Day 19 - Last day (sort of)

Day 19: Today was a catch-all day. For some that meant catching up and getting a lot done. Luckily for me, it was doing a few smaller tasks as the final touches on my guitar. In the morning I polished out the finish on the back and sides a bit, and then worked on shaping the saddle and nut. This included learning how to do the intonation on saddle to make the guitar play in tune all the way up the neck. I also learned how to dress the frets (i.e., level and shape them). All of these are handy things to know; in many ways, setting up a new guitar is like maintaining or tweaking an old guitar, so I feel like I got a crash course in Guitar Repair 101 today.

 Once all of this was done, I got to string my guitar up and play it (properly) for the first time!

Of course it didn’t stay assembled for long, and I took the neck off to install fret markers (small dots on the side on the fretboard at the 5th, 9th, and 12th frets) and also to do a few cosmetic touch ups. Everyone else was busy doing the final little tasks as well.

By dinnertime, everyone in the class had (at some point during the day) their guitars in playable condition, and we celebrated by having a final dinner at Holy Mackerel in Fairlee. Afterwards I went back to the shop and applied a couple of more layers of shellac before calling it a day.

The last full day of work stated at 7:30am and went until 9:45pm, with 45 minutes for lunch and a 2 hour dinner.

Tomorrow we head home, but in the morning I need to polish up my finish once more, reattach the neck, and string up the guitar for good (or at least until I decide to tinker with it some more). We’re leaving before lunch to drive back to Pennsylvania; I probably won’t feel like writing anything here tomorrow, but I’ll do a summary post in a few days.

I'm looking forward to getting home, but I’ll miss the view from my workbench...

Comments

[Abby]

Ben, this is just the coolest thing ever! I especially love the pictures of you and your dad with your strung-up guitars. Congratulations!!!

[Ben]

Thanks Abs! You know, I thought of David C. often during these three weeks. This is something that I bet he would have really enjoyed doing.