As some of you may know, I have been planning for some time to attend Lutherie school in Michigan next year. With the blessing of a trip to the USA this month for vacation, Ree and I thought it would be in our best interest to do a bit of investigation. I convinced my parents that this would make a good road trip, and so they drove us up to what I fondly call “the oven mitt” of the USA.
On our way up, we made a stop in Lansing to visit Elderly Instruments. I was in heaven, and my family was wonderful enough to put up with my need to see everything in the store, resigned to wait until my hunger to overcame my GAS.
Finally arriving in Big Rapids, we were so pleased that it had a Wal-Mart and indoor plumbing! Actually Big Rapids is a nice town, and after three days of being there, I won’t mind the pace and the people for six months, in fact, I look forward to it.
The last morning in Big Rapids, we set off to visit Galloup Guitars. Bryan Galloup, a former student of Dan Erlewine, runs one of the premier lutherie schools in the world, and made us feel right at home. He gave us a tour of the entire facility, and answered the questions we had as we prepare to make the temporary move. Bryan also pulled out one of his just-finished acoustic guitars and I gave it a few strums as he inspected a twelve-string on which he was getting ready to perform a neck reset. I wished I had looked to see which model it was that I played, but it doesn’t matter, because it was a beauty. The guitar was flawless and the quality of the wood was fantastic. That only reinforced to me that I had made the right decision. At the end of our time with Bryan, I told him that we passed through Athens, OH on the way back. He proceeded to pick up the phone and called Dan Erlewine. When he hung up, he told me that Dan would like to meet me, and to give him a call.
After talking to Dan on the phone, I told Ree and my parents that we were going to be driving all the way to Athens….TODAY!
We rolled into Athens at 10 that evening, and the next morning I called Dan. He said to come right on, because he was in the midst of a shop upheaval. He was on vacation, but this only meant that is was time for him to re-arrange and clean up his shop. When we first walked in, I spotted the chair guitar that had been featured in the Fretboard Journal. The electric guitar that went with the chair was hanging up, and had been replaced by a new acoustic Dan had put together. I even got a chance to site down and give it a whirl. It even has a chin rest! It was fun, and a blast to play!
After showing us all of the rooms in his basement shop, he called Elliot John-Conry to see whether we could take a gander at the PLEK machine in town. Unfortunately, Elliot was busy with some customers, so Dan decided that it was time to pop over to StewMac. As we entered StewMac, we encountered a gentleman and his son with a 00 Vintage Gibson as well as two hand-made acoustics. It wasn’t long before there was an impromptu jam session in the side meeting room.
Once the jam session was over, Dan introduced me to literally every one of the office staff in the place. We met the president of the company, as well as Erick Coleman, who was once part of Dan’s Mod Squad and now partners with Gene Imbody as part of United Lutherie in Athens. After the office tour, we made our way out to the warehouse, and oh what wares there are in there! Dan proceeded to show us some of the new products that have been developed as well as inquiring as to how many of his repair guide he had signed (2015). We then walked out the shipping doors, made our way back to our car, and took the ultra-secret back way to Dan’s shop.
As we came back into the shop, we had the pleasure of meeting Dan’s wife Joan. We knew that we needed to be on our way, as it was getting to be close to twelve, and my parents were waiting back at the hotel with our things. Had it not been for that, we may very well still be visiting with Dan. It would have ben fun to help pitch in with the shop re-organization, but it just wasn’t possible. Before leaving, I made sure that Dan signed copy number 2016 of his repair guide. What a great visit!
I can’t say enough about the hospitality and treatment I received from Bryan and from Dan. If this is Northern Hospitality, I am ready for more!!!
