Hi all. I’m Dave (66 y.o.) and am currently living in the Kalamazoo, Michigan area. We recently moved back to Michigan after eighteen years in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. I took private lessons for about three years until the chaos of preparing to move, and the deaths of my parents sapped my motivation. I’m ready to re-start my guitar journey and racing through the beginner course as a refresher and finding new, helpful stuff along the way. I’ve used Justin’s site to learn songs previously and am excited to go full immersion. I’m an oddball for someone my age. I don’t much care anymore for the music of my youth. Right now, main favorites are indie rockers Manchester Orchestra, The Airborne Toxic Event, Kevin Devine, Frightened Rabbit (RIP Scott) Augustines, Biffy Clyro, and indie folk rockers Bear’s Den. I have four guitars now. A Fender Stratocaster, a Seagull S6 acoustic, an Ibanez bass, and a 12-string electric that I built myself from parts from Solo Guitars in Canada. My 12-string is my favorite. I’ve always loved the sound of a 12. I guess that’s all for now.
Hello Dave.
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Cheers. Richard
| Approved Teacher & Official Guide / Moderator |
Hi Dave,
Welcome here and I wish you a lot of fun 
Greetings,Rogier
welcome 
Hello Dave 
Welcome to the community 
It’s awesome that you’ve built a guitar yourself.
Must be even more fun to play this one 
The name of your hometown rings a bell in the back of my head. Isn’t it famous for the legendary Gibson-factory?
Wishing you lots of fun and success on your restarted musical journey 
Greetings from Germany 
Welcome to the forum Dave
Hey Dave, welcome. Look forward to seeing your work 
Hi Dave.
Nice intro man.
Ya got a nice selection of guitars there. Nice and versatile. I like the idea of your personal made 12 string. Very cool!
Good idea too, the moving on to the new music of the day. I’m your age about and I’m stuck in '65-'75 or so. Many folks now a days don’t know these songs. Specially younger folk.
So what ya playing your 4 nice guitars through? You a modeler/processor man or a tube guy? Or maybe in between? Solid state.
Being the same age, I started with solid state then went backwards to tubes. This getting old thing seems kinda backwards to me…
Anyways, have fun here man. Lots to learn and lots of folks to help support our desire to learn to play guitar.
Don’t forget to post up a video (or audio only which is easier to make imho) of your playing… 
I have a Boss Katana MkII head. The 5" speaker does me fine in my concert hall AKA my office room. I have a Tube Depot Class A tube amp on my Christmas list for my winter project. I’m looking forward to that.
My other winter project is a pedal controller for my Moog Minitaur bass synth made from a set of bass pedals from a clapped out Baldwin organ I got for hauling it out of someone’s living room. Needless to say, I’m a DIY project guy.
Thanks for the great intro and welcome. That’s great that you made your own guitar. I made a Strat last year and it’s great to be able the play the guitar you built.
Funny I was just looking at kits to build tube amps. Last year, I built a cabinet for a Vox amp and now I’ve got the bug for making things. So over the winter I’m planning to build a 3W tube amp and then build the cabinet, then build a speaker cab.
Ian
Welcome Dave. Kalamazoo, the original home of Gibson I believe. Is the Gibson history still a thing in the city, or is it long gone and forgotten?
Welcome back Dave! 
Nice to meet you 
That’s really cool that you built one of your guitars yourself, I find it very interesting, though I would not be able to do it myself.
I’d love to see pictures of all of your guitars if you’d like to share them
Hi Dave, welcome to the community forum.
Hello Dave & Welcome!!!
I wish you well with the guitar Journey!!! Just follow Justin’s advice & you will learn so much!!!
Good luck with your projects… there are a bunch of guitar build threads here but I don’t remember an amp build… I for one would follow it!!!
Have fun!
Tod from New Mexico
Nice to meet you Dave! Welcome to our Community 
You’re right Simon. Kalamazoo is the original home to Gibson. When they consolidated in Nashville, the equipment and building was purchased by a group of former Gibson executives and luthiers. They are still making guitars under the brand name name Heritage. I don’t know if they do plant tours, but if they do, I’m going to see it. Our Story | Heritage Guitars
Nice to meet You Dave, Cheers HEC UK
Welcome aboard! This is a great community and I’m glad to be a part of it. I know you will be too.
Haha. I’ve often thought about how disgusted 17 year old me would be with the acoustic music I now play.
I thought you might like to see my 12-string. I bought the body and neck from Solo Guitars in Canada.
The big picture with a special appearance from my cat’s tail.
The finish is India ink with satin polyester. I don’t remember where I got the idea, but I knew I would never be able to pull off a shiny finish. I really like the matte look and the way the grain shows through, anyway. I don’t remember what pickups I put in. They may be Alexander Pribora from back when you could order stuff from Russia and not feel like a heel.
The tuning machines are Tone Ninja. They were cheap, so I though I’d try them out. So far, so good. I haven’t had a bit of problem with them.
The only professional help I had was from Andrew Madsen owner of Madsen Guitars in Neenah, WI. The nut that came with the neck was chintzy plastic and I had Andrew cut a bone nut for me.