It always happens late on a Sunday night. This past weekend, we discovered that the latch on our front door didn’t work anymore, and that I needed to rush to the nearest home improvement center to buy a new lockset and deadbolt. Rhonda stopped me before I walked out and said, “You know, Tom, you have spent the entire weekend doing laundry, cooking, woodworking, doing yardwork – and now this. You must be exhausted…”
You know, I don’t really mind being that kind of exhausted. I’m one of those types of people who throws myself into the things that I do. If I cook, I have to make the meal a feast. If I woodwork, I like to take on big projects. If I blog, I look for the next big thing to come along. When I do my duties as the St. Petersburg Woodcrafters Guild’s Vice President, I get behind that.
Another important thing I am a part of is the Modern Woodworkers Association. Since Chris Adkins, Dyami Plotke and I started podcasting last year, things have really taken off. We have had some awesome guests on the show. Ron Hock. Chuck Bender. Andy Chidwick. Wilbur Pan. We have had the brain trust of the biggest woodworking magazines on. Famous podcasters like Steve Ramsey. Tool manufacturers. We comb the great world of woodworking to bring you the best we can find.
And, my favorite part is when we discover a gem of a post from someone’s personal woodworking blog and feature what’s going on. I am always excited to see what people are doing in their own shops.
Our growth has also exposed some of our technical shortcomings. We have been doing some work arounds in order to bring you the audio and visual for the podcasts. Some things have worked great, while others – well – let’s just say if it wasn’t for duct tape, bubble gum and bailing wire, we would be lost in the weeds.
Last week, just before we recorded our 37th podcast, the three of us came to a decision. We would like to ask for your help in getting beyond our growing pains and building toward the future.
What we are looking to do is to buy some more advanced recording equipment for the show. No, we’re not talking about installing a broadcast-quality studio somewhere at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars. In fact, advances in technology have made previously out-of-reach equipment a low-cost, easy to use solution to our problems. We have looked at some equipment, and it looks as if we’re going to be in the several-hundred dollar range to vastly improve our sound quality.
I realize you may be wondering why we just don’t reach into our own pockets to cover the cost. That’s exactly what we have been doing all along. For example, when we received complaints about audio quality, each of us shelled out for high-quality microphones. We have done this willingly because we believe so strongly in the mission of the Modern Woodworkers Association – to further the knowledge of woodworking and to build a stronger online and local woodworking communities.
We have never charged for any of our content, and we anticipate keeping things that way as we move into the future. We are just asking if you have the ability, and you have liked what you have heard on the podcast, if you could please visit the Modern Woodworkers Association page and click on the Donate button on the upper right side of the screen. All of those funds are going to go toward the purchase of improved recording equipment and other associated expenses to help us to continue to bring the best-quality content possible.
We plan on thanking everyone on our podcast if you make a contribution, and we’ll be sure to mention your name in an extra-special way if you help spread the request to other friends.
It isn’t said enough – but thank you for the support you have given us through the past two years. There is absolutely no way we could be the Modern Woodworkers Association without each and every one of you!
