The Time for Patience

Outside, the yard is rimed with snow.  There is no sound or movement.  It seems like all living things are patiently waiting for the coming of Spring.  It's a kind of patience I have to work hard to muster.  But it becomes more important to be be patient now.  The work on my bench - I am tempted to say that it is starting to look like a guitar - now means more than a few bits of lumber cobbled together.  It is starting to occupy a space on the bench and in my mind.  A collection of all of the linked pieces, experiences, thoughts and memories that begin self-assembling, like DNA, into something alive.

This is a dangerous time.  It is tempting to think that the guitar will now become a partner in its destiny..  That it will control my hands, my tools.  But this cannot happen.  The instrument begins to self-organize and become responsive at some time.  But not now.  I know this, from the times in the past when I began to rush.  I'm so close, and certainly this is good enough.  Before I can stop myself - a mistake happens.  Robert Pirsig called this state a "lack of gumption."  He advised to step away and spend some time with a cup of coffee to clear the mind.  It can take a lot of mental energy to pull myself back to the present, into sync with my tools and the wood.

My lack of patience can doom the goal of happiness that is created when one really comes to understand the totality of what is happening on the bench at that moment.  But most of the time I am fine, as long as I don't become lulled by the siren call of thoughts of the finished instrument.  When you have a sharp tool in your hand, it is no time to fantasize.

The braces are tall and thin.  The engineer will tell you that the same mass of wood is stiffer in this orientation, compared to flat and wide.  A lot stiffer.  So, tall and thin it is.  Besides, Somogyi says this is the correct way.  His legendary instruments are the product of decades of experience and reflection.  So, we take a cue from Mr. Somogyi, and so, with this form of construction, the back will be part of the sound creation in this instrument.  The other way is to keep the back inert, and only a reflector. Many wonderful instruments have been built this other way - with very heavy backs - famously by Smallman, for example.  An idea continues to form - that it doesn't matter how you build it.

My suspicion is that the braces must be beautiful.  By making the braces beautiful, the idea is that instinctively I will be tapping into a universal law about form and function. Or perhaps, my being happy about the beautiful braces will just make a good guitar happen, by intuition and my subconscious.  In fact, I am pretty sure that knowing the answer is not important.  Perhaps it is enough that the braces should be pleasing, which reflects my state of mind at the time of their creation, and being present and patient is, in the final analysis, what matters.

The braces are 1/4" wide and start out with a tall, pleasing arch.

Now the braces are about 1/2" tall at the peaks and the ends are scooped with a chisel.  The ends will be tucked into the lining.