Goin' Home

No, I didn't forget about you guys. I've just been a little busy with classes, and then I came home for the weekend...relaxing got the better of me. But now here I am ready to regale you with TALES OF INTEREST!!

First off, my class schedule has changed. I'm back to an 8am start. Every day. Woof. Caffeine is my new best friend. And I thought I left those early starts behind me in my university days. Although, this is also the first time in my collegiate career where I has Fridays off (at least for these next 6 weeks).

I am also now getting into the good stuff with my classes. Giving more thought to the types of woods I want to use when I build my acoustic in the spring semester, re-setting guitar necks, and hand-shaping guitar nuts and saddles. (and I thought I got away from all of the nut jokes, too...).

These classes are quite a large trial of patience for a lot of us students who are used to being able to get things done right (and quickly) the first time we do something. Reality check. It doesn't work like that. Especially when it comes to lutherie. There are a couple of mantras that I am beginning to adopt in class, such as, "Measure 5 times, measure it again, cut less that what you measure." and "remove a millimeter, move an inch...and swear because it was too much."
These mostly apply to my neck reset class, where I need to shave paper thin amounts off of the dovetail joint on a guitar neck so that it fits just right without any sort of twist or skew or change in neck height or angle.

take your measurements, make a plan, get said plan approved, DON'T MESS UP.

Test Fit

shave a little bit off.

test fit again. REPEAT.

Making and shaping guitar nuts is just as time consuming and trying. Pretty much every part on a guitar that looks like it was sculpted was done by hand using sandpaper or scrapers or files. Power tools are a big no-no, unless you want to remove a whole mess of material really, REALLY quickly. A lot of the time, the good old plate glass gets used.

May I interest you in some fine, Minnesota Nose-Candy?

I know it looks like drugs, but that is dust from flattening and squaring our guitar nut blanks:

NOT PIECES OF CHALK

which we fit to these tiny guitar necks

which looks something like this once all is said and done

Its not quite right yet, in that final picture, but it is the best one I have done so far, and it looks a HELL of a lot better than the first one I did. I really messed that guy up. Luckily, I have a couple to do and only my best ones get graded.

Elsewhere in the world, I finally made a trip back home and had a good, home-cooked meal, caught a Brewers game, had some Kopps and Spotted Cow, and just relaxed in general. It is just what I needed. My trip in on the train was interesting...in a good way. I had never ridden an actual passenger train before, and except for the tendency for the train to run late (an hour and a half in my case) it isn't a bad way to travel. I was able to see a whole mess of fall colors, and I didn't have to drive the 4 hours alone in my car. It wasn't a bad situation, especially since there is practically no crazy uptight security like they have on airplanes. Now I need to find a way to take all of the stuff back with me on train while still keeping within my baggage limits. Lord knows a boy needs home-made (ok, mom-made) chili, spaghetti sauce, assorted soups, and "grandma hot dogs" (hot dogs from the small, family owned butcher shop by my grandmas house). I also had to pack more "autumnal clothing items." I don't think I'll be needing shorts anymore.

I wish guitar school was closer, I kinda don't want to leave...