rdb

Anyone know if the Tandy in Raleigh is participating in the Sales Day tomorrow? I haven't got any mailings about it.

Thanx for jumpin' in SmokinP. Good advice - Might even be the start of a list. 1. "customizing to a repair job, like some tooling on a flank billet for instance" 2. "Unless you got a pretty good handle on it, hard core saddle repairs might be iffy cause of the safety aspects. But hand stitching stuff, setting rivets and snaps, sizing work gets people in your shop. Saddle cleaning be a good winter thing it seems."

Of all the skilled people on this board, the saddlery people are the ones I most repect. I wish I could have been youse guys. Back a long time ago (35 years), I had a hippy dippy leather shop for 4-5 years making belts, pocketbooks on my old twin needle, vests, etc., occassionally I did some tack repairs for a polo guy at Myopia in Hamilton Ma.; restiching, cleaning, replacing straps. That's the limit of my experience with saddlery. Now I find myself out of work, and starting up my old leatherwork trade; belts, guitar straps, simple stuff for now. I can't afford a sewing machine again for awhile. In this rural area of NC, there's not all that much business, so I thought I would add tack repairs into the mix. I am a little leery, because I am not an expert by any means, although there are quite a few horse shops (english and western) around, and the nearest repair is at least an hour away. If I start off simple and offer a few services It might be okay. Saddle Cleaning, hand stictch repairs, strap replacement, etc. I am an old man, and Oklahoma Boot and Saddle School is out of the question...so are the $400 DVDs My questions are: Should I? What books can I get for a crash course? What simple services should I offer? Any real good advice sources? Would you guys help me in a pinch?

Another beautiful set...thanx for sharing the pix.

Pete - That's a pretty one. I like the finish, almost a Tobacco Sunburst, but different. To make my straps match the sunburst, I use a combo of Tan antique, with a dry rub of med brown along the edge, sometimes an edge run of black. Romney - your right, but I think he meant mostly on the older ones where the neck tension has caused some problems and you have to kindof wiggle the neck back into alignment. The plastic guards don't leave any wiggle room, you have to shave them a bit. At least with the leather, there shouldn't be such a problem. An old product improving the modern...kewl.

Thanx Romney...good advice! From my luthier friend, he says also that the pgs are too tight against the neck, and when they come in for repairs, they have actually pushed the neck out of whack, or it's hard to realign the neck without modifying the guard too.

It's for playing in the woods...short barrel doesn't hit the trees when your rockin out.... PS..I like it...A perfect blues rhythm gitar, and the color of my pickguard would look great!

Pretty funny! I live in a most country area of NC, and there are very few country musicians! They are mostly rockers!, with some bluegrass. Thanx! Good idea! My 1890 Elias Howe gourd mandolin would look good with some kind of medieval lookin scene! Maybe a lute player in the forest.

Looks good against that black gitar. Don't forget your straplocks!

That intrigues the heck out of me! Cut out and designed leather over glass....hhmmm?

Still practicing my long lost carving, etc skills, so don't be too critical, or look too close...lol. This is for the Telecaster. I have a template for the Strat. Usually, anyone who has one will have it modded with different pickups etc, but you still need a bascic fit template. So... I'm wondering if youse guys have any idea where I might find a good selection of basic templates for these guard thingys. I enjoyed working this piece, and have some good ideas for future ones. Not sure the western style will be appreciated by the telecaster crowd, but just a first attempt. I suppose dragons and such could work. Anyways, thanx for looking.

If you can't figger irfanview out, you shouldn't be messin' with guns either...lol

Just download Irfanview. It's about the best picture viewer for Windows. There's an easy learning curve, and can compress according to your wants. Drag and drop pix right to it. Snap. http://www.irfanview.com/

There's a lot of room on that backrest, and as people look, it will be the focal point. It's gonna be awesome.

I have a cd filled with non copywrite tiffs, and such....mostly old medieval, and chinese drawings....but I came across this one... I really liked it, and it looked like it would go good on leather.

Just a quick google under "free dragon drawings": http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=f...amp;btnG=Search e.g. http://www.artpromote.com/dragon.shtml

Welcome jouLe! There will be lots of help here, and it sounds like there's going to be quite a few things we are going to learn from you.

Beautiful! I wish I wore spurs

I wish I was in Canada now, my money would be worth more, instead of less...lol, I could buy a lot more leather!

Sounds good. It'll probably be a few weeks for me, but if youse guys want, just send private messages/email , and we'll figger it out. Brats at the Bavarian Brathaus in Carthage would be on my list!

I'm in southern chatham county...nice to hear from you johnny7. I like the JD seat you did.

Rod and Denise...it sure is a pleasure to have you here participating in this forum. I especially like that you actually THINK about things. There ain't enough of that today...

Funny you should say that. I just finished a black strap for a customer, and he wanted the back dyed also..I didn't even have to burnish it, the back was so smooth...just a good sealer.

A review of Zack Whites: Disclaimer: I ain't got nothing to do with the place, except buy stuff there once in awhile. Just got back from my bi-weekly trip over to Zack Whites. Now in the old days in Boston, I had my pick of quite a few suppliers, including Berman's, Siegel's, etc. Those were heady days! Now I find myself in the woods in North Carolina, struggling, and starting up all over again. Naturally I have my choices of Mail Order, or the TLC in Raleigh, but Siler City is only a 25 minute ride for me, so I stop in to Zack White's, more and more. It really does give me the feel of the old days. It's just a big metal building with the Dyes and accessories on shelves out front. The walls are lined with the stuff they actually make right there...Holsters galore (seems to be their biggest thing ther, but that's NC!), belts, etc. The back of the shop has shelves stacked with leathers of all kinds, belt stock, and horsey gear. Out of the visitor range, but within eye shot is their actual working area. Dungaree aproned guys work shavers, belt cutters, sewing machines. Pricing, and stock descriptions of the leather, are not on the shelves all the time. Mostly the Lady Clerks have to look everything up in the catalogs...I do mean everything. The stuff out front is mostly marked, but as typical here in NC, it can be hit or miss on price/desc. stickers. But hey, it gives a reason to talk to people, and that's a good thing. ALL the workers there are kind and courteous to the walk in trade. I assume the same is for their mail order people. They don't mind spending the time on even the smallest request, it seems. This is a very nice thing. I haven't bought much leather yet, just a shoulder or two, but I have gone through the racks to see the quality, and the leathers are clean and workable. The skirting and tooling pieces I've seen are excellent. Because they aren't all marked, I'm not sure of what I'm looking at all the time. As I get more familiar with the place, and the people, I'll let you know more. If any of you have dealings there, and want some questions asked by me, or to eyeball something there for you, just let me know, and on my next trip out, I'll check it out.

nice job... i like the inlaid braidwork look, and the horse nibbling on the thong in the 2nd pic