Now I Can Rest

      Before Christmas I struggled with this guitar.  I had put the frets on and dressed them only to find out that the neck had such bad back bow in it that I couldn't pull it forward.  I found out that a common problem is, gluing the fretboard on the neck dead flat.  Sometimes when the glue dries (because you are dealing with two different woods, ebony and maple) it can cause back bow.  This is such a common problem that Paul Reed Smith began glueing his fretboards on with epoxy, which doesn't have the water in it that tight bond does.  This would be fine assuming you never have to take it off again.  I like to keep all my options open.  Anyway, I had to heat up the neck until the glue softened and then use a caul and some clamps to pull it forward.  Now the neck has just a little relief in it, which is just right.  Consequently, I had to take all the frets back off and refret the whole guitar.  I finally got the strings on Christmas eve.  I came close to breaking it into little pieces, setting it on fire, and scattering the ashes  as I ran naked through the neihborhood laughing, "I've killed it!"   But I took a few days off for the holidays and came to my senses.
      I had a few buzzes I had to track down and fix.  Then I made the finger rest and decided to try to make a knob for the volume control.  I actually made two of them.  One out of koa and one out of some streaked ebony.  The koa knob is the one in the picture.  Bare in mind that the koa, and or the ebony, will be much darker after I put an epoxy finish on them.
       Today I finished dressing the frets and made the heel cap for the neck, and the truss rod cover.  The strings are on and I love it.  It plays like a dream and has the most acoustic presence of any guitar I've made so far.  I can't wait to hear it amplified.  Now, all that is left to do is to sand it down and spray it.
        Chris wanted a dark color, but I'm afraid that would hide the beautiful binding, so I think I have a compromise, which I haven't talked to him about yet.  He doesn't want a sunburst, so I thought I would do a walnut, or mahogany shaded finish on the front, that goes from darker on the outside edges to lighter in the middle.  Like a sunburst, only not as drastic and all the same color.  And then do the back and sides natural, with just a hint of honey blonde.  I almost wrote horny blonde, which would take on a totally different meaning.   I got this idea from looking at the Ribbecke Hafling.  I like the way you can have color on the guitar, but still see the dark binding.  It will be much harder and time consuming to spray, but everything else has been an effort, so why should this be any easier?
         Here are some pictures and my new meditation poem.  It comes from a book of Rumi poems translated by Coleman Barks, which Donna got me for Christmas.  If you are not familiar with Rumi, just go out and buy anything Coleman Barks has translated.  It is food for the spirit.
       

           Do not go anywhere without me.

Let nothing happen in the sky without me,

or on the ground, in this world or in that world,

without my being in its happening.

Vision, see nothing I don't see.

Language, say nothing.  The way the night

knows itself with the moon, be that with me.

Be the rose nearest to the thorn that I am.

I want to feel myself in you when you taste food,

in the arc of your mallet when you work.

When you visit friends,

when you go up on the roof by yourself at night.

There is nothing worse

than to walk out along the street without you.

I don't know where I'm going.

You are the road and the knower of roads,

more than maps, more than love.