock, that I started my little show, trying to get the same quality on builder (done), but with a smaller attendance (obviously), and in my home. Trying to get the best of both worlds.
Overall, go to Woodstock, Baker is great, they do a great job, but I just think the festival has outgrown the environment in which it is held. But, if you can deal with the crowds, you will see more guitars in one place than probably anywhere and may run into people you know etc.
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