I just got home from playing a gig with my good friend Michael at the Tipping Point and thought I might write a bit.  By the way Michael and I are playing tomorrow night, the 29th at City lights Cafe, with Maggie Tobias.  She is a great singer.  You may know her name as a writer for the Sylva Herald.  I'm sorry for all the links, but some of you might like the info.

        So, I got the wood back from the cabinet shop and had some tweaking to do, but finished that and got to work.  This is what you start with (top picture).  This is the back.  It is maple and it's very hard.  The top is spruce and much softer.  I spent quite a bit of time making the joint to connect the two pieces together.  As I said before, you hold them up to the light and if you can see any light through the joint, you're not finished yet.  It is interesting that you don't want to see light through the joint, but later the guitar its' self will be so thin I will be able to see, not only light through it, but the shadow of my hand.  When I get to that point I'll take a picture to demonstrate.  It makes me think of the importance of light in art.  We see it in visuals, like photography and painting, but don't think of it much in sound, but I think it plays a big part.  It gives us a reference point and helps us create.  When I'm carving I'll turn the lights off and shine a clamp light across the piece I'm working on and the imperfections become obvious.  My life is much the same way.
          Anyway, the bottom picture is of the top of the guitar and the neck with the truss rod groove cut.  Seems to be coming along nicely.  I'll leave you with a quote from Madeleine L'engle, "There is nothing so secular that it cannot be sacred, and that is one of the deepest messages of the Incarnation."  If I can ever afford a real website I'd love to put that quote on the home page.  It is the only reason for building anything.