Simnett Guitars Forum?

WezV

Its a difficult balance to get right.

I know I have annoyed people here with questions that would be perfectly acceptable on a guitar building forum.    The difference is no guitar builder goes to a guitar building forum to try and sell guitars.  That is sometimes a motive here, even if not the main one. I don't think its a bad one,  I actually think its a strength of this forum over others. But it can restrict the conversation. 

at the extreme, you get the andyp approach.  Products to sell, criticise any method which doesn't use them, no chance of a  fair comparison to a different approach  etc... 

TTony

WezV said:

at the extreme, you get the andyp approach.  Products to sell, criticise any method which doesn't use them, no chance of a  fair comparison to a different approach  etc... 

That approach didn't work too well in the long-term.

Nor the short-term really.



Simo's forum really was for the amateur/small builder community.  That was its strength (in that it was populated with a lot of like-minded people) and its weakness (there aren't enough of those people around to sustain a forum).  Maybe we could look to recreate something similar here, in that we could divide the making & modding into a section aimed at the modder, and a separate section aimed more at the builder, and ensure that anyone touting for business stayed in the "made in the UK" section.

That's pretty much what could have happened if we'd managed to merge Simo's forum into here - his old forum would have become a dedicated section here, and could have been maintained even if it was more of a reference library (of all the helpful tips & techniques, etc) than the pub that most of the rest of theFB is.

paulnb57

Simo's forum really was for the amateur/small builder community.  That was its strength (in that it was populated with a lot of like-minded people) and its weakness (there aren't enough of those people around to sustain a forum).  Maybe we could look to recreate something similar here, in that we could divide the making & modding into a section aimed at the modder, and a separate section aimed more at the builder, and ensure that anyone touting for business stayed in the "made in the UK" section.

Excellent idea!

IvisonGuitars

paulnb57 said:

Simo's forum really was for the amateur/small builder community.  That was its strength (in that it was populated with a lot of like-minded people) and its weakness (there aren't enough of those people around to sustain a forum).  Maybe we could look to recreate something similar here, in that we could divide the making & modding into a section aimed at the modder, and a separate section aimed more at the builder, and ensure that anyone touting for business stayed in the "made in the UK" section.

Excellent idea!

Wot he said! Great idea

Nomad

I agree that there's scope for Making & Modding to expand a bit to fill the gap left by Simnett. At around 2700 threads, there's quite a big body of material here already, but it's all in one category/area. I don't know how the subject matter breaks down, but my impression is that it's mostly guitars (builds and mods), but amps and effects are represented as well.

DiscoStu

@TTony I'm curious due to lack of knowledge about such things... If Simo is no longer maintaining UKGB then what happens to the content? Does it all get erased as soon as the subscription is cancelled or is it still stored on a server somewhere and can be accessed if the fee is paid?
It may be worth some of this forum's coffers to acquire that wealth of info and integrate it here. It may draw new users here too as it sounds like there are few other build forums on the go.

WezV

I imagine Simo had the option of keeping a backup.

he is still making some very nice basses, occasionally see updates of facebook

GSPBASSES

If you want to see a real craftsmen at work making solid body guitars or basses. Then I would strongly recommend having a look at this http://www.simnettguitars.com/blog/ . Simo makes some of the most beautiful basses you are ever likely to see, using nearly all hand tools, although just before the UKGB closed down he did purchase a overhead pin router that he consequently rebuild. One thing that he used to do on the old forum was to show out to make hand tools. If you look at some of his blogs on the his website you will appreciate what a craftsmen he is

TTony

DiscoStu said:

@TTony I'm curious due to lack of knowledge about such things... If Simo is no longer maintaining UKGB then what happens to the content? Does it all get erased as soon as the subscription is cancelled or is it still stored on a server somewhere and can be accessed if the fee is paid?

To answer the first Q, I'm guessing that the content was erased as soon as his hosting contract wasn't renewed.

As @wez commented, I'd hope that he'd retained a backup somewhere, but don't know.

For once, money wasn't really the constraining factor here.  If he'd been willing, we could probably have worked out some means of transferring the content to our servers, although as the forums used different software and database structures, there'd have been some technical work needed to make it happen (which would have been more the constraining factor).  I'd have liked to have done it, just to preserve the content that had been contributed through the many years that it existed.

DiscoStu

That's a real shame. I learned a lot on UKGB and I have build threads on there that aren't anywhere else.
I'm surprised that content gets erased immediately, I assumed it would still exist somewhere but made innaccessible until renewed payment made. If this forum missed its renewal payment then we'd lose everything from the host?

TTony

DiscoStu said:

That's a real shame. I learned a lot on UKGB and I have build threads on there that aren't anywhere else.
I'm surprised that content gets erased immediately, I assumed it would still exist somewhere but made innaccessible until renewed payment made. If this forum missed its renewal payment then we'd lose everything from the host?

Depending on what the terms of service are with the provider - if you stop paying for a service, then the service gets cancelled, probably with a number of warnings and some sort of grace period.  They can't really leave GBs of data sat on a sever somewhere on the basis that one day in a few years time the original owner decides they want it back ...

DiscoStu

Of course, but I didn't realise things got wiped so quickly. Eek!

Simo

Hi folks,

Just to clear a few things up.. the forum is gone for good I'm afraid, no databases were saved. I have just been in touch with Tony to apologise about not getting back to him regarding a potential forum merger with The Fretboard. Without going in to too much detail.. although they contained some good information, a large amount of the older threads on the UKGB contained dead links, missing photos, etc, and in the end I decided that merging the forum (if possible) just wasn't worth it.

Regarding the closure of the forum, it wasn't due to the cost. Although hosting costs had increased, they were pretty much covered by donations to the forum for the last year or so (before that I paid for it out of my own pocket). It was simply due to lack of traffic. On top of that, I personally had a lack of free time to dedicate to adding new useful content to the forum, and to recruit new members, etc.

I have thought about setting up a new guitar building website (not a forum) at some point. Something similar to the blog pages on my own site, but showing the construction of an electric guitar from start to finish, from an in depth perspective.. covering everything from preparing rough sawn wood, designing an instrument, even sharpening tools, etc. We’ll see.. it’s something I’d like to do, time/finances permitting!

Anyway, I appreciate everyone who's mentioned the UKGB Forum in a positive light, I'm glad it was of use to you.. cheers and thanks for the plug @GSPBASSES (your cheque is in the post).

DiscoStu

@Simo! Good to have you back dear boy. Given the thread's subject matter can I just extend an interwebz handshake to you, you did me a real service. My first real build was a Manson/Matt Bellamy inspired mirrortop and without UKGB I doubt I would have went for it. Seeing what other people were achieving at home was a true inspiration and fired me up, resulting in my first complete build and still my 'signature' guitar to date.
I built a custom Explorer for a mate and had a couple of threads about it on your forum. One in particular was about Rustin's Plastic Coating! It was meant to be this dream product but I had numerous problems with it but UKGB offered me loads of advice and tips and it all worked out in the end.
I'm sad that the content is gone, but thank you Simo. Your efforts had a big effect on my life.
I'm due you a pint.

Simo

DiscoStu said:

@Simo! Good to have you back dear boy. Given the thread's subject matter can I just extend an interwebz handshake to you, you did me a real service. My first real build was a Manson/Matt Bellamy inspired mirrortop and without UKGB I doubt I would have went for it. Seeing what other people were achieving at home was a true inspiration and fired me up, resulting in my first complete build and still my 'signature' guitar to date.
I built a custom Explorer for a mate and had a couple of threads about it on your forum. One in particular was about Rustin's Plastic Coating! It was meant to be this dream product but I had numerous problems with it but UKGB offered me loads of advice and tips and it all worked out in the end.
I'm sad that the content is gone, but thank you Simo. Your efforts had a big effect on my life.
I'm due you a pint.

Cheers Stu, that's good to hear.