Hi Everybody

[Barry Black]

I am a returning member here although I haven't looked in on the forum for several years and now have discovered that it has had a facelift and it looks like a change in management as well.
I live in Alberta, Canada and am a wannabe luthier who has no musical skills whatsoever, but a wife and kids who do.

About 20 years ago I got 'downsized' and took early 'retirement' from my engineering job and decided to turn my furniture making hobby into a business. During that time I decided that I wanted to make a lute shape for some unknown reason and managed to track down a set of Pimpard drawings for a hg which of course has a lute back. I began building it then and completed the body fairly quickly, but having done the part that interested me, I let work get in the way and the hg came to a stop. I am now 'actually' retired and have a son who plays keyboards professionally in a heavy-metal/viking folk band. This kind of band often seems to include a hg in it's lineup so the pressure is on.

I am now discovering the challenges of working from drawings made of old warped and distorted instruments. Several of the parts that I made when assembled as a whole, dont line up.
So here I am again, looking for help. As far as I know, the nearest person to me who knows anything about hg's is in Washinton state. There maybe be others closer and if so I would love to hear from them.
I do have some knowledge of woodworking especially with hand tools which I collect, so if I can be of help to anyone here in this area it would be great.
Barry

[Barry Daniels]

There is an active discussion of building a HG on the forum now.