It makes us happy to help the Heifer.

This past weekend marked the inaugural "Jazz At Heifer Village" benefit. What a blast! Heavy hors d'oeuvres; live music featuring Rene Koopman, Jane Mages, Jay Payette, Steve Suter, Carl Wolfe, and Joe Vick; and a silent auction benefiting the Heifer International Foundation. The benefit began at 7:00pm, music at 8:00pm and the auction wrapped around 9:30pm.

This was a landmark event for LNS Lutherie, as we were able to donate one of our most decorated guitars and amplifiers to the cause. A three string Arturo Fuente Curly-Head cigar box was the body, the neck construction was Red Oak, feat. a Burled Redwood fretboard--barked ends still intact--with 16 brass frets. The bridge was black walnut, placed immediately at the point where the strings pass through the tailpiece--offering a warm, woody tone. A bubinga nutpiece was used for the three-banjo strings to pass over the neck and down the length of the guitar. Picture will be posted soon of the LNS Staff and their offering to Heifer.

All in all, between the ticketed event and the auction, a large sum of money (non-disclosable amount), was raised for Heifer. We urge all who are able to donate to the Heifer World Fund, as this non-profit org. is able to purchase and send animals to families and communities around the world, increasing the quality of life, and promoting sustainable living. For more information, visit Heifer International.

Stepping up Production Capacity!!!

Yesterday marked a milestone in the production capacity of LNS Cigar Box Lutherie.

We work out of a fairly new farm shop, but, being what it is, it usually contains half-assembled tractors, defunct seed processing equip. and, possibly the most hazardous of all, inconspicuously small oil-slicks from aforementioned tractor re-assembly. Our guitar production work table is nothing more than an old welding table that can be rolled around from location to location. It was small. It was not well lit.

It has undergone metamorphosis.

Our prod. table has been transformed! With prodigious application of 6" angle iron, wire weld, and plywood, this dim, cramped space has been illuminated and expanded. A fluorescent light kit has been installed above the table--suspended between the two ends of an old metal clothes rack that has been braced and welded to the table's edges. Completing the table's real-estate expansion is the addition of one thirty-six-inch-long piece of six-inch-wide angle iron, split down the middle two make two, three-inch-wide pieces that have been welded to either side of the table's west-most end. These two pieces of iron have been bridged by two 16-inch-wide/46-inch-long pieces of 3/4 inch thick plywood--thus making a platform on which to mount our routing table and (soon to be purchased) ban-saw. After two-and-a-half grueling hours of stripping, hauling, plasma-cutting, and welding all modifications were completed. Time to give this new set-up a try, and produce another Cigar Box Guitar!