Fyi
Been there done that! After an extraordinarily short flight we kind'a
landed on what we briefly thought may be Mars but later found out was in fact Haiti, and eventually took a guagua back after loading up on bootleg Nike shoes!
Besides that...
One of my hobbies is playing steel guitar and later pedal steel guitar, yes, among Western Swing, Hawaiian and Country, I also played Hillbilly music. First in Europe then in the US. The pedal steel guitar is a very mechanical instrument, as pedals and knee levers can operate a device which allow the player to change the tuning of the instrument to pre-set pitches back and forth, WHILE he is playing the instrument, generating the typical gliss and bend sounds so often heard in traditional Country music. More
here.
While living in the States (1996 thru 2001), I started to develop a new technology for a better sounding pedal steel guitar by changing the mechanical aspects around. I had parts made locally (in the US) and assembled a first prototype which was subsequently camouflaged and shown to some of the top players at a convention in Dallas, TX in 2001 and which triggered a lot of interest.
Then, I left to Spain and soon was so submerged by work in the the RE construction field, I couldn't even find time to just play anymore.
Now here, I've got more time again and I am slowly (as a hobby) redesigning a final model which may, when built, be presented to PSG builder in the States for licensing. No, it is no big business, rather my big ego, to have left an impression on the instrument I love and if a final or even a couple of final models were to be assembled with parts made in the DR, I am with this not about starting a new economy here.
However, before having lived in the US, I had lived a couple of years in Ecuador and briefly in Chile (two very different countries) and also traveled a lot in Colombia. One thing that stroke me at my first visit here, prior to coming to live here, was that I did not seem to readily see of find the, for Southern American cities so typical streets of trades... a street where you'd find shoe makers, one after an other.. or furniture makers (from simple and cheap to high end carved), tool shops and so forth.
The more I look around here I am amazed as to how little "we" make here. It would seem that, maybe because the constant focus limited on export, export, export and Dolares... "we" fail to recognize the value and necessity of producing, manufacturing and supplying such effort locally for the LOCAL market. Because of this, for every Dollar "we" generate thru export (and tourism is an export of a sort too) we send out 2 or 3 Dollars back out to buy simple things we could very well have made, generated, manufactured and thus supplied locally, generating more employment (not just limited to government administrative jobs, as it currently is almost the majority of employment) and along the process also create new products and product lines which may qualify for export... even if it's only to other Latin American countries.
Anyway, as I said, steel guitars will not change this. So the thread was actually of a mixed interests:
- CNC machining as well as precision aluminum welding and mold making: steel guitar prototype(s).
- High end carbon fiber (composite) of small parts (up to 3 ft long) : Automobile parts and and guitar prototyping.
- Supply of mechanical grade standardized aluminum profiles (usually aircraft grade), ball bearings and fastening materials: One can't design something without knowing what's available and keep machining times low.
- Galvanizing: We used to galvanize whole window protections lately in Spain. I was wondering it that could be done here too (size).
I hope I did not bore you with my thoughts here and again thank you for your interest.
... J-D.
