Guild is hiring!

[fronobulax]

Knowledge comes from experience.
Wisdom comes from someone else's experience.

 

[Christopher Cozad]

Knowledge comes from experience.
Wisdom comes from someone else's experience.

...thus making *armchair quarterbacks* amongst the wisest of all people. I'll be ordering my new chair with massage, heat and a reading lamp. ;~}

 

[davismanLV]

As I went through Oxnard this past fall while on vacation to LA, I was amazed just how far removed it is from LA. It's an hour from Santa Monica to Oxnard. Being on the other side of the mountains and on the coast, it's kind of isolated. Seemed like a nice place to me.

Kurt, it is exactly that!! Beautiful and removed from LA. Just before Ventura (another really nice coastal city) heading north and .... what's not to like? Of course, it has all the California problems which have been mentioned. But honestly, it would be hard for me to imagine why anyone wouldn't want to live there.

 

[SFIV1967]

Someone will perfect a chemical process to emulsify wood and shoot it through a 3D printer. Look ma, I'm a luthier!

We are there already today! Not wood but plastic, but all 3D printed guitars!
See all the models: http://cubify.com/Store/ODDMusic?tabid=1

Here is one that I saw at NAMM 2013 from that company:

Ralf

 

[chazmo]

We are indeed, Ralf.

But, can we call these people luthiers since they're working in plastic? Someone is going to point out that Rainsong, etc., are real guitars made from composites... Still kinda' begs the question.

 

[Christopher Cozad]

We are there already today!...

...But, can we call these people luthiers since they're working in plastic?...

I venture to guess that the definitions are going to change (and I will likely go down kicking and screaming as they do). Once the utilization of any *natural* material is completely criminalized, the synthetics and composites will be the new "green" (can you just imagine a future conversation amongst teenagers, 'What's that? Oh, this is my dad's wooden guitar, but don't tell anybody he has one. He'll really get in trouble.')

(Attempt at veer recovery...) I trust it may be safe to say, for the time being, at least Guilds will be made of wood for the foreseeable future.

 

[JohnW63]

In a younger, still single, got into wood working rather than computers, universe, I would go apply today !

 

[adorshki]

(Attempt at veer recovery...) I trust it may be safe to say, for the time being, at least Guilds will be made of wood for the foreseeable future.

And I, for one, will always have wood.

 

[SFIV1967]

But, can we call these people luthiers since they're working in plastic? Someone is going to point out that Rainsong, etc., are real guitars made from composites... Still kinda' begs the question.

It started with Ovation and their composite synthetic bowls already...
Ralf

 

[bluesypicky]

And I, for one, will always have wood.

Chaz?

Ah, nothing like a good self-delusion......

Thank you.

 

[adorshki]

It started with Ovation and their composite synthetic bowls already...
Ralf

Right. And they're gonna be the benchmark for vintage plastic.

 

[davismanLV]

And thanks to Pascal for my favorite post tonight..... :encouragement:

 

[txbumper57]

I worked out in Huntington Beach for about 6 months from the spring of 2001 right up to 9-11-01 Rebuilding that power plant on PCH right at the Beach. The weather was great, The people were nice, I really liked it. The only drawbacks for me were not being able to get away from all the people. I rode my Harley on a day off for about an hour and a half and it was still constant people and traffic. The only other drawback was that pesky State Income Tax. Being from Texas we don't have one. But other than those two things it was a great place and a great time.:encouragement:

 

[gibsonjunkie]

I use this sometimes when I talk about decision-making...

Data: Observations about states of the world; easily structured, often quantifiable.
Information: Data endowed with meaning and purpose (according to management guru Peter Drucker); meaning depends on interpretation by people, who may not agree.
Knowledge: Information connected in relationships.
Wisdom: Understanding how to use knowledge to make sound judgments and decisions.
Vision:Using what you’ve learned to anticipate the future.

 

[crank]

I worked out in Huntington Beach for about 6 months from the spring of 2001 right up to 9-11-01 Rebuilding that power plant on PCH right at the Beach. The weather was great, The people were nice, I really liked it. The only drawbacks for me were not being able to get away from all the people. I rode my Harley on a day off for about an hour and a half and it was still constant people and traffic. The only other drawback was that pesky State Income Tax. Being from Texas we don't have one. But other than those two things it was a great place and a great time.:encouragement:

I lived in that part of the world for 6 years a lot more years than that ago. I had access to sailboats and could escape out on the Pacific, but the constant people, traffic and lack of trees and seasonal changes are what brought me home to CT.

That said, Oxnard is nothing like LA other than being on the coast in Cali.

 

[chazmo]

That's funny that you guys are talking about the constant people... I was suffering from some anxiety when I was out in Bay Area last year. There were a number of causes, but the press of a very dense population, lots of poverty close in, and of course the ridiculous traffic situation were a significant source of it for me. Even though I loved riding my bike around the area and thus avoiding sitting in the car, the presence of all those people had a real impact on me.

 

[adorshki]

That's funny that you guys are talking about the constant people... I was suffering from some anxiety when I was out in Bay Area last year. There were a number of causes, but the press of a very dense population, lots of poverty close in, and of course the ridiculous traffic situation were a significant source of it for me. Even though I loved riding my bike around the area and thus avoiding sitting in the car, the presence of all those people had a real impact on me.

You were in a part of the Bay Area that much more closely resembles urban Los Angeles than other parts of it.
But I bet you understand why I hate to drive around here anymore except during certain hours on the weekends.
It got me to wondering if there's something about the dynamic of development of major international ports of commerce that leads to these social woes. The need for plentiful cheap labor, the need for rail and truck infrastructure that renders neighborhoods in the proximity undesirable for those who can afford better, one thing leads to another...
San Jose/Santa Clara on the south end of the bay were founded on agriculture and were pretty inaccessible for sea-based shipping. The water's just too shallow and silted up at the far south end, and too expensive to keep dredged for boat channels.
Everything was spread out in large farm holdings (primarily fruit orchards) and the area was still largely rural even into the '40's and '50's. Development only occurred in fits as individual farm families finally decided to sell their acreage, sometimes in piecemeal.
As a result even San Jose's "wrong side of the tracks" and gang-territory neighborhoods are greener with larger plots and less violent than Oakland's or Los Angeles' "killing zones".
Also, Los Angeles proper is surrounded by mountains which form a great big bowl of a smog trap, further contributing to the overall murky background "atmosphere". While California's smog laws have done wonders for it since the '60's and
'70's it still dosen't compare to areas that get a daily wind cleaning like the Bay Area.
Oxnard's saving grace is that it's not a port city and it gets fresh ocean air every day.
Also they got seals and even otters if you're lucky.
And abalone.
And girls in bikinis.
And sometimes not.
:sneakiness:

 

[gibsonjunkie]

I had an opportunity to move to Santa Clara and get a job out there , but between housing costs and the 2 hour commute every day I just said NO.

 

[txbumper57]

Also, Los Angeles proper is surrounded by mountains which form a great big bowl of a smog trap, further contributing to the overall murky background "atmosphere". While California's smog laws have done wonders for it since the '60's and

'70's it still dosen't compare to areas that get a daily wind cleaning like the Bay Area.

Funny you mention that. I remembered driving through the mountains to get to LA, but after a few weeks I just got use to the smog. I kept seeing the same cloud on the horizon at sunset in the pacific ocean every night. About a month after being there we had a windy night that cleared out the smog, The next Morning I woke up and was Stunned to discover Mountains surrounding the landscape, Didn't even remember them being there. Turns out that cloud in the Pacific was actually Catalina Island! layful:

But I bet you understand why I hate to drive around here anymore except during certain hours on the weekends.

I worked just outside of Pleasanton, CA in January-March of 2002 and it was no different than the L.A. area as far as People everywhere. We had to rebuild a High Potency Acid unit out at the Tesoro Golden Eagle Refinery. Thank god I was on nights, The guys on days said it took them almost an hour to Hour and a half to get 10-12 miles back to their hotel.

I had an opportunity to move to Santa Clara and get a job out there , but between housing costs and the 2 hour commute every day I just said NO.

I looked at houses in northern and southern California and it was just ridiculous. 1800 square foot house in Texas 20 min from the beach, 20 min from Downtown Houston in a nice neighborhood with lots of room on probably 3/4 acre with Green Grass and lots of trees was running about $120,000 Brand New in 2001-2002. Same square footage in Southern Cali around Huntington Beach in a 40 year old house with no front yard and small back yard and not so nice neighborhood was $650,000. They were listing 5 acres of dirt as a ranch in California for 1.7 million. You can get 5 acres of prime land down here with grass and trees all over it for about 10k-15k an acre. I love to visit Cali, But this guys staying in Texas! :encouragement:

 

[davismanLV]

I'm a California boy, born and raised. And while I LOVE CA, I actually love the CA that I grew up with. It's not that California any more. I just can't take the prices, the congestion, the traffic, the attitude and the ..... the big issue is almost everyone has come from somewhere else to be someone. And that's a really bad thing. If they don't know they were someone before they got here, then they're effing LOST people who probably won't figure it out in California.

So now I live in Las Vegas, Nevada. Today, nephew Andrew and wife Nikki came from CA to see us (they used to live here, and grew up here) and we had a nice visit. Actually went to our fave place on the Strip and .... took 20 minutes to get there. Free parking. Lots of cool, super "guest oriented" friends to wait on us and ... they were actually glad to see us. Had great food, talked to amazing chefs, and managers, and .... had a really good time. Then we jumped in the car and headed home. Now we're having grilled food and camaraderie and my house costs about 1/10th of what one like this would cost in LA. I've got big city fun close by, sophisticated shows, the best restaurants in the whole world and .... traffic (if you plan your life well) is not really a thing. So while I'll say Oxnard is a super nice place. Would I move there?

Not in a million years. Nope.