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  • Home
  • About
  • Materials
  • Design
  • Gallery
    • Current Shop Happenings
    • 2018 – Present
    • 2014 – 2017
    • 2008 – 2013
  • Contact and Ordering
On this latest build, I managed to increase monopo On this latest build, I managed to increase monopole mobility by 14.7%, reduce modal mass by 12.3%, and maintain a similar forward rotation of the bridge. Those numbers represent a substantial improvement in mechanical efficiency. But a number, by itself, doesn’t make a guitar good. To me, measurements are a bit like a kitchen thermometer. They’re useful tools for consistency in an inconsistent medium, but they can’t tell you whether the food tastes good. Once the guitar is assembled, you’re dealing with a coupled system. Everything interacts. Boundary conditions matter. The wood has its own ideas. Universal recipes don’t work, and a measurement taken in isolation can only tell you so much. I don’t measure to chase rigid rules, establish some sort of building supremacy, or convince anyone that a spreadsheet knows more about guitars than a guitarist does. I measure to challenge my own assumptions. To understand what I’ve built, rather than simply what I intended to build. To find out which of my ideas survive contact with reality, and to ask better questions of the wood. The numbers help me understand the questions. Listening tells me whether I like the answers. So, ultimately, are you team math or team magic?
A couple of sessions into the French polish, and t A couple of sessions into the French polish, and the shellac is beginning to cooperate with my unreasonable expectations. #frenchpolishfriday
“A song sleeps in all things, which dream on and “A song sleeps in all things, which dream on and on, and the world begins to sing, if you only strike the magic word.” — Joseph von Eichendorff Let’s go.
Ever string up a guitar and think to yourself… Ever string up a guitar and think to yourself… “Well. That just irrevocably changed how I build guitars.” Yeah. About that. (For the approximately six people who care: monopole mobility = 32.24 s/kg. Bridge rotation ≈ 1°.)
Guitar, meet bridge. Bridge, you’ll be staying h Guitar, meet bridge. Bridge, you’ll be staying here.
After months of festivals, adventures, airports an After months of festivals, adventures, airports and general nonsense, I finally got to string up this cedar and satinwood guitar. And somehow, after all these years, that first note still feels a little bit like magic.
One of the things I’m increasingly convinced of One of the things I’m increasingly convinced of with this finish is that there’s no good reason to ask one material to do everything. The system is deliberately stratified and chemically distinct, with each layer doing the job it’s best suited for. The protein layer seals and prepares the wood. The rosinate ground provides the optical and mechanical foundation. And the shellac gets to do what shellac is exceptionally good at: building a very thin, beautifully shiny surface that is relatively easy to repair. This is the second French polishing session after the rosinate ground, less than an hour of actual work in total …and zero sanding. There’s something deeply satisfying about letting each material do its job rather than asking one material to do them all.
It’s always interesting when a process you’ve It’s always interesting when a process you’ve done hundreds of times decides it still has something left to teach you. #frenchpolishfriday
First coat of RAO on the Narra. Still glad I too First coat of RAO on the Narra. Still glad I took the brief detour into insanity to develop it.
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