![\"all](\"http:\/\/othertime.com\/camera\/webpic108.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThis weekend marked the completion of guitar 002. It got its strings Sunday afternoon and a few minutes of playing before the reality of being a parent closed in on the fantasy of being a luthier. That said, I did get a good deal of assistance from novice’s apprentice in history. Some of the results of that help are still visible on the finished product.<\/p>\n
The picture is from my phone and thus lacks some detail, but here it is! <\/p>\n
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It’s easier for me to pick out the things that went wrong than to talk about what went right. The truth is, this is my second build and I really don’t have a good handle on what I’m doing correctly. The stuff that’s wrong is glaring (to me) but the stuff that’s right is, well, elusive for the time being.<\/p>\n
Lessons learned:<\/p>\n
1. Take more time when routing the channels for the binding. Make sure it fits perfectly all the way around and makes a uniform surface on both sides. It can’t be fixed later.<\/p>\n
2. Check the thickness of the headstock veneer before getting creative instead of after.<\/p>\n
![\"stripey!\"](\"http:\/\/othertime.com\/camera\/webpic111.jpg\")
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3. Improvise. It’s fun, makes cool effects, and generates points of interest. Besides, this isn’t life or death. It’s a guitar. Live a little!<\/p>\n
![\"ooooh...\"](\"http:\/\/othertime.com\/camera\/webpic112.jpg\")
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4. Buy as many stupid rulers and templates as there are. It’s the difference between 30 minutes and 2 minutes for many processes. When working with an assistant who might not appreciate the nature of certain objects and must be supervised at all times (“Daddy! What this? Uh oh! I drop it!”), the time savings is crucial.<\/p>\n
5. Take pictures of every step. Not some of them or most of them. All of them.<\/p>\n
![\"dramatic](\"http:\/\/othertime.com\/camera\/webpic106.jpg\")
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6. Set aside 4 to 8 weeks for finishing. Suck it up. That’s the only way it’s going to look good.<\/p>\n
7. Enjoy being an amateur. It’s wonderful to enjoy doing something well. Have fun with it and relax.<\/p>\n
8. For every fault or failure in execution, find a point of interest or something that was done perfectly.<\/p>\n
9. Play it!<\/p>\n
The next instrument is already in the mold. I have some more materials to acquire and a couple of tools have gone from “nice to have” to “dammit, if I’m going to do this more than once I need that thingy!” Most importantly, the temperature outside is reliably above 90 most days. That means that the ambient temperature of my garage is probably in the upper 90s to 100. That’s not really conducive to doing much of anything with tools or nice wood. So I may piece a few things together in the coming months or just shelf it all until September. It’s unlikely that I’ll let it go that long, but I have things to record and an EP that I promised myself would find its way to the world before the end of June.<\/p>\n
It feels good to have so much to do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This weekend marked the completion of guitar 002. It got its strings Sunday afternoon and a few minutes of playing before the reality of being a parent closed in on the fantasy of being a luthier. That said, I did …<\/p>\n