Forums

Mornin', folks! I go by oilyfool (Ron Sprague), as I'm a petroleum geologist living and working in Saudi Arabia. Been lurking, reading and thinking for the last two months here. After singing and playing acoustic and electric for 35 years in pick-up blues-rock bands and church choirs, I decided I needed to kick start my playing by going "backwards." I'm handy with tools (I also help build sets for our local theater productions, when I'm not acting in or directing them!), and CBGs looked relatively easy - with a tangible result at the end of a build. I'm simultaneously building my first two, 3-stringers, for myself and my 11-year-old son - his 13-year old sister will probably want one, once she see ours, so there's build No 3 already planned! Plus, I have several local musically-inclined friends with significant birthdays coming up, so there's Builds 4 through at least 10...I'm introducing my builds as Alamo Guitars, having grown up in Texas, though I'm originally from southern Arkansas, and lived in Louisiana at various times. I have access to all kinds of exotic Asian woods, but they are still expensive, so my first builds are scrap lumber from our theater projects: 3/16" lauan skin plywood, 1/2" pine inner bracing timbers, lots of parts from C.B. Gitty (Thanks, Ben!), and any and everything I've been able to glean from my lurking and reading here. I also decided to build my own boxes, as shipping on CBs is outragesu, and I haven't yet gone to the local markets to see about sourcing the good Cuban boxes. Am seriously im-/ de-pressed with the levels of expertise I see here - gorgeous builds, that are beyond my woodworking capabilities from a shop tool standpoint, so my design philosophy is to do what I can with what I have or can relatively easily purchase locally (tools, and parts - wood must be scrap), and what I have time for, and most of all, make it look (and hopefully, sound) old and kewl. I will post build photos as and when, and welcome comments / suggestions / critiques).