Dragonfly

I finished the fretboard and decided to try and make a small dragonfly on the upper last two frets.  My daughter designed it for me before she left for Ireland.  The original design had too many parts that we so small that when I cut them out of the pearl they simply turned to dust.  Consequently I revamped the piece into something I thought I could handle.  Cutting it out was really not too bad with the jeweler's saw, but using the dremel tool to rout out the fretboard was a little scary, but if you don't try you'll never learn.  I think it turned out quite nice.  Yesterday I put the fretboard on the neck and now I'm waiting for some supplies to come so I can begin the bridge and tailpiece.  I totaled up my hours working on this instrument. I have 151 so far.  Considering I'm new at this and have had to struggle with certain things, I think that's pretty good.

I came across this letter I sent to my son last year, I think.  I'm including it, because of some conversations I've recently had with several people and I think this sums up how I'm feeling pretty well.

Hey Jesse,

     I had another dream last night I thought I would share with you.  I was reading from the Damapada before bed, specifically the twin verses, "All that we are is the result of what we have thought: we are formed and molded by our thoughts.  Those whose minds are shaped by selfish thoughts cause misery when they speak or act.  Sorrows roll over them as the wheels of a cart roll over the tracks of the bullock that draws it.         All that we are is the result of what we have thought: we are formed and molded by our thoughts.  Those whose minds are shaped by selfless thoughts give joy whenever they speak or act.  Joy follows them like a shadow that never leaves them."

     I decided I would dwell on these verses while I slept.  As I drifted off, my mind would wander and as I recognized it I would bring it back.  I've had a pain in my shoulder, which actually made me recognize that I was sleeping while dreaming.  In my dream you wanted to show me a movie that someone in your church had made.  You were upset at how ridiculous it was and wanted me to see for myself.  What I remember, is that the movie was in a cabin and we were both watching it in real time; not on a screen, almost like a play.  There was a man who opened the cabin door from outside and I could see out.  He had two children, a girl of about 8 years old and another one, which I never made out.  I began to listen to him and watch the girl play.  I never understood anything he said.  My eyes were drawn to the sky outside as he talked.  It was a summer day like we have in the south, only it wasn't hot; only nice.  As he spoke I focused more and more on the air outside.  I could see the seeds of plants blowing in the wind.  I could see bugs, and pollen.  As I looked closer I could see individual particles of matter. The air that we breathe was full of life.  At this point I was barely conscience of the man speaking,but I could still hear him.  I knew that what he said didn't matter, and that he would never be able to explain what I had come to understand.  It was as if the air itself was water.  It was so full of life that I marveled that we could actually breathe.  I laughed to myself when I realized that the man was trying to show us the path to God, when in fact He was all around us.  We were breathing him in and out.  It was like we were all splashing around in the ocean, and here was a guy trying to tell us how to find water.  Not only were we in the water, but we had been swimming since the day we were born.  At this point I understood something with my heart that I'd always hoped was true intellectually.  The Tao, dharma, and the logos are all the same thing.  Like the scientists trying to explain light as a wave, or a particle, and now as a series of dots, or something like that; I can't remember for sure.  Different sides of the same crystal.   

       I woke feeling as alive as I have in along while.  We are all a part of this cosmic way.  We are so much a part that we don't see it.  We were born into it and we will die a part of it.  It is the very fabric of who we are and we cannot be another.  We bind ourself to unreality with doctrines, with time, with passions, and with duty.  Art and music, at it's best, should be outside these things.  They should mirror nature, which mirrors God in it's perfection.  To begin to "awake", to begin to see that nothing is as perfect as "a piece of uncarved wood," to understand that, "the Father and I are one".

       We are separated by distance, but not by God.  We swim in the same eternal spirit.  We are sons of the same Father.  Learn to use your mind, while you're young, to become the man that you want to be.  "As irrigators guide water to their fields, as archers aim arrows, as carpenters carve wood, the wise shape their lives."

                                                 into the mystery,

                                                                           Dad

The Mortise and Tenon

      After 16 or so hard hours of fitting, I finally got the neck on the body.  It is very difficult for me to get the joint properly lined up, so I end up with a lot of finagling.  I only have to cut the inlay in the headstock and do some sanding on the heel of the neck and I'll be able to glue it together.
      Two new videos to look for; one coming out tonight, a Steely Dan-ish tune written by Michael, and a Christmas song I wrote for Donna, coming out Christmas eve.  Check for them on Facebook, or Maggie and the Romantics on Youtube.
      Quote of the day comes from Rumi.   "Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I'll meet you there.  When the soul lies down in that grass the world is too full to talk about.
      And I need to add this one I just found.  It sounds so much like where I'm going,  "Do not be satisfied with the stories that come before you.  Unfold your own myth."

Dots or no dots

The body binding is done except for the scraping, and the fretboard and neck are done except for sanding and inlays.  I will try to cut the mortise and tenon this week and join the neck to the body.  The question is position markers (dots), or not.  What do you think?  Here are pictures both ways.
      The big news is I'm a grandfather again.  Jesse and Kyla had number 3.  Una Bernice Savage.  Three girls.  I hope you have a house one day that has at least two bathrooms, or you'll be banished to the great outdoors.  I'll write again soon, and checkout our new video.  It's a tune I wrote for our song a week project.

Joseph Campbell

       We finished recording our fourth video tonight, a blues tune written by Maggie called,"Tough Love." Check it out on facebook, or youtube.
       Last night I got home from playing a gig with maggie, and Owen, a sub for Michael, who is a very gifted upright bassist, and a drummer from Charleston named Randy.  I played with him one time several years ago and he just gets better.  It was a great night and we had a very attentive, enthusiastic crowd.  Anyway, when I got home I decided to unwind by watching a Joseph Campbell documentary titled "The Heroes Journey."  In it was one of the clearest statements about truth that I've ever heard, so I've transcribed it here.

"It is so simple to believe in God.  God is a metaphor for a mystery that absolutely transcends all human categories of thought.  Even the categories of being and nonbeing.  Those are categories of thought.  It's as simple as that.  So, it depends on how much you want to think about it.  Whether it's doing you any good; whether it's putting you in touch with the mystery that is the ground of your own being.  If it isn't, well it's a lie.  So, half of the people in the world are religious people who think that their metaphors are facts.  Those are what we call theists.  The other half are the people who know that the metaphors are not facts, and so they're lies.  Those are the atheists."

          It seems that we have to believe that the story actually happened, or it's not true.  So we are forced to believe in something that is unbelievable in order to pursue our quest for God, or we give up and say it's all just a fairy tale.  But what if it's as simple as God being so beyond our comprehension, that stories (metaphors) that show us truths about who He is, have to be used for us to begin to understand Him.  Have you ever read a poem that you really couldn't explain to anyone, but you understood it in your soul?  Or have you ever seen a movie, or heard a song that conveyed a truth, and not just a small thing , but something that changed your life?  And then it dawned on you that it was a story that someone made up?  Does that mean it's not true?  As Bruce Cockburn said, "We are the insect life of paradise. Crawl across leaf or among towering blades of grass.  Glimpse only sometimes the amazing breadth of heaven."  We need to take God out of the box and let Him show us who He is.,

Back in the Saddle Again

     Man, I have been busy.  I've been playing so much music I haven't had time to work on the guitar.  However, I got quite a bit accomplished in November.  As far as the music I've been playing, checkout our song a week.  We (Maggie, Michael and myself) are writing and video recording a song every week.  Look for a special Christmas song to come out Christmas day and a New Years Eve tune.  You can also check them out on Youtube.  Starting in January we will have a special guest sitting in with us once a month and we will write a song to showcase their talents.
     Now, on to the guitar.  The body is together.  The tap tone is great, although I hope it's not too responsive, or it may be a feedback monster.  The f holes are my own design, but after I cut them in the top I came across a builder named Framus who's design is almost the same.  I was trying to find a shape that flowed with the natural curve of the guitar, but also had a somewhat traditional look.  I guess he was doing the same thing.  I finished the binding on the top today and will do the binding on the back tomorrow.  And  I've cut the headstock shape out and started shaping the neck, so you can see what it will look like.  I'm going to put black and white purfling on the fretboard on this guitar and I'm debating on whether to use bloodwood to bind the neck with.  I have bloodwood veneer on the back of the neck and I think I'll use it and a black and white accent on the headstock, although the main wood will still be ebony on the headstock face.  If I can find a nice piece of bloodwood for the butt seam I'll probably use it there also.

       Things seem to be going smoother with this guitar, but I haven't cut the mortise and tenon neck to body joint yet.  That is always a challenge.  I think I'm learning.  I've gotten better at using my ears and nose instead of just my eyes and hands.  I have learned to listen to the wood as I carve it.  You can hear it getting thinner.  You can hear what it wants to do, what it will do, and what it won't ever do.  When I'm bending the sides and the binding, I can smell if the iron is too hot, or if it's right.  I can feel the fibers stretch and I can hear the noise the steam makes when it's heating the wood and the noise it makes when the wood is dry.  All these things go into becoming a Luthier.  It's all about learning what the material wants to do and then figuring out how to get it to do that.  Don't contend, best to be like water.  A good example of using your senses, provided you are used to working with your hands, is to put in really good ear plugs and then try to drive a nail.  You'll realize how much you use your ears to set that nail.  Here are a few pictures to give you some idea as to where I'm at in this process.  You'll notice the mummified guitar; that's how you hold the binding on while the glue sets.  It is very messy.  I'll post more pics after I get it all cleaned up and you can see the binding.
        So, as far as my spiritual life goes, I'm wondering if this is all just a grand distraction.  Is it good to be writing music, playing gigs, building guitars, along with being a husband and father and trying to make a living?  Or, does this, in reality take me away from my primary goal of seeing the face of God?  What do you think?  The scriptures never mention art, unless it's tied together with music as worship, or craftsmen using their skills to build the temple, or the walls of Jerusalem.  The Bagavad Gita and the Upanashads speak of God as creator, even singing creation into being (no this wasn't C.S. Lewis' own original idea), but relatively nothing about us following suit.  And the Tao seems to say, no action is best if you can do that (hold uncarved wood).  I haven't read the Koran yet, but it's on my to do list.  In other words they all seem to say, "Seek first the Kingdom of God", but how do we do that without doing what seems to be so much a part of who we are?  I feel closer to God than ever, but I also feel like I'm running out of time.  I need to choose wisely.  Would it be better to spend my last 30 years being an awesome guitar player, an incredible luthier, a brilliant songwriter, a mystic of old testament proportions, or is it possible to do it all?
I'd love to think I could do it all and I'd love to hear what you have to say.  I'll close with my latest meditation passage.
                         

O Great Spirit
whose voice I hear in the wind
and whose breath gives life to the world,
hear me.
I am small and weak.
I need your strength and wisdom.

Let me walk in beauty
and let my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset.
Make my hands respect the things you have made
and my ears grow sharp to hear your voice.

Make me wise so that I may understand the things you have taught my people.
Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock.
I seek strength not to be greater than my brother or sister, but to fight my greatest enemy, myself.
Make me always ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes
so, when life fades as the fading sunset my spirit may come to you without shame.




   

I haven't had much time to work on the guitar, but I have managed to get the spruce top looking like it should.  It takes many hours of carving and then too many hours of sanding to get it right.  You begin by using chisels and then a violin finger plane, and finally sandpaper.  I use a palm sander to speed things up, but you still have to do a lot by hand.  Eventually you get what you see in the pictures, and then I'll carve the inside until it is very thin.   I hope to get the outside of the top finished tomorrow and start on the back.  Maple is much harder to carve.  The first time I tried carving my hand looked like this.
        I've been playing a lot of music.  I subbed for Michael at a restaurant in Highlands, and got to play with a great sax player.  I learned that the only thing harder than taking a solo with only a bass player, is taking a solo by yourself.  It was fun.  Michael and I now have a professional live CD to sell.  Thanks to Dave Magill who recorded us at the Sunday afternoon concert series at the old Webster church.  It sounds great.  We are going in to his studio sometime next month to do a recording of Maggie and the Romantics.  By the way we (Maggie and the Romantics) are doing a show at Soul Infusion.  We also have a video someone took at City Lights Cafe the last time we were there.
       I'll close with my new favorite meditation passage.  I think this is profound.

The ancients who followed Tao:
Dark, wondrous, profound, penetrating,
Deep beyond knowing.

Because they cannot be known,
They can only be described.

Cautious, like crossing a winter stream.
Hesitant, like respecting one's neighbors.
Polite, like a guest.
Yielding, like ice about to melt.
Blank, like uncarved wood.
Open, like a valley.
Mixing freely, like muddy water.

Calm the muddy water, it becomes clear.
Move the inert, it comes to life.
Those who sustain Tao do not wish to be full.
Because they do not wish to be full,
They can fade away without further effort.