March 20, 2008 They are almost done with the clean up. Might be getting new carpet today. It looks like they might be done by this weekend. Everything has been cleaned and repainted! That is so cool. Now, I am transferring all of the stuff back into here. I should have all of it back in here as soon as they are done. I have three guitars that will be going out early next week!!! I'm able to finish them and next week I will be able to get some more done. Lot of spraying next week if they finish this weekend. I am able to get in here some now and at least get some stuff done. Can't wait to have this place back in order. I should have a lot of guitars going out very soon. 

March 14, 2008 updated pictures click link above.

March 6, 2008. I am so fortunate that I was working up here late! My building caught fire about 3 units down from me. I was here so I called 911 and they got here really fast. My shop is safe!

Due to the fire and cleanup in and around the building, I will be pretty much closed for a few days while I get everything sorted and boxed up to allow them to come in and clean and repaint, etc. Should be pretty cool in few days, but it is a major pain getting it ready for them to come in and do their stuff. Sorry for the inconvenience. Lot of stuff ready to leave as soon as I can get back in here to work on guitars instead of boxing and cleaning. 

This was from the night of the fire:

I feel so fortunate to have been working here so late! I was doing stuff on the computer (inlays) and my eyes started burning. Then they kept burning really bad. I finally turned around and noticed that it was kind of hazy in here. Got up and opened the door to the shop and noticed that it was really hazy looking and my eyes were burning. Finally it hit me! There's a fire somewhere!!! I looked around and went up the ladder to see if it was something upstairs. No, just really smokey. Went outside to look around and saw that there was smoke coming somewhere off the roof about three places down. It was my building that was on fire but it was another unit!!! I called 911 and the fire dept. got here in less than a minute. (The Firemen know me and sometimes like to stop by and look at my guitars and my shop.) Well, by the time they got here, my shop was so full of smoke that you couldn't see but a foot or so in front of your face. They checked around and we got my huge garage door up and turned on the paint booth. It was the unit 3 places down that was on fire. After about an hour and a half, they had it all out. Lucky for me, my shop was fine. Just a lot of smoke.

They told me that if I hadn't been here and called it in when I did, my whole building would have been gone. Totally torched to the ground! They kept thanking me! Ha! They are the ones who saved the day!! There were 8 fire trucks here and a lot of other fire marshals and stuff.

I really want to thank the Fort Worth Fire Dept. They were exceptional!! Great bunch of hard working guys who have a tough job. Thanks guys!! The firemen took special care with my shop to make sure that it was okay and that nothing got hurt in here. Then they came in a really loved all of the guitars here. Great guys. Thanks again to them!!

The water is turned off, my face is covered in black soot, smoky smell everywhere, and some of the places in my building are in bad shape, but luckily for me and everyone waiting on a guitar, things in my shop are safe. There are 8 guitars almost ready to go, with 18 bodies and necks sitting here waiting on metal. 38 fretboards all done also waiting on truss rods and an incredible amount of stuff that was left unharmed. I'm so thankful!!! So glad that I was here working!!!!!

Here are some pictures after most of the excitement was done.

Saturday March 14. The crews have been up here at my building since the day after the fire. My place was okay, just a lot of smoke smell. So, they've been cleaning it all week. Wednesday, they started doing the tiles.  There have been tons of people in here all week, all day. The front part is all painted now and has new ceiling tiles and stuff. Today, they are out in the shop and have the entire place wrapped in plastic. They're painting the shop now. That is really cool since I will now put it all back in a nice order. I've managed to get rid of a lot of stuff so that I can now have permanent soldering and assembly places. Here are a few pictures of what it looks like today: