Engraver

Planing the back brace

I don't feel that I was terribly productive today, so naturally I chose to take a break from sanding back braces to write about it. The majority of my morning was spent attempting to inlay the tiny strips of wood that surround the soundhole. When working on my first EJ Henderson guitar, I came up with an idea of inlaying the same material that is used for the strip that intersects the two panels of the guitar back into the soundhole space. I enjoy the idea of matching, and the designs of backstrips are typically ornate and aesthetically appealing. 

I took a few minutes to ponder whether the blowtorch I clamped to the oblong pipe would remain in place or if it would instead come lose from the huge orange clamp that takes both of my hands to open and set fire to the entire shop including, I am sure, my eyebrows, clothing, appendages, etc. I decided it was probably safe enough to start bending the backstrip material as I poked at the apparatus a couple of times to no significant movement. 

The pattern I chose has a lot of small pieces sandwiched between a few solid strips of black and white wood. The problem with using this type of material is that it is difficult to keep it from breaking and scorching your fingers along the way. Needless to say, I might have broken a few, used a little profanity, and cooked a few fingers. Eventually though, I did end up getting the strip bent to perfectly fit in the space that I had cut for it the previous evening. 

Finally inlaid the soundhole!

That was just step one. Much more profanity to come. I was so proud after fitting the large strip along with the two smaller accompanying strips into the routed space and expected the same outcome after I added glue. That turned out to be an incorrect assumption. When you add wood glue to a perfectly fitted cluster of wood, it expands, causing immense frustration and angry mumbling, the likes of Joe Pesci's character in Home Alone. 

After removing the strips, rebending new material, and scraping out all the glue from the routed space, I managed to successfully inlay the strips around the soundhole. But it took maybe 4 hours. 

This afternoon, an engraver visited the shop. Ol' Wayne looked like a kid on Christmas; perhaps like that end scene in Home Alone, if you will. He, as expected, was incredibly good at it, easily carving elegant curves into the "practice metal". Charlie, the professional engraver, told him that he was a natural.

Engraving by Charlie

I was invited to come over and engrave a J, so taking a break from shaping the brace that runs along the back of my guitar, I went over to use the engraver tool that looked to me like a mini jackhammer. Same piercing, eye-twitching noise and all. It has a cute little footpedal that runs the power though, and was thinking, I am going to dominate at this. Watch out folks. Again, incorrect assumption. My dad and Charlie made it look so simple, jackhammering pretty curls all over the place. After gauging out a few unfortunate holes, I promptly gave up and returned to my brace. Enlightening day over all, but a fellow brought 6 bottles of wine from his winery and I told him that, of course I would help him out and taste test the new batch for him. So, perhaps no more machines for me tonight...

Charlie and Wayne preparing for an engraving lesson.

The Cutaway Confusion

I saw a funny thing today. My dad didn't have all the answers when it came to constructing the body of a guitar. I am making a Koa OM for my super awesome cousin, Matt, but he wants a cutaway which is a model my dad rarely makes. Removing some of the material from the body of the guitar allows for more notes to be played closer to the soundhole, providing a larger range on the fretboard, however, some might argue that the sound of the guitar could be compromised when messing with the original body style. Doc Watson requested that my dad buil him a cutaway, and so did David Holt, among several others, but they all have the larger D size body, and at the time they were constructed, my dad was bending sides by hand on a hot pipe. Now, my bracelet bending skills are pretty great, but I can't imagine they are up to par to perfectly shape damp wood around an oblong pipe with several inches of blowtorch stuck up it...

Luckily, after a while, and redrawing a few brace lines on the new OM cutaway pattern, we had things underway. A new OM cutaway form for the regular side bender was made, an insert was stuck into the OM form that holds the body in place, and patterns were correctly traced onto my Sitka Spruce top and Koa back. It was an interesting day of trial and error and not just on my part for once! It surprised me to hear my dad gripe about being outstmarted by a guitar...We (he mostly) got it in the end though.

Day 1

My dad is amazing at what he does. His job is unlike anyone else's I know. To him, constructing instruments and finding a perfect balance of aesthetics and functionality is like breathing. He just does it. It is not a job at all.

I know that I will never possess the same degree of passion for guitars as my dad does; I honestly don't know if anyone could, but I do have a passion for learning, as well as an itch to create beautiful, tangible, things. So, I have decided to take a pause from pursuing a career in environmental law, and learn from this incredible artist while I have the opportunity to do so. I think passing on such a skill is important, and while I have my own interests aside from guitar making, I feel this is a gift that should not be passed up.

I also plan to incorporate my interest and concern for the environment into my guitar making experience. I hope to use more sustainable (I said more, not totally) hardwoods such as local Maple and Walnut rather than exotic, endangered woods that are so popular among the guitar collector community. I aim to construct instruments that provide similar sound and beauty as ones boasting a back and sides constructed of Brazilian Rosewood, but with less environmental impacts. We will see how it goes.

I also want to explain a little bit about my experience, living in the shadow of someone who shares so much of his time and life with anyone who shows up at his door. I grew up mostly with my mom, but would frequently visit Rugby, and be around my dad, but rarely with my dad. His profession made it difficult to form any sort of deep relationship with him because he was always working (in a shop filled with dangerous machines that, I am sure, are any parent's nightmare). Don't get me wrong though, I love my dad so very much, and appreciate all of the experiences his choices afforded me growing up. It has shaped who I am today-extremely independent and strong-willed, and of those qualities, I am proud.

But, I want to know him better, and to do that, I have to spend my time in his world. It turns out, it is not such a bad place. The shop here is always attracting the most interesting visitors. Every day someone new arrives, and something else exciting happens. I have helped my dad make two of his guitars, and he has helped me make three. Today, I am starting my forth, and look forward to sharing that experience with you (though, I bet 'you' are just my mom, and maybe my fiance...thanks for reading guys, love you!)

So, that is the motivation behind my writing this blog. I want to record and share the goings-on around here, so others (guitar crazies like Mike Segui, who live too far away to visit as often as they might like) can vicariously experience a little of this strange world that revolves around my dad, and so I can enjoy reading it later as I know I will miss this experience as soon as it is finished, whenever that may be.