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A bit of a ramble

This is a story of what I did last night and today, and maybe a little history.
I am cruzing along in about my 25th to 30th year of hacking away with wood and tools trying to build guitars and trying all the while to make them better than I have before. Looking at what others have done as well as looking at what I've done. The current build isn't neccesarily better than the one before but generally they are much better instruments these days so I'm feeling good about it. I have hung out my shingle so to speak though I still have a day job hopefully for a while. Got myself a web site and try to do a little "branding" without burning myself. I sell a few guitars and have a little acceptance by my peers and some respect I think from a few guitar players, life is good and looking up.......

I read a book not long ago by a guy named Allen St John called Building the Perfect Instrument, documenting the building of a guitar for Eric Clapton by luther Wayne Henderson. Somewhere in this book, the auther is interviewing TJ Thompson, a well known and highly respected builder and repair luthier. He asked TJ about what it takes to build the absolute best of the best guitars, and TJ thought about it a while and said, "Be a better person". The author makes a few comments about that further into the book and I can't recall them but I kinda wondered about that and gave it some thought and then promptly forgot about it and went on with my building.

Like I said before, I'm cruzing along building better and better guitars and selling a few from time to time. I'm in my shop now getting ready to glue the top on a guitar that is the 5th guitar in a row that I have built of the same model. I'm starting to get this guitar down now and they are going together pretty smoothly. I have the guitar in the mold with the spreaders in place keeping those sides snugged up to the mold. I cut my notches for the braces into the linings (This is a ladder braced guitar and unlike the x-style, I let them in) and have test fitted the guitar and everything is good. I'm testing a new procedure for speed glueing the top on with hide glue and have practiced it several times and I can have the top glued, in place and clamped in 40 secinds flat, boy am I good or what.

I have the glue pot plugged in, the temp is right, all the tools are at the ready, so I spread the glue. This new procedure uses a pad of pretty tight fairly stiff 1/2" insulation foam like you would use on the side of a house just under the exterior siding in cold climates, mine is a double thickness with the top layer cut out in the shape of the guitar leaving the center (the part actuallly over the top plate hollow and supporting the top only around the edges where it glues to the sides. So as I said I spread the glue, put the top on the guitar sides and line everything up quickly, put the pad over the top and tape it in place using tape that I had previously put in place so everything happens quickly. I then turn the whole thing upside down and place my radiused dich on the top of the pile which is now back up. Then I quickly place 4 fairly large concrete border pieces (the kind with the scallops on top that you put along the edge of your flower garden, don't tell my wife where I got'm) on top of the upside down radiused dish and evenly distribute the weight. This pushes the whole stack snugly into the foam which gives just enough to ensure a good tight fit all around the edge of the top. 40 seconds and the top is glued in place!!!! I stand back after inspecting all around to see that everything is as it should be and boy am I good!!!

I go up to the house and have dinner and watch the news, check my email, see what's up on the OLF and a few other interesting web destinations, mostly guitar oriented and decide after a couple hours to go see how it all worked out. Back down to the shop and remove the weights, everything looks good so I reach in and loosen the spreader from the upper bout, it takes me a little while to figure out which way to turn that turnbuckle but I loosen it up and pull it out. I reach into the lower bout and loosen the other turnbuckle.....It's loose but not loose enough to come out.....I try this way and that way to get it out and no way will it come out or even apart. I start to throw a tantrum but quickly regain my senses and remember another time and another guitar when I threw a tantrum and the guitar didn't survive. I'm not sure why but just at that time when I'm thinking, "will I never learn" the thought "be a better person" comes into my mind. I put the whole thing back on the bench and went to bed. This morning as I'm having a cup of coffee with my wife and telling her about what I've done, she says, "Can't you just take the top off and take out the clamp?".....Duh!!!!!

So today I borrowed her cloths iron and started carefully heating around the edges and using a pocket knofe and a razor blade removed the top in just under an hour with no damage to the guitar what so ever and removed the spreader. I cleaned everything up, modified my spreader so it comes out, tested to see that it would come out and reglued the top to the sides, in under 40 seconds!!!!

I hope this brings you all some humor, cause now that it's done I need a laugh. Am I a better builder for having done this, probably not, as I have learned that around every corner is a mistake waiting to happen but I do learn from each one and they seem never ending. So what's important from my experience is to laugh at yourself from time to time and don't take yourself too seriously. I think humilty might be an important part of guitar building.

John How39039.4567939815

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

I enjoyed that little tale, John. Glad you got it under control, and you probably are a better man for the experience. Backing off for a while really is a good skill to develop. Thanks for sharing.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Aren't you glad you used hide glue?

John, humility is offered up regularly around here.
I mean, the reasons to be humble.
Enjoyed the tale--glad it all worked out well.
I'm going to bed tonight with my own little dilemma brewing, so I appreciate the encouragement to sleep on it.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

John you know you're laughing right along with us. Have cold one on me pal On behalf of the luthier brethren around the world we solute you for paying Mr. Murphy his dues this time. I am sure each of our time is soon enough to come.MichaelP39039.0138425926

Wow! Humility? I've never tried that!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

There's an old saying, "With humility comes wisdom." And, as we all know John How is a very wise man.....

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

I love humility even if i curse at things sometimes!

That was a great read John, thanks my friend!

Many people have a problem with humility and associate that word wrongly with humiliation. Humbleness is for me a spiritual state of mind that allows you and your hands to be guided in harmony...to create and build many beautiful things like guitars for instance! Serge Poirier39039.3203587963

john,
great story!! the top had to come off on my third guitar, but for a much more ridiculous reason than yours. good to hear these things happen to veterans as well.
you now also have the benefit of seeing how great a job you're doing of gluing and clamping. looks like it was a perfect fit with exactly the right amount of glue (looking for a little silver lining here).
phil

John great story. I used to be a real arrogant SOB, then I got back into building guitars At a minimum, at least I am humble in the shop now

On the bright side, you got a good look at how well your new glueing technique works. Looks to me like you had very even spread and good solid coupling.

Great story. The old addage "cooler heads prevail" seems to work. You showed more wisdom than your earlier event, then showed patience by putting it aside. Then, you showed an even greater measure of wisdom by telling your wife about it. Not sure why, but sometimes we guys can make things more difficult than they need be, and women have a way of getting to the crux of the matter.
Good for you for sharing the experience and the lesson. We're all made a little more wise for it.
Thanks...

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Great story John, now I won't feel so bad the first time it happens to me. Actually I commend you for sharing this with rest of us.

When you get ready to glue it back up, why not take some pictures so we can get a good look at your new technique? I for one would be interested to see it before I try and tackle hhg for the top and back.

     

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

John, I've done worse! (But I ain't tellen' here...that's the wisdom part!) But, I can honestly say that if there's one thing I'm really PROUD of, it's my HUMILITY!

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http://www.presnallguitars.com

Great Story
Humility...Humility....

As John says....learn from others mistakes, because you cannot make them
all yourself...

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

John, Wow, do we have a lot in common!

first of all, having Tj as a teacher and friend, my head is filled with many of his one line pieces of advice like this.
He has a way of really making you think, and I am so lucky to have been in his shop and to get a glimpse of his philosiphy and approach. some of the things i have learned from him are still sinking in today, the kind of thing you just dont understand until you have the experience to see where he is coming from.

secondly, I too botched three, yes three, brazilian rosewood guitars that i was making for the Newport festival. I screwed up and made my f-board extensions too narrow, and didnt really pick up on it until i began stringing up the guitars and noticed the spacing was off. Being the first time i had ever built three guitars at a time I of course repeated the same mistake in all three.
One of the guitars I actually set on fire trying to remove a bridge and I have to completely re-top that one.

yes, I did throw a tantrum and hurled one of the guitars out the shop door and onto my front lawn. Luckily for me I did`nt damage it any worse by doing that, dont ask me how, not even a scratch, so i too put the guitars down for a few months and have just lately been slowly getting back into rebuilding them.

after my major botch...I had two days to pull myself together and show at Newport, I was completely exhausted and burnt out,and upwelling with tears now and again...I was so dissappointed in myself... and if it werent for my friends Steve Couch, Ted Harlan,and Michael Casto ( the Luisville crew who you met at asia )and Steve Robersen who has always been a huge support to me.I had to borrow back instruments that I made from their owners and went to the show, I was terrified.

I was just blown away by the support and understanding that I recieved from so many of the builders at the show who I consider to be my heroes....their was not a single one of them who didnt have a similar story and who could`nt relate to what I had been through, it truly warmed my heart, and I am proud to be included in such a great community.

nothing worked out how I wanted it too.....but I had an unbeliveable expereince and learned so much not only about building but about myself as well.

I consider myself to be a much more experienced builder now, with a much broader understanding thanks to that experience.

So I guess I am trying to say, blunder on my friends!

good for you John How, thanks for sharing.

Matt



Matt Gage39040.3621180556

You're a good man, Johnny Cool! Thanks for sharing...that lesson impacts us all a lot more than you can ever imagine.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com