Back At It

Summer always brings opportunity . . . to mow grass, water foliage, putter around the flower garden, paint the winter deterioration, cook out, and perhaps to enjoy a vacation or short getaway. 

And, all this gets in the way of my real fun . . . building guitars and amps.

But, yesterday I roughed out 50 guitar necks.  The bulk of the lot is walnut, but some maple, oak and cherry round out the assortment.  The final layout and design will come with the individual cigar box or, in some cases, my own  box design.  So, I'm back in the game, to heck watering.

There are a lot of options for final guitar design . . . the casual or rustic approach, to the more refined and 'finished' result.  I lean toward the 'finished' result, but that is only because I'm more comfortable in that arena. 

I'm sure I could do the 'rustic' thing just fine, but I'm having trouble getting my head around where to begin and what elements with which to work.  It seems pretty straight forward, especially after viewing what many builders display on a couple of the more popular web sites. 

But, I think if the result is to be acceptable to me, I cannot just slap tuners onto a slab of wood, which I stick into a cigar box with sound holes drilled into the surface, lay on a couple bolts for a nut and bridge, and feel good about what I've done.

Don't get me wrong!  I like the primitive look (especially the stuff I see on Cigar Box Guitars Australia), and I want to try it.  But, not today.  Maybe tomorrow, if tomorrow ever comes.

Don't ask me why I'm dancing around about it, I cannot tell ya!