Official Luthiers Forum!

Getting up this morning I had several things on my to do list for the 3 guitars on the bench, all in various states of construction. As I started in on them this morning I realized I have favorite areas in constructing guitars. And also least favorite duties.
Bending sides, that's my favorite piece of work, followed by inlaying rosettes and fretting the board. For some reason I don't like binding and purfling so much. I'd rather make a hundred tops and backs and brace them than bind one body. Maybe it's because I actually have to exert a little labor for it. Usually find my brow sweating a bit afterwards. Am I lazy or what?
I go to bed at night thinking about the finished product and what I look forward to, It's never binding and purfling.
Just curious what everyone elses favorites are.
Don't get me wrong, after years in the construction trade, I'd rather bind a hundred bodies than build another cabinet, frame another wall or pour a cup of concrete.
I might have to take a break, my hand is getting tired, and my coffees' cold.

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Nehemiah Covey
www.coveysacoustics.com

It is hard getting old, isn't it?

Ducking and running for cover!

Wait, it hurts too much to duck and run!

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Steve Walden
Aspiring Builder,
Bartlesville, OK

You know I have some favorite tasks but I really don’t have least favorites. My Grandfather taught me as a youngster, back when I helped him in his cabinet shop. Each completed piece is made up of many individual processes. Find the joy in each process by means of intellectually defeating the obstacles presented in each process. It is better to think of each process as individual accomplishments rather than as part of a bigger job. When you think of a single process as being only part of a bigger whole, the more likely you are to not give due diligents to that process and thereby do less of a job at that process than you are capable of doing in an effort to finish the whole.

For years I built one complete guitar before moving on to the next. This allowed me to concentrate all my energy and intellect at a given time on the process at hand without worrying about any other process I needed to complete that day.

Unfortunately or in some ways fortunately, because of influx of orders each year, I have come to the point I no longer have the time to build only one at a time and stay really slow with each process. But none the less I keep seeing the old stencil and brush painted historic phrases on two of the walls of my grandfathers shop (now my shop). One wall reads “If it is worth doing, it is worth doing right” and the other reads “If you do it right, you only do it once”. These really do help me to refocus when I feel I need to speed up.

If you get to the point where the completion of each process is it own reward then least favorites kind of disappear.

I sometimes hate to see them go out the door & down the road with someone else!!

that's my least favorite part!


Favorite part is working the woods,carving braces,closing the box,designing a rose and see it come to life,watching the response of the player who ordered it and the satisfaction on their face.
That's just some of the favorites!!!!

Mike

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Mike Collins

I'm with Michael P, especially on doing it right. I've found that the tasks I used to think of as ones that were "unfavorites" were tasks that I hadn't gotten comfortable with, hadn't reached "flow" with, which I loosely equate with the upper levels of Maslow's Hierarchy. I also keep in mind what my late photography mentor said, “It’s easy if you work hard and hard if you work easy."

But the part that I look forward to the most and find the most exciting is bringing a new instrument up to pitch the first time and hearing it open up. That's a big thrill for me.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Favorite...stringing it up and letting it talk for the first time.

Least favorite.....PORE filling. I have yet to get that "flow" and "zen" thing going with that. Although I did try the sheetrock mud on the neck today. For me it works better than Zpoxy... so far. The test will be when the sealer goes on. They have a way of hiding and then after about 3 coats of sealer.....peeky-boo!

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Brad Tucker

ya got to give med. thick CA a try for a pore filler. 12 guitars now and 10 out of 12 were filled in one session and one of those was IRW with pores that would make a spelunker's mouth droll.

That will definitely be my next attempt on the next guitar.

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Brad Tucker

I find that the part you like the least is the part you're not the best at. It may come out perfect but you haven't built up the experience yet or you don't do it enough to build up the experience to remember the feel when you do do it. Did I just say dodo....lol

That being said. I hate finishing, I know it's a matter of necessisty, but not having a dedicated booth and having to clean the gun all the time, just a PITA. That's why French Polishing is so appealing, no gun, no booth.

When I came out with a new model in the early '90's it had an extreme headstock shape that was bound. It took about 10 necks to get it right the first time I did it. Binding is the trickiest part. If it's wood you have to bend and get it perfect and tight. If it's plastic you have to work quick or the glue dries.