The Guild’s 23rd Convention/Exhibition in July 2023 was a huge success! We had around 375 members and guests attending. Thanks to all our presenters, volunteers, and everyone who came for making it such a great event! You can still see the list and bios of our presenters here. The content of their lectures and workshops will appear as articles in future issues of American Lutherie, so stay tuned! Below are photo highlights (click on a photo to see them as a slide show with captions). We’d be happy to post more member photos, especially of folks we didn’t get a good shot of, so contact us via our contact form if you’d like to share some! Convention logos photo backdrop. (Woo) Alex Glasser and Brian Michael acoustic guitar repair workshop. (Stone) James Condino checks out a guitar by Michael Colbert. (Yarosh) Old friends Jeff Elliott and Steve Klein. (Burton) Stephen Marchione shared his fretting methods. (I. Olsen) Luthiers lean in to learn more after Monica Esparza's lecture on Jose Romanillos. (Yarosh) GAL Board member Bob Petrulis works the other end of the registration table. (T. Olsen) Acclaimed guitarist Alex DeGrassi performed an amazing concert. He last played for us at our 1980 Convention in San Francisco. (Stone) John Jordan shows off one of his amazing electric violins. (Stone) Federico Sheppard's Simplicio bridge workshop. (Stone) AL author Mark French (r) chats up Steve Kauffman. (Stone) Members stand for the Guild chant: "The Guild is Great! The Guild is Good! The Guild is Great and Good!" (McElrath) Our Fearless Leader leads the assembled members to recite the Guild chant. (McElrath) Jason Lollar moderates a workshop on electric guitar listening skills with Tim Learch playing. (Yarosh) Todd Cambio answers questions after his lecture. He also did a workshop on case making. (Yarosh) Larry Fitzgerald points out a detail at the electric repair workshop. (I. Olsen) Roger Pierce's Wizard of Oz themed harp ukulele was a big hit! (Stone) Jackson Corey visits Michael Colbert's table. (Yarosh) Classical guitarist Michael Partington returned for another lovely concert as well as performing in the listening sessions. (Stone) Chuck Barnett shows of his uke at dinner. (Yarosh) Klein & Kauffman guitars (Woo) James Buckland at his early guitar design aesthetics workshop. (McElrath) A view from the other side of the acoustic guitar repair workshop. (Yarosh) Jan Mandrik talks with Monica Esparza after her 18-hole bridge workshop.(Yarosh) Kerry Werry visits at his display (nice hat!). (Yarosh) Kerry Char's table at the exhibition. (Yarosh) Bill Ellis with his guitars. (Yarosh) Nice close-up of Tyson Soth's guitars on display. (Woo) Debra Amesqua at her exhibit table with lutherie pal Danny Goddard. (Stone) Jeffrey Yong shows the finished product at his workshop on alternative woods. (Woo) Pearl Django always put on a great concert. (Korsmo) Don Barnes and Noah Edelson get a closer look during Stephen Marchione's spirit varnish workshop. (Yarosh) Steve Berg and guitars at his table.(Yarosh) Wayne Irvin Johnson and his Irvin Guitars. (Yarosh) Elias Perez, Robert Goss, and Brigit Hindman pass around a varnish sample. (Yarosh) Yusuke Kawakami at his JAPARTS/Japanese Guitar Parts table. (Korsmo) Teri Moore at Kevin Moore's Resonance Guitars display lets David Lawrence try out a uke. (Korsmo) David Foster's electrics and ukes. (Korsmo) Guitar by North Woods Luthiers Paul Ubl and "Tuk" Kongsawat. (Korsmo) More exhibits in Chris Knutsen hall (no relation to the harp guitar builder that we know of). (Korsmo) Another view of the main floor exhibit hall.(Korsmo) More exhibit overview. (Korsmo) Overview of the main floor exhibit hall. (Korsmo) Several workshops were held in the beautiful setting of Xavier Hall. (T. Olsen) John Parchem with his array of guitars. (Korsmo) Kurt Kendall, Bon Henderson and pal from early Guild days, John Jordan. (D. Olsen) Bjorn and Marty Peterson (sons of the late Jonathon Peterson), and cousin David Bolla, with items from Jon's estate. (Stone) Erich Schweiger of Schweiger Violins. (Korsmo) Will Schmidt displays his guitar. (Korsmo) Early instruments by Gary Burgess. (Korsmo) Howard Replogle and his Ebi Ukuleles. (Korsmo) Bob Laughlin's wide variety of instruments. (Korsmo) John DeLapp compares notes with Bob Laughlin, whose table was nearby. (Korsmo) Choojit "Tuk" Kongsawat of North Woods Luthiers with Jonathan. (Woo) Michael Stillwell is interviewed by Tim while Isaac Olsen films. We try to get a short interview of every exhibitor. (Korsmo) A view from the audience in Eastvold Auditorium during Todd Cambio's lecture. (Truncale) Display of instruments by John Carrigan of Curly Creek Guitars. (Korsmo) Cyndy Burton, our longtime contributing editor. (D. Olsen) Alex Glasser visits with Jason Lollar of Lollar Pickups. (D. Olsen) Tatiana Gabriel and Michael Flaherty with Michael's ukes. (D. Olsen) Tools at the ready for the electric guitar repair workshop. (Newsom) Mark Vinsel's ukulele display. (D. Olsen) Dan Thomack visits with harp guitarist Tim Bertsch. (D. Olsen) Arthur (Pablo) Bristow displayed some great family history. (D. Olsen) Alexis Cameron reps at the Pacific Rim Tonewoods booth. (D. Olsen) Gerard Serefini of NomadMusic talks with Bill Wangen, next to the Cedar Creek case display. (D. Olsen) Bryan Vettleson and Bret Crane at their Access Bags and Cases display. (D. Olsen) An uncharacteristically serious Hap Newsom, volunteer photographer and friend to all luthiers! (Burton) Hangin' out at the exhibition: John Carrigan (r) of Curly Creek Guitars and Mark Rossier. (D. Olsen) Bob Nance visits the table of Jeremy Houle and Alexander Neville, students representing Lutherie-Guitare Bruand. (D. Olsen) Kristin Young of Yzzy Guitar Works and his unique guitars. (D. Olsen) Zack Dease and his guitar. (D. Olsen) These guys! Benjamin Frye, Alex Glasser, Evan Gluck, Tim Frick and Larry Fitzgerald. (D. Olsen) Peter Tsiorba admires one of Steve Klein's new prototypes. (D. Olsen) Wood dealer Alan Ollivant shows off his special fish wood. (D. Olsen) Deb and one of the biggest GAL boosters ever, father of the American lutherie boom, Charles Fox! (B. Henderson) Our old pal, retired from StewMac, Jay Hosteller (r) dropped in with buddy Isaac Ludwig. (D. Olsen) Members give their full attention at the acoustic repair workshop. (I. Olsen) Olsen "kids" Isaac and Sam with super G-gals Gillian and Gwen. (D. Olsen) Walter Pais with his favorite staffer (who got sick and couldn't be our auctioneer), Kurt Kendall. (D. Olsen) Go-Dale Korsmo keeps all our tech stuff running, even when people are distracting. (D. Olsen) Todd and Frank. (Truncale) Let's have a good look at these instruments! (Truncale) A view of the Scandinavian Center exhibit hall. (Truncale) Michael Stillwell and Frank in front of Michael's table. (Truncale) Henry Aloysius Nagle trys out Frank Truncale's guitar. (Truncale) Mariah Roberson, just starting to learn about lutherie, came as a guest of Todd Cambio. (Truncale) Angelo Zito also came as Todd Cambio's guest. He and Mariah are students in a Seattle program that nurtured their interest in lutherie. (Truncale) David Dolak represented Columbia College Chicago as well as Guitarra Tonewood. (Truncale) Gordon French of Cedar Creek Custom Case Shoppe with Frank. (Truncale) Jackson Corey was the youngest luthier at our 2017 Convention, this time he exhibited! (Truncale) Federico Sheppard gives the thumbs up at the GALHQ open house. (Truncale) Jeffrey Elliott moderates the classical guitar listening with Michael Partington performing. (McElrath) Jay De Rocher with his Mazama Guitars. (Newsom) Moderator Nathan Ching consults with Todd Brotherton at the ukulele listening session as Travis Stein warms up. (Newsom) Enjoying some impromtu music at the GAL HQ open house. (Newsom) Australian luthier and author Graham McDonald with Mike Doolin. (Newsom) Partners in lutherie and life, Cyndy Burton and Jeff Elliott, at Jeff's exhibit. (Newsom) Larry Fitzgerald and Evan Gluck at the electric guitar repair workshop. (Newsom) The slide you're not supposed to see! (Newsom) Brian Michael and Alex Glasser check the view on the big screen. (I. Olsen) Don Federico shows off his scratching? (Newsom) The Black Box theater was the dramatic setting for many workshops and music salons. (I. Olsen) Big GAL boosters January Williams and Susan Grider-Williams (aka Mr & Mrs Finger) always have fun at the benefit auction! (D. Olsen) Evan Gluck, veteran repairman and GAL presenter! (I. Olsen) Lamination workshop examples. (McElrath) Super volunteers Aaron Andrews and Jay Hargreaves did all the tuning and handling instruments at the listening sessions. (McElrath) Electric guitar maker Barry Grzebik at the lecturn. (McElrath) Feats of strength! Jackson Corey and Gary Lewandowski watch Zack Dease try to break James Condino's lamination. (McElrath) Felly Smith's Fiddleback Woodshack display. (McElrath) Mark Dawson of Dawsophone Guitars and Music. (McElrath) Dave Correia (r) talks about his Weisenborn-style guitars with Kerry Char. (McElrath) Neil Peterson chats with Mariah Roberson as she plays one of his guitars. (McElrath) Reyn Vayda talks about his Turbo Guitars in the "Freedom Room," which was available to members to give ad hoc talks. (McElrath) Bruce Creps (r) had three tables of his Notable Woods. (McElrath) Ralph Novak with Jacob Lavinghouse. (McElrath) Todd Cambio at his lecture on early 20th century guitars. (McElrath) Monica Esparza gets ready for her classical guitar bridge workshop. (McElrath) Big crowd at Alex Glasser's talk on the history of the American steel string guitar. (McElrath) Bill Ellis visits with Rob McAllister at his exhibit table. (McElrath) More silent auction action. Get your bid in before times up! (McElrath) Checking out the tables and meeting friends at the silent auction. (McElrath) Captivated crowd at the benefit auction. (McElrath) Bayard Blain get some yew from the estate of Bob Lundberg. (McElrath) Bruce Harvie (c) was our wood auctioneer extraordinaire, assisted by Bryan Yarosh (r). (McElrath) John Jordan (r) auctions off the Little Man, just like he did the first time in 1990! (McElrath) A guitar made by the late Denny Stevens was donated by the family of late luthier Chris Herbert. (McElrath) And the winner of the Little Man is... Marshall Brune! (McElrath) The Two Debs! (McElrath) Staffer Dale talks with Chuck and Marissa Tweedy in the Guild office. (McElrath) Dave Cohen (r), who organized the Science and Technology Seminar, talks with Tim in his shop next to the Guild office. (McElrath) Tim Achuff and Dave Correia at the Guild office. (McElrath) Don Federico Sheppard lectures on the guitars of Barrios. (McElrath) Testing laminations at James Condino's workshop. (T. Olsen) Aaron Andrews prepares to hand off the next guitar to Michael Partington at the classical guitar listening session. (McElrath) Jim Buckland played his early guitar at a music salon. (McElrath) Set up for Stephen Marchione's spirit varnish workshop. (McElrath) Spirit varnishing with Stephen Marchione. (McElrath) Elizabeth Brown performs and shares about lute, and Baroque and classical guitar in the beautiful Tower Chapel. (T. Olsen) Members are invited to keep the discussion going at the lamination workshop. (T. Olsen) Local musican Tim Bertsch plays a 1902 Knutsen harp guitar at Friday's music salon. (T. Olsen) Members at registration check in with Bon Henderson and Susan Grider Williams. (T. Olsen) Isaac Olsen will take your mug shot! (T. Olsen) Audience at Barry Grzebik's lecture on designing electric guitars. (Woo) Setting up for the group picture. (Woo) Brian Stone goes up in the scissor lift to take the group pic! (Woo) Members gather for the group pic. (Woo) The great Alex DeGrassi played all the steel string guitars at the listening session with Mike Doolin moderating. (Woo) Stephen and Billie Kinnaird never miss a convention! (Woo) Guitars by Frank Truncale. (Woo) Ron Fernandez and Ho Chee Seng. (Woo) Steve Kauffman (r) discusses his Klein & Kauffman guitars with Jeffrey Yong. (Woo) Brent McElroy (of LaConner Guitar Show fame) with one of his creations. (Woo) One last strum before we go-go. (Woo) Relaxing at the GALHQ open house. (Woo) Pearl expert Andy DePaule of DePaule Supply with Jonathan. (Woo) Michael Partington sets the mood for Federico Sheppard's lecture on the guitars of iconic guitarist Augustin Barrios. (Woo) It was standing room only for the alternative woods workshop. (Woo) Jeffrey Yong and Jonathan Woo with Jeffrey's guitars, including his scrap wood guitar. (Woo) A trio of Mike Doolin's archtop guitars. (Woo) Adam Chan, Jonathan Woo, and Ho Chee Seng with Adam's guitars. (Woo) Robbie O'Brien enjoys trying out one of Jeffrey Yong's guitars. (Woo) GAL Headquarters (Woo) GAL Hero Todd Brotherton with super GAL boosters Susan and January Williams (with some weirdo in the back). (D. Olsen) Friends gather for goodbyes at GALHQ open house (l to r) standing: Bob Hamm, Bon Henderson (GAL), Bob Petrulis (GAL), Brent McElroy, Deb Olsen (GAL), Tim Olsen (GAL), Jay Hargreaves, Mike Doolin, Jeff Elliott, Dale Phillips (GAL), Steve Kauffman, Todd Brotherton (GAL), Steve Klein, Cyndy Burton (GAL), Jeff Yong, Steve McElrath (GAL). Kneeling (l to r) Jonathan Woo, Marshall Brune, Adam Chan. (I.Olsen)
