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.

       
     

The Bridge

   I'm sorry it has been so long since the last post, but my day job has kept me more than busy.  I can't complain.  I need the money.   Needless to say, I haven't worked much on the guitar, but I did manage to get the fretboard on and the frets.  And today I made my version of the Gretsch Synchromatic bridge.  I think mine looks cooler.  The stair steps are also a Hopi symbol having to do with terraced dwellings. Tomorrow I'll start the tailpiece.  I have a new, retro (that would be an oxymoron) looking design that I'm excited about.  I hope to have the strings on before too much longer.  Here are some new pictures.  Sorry about the quality.  I wish I had a better camera.  Here's another Augustine quote I'll leave you with, "And I marveled to find that at last I loved you and not some phantom instead of you; and I did not hesitate to enjoy my God, but was ravished to you by your beauty."

Pearl inlays

    The neck is on the guitar and the fret board is finished.  I spent several days cutting the inlays and then routing out the cavities and gluing the tiny pieces in.  The headstock has the Hopi sign of the open hand, which Chris didn't request, but I love the symbol.  As Bruce Cockburn says, "Everything is bullshit, but the open hand."  The fretboard has the sun symbol on the 5th fret and the clouds and rain, and water symbol higher up.  Now I am working on the neck extension, which will take me a day, or so, and then I'll put the fretboard on the neck.

      I came across this quote last month and have been thinking a lot about it.  It is by Saint Augustine.  "Why are we not happy?  Because we are much more concerned over things which are more powerful to make us unhappy than truth is to make us happy, in that we remember truth so slightly."  The beauty of truth is that it doesn't change.  The Buddha said, "Hatred is not overcome by hatred.  It is overcome by love.  This is a universal truth."  I spend too much of my life thinking about the things that seem so expedient.  Like, will I have enough work tomorrow to pay my bills, or will I be able to get the neck joint right on the guitar I'm building, or will I be up to the task of playing music with some local musicians, or even, will I find someone to help me further my pursuit of God.  But these things ultimately lead to unhappiness.  They may begin with happiness, but it is not sustainable.  Truth on the other hand may not bring happiness, but always brings joy.

 

New pictures

       Here are some pictures of the neck, the finished body with the binding on, the front and back of the headstock, and the finished end graft.  I finished the mortise and tenon on the 31st and glued the body to the neck.  We now have a guitar!  I'll post more pictures soon.

Progress

     Sorry it has been so long since my last post, but I have been working.  The binding is on the body of the guitar and I'll finish scraping it, hopefully today, which means the body is essentially done.  Here are some pictures of the last several months work.  
      The third picture is of the outside plates before I started carving the inside.  The first couple of photos are lines I've drawn to correspond with different thicknesses that I want the plates to be.  At each line I made a series of numbers representing mm that I would then take to the drill press and drill holes to that depth.  Then I take a side grinder with a chainsaw blade on it and rough out the inside only to the depth of the holes I've made.  Pictures 4 and 5 show what it looks like after the holes have been drilled.  After that it's back to the violin plane, which I use to carve the inside.
      After much sanding I put veneer on the inside top plate where I will cut out the f holes.  These f holes are Lang f holes.   Once they've been cut I begin to carve the x brace, which supports the top plate and gives it a balanced tone.  Pictures 6 and 7 are the x brace being glued to the top plate.
        Then I bent the sides and the binding, which I have no pictures of.  After that the neck block and tail block were made and put together.  Then the kerfing goes on.  The kerfing is the mahogany stuff you see lining the inside of the sides of the guitar in picture 8.  Then the side braces and it's ready to put together.
        Pictures 9, 10, and 11 are the body being assembled.   12 is the finished body with the binding channels cut on a router.  13 is a close up shot, so you can see the binding channel and the smaller purfling channel.  14 is the end graft I put in, and 15 is the binding being installed.  You glue and wrap it with mop string to hold it in place.  Then you clean the whole thing with boiling water.  I'll try to post some pictures later of the finished body.  It is quite lovely.
        For those of you who are still with me, here is a Rumi quote that gives me great hope.


     "Everything you see has its roots in the Unseen world.  The forms may change, yet the essence remains the same.  Every wondrous sight will vanish, every sweet word will fade.  But do not be disheartened,  the Source they come from is eternal - growing, branching out, giving new life and new joy.  Why do you weep?  That Source is within you,  and this whole world is springing up from it.  The Source is full,  it's waters are ever- flowing;  Do not grieve,  drink your fill!  Don't think it will ever run dry. This is the endless Ocean!
      From the moment you came into this world a ladder was placed in front of you that you might escape.  From earth you became plant, from plant you became animal.  Afterwards you became a human being, endowed with knowledge, intellect, and faith.  Behold the body, born of dust - how perfect it has become!  Why should you fear it's end?  When were you ever made less by dying?
       When you pass beyond this human form,  no doubt you will become an angel and soar through the heavens!  But don't stop there.  Even heavenly bodies grow old.  Pass again from the heavenly realm and plunge into the vast ocean of Consciousness.  Let the drop of water that is you become a hundred mighty seas.  But do not think that the drop alone becomes the Ocean -  the Ocean, too, becomes the drop! "
       

A New Commission

    I've started on a new guitar.  A commission for a friend of mine.  The plates have been joined and the material has been roughed out.  Next I'll route the outside edge down to three millimeters and then begin to carve the outside.  This is another 17 inch.  I'm going to inlay a Hopi Indian symbol somewhere on the fretboard, which I have yet to see.  We haven't settled on color, but he wants a Gretch style stair-stepped bridge, which I think will be fun to make.  Maybe some kind of Gretch f holes, but somewhat different.  Anyway, should be fun.  I have an upright bass that I need to reset the soundpost in, sand the fretboard, make the bridge adjustable, and set the action, then I'll begin the carving on the new guitar.
      I may have posted this before, but I read it this morning again and it is something I try to remember, especially when I begin this process.  "Those whose consciousness is unified abandon all attachment to the results of action and attain supreme peace.  But those whose desires are fragmented, who are selfishly attached to the results of their work, are bound in everything they do."  Bhagavad Gita
     "It is not so much work that tires us, but ego driven work.  When we are selfishly involved, we cannot help worrying, we cannot help getting overly concerned about our success or failure.  The preoccupation with results makes us tense, and our anxiety exhausts us.
      The Gita is essentially a call to action.  But it is a call to selfless action, that is, action without any selfish attachments to the results.  It asks us to do our best, yet never allow ourselves to become involved in whether things work out the way we want.
       It takes practice to learn this skill, but once you have it, as Gandhi says, you will never lose your nerve.  The sense of inadequacy goes, and the question "Am I equal to this job?" will not arise.  It is enough that the job needs to be done and that you are doing your best to get it done." Eknath Easwaran
       I remember emailing this passage to my daughter when she was frustrated trying to help at a school and orphanage in Kenya.  When I'm asked to do things that I'm not comfortable doing, I try to remember this.  Any effort is a good effort.  Prayerfully I'll shape this guitar and hopefully it will be an expression of what's inside me.  As Jesus said, " The kingdom of God is within you."


     

Almost Finished

    I sanded and polished the guitar, and put it all together.  It sounds and plays great!  It has a very acoustic presence.  I broke the pickup trying to get it back off the finger rest to get a better fit to the neck.  So, I've ordered another one.  Costly mistake and hopefully something I'll only do once.  Sometimes an education is expensive.  When I get the new pickup I just have to wire it to the volume switch and drill the hole for the end pin jack.  Then a little fishing to get everything in the proper holes and I'll be done.  I'm still looking for a buyer.  I hope to get a website up and running before long.  That seems like the only proper way to market these instruments.   Here are some finished pictures and here is a quote by one of my favorite people.  "The more I think about it.  The more I wonder if God and neighbor are somehow One.  Loving God, Loving neighbor - the same thing?  For me, coming to recognize that God loves every neighbor is the ultimate appreciation."   Fred Rogers