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how many guitars, mandos, zouks & bases do you have to build before you loose thwe "I'm stunned!! I actually made a mucical instrument" feeling?

#11 left home last night and #12 is on the counter beside me and I'm still bouncing round the place like a Kid with ADHD, a kilo of chocolate and a 2 litre bottle of red Bull!!!

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Well I never do. Pay attention to the differences in the musical responses and the constantly improving cabinetry in each instrument. make note of them. dissect the reasons for improvements and analyze what you want to improve on the next and each instrument will new learning experience. That is for me the key to keeping the felling fresh.

Now with that said each instrument I start the interpretation worry of failure gets less and less. but so does the panic of not being able to finish when something goes wrong MichaelP39073.4941319444

Short answer, Never!

Louis

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- Louis Freilicher

Oh No! Not another learning experience!

I think for most it's after your 12th.
It all just gos sour after that.

No, actually the best is yet to come.
Or so I keep telling myself.

Wade

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Wade
Nashua, NH
http://www.wadefx.com

my totals are nowhere near those of kevin, or hank or al, etc., but i'm still shaky nnd nervous as the proverbial long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs when the first set of strings is going on, even with a prototype, much less a commission.

And I thought is was me being weird. When I am in the shop and I finish anything, bending sides, bracing, tracing a pattern, anything - I find myself admiring my work (which is not nearly as great as many of my friends on this forum) but I am always saying "I can't believe I did this."

I cant believe I bent these sides
I cant believe I made this bridge
I cant believe I made this neck
I cant believe I bound this guitar and the binding fits
I cant believe how this end graft came out
I cant believe the finish looks good
I cant believe the bridge didnt pull off
I cant believe the strings line up
I cant believe the frets held in
I cant believe it plays in tune
I cant believe it sounds like a guitar
And occassionally - I cant beleive it sounds like a good guitar, and the action is nice and the feel is good

Then, just about the time I am thinking "I am God like" I go on the forum and see one of Hesh's guitars and then I think

I cant believe how bad my builds are compared to others

Then I start over on the next one

I think they must make pills for this kind of thinking

P.S.

Its not that I think my builds are bad but that so many of you guys are awesome.

Rich, although I have not held or played one of your creations, they do really look great from what I have seen here.

I do understand how you feel and I feel the same way in many respects. I don't think this is a bad thing really, it just means you know your best work is still ahead of you as do I. I certainly don't beat myself up to bad as I am sure you don't either but being a bit disatisfied is ok.

Yesterday a very talented young fellow I am building and giving a guitar to (My Sweet Pink Ambrosia) came by to see it and make a few minor selections that I wanted his input on. He was overwhelmed and held, inspected, and discussed these final stages for an hour or better. On the other hand when I look at it, I see that little separation here, that little ding there, so I am very critical of my own work. I hope I never get to satisfied for fear I might stop listening and learning.

I was looking at the thread here a little bit ago on one of our members #2 and the attention to detail inside the box was amazing. These guys are continually raising the bar and benchmarks in many areas.

Martin - the feeling is great when one is finished, I hope #500 feels the same way.

Mike

Rich, you're way too modest my friend or too hard on yourself, i'll third Hesh and Mike in saying that you're guitars, not only look amazing but sound great also, Anthony Z. thinks the same about your guitars, i do think though that you did discipline yourself more over the last few months to achieve what was started and your current build will just drive us nuts by it's beauty!

Martin, i just hope that my last breath on this planet is filled with the joy of carving braces!

   I think that is the biggest kick of this.No matter how many we make we still look at the last one thinking I made that. Then off to the shop to make X+1. Rich Alteri was starting about the same time as I. He has delevoped his skills to an impressive level.
   So many of us sharing experiences only make us better. So with that said
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL
john hall

   

Thanks for your never ending encouragement guys. I am really not that hard on myself - just never satisfied and knowing I CAN do better. What drives me nuts is the stupid little things that go bad on me, and most of the time because I rush - it's my AAA personality

For example, I am working on this Brazilian and it is looking sweet and the I notice that the miters at the end graft did not match up perfectly and I thought they were great until I applied some finish and then noticed the white in the center of the purfling is off. Really makes me crazy. Or I noticed that in the design of the end graft I did't pay enough attention to how it was alinging with the little bit of heartwood on the back and now it looks like a mis alignment - or darn it, if I didnt put the end graft in upside down AGAIN!!!!!

I know, I know - it was an intentional design to be different - but I know it was not and really tics me off that I screwed this up after making that same mistake on a previous build and being conscience of it.

Oh well - I know for sure my best work is in front of me. This last build is a big improvement over all the others, even with the flaws - and I am confident the next will be better and on and on.

At the end of the day - I am truly loving the process, the craft and the satisfaction I get from all of this, even if sometimes the errors create learning opportunities for the future.

I certainly hope it never goes away... That's some powerful drug...

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I'd like to be able to prove, just for once, that money wouldn't make me happy...

I would chime in and say that normally it never goes away, except, perhaps when you go to sand your finish flat and somehow the finish picks up and peels off (varnish on top of shellac, by the way) and you are left with a bright orange raggedy hole in the middle of a sunburst. Time to start over. Then it becomes, "I can't believe I have to do this...again!"

But then again, re-finishing is not _finishing_ and so the good feeling of "I can't believe I made that" is still there. It is just that tonight, well, it only applies to the wood, and less so to the finish.