Going into this endeavor, I knew right from the get go this class would be an excellent battle against my nemesis, patience. Call it the hyperactive Gen X that I am or some hidden form of ambitiously mixed OCD and you’ve got me in a nutshell. Most people drive 40mph and I’ve always wished them well…as long as they stay out of my way…I tend to drive 80+ in life and in my brain so learning to drive 40 will be no easy task. I actually make that comment not as a matter of pride but as a matter of fact and the purpose of music and my desire with music is to connect. To connect, I need let go of the pretexts and pretenses and simply allow the energy of the instrument to do the work. Looking at this notion from a distance, it’s interesting to so clearly see the goal of slowing down and enjoying the process while feeling like I’m constantly pulling up the parking break. Long diatribes aside…I’m absolutely loving the forced patience this process brings.
The past two weeks of my process have intermixed some of the core elements of my guitar. Building the top (or face) as it is commonly known as well as building the braces which will serve to hone the tone and stability inside. You’ll see some samples of where I’m headed in the pictures this week but I can’t say I have any pictures of the braces. It’s amazing how boring such critical pieces of the guitar can be. Small pieces…6, 5 and 4 millimeters we painstakingly sand each brace for a future shaping. A drum sander and a band saw…the two most important pieces of machinery needed in building a guitar and especially braces. The band saw…a thin shark’s tooth machine that begs to eat fingers takes these braces and cuts our pieces from 18 millimeters to 9 millimeters. You always cut larger than you need so you can sand to precision. How I wish those 18 and 9 millimeter cuts were inches with my fingers feeling the wind of that shark’s mouth hoping for just a taste of flesh as it cuts through the wood. Bill’s experienced fingers work with the band saw at a break neck pace as I fumble with the push stick cowering in fear from the “band shark’s” mouth. (I think National Geographic needs to give me credit for the name of the next shark species). Thankfully, after twenty – thirty minutes…we have our braces cut and ready for the drum sander.
The drum sander…looks like a lumbering Ogre that callously spins its turbine over whatever is unfortunate to meet its rough skin. There’s warnings and fear…but in the end…it’s a big rolling pin that smoothens the hardest of items and is all but harmless and comically slow. Push the braces through…rotate…check the thickness sand a hair lower…rotate…check the thickness…sand a little more. You get the idea. After two weeks…we’re almost done with the creation of the basic brace. Then we get to shape. So the theme of patience regurgitates once again. This is not a quick process….this is not something I needed to provide a weekly update for. But…I can’t wait to begin putting these pieces on the face of my guitar…getting that right means everything from quality of tone strength of the guitar…it’s too critical to screw up so having an awareness of my need for patience will serve me well to slow down and do this right.
That said, Bill is kind enough to give me exciting tasks as well. He knows all too well I can’t wait to see what the face of my guitar will look like before I have to hide it for months on end as we build this thing from the inside out. In my last update, I mentioned that the old school technique of compression enables the glue to meld the two pieces of my guitar into one. And so I unwrap the face of my guitar from its wrapping, my Master (AAAA) grade Carpathian Spruce top gleams in the whiteish hue known to this type of wood and will provide a stark contrast to the dark and textured look of my Ziricote back and sides. Thanks to Bill…we’ve lined the face perfectly so that the glue line reflects an age line and melds together two pieces of wood into one. He gives me one last opportunity to choose which side will be my face….side A) the one with perfectly defined lines and slightly mismatched color or side B) slightly less prominent lines but consistency abounds. Trying to read Bill’s mind and choose what he would consider its best side I decide to go with my gut and choose side B. There really isn’t any difference ultimately in tone…this decision is purely look so I decide I’d prefer coloric consistency over linear. And now…comes the fun part…what was once two rectangles and looked like a nice piece of plywood…will now become the face of a guitar.
Back to the band saw we go… 😦 And this time…instead of using a push stick, it’s all hands. It’s turning and twisting and praying for once…I cut on the line. You see before you can cut the mold…you take a pencil to that perfect piece of wood and copy the shape of your guitar from a plastic mold. In Bill’s experience and in my opinion genius…you then add a small washer to the tip of your pencil. Once again you trace the outline of your guitar. This is what I lovingly call “wiggle room.” Eventually, I’ll cut and sand this guitar to smoothed perfection but for us beginners…especially those with a fear of the dreaded band shark…I’ll take as much wiggle room as I can get. Mr. Gourlay is far too kind is his patience as I slowly cut out what will become the face of my guitar. I literally am cutting by the millimeter and Bill kindly nudges me along like a taekwondo teacher pushing his student a little harder to make the kick. Finally the band shark is laid to rest and I have my face. It’s beautiful. It’s the beginning of something complex.. yet simple… yet beautiful. It brings back some of my favorite memories spending a week in Spain with my brother and Sister-in-law. It reminds me of the days I spent getting lost in Barcelona and coming upon one of the most beautiful pieces of architecture I’ve ever seen…La Pedrera. And I realize, that will be my guitar’s name. La Pedrera.
As you see in this picture…the lines are all so smooth the building looks so simple…yet its complexity…inside and out…its level of detail…inside and out are what my guitar will be.
Now that this face has a name…now that the simplicity is complete…we begin adding the complexity. Adding the rosette. A rosette is a fascinatingly complex patchwork of wood .008 millimeters thick…aka paper thin…that when layered properly creates a pattern. All this time, over twenty years I’ve played a guitar with literally zero knowledge of just how valuable these pieces of art are. The one I’ve chosen is a favorite of Bill’s. A unique / rare Russian made rosette that is carefully etched into the face of the guitar. A dremel attached to some sort of perfect circular device are all that’s needed to etch the face…approximately 1 millimeter deep and who knows….3-4 millimeters wide to fit the rosette to the face. Much like the drum sander…patience is the game. Measure the width. Draw your practice line. Create some room to screw up. Cut. Check the depth. Measure again. Slightly (we’re talking 0.005 millimeters here)…adjust the width of your circle. Cut…repeat. 16 – 20 times later…we’re ready to glue. And like that…the rosette is forever locked into place serving as the doorway to my guitar version of La Pedrera. Next week…we’re back to braces…shaping…fitting…cutting…I just can’t wait for my new favorite day of the week. Until next time…enjoy the pics.
Building Music 