AGF meet and greet?

[JackC1]

I'm wondering if there's interest in having an AGF meet-and-greet event?

I don't think I'm experienced enough with guitars to organize one. But I have organized a Calguns event in San Jose that turned out to be a lot of fun. And I've attended a Watchuseek event in Menlo Park that was a lot of fun. It's great to put faces to names/screen handles.

The Calguns event included a restaurant meet up and food; then we went to the gun range for an afternoon of trying out different guns/shooting and more talking. The Watchuseek event was held at a watch shop and included an Oris rep. (although I bought a watch; it was really no-pressure sales).

From reading this forum, I see that there're many from the SF bay area. Does anybody want to meet up? Perhaps share your favorite guitars? Trade some stories? Enjoy a bite to eat?

I know about the South Bay Guitar Society; but I think this will be more of an acoustic guitar meet up. Interested?

[LiveMusic]

Hello, Jack, I have no idea if such a meet n greet would work... guitar players, musicians. Is a reasonable query. My first thought was that this might not be doable because members of this forum are so spread out. But then reading further, you said Bay area. So, you might get more traction if you made a post seeking interest in a Bay Area meet n greet. There's another name for online forum get-togethers, it escapes me at the moment. People do it for all kinds of forums.

I just don't know if it's doable for guitar players / musicians due to such varied musical interests.

[Murphy Slaw]

That many guitar players in one town would surely drive property values down quickly.

I doubt any municipality would allow such an event...

[Steve DeRosa]

I seem to recall that a short-term AGF member organized just such an event in the NY/NJ area about 10 years ago, and former mod Marty Bergstedt (M19) runs a Facebook group for AGF'ers in the Twin Cities area:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/331498230223228/

[rokdog49]

If you want to cover the airfare and room for my trip to California, I’m in.

[Talk2Me]

Originally Posted by Murphy Slaw

That many guitar players in one town would surely drive property values down quickly.

I doubt any municipality would allow such an event...

Nah, they're talking San Francisco. Pretty much anything goes in that town!

[M19]

We organized a few TC AGF get-togethers/Open Mics a few years back. It can be done, but it'll take work on your part.

One help that seems no longer available was a "Groups" function on this Forum. I also created a Group on FaceBook as Steve mentioned above.
A few local AGF friends have discussed one for this year, but none of us has stepped forward yet to organize it.

[K20C]

There is an AGF member located in a small community a little north of Seattle. When we were living up there years ago he hosted a couple of get-togethers advertised through the AGF.

They were very well attended with people from as far away as Oregon. So much fun, and the guitars that would show up! (Miss you Matt, Glenn, Dave and all the rest!)

[M19]

Couple of other thoughts for you Jack:

• If you can get any luthiers to attend (like your Watch rep) that will help drive attendance. We had Brian Applegate, Tim Reede, Hans Brentrup, and Gerry Humphrey (Humphrey's Amps) at various events. But no, we never got Jim Olson!
• Check out whether any shops will let you have a few hours space. We did a couple of ours at Guitar Rodeo, as Jim Tordoff was more than happy to have a shop full of GAS-aholics trying out his Taylors, Santa Cruz's and Carmel's.
• Have an Open Mic be a part of it, for sure.

[CoastStrings]

Originally Posted by JackC1

From reading this forum, I see that there're many from the SF bay area. Does anybody want to meet up? Perhaps share your favorite guitars? Trade some stories? Enjoy a bite to eat?

If it's a smaller group, you could all meet at Eric's shop, chat on the benches outside, and dine in Tiburon. Lola's Taqueria is just 2 doors down I think. Woodlands Market makes good sandwiches and you can get desserts to go.

The park by the bay is a short walk. It's a great place to just be outdoors.

[Cypress Knee]

I hosted some AGF meetups several years ago back in Baltimore, and attended some DC area meetups. I have hosted a few meetups out here in San Diego. In both areas I have had some good times and made new friends. (shoutout to SayHeyJeff! Tell Alan I send my regards.)

Sometimes people just sat around, looked at each other's guitars, maybe got to sample a McKnight or a Wingert or an original 1937 Martin D 28. Sometimes there were song circles or jams. Let the prospective attendees know what the activities are going to be.

The biggest concern for many people (if they are hosting in their home) is that total strangers are being invited to come to that house for a few hours and you never know who might be scoping out the home for nefarious reasons.

Also, you need to establish the ground rules early. Mine are simple - no guns, no drugs, no alcohol, no smoking, no pets.

Anyway, in my experience these can be great events where you meet some interesting new people, see some cool instruments, and hear some amazing hidden talent.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Cypress Knee

...you need to establish the ground rules early. Mine are simple - no guns, no drugs, no alcohol, no smoking, no pets...

Oh well - there go all the real blues players...

[Earl49]

We had a Carbon Fest in Phoenix back in FEB 2018 from among the participants in the Carbon Fiber room here. It took dozens of emails and quite a few calls behind the scenes to get it together, and that was with a local host volunteering space in his home. We had nine players, a couple of spouses, and about 20 carbon fiber or composite guitars of all brands. It was great fun, but I shudder to count up the hours spent making it happen. It did allow several of us to meet in person and build friendships. There has been some minor back channel discussion about a repeat, but not any serious effort.

Small regional gatherings would be far more feasible, IMO. Trying to make anything bigger (more people) or wider ranging would be a major challenge. Just ask Tom B'Sox about his B.I.G. gathering in Texas. At least in the SF Bay Area you have a large population base to draw from.

[Bob Womack]

Back during the years of this forums predicessor, several yearly Cakestock events, formally the Taylor Guitar Forum Northern Virginia Gatherings, happened in the Washington, DC suburb of Warrenton, organized by user Cakes. There are pics of the two I attended, HERE and HERE. There was an average turnout of ten to fifteen. There was also Monroestock, a yearly AGF meeting organized by Holloway's Music in Monroe, NC. They had about seventy members and many other interested parties come from around the East Coast the year I was there, but eventually Holloway's closed.

I've wanted to organize one in my area (Mid-Atlantic) and use the recording studio where I work as the venue, but Covid and increased security needs at the studio complex have put the kybosh on it for now.

Bob

[sayheyjeff]

Had quite a few here in the Washington area and they were a lot of fun. Made some great friends thru them too. Some of the best were at Jim’s in Baltimore (playing with Alan Friday and will say hi for you Jim). Some of the best were when we had roadshow guitars to show off and the time The McKnights came to town and participated. The weekend event Boone hosted that included a Rev. Gary Davis workshop with Scott Ainsley teaching in the afternoon, and playing after dinner was special. Maybe it’s time we start thinking about having another one here too.

Jeff