Running Dog Guitars
The home of Rick Davis, and Running Dog Guitars
Down the road from the tiny town of Richmond, Vermont, lives the director of A.S.I.A. It's late springtime now and the whole state of Vermont looks fresh and green. The A.S.I.A. board of directors (Judy Threet, Dan Erlewine, Tom Ribbecke, Sylvan Wells, Ren Ferguson, and I) came to town visit our fearless leader, Rick Davis, for the semiannual board meeting on the first weekend in June. While we were there, I took the opportunity to shoot some pictures of Rick's shop.
Up this long drive is where Rick makes his home:
Upstairs, we find Rick at A.S.I.A. International Headquarters, looking at a new article for the next edition of Guitarmaker, the A.S.I.A. magazine:
Thanks to Rick's efforts, the magazine is more impressive than ever, and actually comes out quarterly again!
Up some more stairs, and we get to the attic space, where Rick makes his "Running Dog" steel string guitars:
This is a small attic in a not-all-that-big house, but everything's right here, neatly stowed.
I had to take the classic shot:
Here's Rick showing us his L.M.I. style binding router fixture:
Rick likes to avoid plastic bindings and purflings:
Space is tight enough, but he has his tools within easy reach:
Smaller units like the sander and buffer can be moved easily into position.
Looking back toward the stairwell, Judy Threet (left) cracks wise about the cramped quarters:
Rick doesn't mind, because this is a temporary shop, and he's got plans all drawn up for his new place.
Rick's "not-currently-running" dog after which the guitars are named:
Tom Ribbecke inspects one of Rick's antique hand tools:
Check out this bronze baby:
This is the heaviest old smoothing plane I've ever held!
Rick's grandfather had been a professional woodworker, and Rick is lucky enough to have some of his old tools, including the planes above, and a nice assortment of specialized chisels:
Those old chisels were the inspiration for Rick to design a few of his own:
He's had them made by a Vermont toolmaker, and they are extra cool!
Another project in progress:
It's a CD display shelving unit made from a guitar body "that didn't work out."
While the rest of the board was hanging around the kitchen munching goodies, Dan Erlewine stayed in the living room with a couple of Running Dogs:
In Dan's hands, this fingerstyle cutaway proved to be a fine blues machine.
About 50 yards from Rick's front door, the gang congregated in his new shop:
Later, the shop will have a door. And walls, and all that other stuff!