Coon Rock is an unincorporated community located in the town of Arena in Iowa County, Wisconsin, United States. Coon Rock is 4 miles (6 km) southeast of Spring Green, Wisconsin. My plan is to photograph the area's beauty, give you a little history of the area, and a glimpse of my little part of the world.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Lothson Guitars
Lothson Guitars....Pretty exciting place to visit.
Hello Cathy. Stumbled upon your blog on a search of "Lothson Guitars". I went to High School in De Kalb, Illinois (77 grad)and own the original Lothson Guitars "L.A.Special Edition" Serial Number 1. The reason it was called this was that I had moved to L.A. before completion of my guitar. Once built it made the rounds of a couple of guitar magazines and I actually had trouble getting it back. If you look at the pictures you have included Larry is holding the body style of the LA Special with curly maple top as 3 of the 4 are in the second picture (fourth painted black). Mine is the classic "cherry sunburst" curly maple top. I also new in the early 80's his girlfriend Ms. Fawcett which kind of authenticated that this is the Larry Lothson I know because "Fawcett Photagrapy" is included as the owner on both picture. Not sure but odly enought the young lad standing next to Larry looks a lot like Ms. Fawcett. Darned if I can remember her first name but she was a really great lady!
If I get any response to this blog or if anybody really cares I will post a picture of my original LA Special guitar and maybe some adds from Lothson guitars that actually feature my guitar.
Unfortunatley Larry and I parted ways back in the mid 80's due mainly to a custom Gibson Flying V copy I had him hand build featuring Triple Pickups and the ability to switch the phase of the individual pickups in and out of phase from each other. Unfortunately this guitar when built the spacing of the frets wasn't to spec so they were ripped out and refretted in the proper locations without replacing the neck. Therefore the guitar neck looks like hell. On top of which, the electronics were not wired to spec so we said bye bye to each other.
If you are interested in Frank LLoyd Wright homes there are many in De Kalb. In fact my younger brother actually rented one at one time.
Sorry for rambling. Enjoyed your site. Best of Luck to you.
I just ran across this comment and need to clarify and respond.
While the person commenting above did indeed own the first LA Special Edition and it was featured in ads in the 80's its name actually comes from the fact that L and A are my first and middle initials.
In response to the "V", it was built almost 30 years ago and this is the first I have ever heard of there being a problem with the fret placement on this instrument. While mistakes can happen the fixtures used to make this guitar made almost 100 others with no problem being detected with placement or intonation. I wish you would have notified me so I could have taken care of it for you a long time ago. I will include my email address and ask that you please contact me. Your guitar was under a warranty and whoever fixed it if it indeed needed to be reworked was not very competent if they left the guitar looking like hell. If it is still in this state let me know and I will take care of it for you. If the board needs to be replaced I will cover the cost of materials and labor. If returned to me I will also check out any wiring issues it may have and repair those as well. Any shipping costs will be your responsibility. Please contact me at your earliest convenence at lothsonguitars@aol.com and lets resolve this issue.
Larry's a great luthier. Some years ago, I sent him a beat-up LA special, and he refurbished it beautifully, doing one of the best fret jobs I've laid hands on in almost 40 years of playing. Thanks Larry!
Hello Cathy. Stumbled upon your blog on a search of "Lothson Guitars". I went to High School in De Kalb, Illinois (77 grad)and own the original Lothson Guitars "L.A.Special Edition" Serial Number 1. The reason it was called this was that I had moved to L.A. before completion of my guitar. Once built it made the rounds of a couple of guitar magazines and I actually had trouble getting it back. If you look at the pictures you have included Larry is holding the body style of the LA Special with curly maple top as 3 of the 4 are in the second picture (fourth painted black). Mine is the classic "cherry sunburst" curly maple top. I also new in the early 80's his girlfriend Ms. Fawcett which kind of authenticated that this is the Larry Lothson I know because "Fawcett Photagrapy" is included as the owner on both picture. Not sure but odly enought the young lad standing next to Larry looks a lot like Ms. Fawcett. Darned if I can remember her first name but she was a really great lady!
ReplyDeleteIf I get any response to this blog or if anybody really cares I will post a picture of my original LA Special guitar and maybe some adds from Lothson guitars that actually feature my guitar.
Unfortunatley Larry and I parted ways back in the mid 80's due mainly to a custom Gibson Flying V copy I had him hand build featuring Triple Pickups and the ability to switch the phase of the individual pickups in and out of phase from each other. Unfortunately this guitar when built the spacing of the frets wasn't to spec so they were ripped out and refretted in the proper locations without replacing the neck. Therefore the guitar neck looks like hell. On top of which, the electronics were not wired to spec so we said bye bye to each other.
If you are interested in Frank LLoyd Wright homes there are many in De Kalb. In fact my younger brother actually rented one at one time.
Sorry for rambling. Enjoyed your site. Best of Luck to you.
dedanoman@msn.com
I just ran across this comment and need to clarify and respond.
DeleteWhile the person commenting above did indeed own the first LA Special Edition and it was featured in ads in the 80's its name actually comes from the fact that L and A are my first and middle initials.
In response to the "V", it was built almost 30 years ago and this is the first I have ever heard of there being a problem with the fret placement on this instrument. While mistakes can happen the fixtures used to make this guitar made almost 100 others with no problem being detected with placement or intonation.
I wish you would have notified me so I could have taken care of it for you a long time ago. I will include my email address and ask that you please contact me. Your guitar was under a warranty and whoever fixed it if it indeed needed to be reworked was not very competent if they left the guitar looking like hell. If it is still in this state let me know and I will take care of it for you. If the board needs to be replaced I will cover the cost of materials and labor. If returned to me I will also check out any wiring issues it may have and repair those as well. Any shipping costs will be your responsibility. Please contact me at your earliest convenence at lothsonguitars@aol.com and lets resolve this issue.
Thanks,
Larry Lothson
Larry's a great luthier. Some years ago, I sent him a beat-up LA special, and he refurbished it beautifully, doing one of the best fret jobs I've laid hands on in almost 40 years of playing. Thanks Larry!
DeleteCharlie Kramer
Ckramer at imf dot org