B'Sox Guitarapolooza LAST CHANCE. Part 2

[jim_pridx]

Originally Posted by Kenny B

We are back from our trip to Austin, B.I.G. event, and then San Antonio. We had a wonderful time everywhere and especially the B.I.G. event which will go down as one of my personal favorite venue’s I’ve experienced since I started attending luthier-guitar related events in 2016. First off, Tom and Kathy did a wonderful job of organizing and providing us all with a memorable experience. They opened up their house to everyone with a cheerful heart and generous spirit. All of the good things you’ve been reading about this event are true and spot on. I just want to add that the details, like name tags, catering service, quiet places to audition guitars, availability of Michael Watts for private lesson, music performed by acoustic artists, time with luthiers for questions, and even a 1930’s Martin OM… all made this trip worthwhile.

Texas: this was our first trip to Texas. We’ve never been to Austin or San Antonio and the time of year was perfect for a getaway from the cold northern climate of Illinois this time of year. I brought my family, wife and 5 year old who were both patient enough to allow me to enjoy the guitar event and even a side trip to the Collings factory on Friday afternoon for a tour. We spent a few days in Austin enjoying the capitol building, the bridge bats (which never really came out of their lair), the Cooper Old Time Bar-b-que, street walking 6th street music scene, and the Zilker Park botanical gardens. We had a picnic dinner in Guadalupe River State Park on Friday evening while watching a dozen or so turkey vultures soaring over the river. Is the turkey vulture the Texas State bird? I don’t think so, but could be.

San Antonio was equally awesome as the River Walk is something to behold if you’ve never been there. We even ran into Bruce Sexauer as my daughter ran up to hug him as if he were Santa Claus. Bruce, if you want to be Santa, just leave that FT-OO “Tree” guitar under our Christmas Tree for Monika to learn on. Just kidding…. Btw: I spent some quality time with that particular guitar and absolutely loved it along with a bunch of other quality instruments.

Wow! It sounds as though your trip was very similar to ours. We also toured the capitol building as well as walking some of the streets in Austin. Although, in addition to checking out the botanical gardens as well as the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (a must see for my wife), I had to check out the Austin Guitar House as well. Funny, be we also ran into Bruce along the Riverwalk in San Antonio. The boat tour or shuttle is an absolute must for anyone who's never done it. Of course, BIG was undoubtedly the highlight of the weekend!

Another coincidence: I see that you're from Elgin. I'm originally from there as well! Small world!

[Bruce Sexauer]

When I was 14 I built a Mini-Max hydroplane from Popular Mechanix plans, and . . . It used an Elgin outboard motor. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

[Kenny B]

We just need to find a person who went to the event that once had or still has a watch made in Elgin, IL. That would surely make this all very non-coincidental.

[AZ Cardinal]

I'm Frog.

Last weekend was good for the soul! I was able to bring my daughter and wife and tour San Antonio for as couple days, before I left them there as to not be bothered with my Guitar freaking that I did all weekend! haha
San Antonio is a wonderful historical city. We had a blast!

Tom and Kathy, what wonderful fun people you are. What a great, brilliant idea you had to host this show. I really do think You guys hit on something here.
Thank you for inviting an unknown guitar Shmuck from Reno to come play with my good friend Toad. It was one of the cooler shows Ive ever played, and thank you to those that were there for being so Responsive and Attentive and supporting us with buying our Music. It was so Humbling.

Highlites:
1. Dash
2. BBQ and local Whiskey
3.Paul and Cindy performing for the Saturday lunch. And inspiring me to get a slide... Oh no! So enjoyable.
4. Bruce Sexaurs gig in the Garage. Such cool oldtime tunes done so well.
5. The Informative talks done on Sunday Afternoon
6. Joel's "Two Hands Guitars" Seahorse guitar. Joel, what an nice inspirational man you are. Your work speaks for itself. I LOVED this guitar.
7. Edwinsons Maple/Sitka just built. What a piece of work! And your cool sliding soundports. You mentoring Joel is such a cool story.
8. Kostals two guitars. Holy moly! and for getting to know you a bit. A nice humble funny guy making worldclass instruments.
9. Bruce "Godfather" Sexuar's guitars, speech and gig. Its clear why you've been doing this for 84 years.. ha. The fan fret was incredible.
10. The Kinnairds OM, and probably my favorite guitar in the show, The Bubinga 000. You are all so nice, and are what Texas Hospitality is all about.
11. Humphrey Amps.. Holy smokes they are amazing. Incredibly pretty with the best acoustic tone you can buy. Im positive about that.
12. Michael Watts. Sitting in front of him is both inspiring and disheartening.
Hahaha. His show was awesome! And his Kostal has BIG sound.
13. Hearing Natalie sing. What a true talent. A future is there for sure.
14. And selfishly, getting to play with my good friend and bandmate, and builder, Ben in "Frog and Toad". I'm Still on cloud 9...

And last but not least, ALL the Nice, funny, personable Guitar geeks I met. Some of which I'm quite sure I will be in touch with in the future. From Vasu driving all the way from Dallas to pick me up and take me to the show, and letting me jam on his Michaud, to Juston showing me a cool Fahey song which I will change a few notes and then call an "original", to Micah making me laugh so hard I couldnt breathe! When you are around so much musical talent, and talented builders, you can't help but be inspired. As a matter of fact, im gonna shut up now and go play..

[Kahobbs]

Originally Posted by Kenny B

We just need to find a person who went to the event that once had or still has a watch made in Elgin, IL. That would surely make this all very non-coincidental.

My Grandfather’s pocket watch, made in Elgin, Illinois resides in a small display case along with other family memorabilia. I was at the B.I.G. show picking up a guitar from Steve Sheriff.

How does the saying go: Once is an accident, twice is coincidence but three times is a conspiracy.

[Guitars44me]

You guys were awesome! The event was a smash hit, and I am thrilled that three different folks said they were going to give slide a shot or another try!

If you, or anyone wants the dubious benefit of my slide experience shoot me a pm or email. I have a LOT of tips for beginners! And many opinions!!! Haha

I would be most happy to help in any way I can. The slide guitar is so FUN

My fave for Spanish position is the Dunlop Eric Sardinas as it is thin, so light, and radiused to fit a normal fretboard. Less bonking the frets is good!

Your first CD is in my car and sounds really REALLY good!

Thanks for the props, too!

Have FUN

Paul

[jim_pridx]

Originally Posted by Kahobbs

My Grandfather’s pocket watch, made in Elgin, Illinois resides in a small display case along with other family memorabilia. I was at the B.I.G. show picking up a guitar from Steve Sheriff.

How does the saying go: Once is an accident, twice is coincidence but three times is a conspiracy.

Well, FWIW, my father worked at the Elgin Watch Company in the early '50s.....probably not enough to make a "conspiracy"......

[Bruce Sexauer]

Being able to put faces and personalities on so many more “handles” is making my forum experience much more emotionally rich. This is not a small thing for me. Feeling the love!

[Joel Teel]

Originally Posted by Bruce Sexauer

Being able to put faces and personalities on so many more “handles” is making my forum experience much more emotionally rich. This is not a small thing for me. Feeling the love!

Bruce...I concur wholeheartedly. I feel as if I’m a member of a family now, as apposed to simply a member of a group of people. A really cool group of people, mind you...but the “family” feel is even better than the “cool group” feel. Thank you, my Friend, for your part in modifying this experience for me.

Joel

[SJ VanSandt]

Originally Posted by AZ Cardinal

I'm Frog.

Last weekend was good for the soul! I was able to bring my daughter and wife and tour San Antonio for as couple days, before I left them there as to not be bothered with my Guitar freaking that I did all weekend! haha
San Antonio is a wonderful historical city. We had a blast!

Tom and Kathy, what wonderful fun people you are. What a great, brilliant idea you had to host this show. I really do think You guys hit on something here.
Thank you for inviting an unknown guitar Shmuck from Reno to come play with my good friend Toad. It was one of the cooler shows Ive ever played, and thank you to those that were there for being so Responsive and Attentive and supporting us with buying our Music. It was so Humbling.

Highlites:
1. Dash
2. BBQ and local Whiskey
3.Paul and Cindy performing for the Saturday lunch. And inspiring me to get a slide... Oh no! So enjoyable.
4. Bruce Sexaurs gig in the Garage. Such cool oldtime tunes done so well.
5. The Informative talks done on Sunday Afternoon
6. Joel's "Two Hands Guitars" Seahorse guitar. Joel, what an nice inspirational man you are. Your work speaks for itself. I LOVED this guitar.
7. Edwinsons Maple/Sitka just built. What a piece of work! And your cool sliding soundports. You mentoring Joel is such a cool story.
8. Kostals two guitars. Holy moly! and for getting to know you a bit. A nice humble funny guy making worldclass instruments.
9. Bruce "Godfather" Sexuar's guitars, speech and gig. Its clear why you've been doing this for 84 years.. ha. The fan fret was incredible.
10. The Kinnairds OM, and probably my favorite guitar in the show, The Bubinga 000. You are all so nice, and are what Texas Hospitality is all about.
11. Humphrey Amps.. Holy smokes they are amazing. Incredibly pretty with the best acoustic tone you can buy. Im positive about that.
12. Michael Watts. Sitting in front of him is both inspiring and disheartening.
Hahaha. His show was awesome! And his Kostal has BIG sound.
13. Hearing Natalie sing. What a true talent. A future is there for sure.
14. And selfishly, getting to play with my good friend and bandmate, and builder, Ben in "Frog and Toad". I'm Still on cloud 9...

And last but not least, ALL the Nice, funny, personable Guitar geeks I met. Some of which I'm quite sure I will be in touch with in the future. From Vasu driving all the way from Dallas to pick me up and take me to the show, and letting me jam on his Michaud, to Juston showing me a cool Fahey song which I will change a few notes and then call an "original", to Micah making me laugh so hard I couldnt breathe! When you are around so much musical talent, and talented builders, you can't help but be inspired. As a matter of fact, im gonna shut up now and go play..

Great post, Brad - you covered almost everything except Michael Watts(!) inspiring lessons - maybe you didn't have the opportunity to do that. Some of your favorites were interestingly different from mine - probably because it was difficult to play (and hear properly) all of them. I liked Joel's smaller guitar best - very well balanced, sweet, and clear - and I liked Steve Sheriff's Brazilian best of his, though they were all fantastic sounding. I'm very happy you liked Steve and Ryan's bubinga - I came very close to buying that last year, but figured two Kinnairds in one year was crazy enough. Someone needs to snap that one up ASAP before I go even crazier. I was tempted by all the Kinnairds except one: I didn't get a chance to play the 00 cutaway.

So many great people, and it was just a small sample of the talent, kindness, and smarts found on this forum. I'm going to be a regular at B.I.G. for as long as Tom and Kathy can put up with me.

Stan

[Steve Kinnaird]

It's been touched upon, and it resonates with me: where this type show far surpasses the mega-festivals is the comfortable, laid back vibe. Instead of a bewildering assortment far too many choices, Tom's idea of a guitar party with a manageable number of instruments just makes it fun. And doable! Of course, this arrangement works when the host and hostess are the irreplaceable Tom &Kathy. Thanks again you two.

And lemme share one more pic. We did a little ad hoc birding Sunday morning. It was a treat to see this small flock of wild turkeys strolling toward Tom's the last day of the show:


IMG_2759.jpg

[jcjenkins3]

Reading how great the experience was from so many people whose opinion I respect, makes me sad that I was unable to attend. Maybe next year, if Tom does it again. Texas in the Spring is a wonderful place, so I can see how this event could grow in popularity. Good people, beautiful Texas in the spring, barbecue, and guitars - I can't imagine a better combination. Tom, you are to be congratulated on taking the initiative and making it happen!

[Guitars44me]

Originally Posted by Bruce Sexauer

Being able to put faces and personalities on so many more “handles” is making my forum experience much more emotionally rich. This is not a small thing for me. Feeling the love!

Me too! Yay

Paul