Intro continued. . .

I know what many of my friends and family are thinking. I didn't know you played! I don't and your point? No, really, I have had a guitar on and off for almost forty years. I started in college because my good friend, Dalton Maroney bought an inexpensive Yamaha and started taking lessons. Within a very short time, it seemed like about a week, he was playing, singing and entertaining us all every weekend. HE GAVE ME HOPE! I bought a used guitar from the same shop and started lessons from the same person that Dalton used. To make a long story a little shorter, my experience was a little different than my friend's. My lessons lasted an entire week and my voice. . . well let's say it was not quite as polished as my friend's but I kept trying, and as long as Dalton was there to play with me and cover up my mistakes, I slowly improved. By the end of that summer I was up to about 5 chords! We all graduated, first my friend and a year later I graduated with an MFA in painting. I was very fortunate and found a teaching job at a small school in North Carolina. At that time it was called Pembroke State University. I believe it is now the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. It was a very small school with a very small Art Department but I loved it. My wife and I made friends, mostly with my students. One of those couples was Dave and Carol Peace. Dave was my age, he had been in the Army and was now pursuing his degree in Art in preparation for grad school in Medical Illustration. We became good friends with like interests, including the guitar. While we were there Dave bought a very nice Gibson and continued to try and teach me a few licks. After two years in North Carolina, I got a call from my grad school buddy Dalton, who was teaching sculpture in a small college in Sioux City, Iowa. He said they had an opening in his department for a painting instructor and that I should apply. I did, I got the job and we were off to the cold and frozen land of Iowa. It was great to be back with our friends from school and playing with Dalton, who by this time was becoming quite accomplished. I always liked playing with him because he knew a ton of fun COUNTRY songs which weren't too difficult for me. He sounded great and I could play very quietly and look good. Our relationship was about the only good thing about that school. Dalton left after that first year and here is where my interest in building a guitar was born. Most of our mutual friends at the college were in the Music Department. Art and Music shared the same building on campus, so we got to know most of the music faculty. When Dalton left, our music friends, threw him a going away party. At this party they gave him a classical guitar that was custom made by a local luthier/craftsman. It was beautiful with a highly figured rosewood back and sides. The story was that the wood for that beautiful guitar came from a railroad tie. I found out just last year that maybe that story was true. I was informed that during that time period railroad ties were being shipped in from Brazil and many were made from trees from the rain forest, Brazilian rose wood! I was struck by the beauty and craftsmanship of this instrument - I wanted to try it.