[hank alrich]

This is an unfortunate happening, and I am curious about how the
lightning energy might be abated to prevent this kind of thing.


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From: "Kevin Hall"
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic
Subject: Luthiery shop lost.
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2006 21:29:23 -0400
Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com
Message-ID:


Last Wed. evening a force 3 tornado came through our area, ripping
homes and trees to shreds and making a lot of my neighbours homeless.
During the height of the storm lightning struck very near us somewhere
in the bush. The light and the clap were simultaneous. Apparently the
lightning travelled through the ground and cooked the wiring in my shop,
setting the place ablaze.

The local volunteer fire dept. miraculously saved the building, and the
fire didn't get into my loft or even damage the many sitka and cedar
billets that are stored there, but the shop on one side and the garage
where I restore my classic bikes on the other are gutted.

I've lost all my hand tools, most of my machinery, 3 old Martins, 5
of my own guitars under construction and a run of 8 ukes including a
repro of a pre-war Martin 5k.

Possibly the worst blow is the loss of notes and patterns taken from
almost 40 years of working on a wide variety of instruments.

On the bright side of the coin we have almost enough insurance to cover
our losses and to rebuild the shop. Both Debbie and I are safe and in
good shape.

In comparison with many others in the area we have been very lucky
indeed. Some homes were blown into the Madawaska river, two tourist
campgrounds had their 150 yr. old pine trees blown completely away and
virtually all the trailers in them rolled up like beer cans. Hundreds
of vehicles are smashed beyond reclamation.

Unbelievably, there were no serious injuries other than one broken leg
in the area.

I'm not looking for sympathy here; just letting others know this stuff
does happen, and when it does you better hope you have enough insurance
to cover your risk. Buying a shop full of stuff one piece at a time
over many years is pretty easy, but trying to replace it at one go
would be very painful indeed. Deb and I have been amazed at just how
much stuff was actually in that building, and at the cost of
replacement at current prices. But for replacement value insurance we'd
be in a pickle. Other builders and/or repairfolks may want to consider
making backup copies of things like guitar specs and the notes most of
us make about what worked and what didn't.

All the best,
KH

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