Color

    I spent most of Thursday sanding and re-sanding.  Putting a spot light on the surface and looking for dings and scratches.  Friday I sprayed two thin wash coats of lacquer.  It looked so pretty that I decided to make it a honey blond.  A honey blonde is made with mostly yellow, but has red and brown in it also.  It's a very bright finish, which shows off the wood grain nicely.  The only downside is it also shows all my mistakes.  I'm willing to live with that, so that the natural beauty of the wood can be seen.  There is nothing more beautiful than the lines, shapes, and patterns that the wood it's self has.  I'm trying my best to work with that and not screw it up.  Today I scuff sanded the instrument and sprayed the color.  It is beautiful.  I'll try to borrow a camera and post some picture this week.  I have to decide now whether I should scrape the bindings and purflings, or leave them alone.  They are darker now and would brighten up more with scraping.  I kind of like the dark, but I'm not sure.  The scraping would require maybe 8hrs?  When I get some good weather I'll spray 5 more clear coats, then sand, then one more and the final sanding and polishing.  The only fixture left to make is the finger rest.  I'm going to put a volume control on this one, which will mount to the finger rest.  I'm not sure exactly how to do this, but it shouldn't be too difficult.  I should have it ready to play sometime next month.  I'll let you know when I take it out to a gig and those of you in the area can come and check it out.
     Here's a guitar that Ken Parker made.  Donna, my wife, actually came up with this color idea about a year ago.  It is awesome.  It's also $40,000.
    I'll leave you with another Rumi quote, "I didn't come here of my own accord and I can't leave that way.  Whoever brought me here will have to take me home."