New Guitar Build Almost Done

These are some shots of my most recent guitar build. The guitar is an OM shape, 25.4" scale with a pyramid bridge. The top is bear claw spruce, the back and sides are figured myrtle, the neck is a mahogany/maple/indian rosewood/maple/mahogany 5 layer lamination. Laminated necks are stronger than one-piece necks. The head plate, fretboard, bridge, back strip, and bindings are all cocobolo rosewood. Should be done by December '08.

The back arched over the braces and fitted over the center reinforcing strip and the braces being shaped.


The braces shaped on the back.


The top, finished back and finished rim. Note the inlay of lacewood on the tailblock. Nobody will ever see that once the box is closed. It can be our little secret.


The top braces being glued in the go bar deck with a 25' radius dish positioned underneath the top to impart the arch to the top plate. The back is arched in much the same way, only it has a 16' radius.


The top braces all shaped and looking clean.


The assembled body in the white with binding in place and scraped.


The body and neck being fitted.

More progress pics later! Ciao

The View from my Office 9.24.08

This is the view from my office window, looking south. Because of the haze today, Lake Michigan can't be seen on the left, but most days it can be.

Word of the Day

Asymptote

Main Entry: as·ymp·tote

Pronunciation: \ˈa-səm(p)-ˌtōt\

Function: noun

Etymology: probably from New Latin *asymptotus, from Greek asymptōtos not meeting, from a- + sympiptein to meet — more at symptom
Date: 1656

: a straight line associated with a curve such that as a point moves along an infinite branch of the curve the distance from the point to the line approaches zero and the slope of the curve at the point approaches the slope of the line.

asymptote. (2008). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.

Buttons and Zippers

So, what is the evolutionary intermediary between buttons and zippers?

Hmmm???

Creationists frequently attempt to poke at the Theory of Evolution by citing examples which, at first glance, pose interesting problems (flagella illustrate one example of what has been called "irreducible complexity," and bats are an example of an order of organisms which lack known intermediates in the fossil record). During my last long bike ride, I kept thinking of buttons and zippers (no evolutionary intermediates). How divine.

Commission

I wanted to share some good news. I have received a commission for a living room table with a unique feature. The table will be similar in form to a coffee table with the addition of a peripheral curb for receiving a person's feet, i.e., a footrest. The table will be made of hand-split, hand-tool-worked black cherry harvested from a farm in downstate Illinois once owned by Ulysses S. Grant and stored and air-dried for 20 years in a barn nearby that was a frequent overnight sleeping place for Abraham Lincoln when he was in town for business.

The curb will be fashioned from a hand-woven textile. The textile will be woven on a loom designed by myself and made by candlelight solely with 18th century hand tools, the same tools used in constructing the table proper, and while in authentic 18th century clothing. The candles will be made from beeswax harvested from hives on the property and melted in a solar oven. The same hand-made clothing, made from organic cotton, will be worn during the construction of the table. The clothing and loom will be destroyed upon completion of the project.

The textile will be 100% wool, hand shorn from only the head and neck region of Peruvian free-range alpacas, raised at 5000 meters elevation by indigenous peoples and fed only locally-gathered organic grains and raw eggs from a species of non-endangered, South American hummingbird. Only 100% natural dyes will be used in coloring the fabric, which will be hand washed in the river Lys in Belgium. Only three yards of this exclusive fabric will be made, and the pattern will be burned in a ceremony atop Mount Evans in Colorado the day after the fabric returns from Europe, delivered by pigeons which are direct descendants of the birds raised and crossed by Darwin himself in developing his seminal tome, On the Origin of Species (1859).

The finish will be 100% walnut oil pressed from walnuts harvested from old-growth Walnut trees at a nearby property owned by The Nature Conservancy and managed by the Shawnee Group of the Sierra Club.

I am very excited and feel privileged and humbled to be chosen for this unique and inspiring project, which I estimate will start in about 2016 to be completed in about 2019.

Noodles and Cheese

Here is my famous recipe for Noodles and Cheese (1 serving)

1 Cup elbow noodles
2 slices of american cheese
1 pad of butter
1 splash of whole milk
1 splash of beer

Salt water and bring to boil.
Add noodles and simmer until al dente.
Put noodles and water in a colander.
Add cheese, butter and milk to warm pot and add noodles.
Stir until creamy and add beer. Season and serve with fresh ground pepper.

Enjoy

Word of the Day

Chatoyance or Chatoyancy

–adjective

1.	changing in luster or color: chatoyant silk.

2.	Jewelry. reflecting a single streak of light when cut in a cabochon.

–noun

3.	Jewelry. a cabochon-cut gemstone having this reflected streak, as a chrysoberyl cat's-eye.

---

[Origin: 1790–1800; chatoyer to change luster like a cat's eye, equiv. to chat cat¹ + -oy- v. suffix + -ant -ant]

chatoyance. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/chatoyance (accessed: September 03, 2008).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatoyance