LfdM new shop tour

DownUpDave

DownUpDave

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Myself and sam13 (Simon) are fortunate to live a short distance from Luis Feu de Mesquita who is LfdM guitars and ukuleles. Luis recently moved into a newly built home and he was able to have his shop set up in his basement the way he wanted.

He has gotten settled in and invited Simon and myself to come over to see his new home and shop. As almost an after thought just as we were leaving I snapped a few quick pictures and asked Luis if I could post them, he was thrilled. As you can see Luis is a proud grandpa.

Luis shop sign.jpgWorkbench 1.jpgWorkbench 2.jpgWorkbench 3.jpg
 
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This second room is where all the machinery is. He has three rooms, machine room, assembly room and spray room. The large instrument is a new baritone he has just developed as a custom project for a customer. This one has a 22-3/4" length and 6 strings. Yep......6 nylon strings. Basically a small classical guitar.

It would not be complete without some mug shots

Baritone 6 .jpgLuis and Simon.jpgLuis and Dave.jpg
 
Thank you, so that is what Luis looks like, handsome grandpa, congrats on the new shop and home..
simon you must brush your hair on the top of the door while entering :)
 
He sounds like a very kind and generous man, giving of his time. It's nice when good people succeed. When I get there, can we visit the studio?
 
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Very cool. Did you get to try the baritone? Any thoughts?
 
Ukulele Eddie said:
Very cool. Did you get to try the baritone? Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

The baritone is still in the build stage. It will be a 6 string instrument so even when it is done I would have no idea how to play it. Well the first 4 strings I could. The body dimensions and scale length will lend itself to be made into a normal 4 string baritone. Luis went with a longer scale length so you can use classical guitar strings which he feels will give you much more choice to pick from.
 
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rappsy said:
He sounds like a very kind and generous man, giving of his time. It's nice when good people succeed. When I get there, can we visit the studio?
Click to expand...

Luis is one of the good guys.......nice, nice, nice man. You come up and we will visit him for sure.

IMG_3655.jpgIMG_3651.jpgIMG_3654.jpgIMG_3653.jpg
 
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It was great to see Luis. A very thoughtful and kind soul. And extremely talented as well.

I think his Baritone will be quite special. Several othe Ukes are being prepped for HMS. They were quite appealing.
 
I am very glad to see these photos. Thanks for posting them, Dave!
 
bonesoup said:
So cool. Proud grandpa brought a smile. Thanks for the peek behind the curtain, guys. Does he have a wood stash?
Click to expand...

You know what Dan I am kicking myself for not giving some more forethought to this thread. I just snaps some quick pictures before we left and could have taken many more of all the different areas and items.

Yes he has a wood stash, a real good one. He has been building classical and flamingo guitars for decades. He showed us some brazilian rosewood, zebrawood, cocobolo, amazon rosewood, cedar that is 60 years old etc etc, lots of cool wood.
 
saltytri said:
I am very glad to see these photos. Thanks for posting them, Dave!
Click to expand...

True story Dave. One of the first things Luis asked me was how come I had not brought over my new Ono ukulele. I had never told him about it but he had seen my posts on UU. He was genuinely interested in seeing it. This visit was all about Simon as he wanted to have Luis make a modification to his LfdM. I never thought to bring it.

I told Luis that next visit I would bring it over to show him. He is always interested about others works and wants to see how they build their instruments.
 
Dan Uke said:
Birkenstocks! :)

What size ukes in the pic?
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Everytime I have visited Luis he was wearing Birkenstocks, think he has a bit of old hippie in him.

Ukes sizes. The ones in post #1 are tenors. The first picture in post #3 there is a cocobolo tenor laying on the bench and the baritone is standing upright on the bench in front of Luis.
 
mm stan said:
Thank you, so that is what Luis looks like, handsome grandpa, congrats on the new shop and home..
simon you must brush your hair on the top of the door while entering :)
Click to expand...

LOL Stan ... you are right ... I had to duck a little in a few spots. Good eye, Stan, good eye.
 
By coincidence, I was in his shop yesterday getting "measured up".
He is an interesting and interested man..... I learnt more in 2 hours than I thought possible.
In the course of our discussion I got to hold (and play very briefly) one of his recent tenors in for an adjustment.....I think yours Sam.
Very lovely, very classy!
He showed me a 'ukulele with the back made of zericote..........I was immediately struck by how Art Nouveau / Group of Severn it looked.
As a Canadian ( albeit an import model) I though how appropriate it was.
The shop itself doesn't have enough dust yet or cobwebs and bits of stuff lying around ......probably needs another 65 years.
The draw is to meet the hugely talented and modest man that Luis is.
 
Robin Harrison said:
By coincidence, I was in his shop yesterday getting "measured up".
He is an interesting and interested man..... I learnt more in 2 hours than I thought possible.
In the course of our discussion I got to hold (and play very briefly) one of his recent tenors in for an adjustment.....I think yours Sam.
Very lovely, very classy!
He showed me a 'ukulele with the back made of zericote..........I was immediately struck by how Art Nouveau / Group of Severn it looked.
As a Canadian ( albeit an import model) I though how appropriate it was.
The shop itself doesn't have enough dust yet or cobwebs and bits of stuff lying around ......probably needs another 65 years.
The draw is to meet the hugely talented and modest man that Luis is.
Click to expand...

Robin so glad you chimed in. Luis told me he was expecting someone from the London Ontario area. He mentioned what you are looking for, very interesting. I like what you said about Luis being interesting and interested. He listens carefully to what a person is saying because he has that great curious mind that is always seeking knowledge. He pays attention when you are talking and it is a true conversation, very rare now a days.
 
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