I decided to start this blog to share my creative process with anyone interested. I am currently working on restoring a 1900ish parlor Washburn guitar, making a stuffed animal dragon, building a Turascon dragon and a giant knight's head for the Portland Revels, and several wood carving and sewing projects.
Every time I make up a design or begin a project, I am filled with both joy and terror -- delight in the creation (which takes up many of my waking minutes while staring out the window) and terror that I will screw it up past redemption. And then some of these have time deadlines which increases the terror part.
The Washburn is in pieces on my table right now. I want to take the back off so as to replace the bridge plate. Held together with hide glue, this sweet little box will need a combination of moisture and heat to separate. I have not done this before. What if I screw it up? Can I use the iron and steam setting? I don't have to worry about cutting through the bindings because the guitar has none. People do it regularly. I wonder how hard it is? I fired up the iron and damp cloth yesterday and heated the guitar up around the tail block, but, probing with both an exacto knife and a pallet knife did not show me any openings or movement. So it needs more... something.
I have splinted three of the cracks on the top, a process that involves shaving out the cracks with the exacto knife and then shaving down a splint of spruce (from the pieces left over the guitar I made) so that it fits tidily into the slot I cut. So far I have placed them and cut them out two or three times. They seem to shrink after I get them in and glued. I may just fill the cracks with glue. Both the cut and the splint are V shaped.
The top wood is much darker than my splices. I have experimented with staining the splint, and painting it with various water and oil based paints. It still looks like a patch. And it dries below the level of the rest of the top.
Fortunately the little guitar seems tolerant of my learnings. I like to explore the work I am doing using my hands, stroking the top, feeling the edges of my splints inside and out.
Next I will carve it a new pyramid style bridge out of ebony -- another thing I haven't worked in before. I hear it is very powdery and I will need to wear a mask.
I have put off ordering it a case and replica tuning machines till I do the main repairs -- and learn if I can.
Perhaps the only difference between courage and foolhardiness is the outcome.
It sounds like a difficult and interesting task that you've undertaken. My woodworking brain is turning the challenge of the splints over and over, wondering...problem is, I'm not sure what would work on a piece of furniture would be appropriate for a musical instrument. Hmmm....
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to reading more--Congratulations on the new blog!
Bert Lahr (Cowardly Lion): Courage! What makes a king out of a slave? Courage! What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage! What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage! What makes the sphinx the seventh wonder? Courage! What makes the dawn come up like thunder? Courage! What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the "ape" in apricot? What have they got that I ain't got?
ReplyDeleteAll: Courage!
Real courageous fools are a rare breed. – CONGRATULATIONS! It don't matter a lick if you wind up with a fine guitar or a pile of dearly purchased sawdust. You've got the courage to try.