The Bath Builder's Book

THE BATH BUILDER'S BOOK

The Bath Builder's Book was a book written by Chet Nichols and George Fels.

One of Chet's great loves is working with wood and refinishing furniture. Chet is a world-class guitarist, so it makes sense that he would have an ingrained love for wood. Well, this led to the first sauna that he built at his farm and studio in Tonganoxie, Kansas. He used it to "chill out" from his months and years of touring as a recording artist and solo performer.

Well, the sauna became infamous with his friends and one thing led to another and soon he was building and helping to build other saunas, steam baths and hot tubs. Many were unique. Some where high in the mountains of Colorado, some in the hills above LA, some in urban environments, some where in high-rise apartments and some in the wide open spaces. Some were stationary, some could be jacked up and put on the back of trucks and driven away and others were designed to be bolted and un-bolted and moved.

Chet then added building and designing spa and hot tub environments to his list of things to do and as a way to supplement his income as a musician and songwriter.

Chet also was very interested in all of the hot springs in the US and carried a book produced by the US Geological Department with him when he would begin driving on a new concert tour. He would hike to the out-of-the-way hot springs listed in the book. The more the remote the better. He kept a secret list of his favorite sites.

Chet met George Fels when George was a copywriter at Leo Burnett and respected writer of weight lifting and pool shooting books. Chet approached George about his idea to write a book about his experience building saunas, steam baths, hot tub environments and hot springs. Chet wrote the first 2-3 chapters and gave them to George to show to his contacts at Contemporary Books. They loved the idea!

So, Chet and George began working on the book. Chet did the writing and George acted as the editor. Chet also took all the photographs and drew all the free-hand illustrations used in the book. Chet did the lay-out for the book and after 3 months the book was finished and in the hands of the publisher.

Needless to say, the book was a big hit and one of Contemporary Books most successful publications.

You can find the book at Amazon and numerous other on-line book sellers.

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