After a 15 year hiatus, I got back into building guitars around Christmas a year and a half ago. When I got into gear, I wasn’t sure what direction I was heading, but it didn’t take me very long to find the true spark that got me going in buildingtheergonomicguitar.com (BTEG). One of the features caught my interest immediately…

Rick Toone and I have been communicating on various luthier’s matters since then. He has been a source of inspiration to me and someone I have turned to for advice and ideas for that time. Along with Rob Irizzary of BTEG, and all its contributors and collaborators he has helped keep the momentum going.

Back in February this year, I got an e-mail from Rick saying that he and Rob had joined forces and started eLutherie.org, which immediately sounded like an excellent idea. The Design and Technology Exchange portion of elutherie.org is founded on the idea of collaborating with other luthiers in an as private/public/open/closed way as you choose. Rick calls this micro partnerships, which is a fitting term. We have since been sharing ideas and collaborating on bridge designs, patenting issues and more.

We have become good enough virtual friends that I have decided to spend my hard earned Continental frequent flyer miles to cross the Atlantic and pay Rick a visit! (BTW – the service I got from Continental in organizing this trip was amazing.)

Look forward to more posts from our respective camps in the early August time-frame.