Guitar Geek's Log 09-05-2009

As any wise male of 22 years would do, I dodged stress in my life as long as possible by putting off packing for my 2,300 mile trip and six month stay until the day I was to leave. So after getting up bright and early, and having a relaxing last day in Oregon, was finally ready to leave around 8:00 PM. Well Not quite though, I needed to go say goodbye to one more family. My girlfriend and best friend of three and some years and I had decided to go on a break the week before, and it was now time for that goodbye. Her family was there to see me off as well, so it stayed pretty light hearted. I was there for about an hour before finally shoving off for MI.

I admit that I started off on that trip already pretty tired, but I had enough coffee that I knew I'd be awake for quite some time. I made it to Spokane, WA before sleeping for a few hours. After that, it was one straight trip to My Uncle Greg and Aunt Kathy's place in Billings, MT. I had a baseball game and dinner that I was supposed to be there for, and I knew I was going to be close to that deadline. I was able to make it on time for the game and dinner, though I had gone all day with only eating beef jerky and sunflower seeds, so my stomach wasn't up for much dinner.

I had an awesome visit with the Aunt, Uncle and all my cousins! We went on a little hiking trip the next day up to a nearby waterfall, and then stopped for ice cream on the way back. Oregon ice cream, I might add! The next day with them, I went to their church and repeated my guitar quest story to a LOT of people who were trying to be very friendly. I played ultimate Frisbee for the first time at a church gathering in the park that evening, which was lots of running, but lots of fun too. I spent the next couple of days visiting, reading, and tending to random jobs around their house. A few drawer faces were in need of attention, and I also hung a couple doors for their new rooms of the house.

After all of John's bragging about Wyoming sunsets, This is the best the Always West had to offer me. Here is the Wyoming sky two hours before I got to Ben and Penny's place. Not bad, but I've seen many better in Oregon.

So after having lost more than half the gear oil from my transmission between home and Billings MT, I needed a new output shaft seal. Uncle Greg and I searched the local shops for a new seal, but the best options I had were to have one overnighted from none other than Portland, OR. Thirty bucks later, I had the new part and was able to leave Billings on the day I had planned for after all. When I stopped to capture this sunset, I was also checking how much fluid I seemed to be losing and the amount was very minimal.

I made it to Ben and Penny's fine and also had a good visit with them. Penny had to work every day that I was there, but Ben's schedule had him off every day I was there. So Ben and I got some work done around his place, did some pistol shooting, picked up a bunch of brass from the range for reloading, and even did some fishing. Ben and Penny play softball every week with their church team against other teams from the city. They talked me into playing for their team since they were a few people short, so I helped them out for two games. The league they play in is kinda funky where girls and guys both play, girls bat with their strong side, but guys are suppose to play with their weak hand. However, since I play a mean lefty and most guys were right handed and swinging lefty that night... I um.. Fit right in with my strong arm. Besides, I thought that was kinda sexist. Seems like some girls would have something to say about the handicap imposed on guys.

With as well as my plan worked before, saving my departures for nightfall, I did it again. I was supposed to be in MI by Sunday, and I left Ben and Penny's place about 10:00 PM Friday. I got another thermos full of coffee, a hundred mini boxes of nerds, 2 dozen airheads, and a Monster energy drink, a fill up on gasoline, and I was ready to go. I had about 20 hours of traveling ahead of me at that point. I drove all night, and after losing my muffler in Minnesota, decided to get some sleep at a rest stop. With my 9mm tucked neatly in my hoody pocket, I caught a refreshing 2 hours of sleep. That was the last time I slept before reaching my final destination.... Except for the couple of seconds while cruising down the interstate. Just kidding. Anyway, I reached Big Rapids at about 1:00 AM Sunday, and then slept in the car until an hour before I was to appear for orientation at Galloup School of Lutherie, at 12:00PM. I got one funny look while shaving in Mc Donald's bathroom, but it might have been that the employee just didn't like me showering with my supersize drink cup over the floor drain. I didn't ask, and he didn't look like he wanted to talk about it.

Orientation consisted of everyone introducing themselves, and the instructor telling us all of their little rules, and in short that we would be treated like children for the next six months. The entire Master's Program student body that was still there had this strange beard club going on, and I realized I'd have to do my best to fit in. So seven days now, I haven't shaved. We'll see where that one goes. So far, I look about like this.

We've had several demo/lectures that covered things I already knew and fully understood, but I've caught a few little tips that'll make things go faster. I had forgotten that our first guitar, which is my electric bass, is from a kit. We received out kits on the first day of class, and after a demo on how to make a nut, we began work on our own instruments. I've made lots of nuts for my own guitars, so the idea was nothing new, but they do use some different tools from what I had always used. Rather than going slow and easy on a sanding board, they pretty well go right to size by holding the nut blank to a stationary belt sander. I burned through my first nut blank because of this as it is much more difficult to sand evenly while trying to hold the tiny piece of bone to a speeding 80 grit belt. With that blank in the trash and a new blank in hand, I was finishing up a more successful nut.








Here is my successful half completed nut. The bottom of the nut slot on this bass neck is cut just like the surface of the neck at a 7.5" radius. This radius must first be cut on the bottom of the nut, and then with a 3/32" piece of Plexiglas, we trace another line for a starting point on the top of the nut. The Plexiglas forms to the neck radius and therefor transfers that radius to the top of the nut. With the nut fitting tightly in it's slot and flush on both ends, we glue the nut in place. As long as I don't biff now, that nut should stay there for years to come. String slots and string height will be cut and adjusted at a later point.

At this point, the neck must now be fit to the body. Both the necks and bodies are mass produced by All Parts Inc. and some variance exists from one to the next. We use a sanding stick (which is made from spruce brace stock cut to a comfortable length and faced with self adhesive sandpaper, 80 grit on one side, and 120 grit on the other side.) to remove material from the body neck pocket until the neck will fit in place with a "responsible" amount of clearance.


If you look closely, this neck fits in place with a 40Lb paper shim on all sides. The shims ensure that there will be enough space for the neck to fit in once lacquer has been built up on the neck and body. Nitro cellulose lacquer is prone to chipping so the neck cannot be forced into place at all once it is finished.

With the neck and body fit to each other, both pieces are ready to be finish sanded. Using a hard sanding block with 240 grit paper for all flat surfaces, and 240 grit by hand for all curved surfaces, we scribble pencil marks all over each piece to help the newbies know when they have sanded all parts. With each piece sanded, the instructor informed us we were not competent enough to spray a vinyl sealer coat and that he would be doing that for us.. along with the first three coats of clear lacquer. We finally got to do some spraying our selves eventually, building six coats of clear on the neck one day and then beginning with the sunburst finish on the bodies the next day.










Once a couple coats of clear are on the body, the majority of the faces are masked off so that the edges can be coated with solid black lacquer, beginning the sunburst process. Once the edges are coated fully, the masking will be pulled off, and we begin to spray the final edge of the black, or the "fade". In this picture, I have removed the


masking and I am mostly done with the final fade lines, but I still need to even them out a bit. Justin, my instructor, is busy mixing some more black lacquer right now. He sort of helped me mess up my fade lines so I wasn't entirely happy with the outcome. The important thing though is that I understand the process, and I do, so I'm trying to be okay with it all. I don't have pictures of the next couple stages, but right after this, the Honey Amber lacquer is sprayed on the entire body which only effects the center portion. Once that is done, we begin the building of clear lacquer on the body. Another six coats of clear are applied and on Tuesday, we will begin with our wet-sanding process.