Lance McCollum

[w***@mauelguitars.com]

It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.

Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.

There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.

He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.

Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.

Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars
***@mauelguitars.com

[John Sorell]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

This is absolutely horrible! I'm stunned...

John

[a***@comcast.net]

Horrible...very sad.

My condolences.

[Tony Done]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

That is terrible news, and leaves me near-speechless. He seemed so full of
life.....

Tony D

[Geezer]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

Oh wow I'm stunned ...I have no idea what to say or feel. I'm truly in
shock.
Please let his family know that all of our prayers are with them.

Dan & Sue

[Chas P]

Hank,

Please extend our sympathy to Dawn and the children.

We share our sadness with the rmmga family and Lance's many friends.

All are in our thoughts.

Charles & Joan Park

[Larry Pattis]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

I will assume that this is no joke.

I just cannot believe this sad news...too many interactions with Lance
over the years, in-person and otherwise, to grasp this right now...

[don hindenach]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

we were just talking last thursday, he'd been feeling crappy but it was geting
better . . . .

I am devastated.

Please tell Dawn and the kids that if there is anything I can do at my far
remove, they need but say the word.

[Jefferson Holston]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.

...a terrible and overwhelming loss. My heart and my prayers go
out to his poor family.

Jeff Holston

[Jefferson Holston]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.

...a terrible and overwhelming tragedy. My heart and my prayers
go out to his poor family.

Jeff Holston

[Jefferson Holston]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.

...a terrible and overwhelming tragedy. My heart goes out to his
poor family.

Jeff Holston

[Ed Edelenbos]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

Sheesh.. I'm sitting here not knowing what to say. I only "knew" him
through this group and the occasional guitars he made that I've had the luck
to try. I'm stunned. My sympathy goes out to his family and friends.

Ed

[Wayne Harrison]

Post by Ed Edelenbos

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

Sheesh.. I'm sitting here not knowing what to say. I only "knew" him
through this group and the occasional guitars he made that I've had the
luck to try. I'm stunned. My sympathy goes out to his family and
friends.
Ed

i am in a similar situation. i can say that as i listened to the last
published rmmga cd i thought to myself that his guitar had the finest tone
of any identified on the cd.
my deepest regrets to his friends and family.

wayne harrison

[Shy Picker]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

My condolences to Lance's family and friends.

David

[JD]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.

Oh God! I just talked to him a few days ago. His daughter is going to
school near where I live. I told Lance a long time ago that if she
needed any help while she was up here that she should call without
hesitation. If somebody can pass a reminder, if she needs to be taken to
the airport...anything, I'm there.

JD Blackwell

[Ray Boyce]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

Wow... STUNNED seems just too small a word. I'm saddened and shaken. I
liked Lance and was looking forward to seeing him this summer.

Hank please let us know how we can best gel as a community to help here.

~ray

[Larry Pattis]

Post by Ray Boyce
Hank please let us know how we can best gel as a community to help here.

Yes, this is paramount, and I'm sure that many of us will feel that
there might be something that we could all do...

[Sain't]

Post by Larry Pattis

Post by Ray Boyce
Hank please let us know how we can best gel as a community to help here.

Yes, this is paramount, and I'm sure that many of us will feel that
there might be something that we could all do...
--
Larry Pattis
email: LP "at" LarryPattis "dot" comhttp://www.LarryPattis.com

Though I'm a lousy organizer, I'm good at contributing. I hope we can
get something rolling.

This is a horrible stunner....

Michael

[Bill Chandler]

On Sun, 01 Feb 2009 14:17:19 -0800, Larry Pattis

Post by Larry Pattis

Post by Ray Boyce
Hank please let us know how we can best gel as a community to help here.

Yes, this is paramount, and I'm sure that many of us will feel that
there might be something that we could all do...

Absolutely. I may not be able to do much...but I'll try.

--------
... Good night, Mrs. Calabash, where-ever you are!

the above e-mail address remains totally fictional.
the real one is bc9424 AT gmailspamTHIS! D0T com (if you remove spamTHIS!)
...please check out my music at http://www.soundclick.com/billchandler some time...

Bill Chandler
...bc...

[El McMeen]

Post by Ray Boyce
Hank please let us know how we can best gel as a community to help here.
~ray

Yes.

El McMeen

[w***@mauelguitars.com]

On Feb 1, 2:02 pm, "Ray Boyce"

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning.  He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes.  He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

Wow... STUNNED seems just too small a word.  I'm saddened and shaken.  I
liked Lance and was looking forward to seeing him this summer.
Hank please let us know how we can best gel as a community to help here.
~ray- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -

I will certainly do that after the dust settles. There will be a
mountain of things to do, not the least of which will be helping Dawn
wrap up his affairs. What to do with instruments in progress,
supplies of materials, insurances, etc etc etc. The list goes on and
on. There is a long road ahead but we will take it one step at a
time, thanking all of you for your support and concern. If there is
something that the "group" can help with, I will post up the need(s).

Thank you all!

Hank

[John Sorell]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
On Feb 1, 2:02 pm, "Ray Boyce"

news:e3e243a2-ae7b-4c73-b258-524120f982a9

@g3g2000pre.googlegroups.com...

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning.  He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes.  He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

Wow... STUNNED seems just too small a word.  I'm saddened and shaken.

 I

liked Lance and was looking forward to seeing him this summer.
Hank please let us know how we can best gel as a community to help here.
~ray- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -

I will certainly do that after the dust settles. There will be a
mountain of things to do, not the least of which will be helping Dawn
wrap up his affairs. What to do with instruments in progress,
supplies of materials, insurances, etc etc etc. The list goes on and
on. There is a long road ahead but we will take it one step at a
time, thanking all of you for your support and concern. If there is
something that the "group" can help with, I will post up the need(s).
Thank you all!
Hank

Thank you, Hank. I'm glad you are there for Dawn.

John

[Wade Hampton Miller]

Lance wasa great builder and a great guy. He had a wicked sense, and
an incredible work ethic.

Man, what a loss...


Wade Hampton Miller
Chugiak, Alaska

[Ray Boyce]

<***@mauelguitars.com> wrote in message news:ea3ec8c8-7646-46e8-9e3a-***@x16g2000prn.googlegroups.com...
On Feb 1, 2:02 pm, "Ray Boyce"

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

Wow... STUNNED seems just too small a word. I'm saddened and shaken. I
liked Lance and was looking forward to seeing him this summer.
Hank please let us know how we can best gel as a community to help here.
~ray- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -

I will certainly do that after the dust settles. There will be a
mountain of things to do, not the least of which will be helping Dawn
wrap up his affairs. What to do with instruments in progress,
supplies of materials, insurances, etc etc etc. The list goes on and
on. There is a long road ahead but we will take it one step at a
time, thanking all of you for your support and concern. If there is
something that the "group" can help with, I will post up the need(s).

Thank you all!

Hank,

Hank if you need another "tier" of collecting, organizing, etc... let me
know... your call on when/how/if...

Thanks, and I'm very sorry for the loss of your close friend.

raymond dot boyce 3 at verizon dot net

[BobN]

This is an awful shock - Hank, please let us know what we can do to help
Lance's family.

Lance will be immortal. The beauty and distinctive sound of his guitars will
never be forgotten by anyone who experiences them. He will always be
remembered as one the leaders of the modern golden age of guitars.

[No Busking]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.

I don't know what to say...this is so very sad. My prayers are with Dawn
and the family.

Mike Pugh

[betsey]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.

I don't know what to say...this is so very sad.  My prayers are with Dawn
and the family.
Mike Pugh

I'm so very sad--i can't imagine what it must be like for Dawn and
their children. They are in my prayers...

betsey

[David Hajicek]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

I'm stunned. My first reaction is to say that this can't be right.

Thank you for letting us know. Please pass my sympathy on to Lance's
family.

Dave Hajicek

[Dwight]

I, like many others here, only knew Lance from the group and am deeply
saddened by this news. Please forward my condolences to his wife and
family. To those of you here that did know him and called him friend, my
sympathies are with you as well.

Dwight

[Mitch]

Post by Dwight
I, like many others here, only knew Lance from the group and am deeply
saddened by this news. Please forward my condolences to his wife and
family. To those of you here that did know him and called him friend, my
sympathies are with you as well.
Dwight

I just spent 4 days playing for a retreat and came back to read this. What
a shock! I can't even imagine how his wife feels.

Peace and comfort to his family.

Mitch

[j***@charter.net]

Post by Dwight
I, like many others here, only knew Lance from the group and am deeply
saddened by this news. Please forward my condolences to his wife and
family. To those of you here that did know him and called him friend, my
sympathies are with you as well.
Dwight

I just spent 4 days playing for a retreat and came back to read this.  What
a shock!  I can't even imagine how his wife feels.
Peace and comfort to his family.
Mitch

I am so sorry to hear about Lance. My condolences to Dawn and their
children. Jamie Kinscherff was kind enough to call me this morning,
after he heard it from someone (Mike Marquis I think). I was shocked
to hear the news.

Lance, rest sweetly friend.

Jim Whelan

[b***@gmail.com]

Post by Dwight
I, like many others here, only knew Lance from the group and am deeply
saddened by this news. Please forward my condolences to his wife and
family. To those of you here that did know him and called him friend, my
sympathies are with you as well.
Dwight

I just spent 4 days playing for a retreat and came back to read this.  What
a shock!  I can't even imagine how his wife feels.
Peace and comfort to his family.
Mitch

I am so sorry to hear about Lance.  My condolences to Dawn and their
children.  Jamie Kinscherff was kind enough to call me this morning,
after he heard it from someone (Mike Marquis I think).  I was shocked
to hear the news.
Lance, rest sweetly friend.
Jim Whelan

This is a sad day. I did not get to spend anywhere near enough time
with Lance but I had a lot of fun when I did. One of the high points
of 67 years on the planet was when he offered to take me with him when
he went shopping for wood at the NAMM show. We had a great time
goofing on grain and I learned a lot in the process.

RIP Lance and most sincere condolences to Dawn and the rest of the
family.

BIll & Vicki

[hans]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning.  He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes.  He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
 Mauel Guitars

Saddest news of the passing of someone at the pinnace of his
contributions. This is too soon. Lance was such a passionate man about
his love of instruments. My best wishes to his family.

hans

[Dorgan]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

Words always seem very hollow at times like these, but it's important that
we convey to his friends
and family that we share their sadness.

We have lost a fine man far too early in his life.

Bob Dorgan

[blind dog smith]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning.  He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes.  He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
 Mauel Guitars

Man...please convey our condolences to his family. What a loss.

scott kiefer

[Jenn]

My God... I'm so sorry.

[Misifus]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

Don Hindenach just called me with the news. This is devasting in hour
of triumph for the new project that he was so much a part of.

May he rest in peace and may light perpetual shine upon him.

-Raf

[Cliff]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.

Terribly sad and very very cruel.

Peace.

Cliff.

[Sac Dave]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

That is truly sad , I always like to look at his work on his web sight just
great stuff.

[a***@contractorcom.com]

BLAM!

Carpe Diem.

(tearfully)

Pete

[k***@wingertguitars.com]

My heart is absolutely broken. My love to Dawn and family.

Kathy

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning.  He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes.  He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
 Mauel Guitars

[felangey]

This is just terrible news...I am so shocked :(

I only knew Lance through the emails/phone calls when he was building my
guitar and through the various guitar forums...but had followed and admired
his work for a good while before that. He was such a fun and witty guy...and
was extremely generous. It had always been my hope to meet up with him
sometime...and also to discuss that next guitar.

I will miss seeing the name Lance McCollum tagged on posts here.

Hank, I'm so glad that you are there for Dawn.

Glen

[Rick Ruskin]

On Sun, 1 Feb 2009 13:13:04 -0800 (PST), ***@mauelguitars.com
wrote:

I'm very sorry to hear of Lance's passing. Sincerest condolences to
his wife and family.


Rick Ruskin
Lion Dog Music - Seattle WA
http://liondogmusic.com
http://www.myspace.com/rickruskin

[r***@gmail.com]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning.  He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes.  He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
 Mauel Guitars

Wow. I love his guitars ...wow Robert

[Stan Milam]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

Robert Harding just sent me a text message concerning Lance. I can't
believe it! I have never met Lance but I hoped to. I am grateful that
I own one of his guitars and now will never part with it. To his
family, close friends, of those of you who knew him here I give all my
condolences. This is very sad.
--
Regards,
Stan Milam.

I've been sifting through the layers
Of dusty books and faded papers.
They tell a story I used to know,
It was one that happened, long, long ago. - Kate Wolf

I have a life, and a past. They are both pillars of who I am. - Anonymous.

[chaya]

I refuse to believe this. There are very few people who are as alive
as Lance was. I can't write the tears, but I do have lots of wonderful
memories.

Hank - all my love to Dawn & the kids, and if they want company during
the scattering of the ashes, I'd be honored to attend.

[Debra Cowan]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

Wow. I am so sad and this is such a shock. Back in the
Fall of '07, I did get to spend a lovely afternoon with
Lance touring the shop and playing some of the guitars
that he had lying around. Besides being such a talented
and creative guy, he was such fun to be around. It was
an afternoon that was special then and has become even
more special now.

Dawn and the girls are in my thoughts at this time.

Deb Cowan
--
"Its those we follow that matter" Loretta Lynn
******************************
Debra Cowan - Singer
Website: http://www.DebraCowan.com
View Debra's EPK at
http://www.ourstage.com/epk/debracowan
MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/debracowan
USA and UK BOOKINGS: [phone]
SNAIL-MAIL: P.O. Box 1335, Westborough, MA 01581
Debra Cowan endorses Voyage-Air Guitars
http://voyageairguitar.com
******************************

[pcovers]

Never met Lance, but had the pleasure of speaking by phone. The only
words I ever heard or read about Lance were great praise of character.
My prayers go out to his wife and children.

[Chuck]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

Hank - I am so sorry for your loss of such a close friend. I also
extend my condolences to the many of you here on RMMGA that knew Lance.

I am keeping Dawn and the rest of the children and other family members
in my prayers ... and most certainly will continue to do so in the
coming days and weeks.

With deep sympathy,
Chuck Sears

[Joe Jordan]

Wow, just got in from what had been a pretty good day to
find this. I'm stunned.

I never met Lance, and other than our interactions here on
RMMGA and a few emails, I never had much direct contact with
him. But I nevertheless, as one of the privileged few to be
temporarily in custody of one of his creations, I felt a
strong bond to him. He was truly a master of his craft, and
I will miss his presence here.

RIP.

Joe


On Sun, 1 Feb 2009 13:13:04 -0800 (PST),

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

______________________

Joe Jordan
Starkville, Mississippi

<<<SPAM TRAP: To email me at this address, include RMMGA anywhere in the subject!>>>

[Steve]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.

Hank, It's been all afternoon since I saw your post on OLF, and I'm
still as much in shock as when I first saw it. Please let Dawn know
that our prayers are going out to her and the children.

I'm close by, so feel free to call on me to help with anything.

--Steve Cyr (not Chuck!)

[n***@verizon.net]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning.  He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes.  He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
 Mauel Guitars

Hank,

I'm in Virginia at Kates... Brenda Wirth just called me and asked if
I had been on the group and then gave me the terrible news.

It's almost unbelievable for me. I'm saddened, but it's even more
than that... shocked. Lance and I spent some wonderful time together
at the East Coast Gathering, talking about guitars and whatever else
we thought of....

This news is so sad. My thoughts and deepest condolances to his
family. I know that there are many on this group who had long and
deep relationships with Lance. I'm also thinking of them at this
time.

My very best to all...... So sad.....


Norman Draper

[GWirth]

I'm truly saddened to hear this. I never had the chance to meet Lance
but did have the pleasure of corresponding with him on this group and
playing several of his guitars. Such a shock. My condolences to his
family and friends.

G.

[Matt Hayden]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning.  He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes.  He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
 Mauel Guitars

Oh god.

This is horrible.

He was *so* good to so many people.

He'll be missed greatly.

[Mike Marquis]

Hank,

Please pass my comdolences to Lance's family. I only knew him from his posts
on rmmga, but he seemed like such a regular guy. Very sorry to hear of his
passing.

Mike Marquis

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

[jtougas]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.

Please give them my best wishes and deepest condolences.

I emailed with him a few times, and always found him a friendly and
warm presence on the other end of the circuit.

[Chris Dunkle]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

Elaine and I are stunned and saddened by this. I remember clearly the
first time I met him at the Luthier's Fest many years ago. I was
simply amazed at the beauty of his work, and then when I played one of
his guitars I was amazed to hear such wonderful sounds from a work of
art.
He was a master luthier, and an extremely talented artist in his work.
We will miss him greatly, and send our condolences to his wonderful
wife, who has been endlessly gracious to all who have had the good
fortune to wander by their booth.

A great loss to all.
Chris & Elaine

[thumper]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

Oh how terrible. What to even say?

I don't even know Lance, yet it breaks my heart, so I can imagine how
you who know him feel.

Please extend my sympathies to Dawn, and may he rest in peace.

Take care and best wishes
Lisa

[Kevin Hall]

Terrible news. Lance will be sorely missed by any and all who enjoyed his
always-informative and well reasoned posts.
KH

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

[JimLowther]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. �He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. �He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
�Mauel Guitars

This is terribly sad news. He certainly was a good friend to us. I
pray for grace and strength for his family.

Best wishes,

Dr. Jim Lowther

[p***@comcast.net]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

This is terribly sad news.  He certainly was a good friend to us.  I
pray for grace and strength for his family.
Best wishes,
Dr. Jim Lowther- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -

What a shock and a what a loss! Condolences to his family. I had
only a couple of chats with him, and he one heck of a great person,
and a great luthier. He will be sorely missed. Ray, JD, let me know
if I can be of any service.

Jeff

[Chris Stern]

I can't believe this...........

It's terrible news

My thoughts go to his family and friends

Chris

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

[A.J.Lucas]

Post by Chris Stern
I can't believe this...........
It's terrible news
My thoughts go to his family and friends
Chris

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning.  He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes.  He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

- Show quoted text -

I'm very sorry to hear the news. I met Lance very briefly in 2001.

Adrian

[h***@voyageairguitar.com]

To explain my emotional state right now would be futile.
My name and Lance's listed in sequential posts here on RMMGA. It's a
reminder of just how unique our existence here is and ultimately just
how small our greatest accomplishments can seem.
I spent the day trying to understand just what it all means. I have
decided that I will miss Lance in many ways but that I will always
remember him for the days he lived and not for the day he died.

It is truly a sad day for the people he left behind but I know that
Lance would want us to celebrate his life rather than mourn his
passing. There are many great stories to be told about his time here I
suggest that if you have one share it.

Here is one of my favorites:

Several years ago a man who looked a lot like Chuck Norris drove into
my driveway and introduced himself to me. He was a carpenter who had
decided that he wanted to build guitars, he had with him his first 2
guitars. He showed them to me and I gave him some tips but I was
really impressed with the quality. The finish was so good I asked him
if he wanted to finish a couple guitars for me. I was also impressed
with the tone. To be perfectly honest I have been jealous of the tone
of many of Lance's guitars over the years. A few days later Lance
called and asked if he could bring his wife by to meet me, he later
told me that he brought Dawn by to convince her that he wasn't crazy
to think a guy could make a living building guitars.

That was at least 15 years and 300 guitars ago.

Lance died way too early but he lived the life he wanted and did what
he loved to do most on his last day.

None of us knows where we go after this life.
I like to think that a lot of great guitarist in heaven are in for a
treat.
Harv

[Tom from Texas]

One thing I remember about Lance is his sense of
humor. I once several years back joked that he
should send The Fund a guitar to show at the Irish
Festival in Dallas. A short time later he sends
me a McCollum t-shirt and says if I get any takers
on the shirt, he'd send a guitar next time. I
wear the t-shirt on at least one day at each of
the Irish Fests since then. If people ask about
the t-shirt, I explain that it's from a wonderful
guitar luthier and tell them how to contact him.
Don't know if Lance got any work from that but
some players did know who he was. Now, I'll have
to amend my story when they ask about the shirt.
--
Tom from Texas
(The Tom Risner Fund for Deserving North Texas
Guitarplayers is not liable
for any slander, hurt feelings, pointless moaning,
or achy-breaky heartache
any post under this name should cause. Yall want
some easy cash or sympathy...
ya can kiss my grits!! )

Post by h***@voyageairguitar.com
To explain my emotional state right now would be
futile.
My name and Lance's listed in sequential posts
here on RMMGA. It's a
reminder of just how unique our existence here
is and ultimately just
how small our greatest accomplishments can seem.
I spent the day trying to understand just what
it all means. I have
decided that I will miss Lance in many ways but
that I will always
remember him for the days he lived and not for
the day he died.
It is truly a sad day for the people he left
behind but I know that
Lance would want us to celebrate his life rather
than mourn his
passing. There are many great stories to be told
about his time here I
suggest that if you have one share it.
Several years ago a man who looked a lot like
Chuck Norris drove into
my driveway and introduced himself to me. He was
a carpenter who had
decided that he wanted to build guitars, he had
with him his first 2
guitars. He showed them to me and I gave him
some tips but I was
really impressed with the quality. The finish
was so good I asked him
if he wanted to finish a couple guitars for me.
I was also impressed
with the tone. To be perfectly honest I have
been jealous of the tone
of many of Lance's guitars over the years. A few
days later Lance
called and asked if he could bring his wife by
to meet me, he later
told me that he brought Dawn by to convince her
that he wasn't crazy
to think a guy could make a living building
guitars.
That was at least 15 years and 300 guitars ago.
Lance died way too early but he lived the life
he wanted and did what
he loved to do most on his last day.
None of us knows where we go after this life.
I like to think that a lot of great guitarist in
heaven are in for a
treat.
Harv

[don hindenach]

It seems silly, but I remember "hey!"

We talked frequently on the phone, usually as both of us were driving somewhere.
The call would always start with hey!. One of us would hey!, then the other
one. You could tell a lot from that hey! - up,down,tired,icky,mixedup,whatever.
Then we'd talk about whatever was on our mind - work, what our kid did that was
cool, fun side projects, guitars, stuff. It always started with "hey!"

Hey!, Lance :-)

[Bill Chandler]

Post by h***@voyageairguitar.com
To explain my emotional state right now would be futile.
My name and Lance's listed in sequential posts here on RMMGA. It's a
reminder of just how unique our existence here is and ultimately just
how small our greatest accomplishments can seem.
I spent the day trying to understand just what it all means. I have
decided that I will miss Lance in many ways but that I will always
remember him for the days he lived and not for the day he died.
It is truly a sad day for the people he left behind but I know that
Lance would want us to celebrate his life rather than mourn his
passing. There are many great stories to be told about his time here I
suggest that if you have one share it.
Several years ago a man who looked a lot like Chuck Norris drove into
my driveway and introduced himself to me. He was a carpenter who had
decided that he wanted to build guitars, he had with him his first 2
guitars. He showed them to me and I gave him some tips but I was
really impressed with the quality. The finish was so good I asked him
if he wanted to finish a couple guitars for me. I was also impressed
with the tone. To be perfectly honest I have been jealous of the tone
of many of Lance's guitars over the years. A few days later Lance
called and asked if he could bring his wife by to meet me, he later
told me that he brought Dawn by to convince her that he wasn't crazy
to think a guy could make a living building guitars.
That was at least 15 years and 300 guitars ago.
Lance died way too early but he lived the life he wanted and did what
he loved to do most on his last day.
None of us knows where we go after this life.
I like to think that a lot of great guitarist in heaven are in for a
treat.
Harv

Not snipping a damned word. Thanks, Harvey, that was beautiful.

I never had the honor of meeting Lance in person, but I have met his
creations--beautiful instruments one and all.

So sad.

Bill Chandler
--------
... Are you a good witch, or are you a bad witch?

the above e-mail address remains totally fictional.
the real one is bc9424 AT gmailspamTHIS! D0T com (if you remove spamTHIS!)
...please check out my music at http://www.soundclick.com/billchandler some time...

Bill Chandler
...bc...

[k***@wingertguitars.com]

Post by h***@voyageairguitar.com
There are many great stories to be told about his time here I

suggest that if you have one share it.

Post by h***@voyageairguitar.com
Harv

I have many favorites. Lance reached out to me when I was a new
exhibitor, when things in life went awry, when he wanted to share joy,
when he wanted to bust my chops. It was all equally welcome because
he always lifted my spirits.

One plaguey summer when it seemed the heat would never end, Lance took
great delight in torturing me, usually on Tuesdays. "Hey! Wanna hear
something?" He would hold his phone up to his revving boat engine and
laugh his gorgeous laugh. Next time: "Hey! I'm working really hard
today...." and I'd hear someone yell for him to 'hit it.' "Gotta go,"
he said. I muttered something unprintable with a big smile on my
face.

Kathy

[chaya]

Beautiful - I can picture it perfectly.

My favorite memory will be going to Grass Valley and meeting you &
Lance (& Hank?). There's just so much bluegrass I can take in one day,
but no worries - I had much better entertainment in the exhibitors
room.

And to the rest of you, if you want to toast Lance, do it with a
really really really good bottle of wine.

[Joe Carpenter]

Post by h***@voyageairguitar.com
To explain my emotional state right now would be futile.
My name and Lance's listed in sequential posts here on RMMGA. It's a
reminder of just how unique our existence here is and ultimately just
how small our greatest accomplishments can seem.
I spent the day trying to understand just what it all means. I have
decided that I will miss Lance in many ways but that I will always
remember him for the days he lived and not for the day he died.
It is truly a sad day for the people he left behind but I know that
Lance would want us to celebrate his life rather than mourn his
passing. There are many great stories to be told about his time here I
suggest that if you have one share it.
Several years ago a man who looked a lot like Chuck Norris drove into
my driveway and introduced himself to me. He was a carpenter who had
decided that he wanted to build guitars, he had with him his first 2
guitars. He showed them to me and I gave him some tips but I was
really impressed with the quality. The finish was so good I asked him
if he wanted to finish a couple guitars for me. I was also impressed
with the tone. To be perfectly honest I have been jealous of the tone
of many of Lance's guitars over the years. A few days later Lance
called and asked if he could bring his wife by to meet me, he later
told me that he brought Dawn by to convince her that he wasn't crazy
to think a guy could make a living building guitars.
That was at least 15 years and 300 guitars ago.
Lance died way too early but he lived the life he wanted and did what
he loved to do most on his last day.
None of us knows where we go after this life.
I like to think that a lot of great guitarist in heaven are in for a
treat.
Harv

Harv

You summed it up perfectly......I can't add to it. Thanks.


Rgds,
Joe Carpenter

[Ray Boyce]

Post by h***@voyageairguitar.com
To explain my emotional state right now would be futile.
My name and Lance's listed in sequential posts here on RMMGA. It's a
reminder of just how unique our existence here is and ultimately just
how small our greatest accomplishments can seem.
I spent the day trying to understand just what it all means. I have
decided that I will miss Lance in many ways but that I will always
remember him for the days he lived and not for the day he died.
It is truly a sad day for the people he left behind but I know that
Lance would want us to celebrate his life rather than mourn his
passing. There are many great stories to be told about his time here I
suggest that if you have one share it.
Several years ago a man who looked a lot like Chuck Norris drove into
my driveway and introduced himself to me. He was a carpenter who had
decided that he wanted to build guitars, he had with him his first 2
guitars. He showed them to me and I gave him some tips but I was
really impressed with the quality. The finish was so good I asked him
if he wanted to finish a couple guitars for me. I was also impressed
with the tone. To be perfectly honest I have been jealous of the tone
of many of Lance's guitars over the years. A few days later Lance
called and asked if he could bring his wife by to meet me, he later
told me that he brought Dawn by to convince her that he wasn't crazy
to think a guy could make a living building guitars.
That was at least 15 years and 300 guitars ago.
Lance died way too early but he lived the life he wanted and did what
he loved to do most on his last day.
None of us knows where we go after this life.
I like to think that a lot of great guitarist in heaven are in for a
treat.
Harv

My favorite memory was from 05 Healdsburg....

Everybody knows I'm a huge McAlister owner and fan, but on Fri, I was
sitting at Lance's booth finding out and agreeing with Steve H on just how
special Ed senior (Lance's former personal Baritone) is.

I had just recently got an acoustic bass and had worked out a little
noodling on it... I translated it and added to it on Ed's extra 2 strings
and was really beginning to have fun with it right there in the
hustle-bustle.

Roy walked over to say hi, saw me there, and exclaimed "traitor!@!" with a
smile. I shrugged it off and smiled back... after Roy walked off... Lance
said asked if that would cost him a dinner. I told him I'd make Roy pay for
that too.

The whole rest of the weekend, every time Lance saw me... he'd just crack
the biggest grin... as if to say, "sure glad I got to see that."

Man his bari's are special instruments. I know all his sculptures in wood
are... but Ed's voice will haunt me forever.

Rest well friend.

[dick thaxter]

Shocked and saddened by this awful news.

R.I.P., Lance

My condolences to Dawn and the family and to Lance's many friends in
the guitar-building community.

[Sherm]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.

So terribly sad. Thoughts and prayers. I just spoke with him on the
phone last week ....
Sherm

[No Busking]

Post by Sherm
So terribly sad. Thoughts and prayers. I just spoke with him on the
phone last week ....

We sent Lance some copies of Jeff's album, because we used Joe Jordan's
McCollum exclusively for the acoustic tracks. He was really cool about
it...he passed them out to some industry friends, and sent a nice note back.

I've always thought Lance's guitars were among the very best from the
excellent small shops we've come to know from RMMGA. He obviously put a lot
of love into every single one...you can feel it.

- Mike

[Peter Huggins]

Oh man, what a shock to come home and find this out... shock and bummer.
I didn`t know Lance outside of RMMGA, but I still feel the loss. My
heart goes out to his wife and children.

I propose before the artwork is printed for CD-IV (I am assuming it has
not been printed yet) that the set be dedicated to both Lance and John
Pearse.

if mail to this address bounces, please forward to :
guitarmaniax 'at' msn.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
" I`d dance with you Maria, but my hands are on fire " - Bob Dylan

" We had a knob, and all we had to do was turn it." - Les Paul

Grins, Peter
http://community.webtv.net/guitarmaniax/THISISTHE

http://community.webtv.net/guitarmaniax/unfinished3

http://community.webtv.net/guitarmaniax/PhotoReserveNo1

http://community.webtv.net/guitarmaniax/MYFRIEND

[Larry Pattis]

Post by Peter Huggins
Oh man, what a shock to come home and find this out... shock and bummer.
I didn`t know Lance outside of RMMGA, but I still feel the loss. My
heart goes out to his wife and children.
I propose before the artwork is printed for CD-IV (I am assuming it has
not been printed yet) that the set be dedicated to both Lance and John
Pearse.

This "group" has lost more than this, over the years, Chris Rockliffe
being the most recent prior to John and Lance.

I'm still pretty well stunned into silence, here...

[Misifus]

Post by Larry Pattis

Post by Peter Huggins
Oh man, what a shock to come home and find this out... shock and bummer.
I didn`t know Lance outside of RMMGA, but I still feel the loss. My
heart goes out to his wife and children.
I propose before the artwork is printed for CD-IV (I am assuming it has
not been printed yet) that the set be dedicated to both Lance and John
Pearse.

This "group" has lost more than this, over the years, Chris Rockliffe
being the most recent prior to John and Lance.
I'm still pretty well stunned into silence, here...

As the "CD" usually runs to several disks, perhaps a disk could be
dedicated to each of them.

-Raf

[Larry Pattis]

Post by Misifus

Post by Larry Pattis

Post by Peter Huggins
Oh man, what a shock to come home and find this out... shock and bummer.
I didn`t know Lance outside of RMMGA, but I still feel the loss. My
heart goes out to his wife and children.
I propose before the artwork is printed for CD-IV (I am assuming it has
not been printed yet) that the set be dedicated to both Lance and John
Pearse.

This "group" has lost more than this, over the years, Chris Rockliffe
being the most recent prior to John and Lance.
I'm still pretty well stunned into silence, here...

As the "CD" usually runs to several disks, perhaps a disk could be
dedicated to each of them.
-Raf

...and who else have we lost over the years...?

[John Sorell]

Post by Misifus

Post by Larry Pattis

Post by Peter Huggins
Oh man, what a shock to come home and find this out... shock and
bummer. I didn`t know Lance outside of RMMGA, but I still feel the
loss. My heart goes out to his wife and children.
I propose before the artwork is printed for CD-IV (I am assuming it
has not been printed yet) that the set be dedicated to both Lance
and John Pearse.

This "group" has lost more than this, over the years, Chris Rockliffe
being the most recent prior to John and Lance.
I'm still pretty well stunned into silence, here...

As the "CD" usually runs to several disks, perhaps a disk could be
dedicated to each of them.
-Raf

There's Ted Banks, Jim Carpenter, John Pearse, Chris, Lance. Who am I
leaving out?

John

[No Busking]

Post by John Sorell

Post by Misifus
As the "CD" usually runs to several disks, perhaps a disk could be
dedicated to each of them.
-Raf

There's Ted Banks, Jim Carpenter, John Pearse, Chris, Lance. Who am I
leaving out?

That's the full list, as far as I know. I've not been involved in the CD
project, but think that a dedication to each is a beautiful idea...every one
of them had something to say to RMMGA, and we're better because of it.

- Mike

[Guy Snape]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.

Very sorry to hear this, I never had the pleasure of meeting Lance but I
know he contributed a great deal to this community and the world of
acoustic guitar music in general, and was clearly loved by many people here.

My sincere condolences to his wife and family.

- guy

[Tom from Texas]

This is just horrible. My first thought was that
this has got to be a wicked hoax. Of course, my
sadness cannot compare to Dawn, his family and
those closer to him. Needless to say, he will be
missed and we will each memorialize him in our own
way if not formally.
--
Tom from Texas
(The Tom Risner Fund for Deserving North Texas
Guitarplayers is not liable
for any slander, hurt feelings, pointless moaning,
or achy-breaky heartache
any post under this name should cause. Yall want
some easy cash or sympathy...
ya can kiss my grits!! )

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the
passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday
morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital
but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children
in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes.
He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern
California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of
people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and
all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and
I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

[Chris Stern]

Yes, one of those "Don't be ridiculous" moments. If only it was a hoax.

Never met Lance but exchanged emails over the years. A great virtual friend
I'll never get to meet properly.

So sad for Dawn and family.

Chris

This is just horrible. My first thought was that this has got to be a
wicked hoax. Of course, my sadness cannot compare to Dawn, his family and
those closer to him. Needless to say, he will be missed and we will each
memorialize him in our own way if not formally.
--
Tom from Texas
(The Tom Risner Fund for Deserving North Texas Guitarplayers is not liable
for any slander, hurt feelings, pointless moaning, or achy-breaky
heartache
any post under this name should cause. Yall want some easy cash or
sympathy...
ya can kiss my grits!! )

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

[Paul L]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

Such a loss ... for so many ...

When the time is right please let us know
what we can do to help his familly.

Peace


Paul

[Brian W.]

Very sad to hear this news. My thoughts and prayers go out to his
family at this very difficult time.

-Brian

[Larry Brown]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning.  He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes.  He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
 Mauel Guitars

Shocking. My initial reaction was "What?!"
I didn't know him but I know how highly he was thought of here
and....everywhere.
My condolences to his family and the many friends he had here.

Larry

[v***@optonline.net]

Lance sure made the RMMGA community a better place. I never met him,
but I'd read his posts because they were funny as hell and were
especially well informed whenever the topic veered towards acoustic
guitars ;-) I had the good fortune to play one of his guitars (thanks
Steve H!) - tonally it was amazing. He'll be missed, a lot, he clearly
inspired passion in all those who knew him.

~ Richard B

[Mark McDonald]

Horrible news. Every time I had ever seen him he was laughing or had a smile
on his face. My deepest sympathy to his family.

Mark

[Debra Cowan]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

I am posting this on behalf of Jas O'Growney:

I'm sorry to hear this. I met Lance through the Acoustic Guitar
newsgroup many years ago, and had a tour of the 'Sierra Mafia'
group of Luthiers (all great guys). Lance was very kind to
remember me years later at the Grass Valley World Music
Festival, even breaking open a beautiful new creation he brought
to let me play.

So talented, but even nice to us little guys. I'm sorry to hear
he is gone.

Jas
--
"Its those we follow that matter" Loretta Lynn
******************************
Debra Cowan - Singer
Website: http://www.DebraCowan.com
MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/debracowan
USA and UK BOOKINGS: [phone]
SNAIL-MAIL: P.O. Box 1335, Westborough, MA 01581
Debra Cowan endorses Voyage-Air Guitars
http://voyageairguitar.com
******************************

[Bill Chandler]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

Hank--I'm shocked. Just catching up here after being offline for a
few days, and I see THIS. I'm so sorry.

Lance was one of the greats, and he will be missed. My deepest
condolences to the family and friends.

So it goes.

Damn.

Thanks for posting, Hank.

Bill (sad) Chandler
--------
... Deep down I'm really shallow.

the above e-mail address remains totally fictional.
the real one is bc9424 AT gmailspamTHIS! D0T com (if you remove spamTHIS!)
...please check out my music at http://www.soundclick.com/billchandler some time...

Bill Chandler
...bc...

[Blind Broccoli]

I found out about this late last night.

I didn't know Lance except through this group but I really enjoyed his sense
of humor. He was a guy you could tell would be a lot of fun to hang out
with. I'm so sorry for his family and friends.

BB

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

[unknown]

Indeed he was fun to hang with. He had a great
sense of humor and was always "up" and positive.
He was one of the "real" people, a Mensch, one of
the few people I'd admit to wanting to be more
like. The sun burns a little dimmer for all of us
today.

JD

Post by Blind Broccoli
I found out about this late last night.
I didn't know Lance except through this group but I really enjoyed his
sense of humor. He was a guy you could tell would be a lot of fun to
hang out with. I'm so sorry for his family and friends.
BB

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

[Rev. Heng Sure]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.

Here's a Lance McCollum story:

Lance could move from the mundane to the transcendent and back again.
One summer at Fran Guidry's backyard guitar get-together, Lance, an
ever-present cold beer in his hand, opened a shiny new case and said,
"Hey, Monk, here's my latest. Tell me if you can hear the sound of
silence between the notes in this guitar. You'll have to listen hard,
because the glue is barely dry and it doesn't know it's a guitar yet,
ha!"

He set down the beer and proceeded to play an incredibly delicate,
lilting Celtic melody that carried the ear and the mind into subtle
and profound places, indeed. When he finished, the silence was there
alright, but it came from all the listeners gathered around who held
their collective breath as we let the notes die slowly in the evening
air. Lance could play!

I'll be sending my prayers up on Lance's behalf to living beings
everywhere - - and then I'm going to send out some music to the
universe in his memory.

Rev. Heng Sure
www.dharmaradio.org

[Rev. Heng Sure]

If folks want to see a photo of Lance and also Dawn, click on the link
below to Fran Guidry's website. Scroll down to the third photo on the
first page of four. Dawn's photo appears on the second or third page.
Some of Lance's guitars are there as well. Here is the link:
http://www.fxguidry.com/GTG2006/index.htm.

Peace,

Rev. Heng Sure

[Peter Jorgensen]

I've been away for a few days, and come back to find this. My deepest
sympathies to his family and friends. I never had any direct contact
with him, but I will miss his presence here.
---
Peter Jorgensen
pejorg2000[at]yahoo.com

[Tony Weber]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

Hank, I feel shocked at this news. I never knew Lance other than
virtually, but that relationship lasted for nigh on a decade, and I
always though of him as a friend and just a great guy. I had always
looked forward to meeting him in person one day, and am saddened that it
will never be. My thoughts do go out to Dawn and their children. And
to his many friends; stay close to the people that you care for, for one
day you shall see them for the last time.

Carp diem.

Tony Weber

[Ed Maier]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.

It is easy to see from all the support here from rmmga members that
Lance was indeed a man to respect and admire. I only knew him from his
posts here and never was fortunate enough to meet him in person. I still
share, however, the sadness expressed by our group. (I am lucky in that
my aortic aneurysm was detected and repaired before it ruptured.)

Ed Maier

[David D. Berkowitz]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning. He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes. He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
Mauel Guitars

This is a great loss. Lance and I differed in our approaches to things,
particularly baritone guitars where we came at it from different angles. In
as much as that competitiveness of us both could drive me crazy, Lance's
intransigence (and my own) made me a better builder and broadened my
perspective on how to approach this particular style of instrument. Lance
was a remarkably creative builder who always was trying to do something new.
There are so many builders trying to recreate the old, traditional
instruments. Lances' pushing his design outward was something I've admired.

My best to his family,

David D. Berkowitz
Berkowitz Guitars

[r***@hotmail.com]

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning.  He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes.  He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
 Mauel Guitars

I haven't been hanging around here for a long time, or anywhere else
on the net for that matter (except for taropatch.net every once in a
while), and it is pretty hard to come back for this kind of reason.
Most everything that I can think of saying about Lance and Dawn and
the kids have already been said by Hank and Harv and Steve, and lots
of others, better than I could. But Sarah and I certainly feel the
same things.

But, we also have our own memories. It also feels a bit unsettling
that the first ever custom guitar, Functional Sculpture rather, that I
got for Sarah in 1999 is sitting not 10 feet away from me in its
formerly iconic, red Ameritage case. The same flamed walnut and flamed
redwood Meghann that we carried to Healdsburg in 2001, from a side
trip to Hawai`i, when many of us got together to play and eat and
drink and gossip. Lance and Buster B were just down the motel hall
from us, so we got to talk a lot about chardonnay and endless beers,
respectively. Some of you old-timers will remember that my picture of
it was on the cover of Vol. 2 of RMMGA CD II. Anyway, it can be seen
here:
http://www.rmmga.org/CDII/cdii_art.htm
and you can see The Man (with wild doubleneck, wearing the same T-
shirt I wore a day or two ago) at:
http://www.rmmga.org/photo/html-ind/mccollum-l.html

Parenthetically:
The cover of Vol 1 on that web page is Harv's first Kirby and the one
on Vol 3 is a Big Goose Goodall - but rapidly removed in favor of a
pic of Hank's wild koa parlor guitar that was Sarah's Christmas
present. That way the theme of the Sierra Mafia was preserved, with
some aesthetic boost, too. (Sorry Hank, I don't know why yours doesn't
appear.)

Upstairs is another Meghann, very much like it, with body made of the
same tree and a top of ancient flamed redwood that Lance found under
somebody's deck. Lance made it for me because I was jealous that
Sarah's sounded so wonderful. There was lots of talking over the phone
and emails over the years, including one call that started with a
concert (no words, no Hello) of Lance playing my just born guitar. He
was a great luthier, but not too many people know he was a really good
player, too. Most knew he was a great guy.

Adios, amigo.

[John Sorell]

Post by r***@hotmail.com

Post by w***@mauelguitars.com
It is with great sadness that I write of the passing of Lance
McCollum.
He suffered an aortic aneurism early Sunday morning.  He was rushed
into emergency surgery at Auburn Faith Hospital but the damage was too
massive to overcome.
Please pray for his wife Dawn and their children in this hour of need.
There will be no memorial sevice per his wishes.  He will be cremated
and his ashes scattered at sea over the Southern California area he
surfed as a youth.
He will be greatly missed by a broad group of people, myself at the
top of the list.
He was a friend, mentor, musician, luthier and all around great guy.
Please direct any correspondence to my email and I will forward it to
his wife, Dawn, at the appropriate time.
Hank Mauel
 Mauel Guitars

I haven't been hanging around here for a long time, or anywhere else
on the net for that matter (except for taropatch.net every once in a
while), and it is pretty hard to come back for this kind of reason.
Most everything that I can think of saying about Lance and Dawn and
the kids have already been said by Hank and Harv and Steve, and lots
of others, better than I could. But Sarah and I certainly feel the
same things.
But, we also have our own memories. It also feels a bit unsettling
that the first ever custom guitar, Functional Sculpture rather, that I
got for Sarah in 1999 is sitting not 10 feet away from me in its
formerly iconic, red Ameritage case. The same flamed walnut and flamed
redwood Meghann that we carried to Healdsburg in 2001, from a side
trip to Hawai`i, when many of us got together to play and eat and
drink and gossip. Lance and Buster B were just down the motel hall
from us, so we got to talk a lot about chardonnay and endless beers,
respectively. Some of you old-timers will remember that my picture of
it was on the cover of Vol. 2 of RMMGA CD II. Anyway, it can be seen
http://www.rmmga.org/CDII/cdii_art.htm
and you can see The Man (with wild doubleneck, wearing the same T-
http://www.rmmga.org/photo/html-ind/mccollum-l.html
The cover of Vol 1 on that web page is Harv's first Kirby and the one
on Vol 3 is a Big Goose Goodall - but rapidly removed in favor of a
pic of Hank's wild koa parlor guitar that was Sarah's Christmas
present. That way the theme of the Sierra Mafia was preserved, with
some aesthetic boost, too. (Sorry Hank, I don't know why yours doesn't
appear.)
Upstairs is another Meghann, very much like it, with body made of the
same tree and a top of ancient flamed redwood that Lance found under
somebody's deck. Lance made it for me because I was jealous that
Sarah's sounded so wonderful. There was lots of talking over the phone
and emails over the years, including one call that started with a
concert (no words, no Hello) of Lance playing my just born guitar. He
was a great luthier, but not too many people know he was a really good
player, too. Most knew he was a great guy.
Adios, amigo.

Reid,

I was wondering where you were. It's good to hear from you. Sorry, it
took this occasion for you to visit.

John