Order of Precedence

There is an order of precedence in building a guitar. For me, it begins with the soundboard, goes to the back, then the sides, all of which come together into the body of the guitar. Then comes the neck, the fretboard, the saddle, and the set up. I will go through all the steps in order, but the first is the soundboard. I have some plates that have survived the flood so I will not need to re-saw additional plates, and I use a rather traditional method of joining the plates, but in the meantime there are are several things that should be done first. I will need, in order, templates for the guitar, a shooting jig, a work-board, and a thickness sander. I laid out the templates yesterday on 0.25 hardboard, and will cut them out today. Progress was hampered a bit as my wife and I painted an apothecary cabinet that I had built for her, and I didn't want dust to contaminate and pock the finish. It should go into the house today, and so my goal is to cut out the templates -- not a particularly ambitious goal, but a goal.

In the meantime, I had ordered and several of the parts for the thickness sander have arrived -- two pullies (one three inch, one two inch), two pillow bearings, and a 5/8-11 threaded rod. It is the beginning of the thickness sander. The plan is relatively simple -- a bed, hinged to a frame, that rises against a spinning drum. The 5/8-11 threaded rod will be the arbor for the drum, the larger pully will be attached to the arbor, the smaller to the arbor of my table saw, which will supply the power. The idea of using the table saw is not my own. It originates with Shop Notes. My design, however, is much simpler. There is virtue in simplicity, so long as it works.

The Great Flood

I have, or had, all the tools to build guitars. I say had because we have recently moved from Lombard, IL, a suburb of Chicago, to Draper, UT, a suburb of Salt Lake City. The move itself was not a happy one. It was motivated by the loss of my job and set in motion by a flood. It put our house, and my shop, under about six foot of water, and left chaos as it ebbed. I was able to salvage many of the tools, but not all. The motors on my table saw and band saw seized solid with rust. I've replaced the motor on the table saw, and with patience, and plenty of WD40 and wet-dry sandpaper, I've brought it back almost to new. The same with the band saw, with the exception that, as I write, the motor is on back order. All of the templates, jigs, and molds, however, were lost. In effect, I am starting from scratch, and will approach my path to the perfect guitar with a beginner's mind.

Perfect Guitar

I have resolved recently to build a perfect guitar. It's silly, really, when you think about it, but I try not to think about it too much (I already think about too many things too much). I doubt, of course, that I will bring my resolve to any resolution. Perfection is an elusive standard, particularly when there is likely to be no consensus up front on just what would count as perfection. No matter, it is my resolve, and it is what it is, and one must begin any journey with a bit of faith that the destination is out there to be reached.