Mule

"Most precise...exacting...perfect....unwavering quality"  We hear a lot of words and phrases like that used when being referred to what makers make don't we?  Whether those words or true and honest or not is a subject for another article, but what we very rarely hear discussed is the giant pile of work, of borderline junk it takes to get a guitar to a level worthy of writing home about.

I of course can only speak for myself.  Making resonator guitars did not come naturally or easily. In fact almost everyday there would come a moment that was trying to disprove my ambition. Some silly mistake, some towering challenge that would stare me in the face with a questioning gaze and ask, "....maybe this isn't for you."  I'll save you the childhood background, but this patronizing statement could have been a motto of mine.  The proof of this was a development of a kind of blind flailing of effort reflex.  I learned it being the runt in football, I applied it to music, and because it is my go-to coping mechanism, to making resonator guitars.

I worked at Huss and Dalton Guitars for two or three years, and that allowed me a great avenue for making a 'pile of work'- 500 or so necks, thousands of braces, binding/sanding/gluing hundreds of bodies.  Hundreds of sets of wood and neck blanks.   When I got the inspiration for making resonator guitars the most valuable knowledge in my hands came in the form of that blind flailing of effort. I could climb the towering challenge by making a pile of work.  There was so much unknown, and so much that could not be known ahead of time. Precision? Sure I could be precise in my work, but precision also indicates a focused knowledge and direction.  I couldn't rely on making one perfect body, because I didn't know if it would work.  I had to make 10 perfect-as-I-could-make-them-in-the-time-allowed guitars because I had to see the whole picture repeatedly.

I think when beginning luthiers-be it in their garage or at a luthier school- misleads themselves by tiptoeing along in pursuit of perfection at the expense of making a pile of work.  The highest possible craftsmanship is of course a goal. I put that in bold so those just waiting to get to my e-mail address so they can chew me out for aspiring to make crappy guitars sees more of my broad perspective.  Bob Taylor said "Quantity is equally as important as quality."  In life the biggest situations require balance-two things that are correct in the correct proportions- and guitar making is no different. "Equally important as" In a situation where you have both those things, now you are really learning.  Making 2.5 guitars in a 8 month class is not enough.  When you are learning you need repetition of the steps- fret guitar, remove, repeat; carve neck check, throw away, repeat- but you also need to get the big picture, repeatedly. So much of making guitars is the flow between the 1,000 little steps. You can't improve that if you are putting a guitar together every two months.

Are you holding yourself back by holding perfection as the only ticket to learning? What could you learn if for a time you just did as much work as you could?