last guitars

I have been making bridges and nuts and stringing the last of my box guitars to get them ready to send to my publisher. The last one, a six string, will be completed today.

I have done over a dozen box guitars and two ukuleles in the course of writing and photographing this book (tentatively entitled The Boxmaker's Guitar Book), and still have parts for some that can be assembled if the inclination comes back. By tomorrow, the guitar making will be complete and I'll be ready for serious clean up and whatever writing chores come next.

I submitted my new student saw horse to Fine Woodworking as a possible article and they asked that I submit what I've written about it in the blog as a word document they could pass around for consideration.

They, and every woodworking magazine, need to make an investment in assuring there will be young woodworkers to uphold our creative tradition and share the fun we have. Kids need to know they can make stuff and adults need to know kids can be safe doing so.

The Shaker box in the photo is walnut and cedar. All of the students have chosen to keep their boxes unfinished on the inside so that the smell of cedar will remain and entice. No box is perfect, but each is useful, and each serves as evidence of a student's growth. My students have shown satisfaction in their finished work.

One student was concerned that his had small defects, but decided his good friend Joe would find a good use for it. Joe is one of my former students, no longer at Clear Spring School, but who still has the bug to make things. Did he catch it in my class? I can't say for sure. Even a single moment, creatively engaged, can change one's life for a lifetime.

Make, fix,  create, and increase the odds that others of all ages learn likewise