Ebony update.

The other day, a guitar repair student asked what we were working on in our class, because apparently we "never look happy in there."
It's true, we have been working pretty hard and none of it is very fun. Shaping tiny nuts and saddles to minuscule measurements, to her exact expectations is hard. And now we're making a maple fingerboard out of scratch. It's a lot of numbers and things to think about, and there are a lot of things to screw up.

I have to say that Ebony is my least favorite class so far. Bow rehairing was tough, but it was at least very satisfying when it was done right. And since we got good at it, it became inscreasingly satisfying. I suppose since we were just doing the same thing over and over again, perfecting it. Ebony on the other hand, we make one nut,  we get graded, thats it. No practice. We make one saddle. If it sucks, you get a bad grade on it. The next saddle you make from scratch will be probably in a year from now, for a customer, and we'll all be digging through our notes trying to figure out what the heck the angle curve magical tail gut loop groove things are supposed to look like.

Other people in my class feel the opposite way. If you cant fit a tip wedge, you can't finish rehairing the bow. However, if one of your tiny measurements is slightly off, you can generally work around it, depending on what it is. At least for the sake of the class, its easier. But to me, I feel much more prepared to go out and rehair bows than I do to go out and work on ebony. Plus ebony is just dirty and more dirty.

Anyhow, my thumb is doing much better. I had a very clumsy week last week. I twisted or stubbed or sanded off pretty much every loose appendage. Here's hoping this week is better. Stay tuned for a Varnish rant, coming soon!