printer
Well-Known Member
I am barely a beginner player. I wanted to play at different times in life but it got put to the side because of other things. I fell down the rabbit hole by accident. A guy I worked with was retiring and I was making a guitar amp out of scraps of stuff from work and some tubes I had laying around. I never did get it sounding the way I wanted and never got it finished by the time he retired. I thought, since I have the stuff I might as well play poke around to learn what makes the amps tick. I was interested in old amps and would look them up on Youtube. One day I listened to a 30's Gibson amp, it was cool, and on the side it said cigar box guitar. I have heard of them but never heard one.Wow, sure looks like a luthier workshop. I play classical guitar, do you play both classical and acoustic? Sorry to hear about the neuropathy. Do you ever practice nude to alleviate it?
So there was this 12 year old kid with three strings on a stick and a cigar box wailing away. I thought, "I could make one of those." so I did. This was pre-neuropathy times but I had back problems that had me laying on the bed after a day at work. I thought, (see, this is the slippery slope) I could do a hollow Telecaster style body but put a soundboard on it. That way I could pluck around while laid up. I built it and, darn, the thing sounded better than my expectations. It 'almost' sounded like an acoustic guitar. We I got this far, I then built myself a small guitar. Then another one, then again, ....
I never ended up learning to play much, but I knew enough to see how my experiments sounded. Then the neuropathy thing happened. Since that I just managed to get through the day at work, recovered at home (back was better by this time though). Anyway to make a long story shorter I found I could play but need guitars with the belly cut and arm bevel of a Stratocaster. I built a few but it was my last experiment where I got it right ($30 classical converted to steel string).
But it has a flat fretboard and it is a little wider than my Strat. So I am building this one as a practice instrument with the narrower string spacing and radius. I am not sure if it will be electric ans acoustic, how acoustic it will be. The main things are its playability and light weight as well as ergonomic features. No, no playing nude. I generally just wear a pair of shorts and do not wear a shirt, but I have to put a piece of cloth between the guitar and my body. But I still get bad enough that I can't have the acoustic on me. So that is where the new project comes in. I have more crap, lots of wood to build with. I want to set up the shop so it is easier and faster to build guitars. I want to learn the craft for my own personal satisfaction. I figure I need to build 50-100 before I think I may half half a clue on how to get the best out of the wood.
That is my story and I'm sticking to it.
Such a strange, fascinating dude with a diverse range of abilities.
