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Tikahtnu -> Ahoy matey from Alaska (Jul. 17 2021 1:12:27)
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Hey there, I’m from Alaska originally but I’ve been in Sausalito in San Francisco Bay working as a diver cleaning boat bottoms. I’ve been lurking for a while but a recent thread about Alaskan Yellow Cedar made me decide to take the plunge into this nonsense. I’ve been playing music for 13 years now, pretty much self taught but I’m starting to take lessons with Jason McGuire which has been super rad. I’ve had a fake flamenco style that I’ve developed and I showed him and he said ‘that’s not fake flamenco, that’s flamenco’, so that was super cool to hear. Still have a lot of polishing up to do and lots of working on diversifying my rhythms.
I purchased a 75 year old, triple planked, New Zealand built, kauri sailboat that is in great shape for the most part but needs an overhaul to be bluewater ready again. I found some damage to the deck under the mizzenmast and above the engine that appears to be from an old engine fire, so I’m preparing to lower the mizzenmast and replace about a 3 ft x 6 ft or so section of the deck with Alaskan Yellow Cedar, which is purported to be a fine boatbuilding wood. If you are unaware, kauri is considered to be one of if not THE best boatbuilding wood, as it is super rot and worm resistant. Exceptionally strong. I had originally intended to just sink a thick piece of plywood to replace the damaged section but this fine wooden lady deserves a finer spirit than that, so I sourced salvaged AYC from southeast AK to repair it. I ordered it from Alaska Specialty Woods, who specializes in tonewoods. I thought, hell, why don’t I order some tonewoods while I’m at it and find a local luthier that could build me a guitar. So I looked on the map and he closest luthier turns out to be Glenn Canin. I sent him an email, he sent me his price quotes, and my heart dropped. Needless to say I decided to put myself on his two year waiting list, and for that price, he can definitely use his own stash of quality woods. But then I would still like to work with Alaskan woods, so after researching and following Glenn’s advice (who also recommended Jason McGuire, who owns two of Glenn’s guitars), I decided to get on Robbie O’Brien’s list for his classical guitar building class next February. I’m also seriously considering traveling to Spain to work with Paco Chorobo on a flamenco guitar later in 2022.
If any of you are wondering how I can afford this, don’t worry, I can’t. I’m just not naive to throwing money I don’t have at things I can’t afford. Or maybe that means I am naive. One day I’ll be wise.
Lots of super good information here, any time I have a question I just google it with ‘foroflamenco’ and I get access to a great conversation that answers my question and answers to questions I didn’t know I had. Looking forward to learning more. I’m also looking to acquire woods for guitars, I’m hoping to build a small collection of Alaskan woods bay could be used for flamenco guitars. I’m hoping to also build a small climate controlled workshop in my sailboat, and would like to explore the inside passage of Alaska where I was born. Hopefully the climate there holds up… I’d love to devote my life to protecting the area as much as possible for clear cutting, but if the recent heatwave becomes reoccurring, then perhaps clearcutting won’t be posing the most dire dangers to the area. Here’s to hope, good vibes and good words, life is short and time makes fools of us all
Jimmy Campbell
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