Chris that Hog of your is a great looking guitar. I played one made with the same combination that was a CM. Great guitar but I decided against it because I have my Gibson LG-2 that is Hog with Adi on the top so it would have been like having something similar to what I already owned. I could sell my LG-2, and I thought about it, but that guitar is a 46-47 and has that acoustic rag/blues sound coming out of it and I just didn't want to loose that since that is what I mainly play.

I think I would like to get and H&D CM with blackwood and cedar. But right now I am holding off picking up anything.

As Bltprf502 says flyfishing and guitar playing go well together. I remember flyfishing every morning on the Kenai and the Kalseeloft for kings and then reds. What a great time and then home for a little nap and a bit of music.
ragtime man

Chris Osowski wrote:

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Gosh I love the Kenai!!! I've never seen such a pretty colored river anywhere..... If you guys ever make it to alaska we'll have to do an upper Kenai float for rainbow and bring some guitars along for the streamside lunch! One of you can play my Huss, one the C-25,a nd I'll bring the Goodall!

Not to steal the thread, maybe just for a quick note on the side, but what kind of rods do you guys throw? I have a couple Sage, a Powell and some Orvis...

When I lived in Soldotna I had a skiff and a drift boat. I floated the Upper Kenai many times in the fall for the rainbox and the reds. You would have to be careful you didn't step on a red to wade out from the drift boat. We would see many eagles eating the reds on the shores but never did see a brown bear although I know they were there.

As for a rod I built a G-Loomis 9 weight flyrod with a 6 inch fighting butt that I could take off and put on. When I went after the reds or the rainbows I would change out the reels but I used the same rod without the fighting butt. It seemed to be very responsive but could take a good king without breaking. Largest King I cought on the G-Loomis was about 52-54 pounds. I gutted it out before I could get it to a scale but I took it in to the Sports Den which a friend owned in Soldotna and he told me is was 52-54 pounds. It was like hauling in a log that kept wanting to go up stream and then down stream and then back up stream. I caught it in the Kaseelof River so it was a big king for that river.

I like your idea of floating the upper Kenai with rods and guitars. My son wants to go up and just maybe we will make it so I might take you up on your offer. I am thinking of retirement at the end of June so if I pull the plug I will have more time to play guitars and fish. I sure do miss the Kenai!

As for H&Ds I still think I would like to get a CM with Blackwood and Cedar or Zircote and Cedar. I sold my cedar top some years ago to get a National Resophonic and I sure miss having the cedar. I hope to start building guitars this summer, if I retire, and would like to build a matched set of OMs one with cedar and one with Sitka. I'm not sure what to make the bodies out of maybe rosewood, maybe a flamed Hog. Just have not figured that out yet. I'm also thinking of building an electric. (Did I say that?)

It is hard to beat the workmanship and sound out of an H&D. Well that is true of the Breedloves also. I still marvel when I pick up the Masterclass strip ebony and German spruce. Great workmanship and sound.
ragtime man

powerandwisdom wrote:

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Hey ragtime man - that's great! What a great retirement transition project. Do you have experience working with wood?

PandW many, many, years ago I started my professional life as a shop teacher long before I went back school to change careers. I had a woodworking class in college and when I was a teacher we would sub. for each other. We also had access to everyone elses shop in the school so on weekends I would go in and work in the woodworking shop even though I wasn't teaching woodworking.

I have always worked in wood. I now do woodcarving and wood sculpture weekly. I carving daily when I lived in Alaska sometimes for 16 hours a day over vacations or holidays. I have a 14 inch band saw, 13 inch planer, and a 1957 Shopsmith that is still working fine. I guess I could put new bearing in it but I kind of like the groaning it does sometimes. So with the Shopsmith I have the ability to have a lathe, 12 inch disc sander, drill press, jointer, and table saw. I bought a Inca router table about year ago but I don't have it all put together yet.

I will need to get a trim router to do the binding and purfling and maybe a couple of other pieces like a bending machine. A friend that retired a couple of years ago has build a bending machine and it seems to work fine but it is set up to bend 000s and not OMs. I will also need to build all the jigs for an OM but I got the rest of my life so if it takes me a while so be it. I would also need to build the jigs that are needed for some of the tools like the jig that you need for the trim router since the top and the sides are on perpendicular to each other all the way around.

I haven't built "a birdhouse" in a long time but have build end tables, workbenches and turned some pens. Since I haven't done any really technical work, other than woodcarving/sculpture every week, I know there will be some mistakes, or as I prefer to call them "design modifications," but I think if I don't get to frustrated I will get it done even with its flaws. Design modifications are a lot like what I referred to in Alaska as a long range releases when I was fishing. I never lost a fish I would have a long range release.

I have thought also about starting with a kit and then building one from scratch as I am building from a kit. Look and read about the kit, do the next step on the kit, and cut and build the piece for the guitar from scratch and then do the same step that I just did on the kit. So it would be a side by side project one kit, one from scratch, with the result being two guitars at the end or a lot of expensive wood to burn. I know there would be things in the scratch one that I wouldn't need to do in the kit like make some of the pieces that would be done for me in a kit. Who knows for sure if I actually will do this but at this point it is on the to do list.

But as you say a nice transition project.
ragtime man

powerandwisdom wrote:

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Sounds like you are well on your way ragtime man. Be sure to take some photos along the way to share. I believe you are in for a great journey!

I have a digital camera and do play to take pictures. However, you know my computer skills are lacking so I will need someone, like yourself, to explain how I upload them to the forum. I do plan to keep pictures so I have documentation of the building process on the guitars.
ragtime man