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What do we do?

What do we do?

Just curious. I know I'm a relative "newbie" here to the site, but I feel like I've already made some real good friends in a very short time and hope to keep adding to the list.

I know we all love to: build guitars, play guitars, look at guitars, discuss guitars and occasionally the music we make on them. But that's all I know. I've always found the cross section of society that we musicians (and builders) make up, pretty interesting, and I'm just curious about what some of us do for the "day gig".

Some of you may be lucky enough to do this full time or even make a living playing music, but I'm sure most of us aren't. Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking to get "too" personal. Company names and such are not necessary or asked for. Just curious what you might call your "profession", and I thought it might be a good way for some of us to get to know each other just a little bit better. If this is too "off topic" or if no one is interested, I apologize for the intrusion, and the written results will speak for themselves.

So here goes: I'm a printer. Technically, I work in what is called the prepress department. Been in the business for almost 40 years (I'm 57 by the way). The people in my department PREpare the files and documents for the PRESSes. I got into it by accident as a part time job back when I was in college (a LONG time ago) to make some money so I could by a Fender Rhodes electric piano. Found out I liked it, the pay wasn't too bad and it was even somewhat creative.

Back in the old days it was all cameras, film and chemicals. In 1991, the company I worked for at the time decided to get one of those "new fangled" Macintosh computers and I was selected to see if I could make it work for us. This was back in the early days of what was then called "desktop publishing". Computers were expensive and slow at the time. An 8 megabyte RAM upgrade cost over $3,000 and that was a HUGE amount of RAM at the time. In the mid '90's our first gigabyte hard drive for file storage was ONLY $1,000 ($1 a megabyte) and we thought that was SO cheap at the time.

Anyway, I'm still at it after all these years, and I haven't looked back since. In between times, I've been lucky enough to have been married for almost 35 years, raised a beautiful daughter to adulthood and her own marriage (still waiting for grandbabies!) I've played in a couple of very good semi-pro bands (blues/rock) and have had my share of good times doing that. In more recent years I've been concentrating on just improving my playing, doing a little home recording when I can and building up my guitar collection (about 17 as of last count - not including the ones I've built myself).

Well, That's what I do. How about you?

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Permalink Reply by Al Allen (Hangten) on July 26, 2009 at 5:34pm

Tom, Hi, retired Fire Capt. here. Married 43 years with 3 great children and 3 (so far) grand boys. Just starting out with stringed instruments but I played 5 instruments during high school. Trying to get the hang of playing diatonically. From the central Ohio area and I also enjoy Astronomy and Bicycling. Gud to meet ya.

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Permalink Reply by surffrogg on July 26, 2009 at 9:40pm

I am single ; work for simmons making mattresses and box springs ;have a ten year old son been playin guitar since i was 13 and have been a fan of the blues for as long as i could remember. Started building about a year and love it and latley my son has been helping and thinks he's ready to build his own (if he could stand to spend more the ten minutes doing one thing) so lets just hope that interest stays with him.

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Permalink Reply by JUJU on July 27, 2009 at 1:11am

well where to start ? - well left school at 15 (a year early ) as i never went that much ,just used to attend art and metalwork classes as these were the only subjects i liked - bummed around for a year until i was old enough for employment
my first job was working in a steel rolling mill making Footprint wood working Chisles , stuck at this for 2 years and jacked it in (same shit Differant day) - enrolled on a engineering course for a year which i loved , got a job working on a capstan lathe making small brass components - not very intresting at all but stuck with it for two years then jacked it in !

then went back to the steel mill and worked the drop Stamp hammer good pay but again very boring after a while and loud as hell - fancied keeping my hearing so i jacked again (what's that you say ) speak up !! lol!

bummed around for a while and got into Motorcycles , started customising Bikes and did real good sold a fair few
mainly jap bikes (street fighters)
was offerd a job by my mate working with him fitting Dust and fume extraction systems throughout the uk superb pay and loved the job been on the road all week working and returning home at weekends (well most of the time ) - one day while working off a tower scaffold i was drilling a steel roof truss and the drill bit grabbed and spun the drill out of my hands sending me backwards my mate grabbed me before i fell over the handrail (60ft drop) i packed the in job there and then lol!
i was unemployed for a few years but got back into helping a mate building bikes until i was asked if i wanted to help out at a joiners workshop - i decided to give it a shot - loved it and got well into the machinery , used to make bespoke (one off kitchens , wardrobes ect ect - but it came to a end when the guy that owned the company decided to move to Spain !
started doing agency joinery work , worked on some real good buildings over the past 7 years ,but theres not much work around right now as is the case worldwide !
got into CBG's about 18 months since , always had guitars but never learnt how to play for real - still trying thoug i can play to ammuse myself but thats about it
well that's all folks
juju.

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on July 27, 2009 at 1:19am

Tom WOW! I did prepress for 13 years here in the Carolinas. Worked on Macs as well. Gave that up about 7 years ago to work in IT. Sweet! Fellow prepressman -- computer at that. The company I work for now sells datacenter equipment ('nuff said, rather complicated).

Folks ask how did I get from prepress to computers? It was a natural progression. Prepress is now digital prepress as you pointed out. I had been in charge of the prepress equipment and processes at a couple of press facilities which included computer services. Since I worked on UNIX and later Linux, I just fell into it. Took some classes and here I am.

Man Tom, that is too cool -- digital prepress. In fact, I designed my Cohiba neck and head using Illustrator. I guess some things never change.

-Wes

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Permalink Reply by Doc Oakroot on July 27, 2009 at 1:21am

I heard that to be successful in music you had to be into drugs, so I got a job in pharmaceutical research. Currently working on a blockbuster hepatitis C drug.

Actually, what I do exactly is statistical programming in drug development (technically, research is discovering the drug and testing in the lab and development is testing it in people so show that it's safe and it works - or not).

BTW, my first computer was a mainframe shared by three major universities (because they each couldn't afford their own). It filled a room and had a whopping 4M - all they could afford again, but even if they could have afforded it, the max for that machine was 16M, lol.

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Permalink Reply by Ben on July 27, 2009 at 1:39am

Hey Tom, Great post. I'm an Elementary Instrumental Music teacher. I went to school on trumpet but have always played strings as a hobby. This whole CBG thing was a great discovery for me and I've really been enjoying it!

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Permalink Reply by Paul Doug on July 27, 2009 at 3:20am

Well I am retired, with a part time job, which is the funnest job ever. I deliver flowers for a florist that has 3 shops. I am familiar with the flower business because my folks and brother had several shops for years. Most of my working career was around the computer industry. I started as an operator when there were big mainframe computers that took up rooms. They weren't as powerful as the PC sitting on you desk today. I work up to managing the data center for many years. When that all died and PC's took over, I became a project manager.

I volunteered for a layoff in 1999 because I thought I had enough stashed away to survive.

Married to the same person for 41 years. Two grown children, son that is a commander in the Navy, F-18 Superhornet pilot, a daughter that works managing a vet clinic. Two Grand Kids, boy and a girl.

I have never been gifted enough to play music. Always been a big fan of blues and jazz even as a teen. But alas I have ZERO musical talent. So, I build . I make tongue drums, Native American flutes, now CBGs and I plan on some other things, I love wood work, been working on a little sail boat I hope to finish some day. I make pens and whatever.

I live in SE Washington State. People around here have never heard of CBGS. I have lived in this area all my life.

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Permalink Reply by Jkevn on July 27, 2009 at 3:26am

I'm a FireFighter/EMT/Fire Investigator, have been for a lil over 15 yrs. I've always worked part time jobs on my off days that used my hands. Now, I work as a college level Fire Science Instructor and didn't have an outlet for building and creating. I discovered CBG's in early spring and the fever hasn't broken yet...I can't play fer cr@p, but I enjoy building for family & friends that do play. Always nice to see someone enjoy something you made with your own hands.

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Permalink Reply by Hip Bone Bellaire on July 27, 2009 at 3:59am

Great Idea... I'm a newbie as well BUT not a newbie to the Blues seen. I'm from wACO Texas and I'm not a Branch Davidian. I worked for the Arlington Texas Fire Department and was the Video Training guy.."The guy who runs around with cameras," after 10 years there, I knew it was time to leave... I came to NY to see a friend and I met my wife, then moved from the Dallas area to Rochester, NY and work for a University doing Video Productions. 20 years of this... Now I find CBN and figure I might be able to make a 3 string slide and try to play... Video's of the process coming soon... Anyway here is my web site...

www.CraigBellaire.com

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Permalink Reply by Mortimer Snerd on July 27, 2009 at 6:07am

I have delivered news papers as a boy, then worked at a tree nursery from 14 to 17, then two hours after graduating High School, went full time in a plastics vacuum forming plant for 5 years, then a heavy equipment operator for two years, then a Schwans Food Home deliver route driver for 13 years, I loved that gig, but it beat me up. Then a very short stint selling cars for a month, that was hell. Try working for dishonest people that smile at you. Then worked in a small metal shop operating spline and gear cutting machines for 8 years, had major spine surgery from the years of ware and tear, and now I am gimped up for ever. To healthy for disability, to gimped up to work. I do taxidermy as a hobby as I picked that up along the way, and have been doing that for 7 years. I picked up a Fender Stratocaster after my spinal surgery to pass the time during recovery, I now have two guitars, and five CBG's. I still cant play a complete song, but I love to make noise.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Lanford on July 29, 2009 at 4:41am

Thanks for all of the replies fellas! Just as I suspected, we are a diverse and interesting group, to be sure. Special hello and thanks to all the graphic arts related people out there. Who knew? And the firemen too. A couple of my oldest friends are firemen. Again, thanks to all. I've really enjoyed getting to know a bit more about each of you, and I hope you have too. Hopefully there's still a few more entries to come. How about some of the ladies? We know you're out there!

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Permalink Reply by Tallman Ben on July 29, 2009 at 10:02pm

It’s very interesting getting to know what other people do.

Well, I left school at 16 and was taken on by Halifax Town Football Club (that’s soccer) as a YTS (youth training scheme). All my boyhood dreams of becoming a footballer (soccer player) were coming true. But, within 4 months my dreams were shattered, as well as my ankle ligaments. Halifax were relegated, and had to disband their youth academy. So the dream ended.
Then followed a few years working on building sites to earn money, whilst going to night school in order to get my A levels (English Language & English Literature, popular music). Spent some time living in Belgium & Holland, both lovely countries that sell strong beer and even stronger weed (if your into that thing).
I realised that building sites weren't my thing, cold, wet and really REALLY back breaking work, so I had a number of years just bumming about. I started playing guitar at about 16, but moved onto playing bass, I just love the deep sound it makes. Played in loads of bands, from indie rock to trip hop to electro, and loved every minute.

I started working in builders merchants (selling construction materials), and the pay was good. I took a job with a rival company (I went for money and not happiness), and 9 months down the line was made redundant. Life’s hard when you don’t have 2 pennies to scratch you arse with, but I made the best out of it and did little odd jobs here and there, sold second hand clothes on a market stall.

On Monday I start a job at a window company as a sales rep, the trouble is, I hate working in sales, but it puts bread on the table.

I've been with my girlfriend for 9 years, no kids, and absolutely no intentions of getting married. We've spent a lot of time travelling together, as seeing new things is something we both love doing.

I discovered the blues from my Dad when I was about 13. He used to listen to Cream & the Rolling Stones all day long, and I loved the sounds they made. I then found the original versions of the songs I liked and was hooked.

That about it really. If you want to know anything else just ask.