Indescribable

When someone goes to the mouth of a volcano and tries to relate that experience she says it is indescribable--because it is. I did that. I went to the mouth of a volcano, in that I watched a giant whose been around for some time lay the foundation for future growth. My growth.

So my time with Dwain, at least in person, is at an end for now. (I've already sent him four emails, though!) And my time with him is indescribable in a sentence or one blog post. You'll have to go back over the months and see the joys and frustrations, as well as lessons about life and lutherie.

Now Val and I are putting our lives back together, and in this one short week that I've been back I cannot help but to return to Rochester in my mind as Val and me do this and that to make our workshops workable. It will take me years to process everything that I experienced while there--not that last bike ride in what I'll call a blizzard; I get that lesson!

The machines that I made while there were inspected, critiqued, and checked for intonation. Pass. Informed. And pass. I cannot believe that I am at this point, and I am making machines that are so similar to Dwain's that I challenge you to choose his and mine in this image where we are both working at similar points in the build. Sure this is in part because I'm an artist and I worked hard to make a really pretty instrument, but I'd be silly not to say that Dwain is one of the best teachers that I've ever had. Period. Treat yourself to a lesson from this man before he decides he's done giving them!

What do I do now that Dwain has introduced me to this new way of making that I've never experienced? Keep building, of course. Already there are changes that I will make to what Dwain has given me, like fine tuners on some of the instruments. I really like the ease of using them, even with the Wittner pegs. And keep practicing.

I am sure that I will take the methods that I've learned and apply them to the making that I did before I went up to Dwain's studio. I can already imagine how the cutting and sanding and scraping and finishing will change the way that I make wooden puzzles.

I want to be great at installing and restoring friction pegs. So after a couple of lessons from Dwain and another couple from a violin builder, I've made a dummy peghead for practice. And I'll make a bunch more to keep practicing. And as I'm building for customers I'll keep doing what I want, with a healthy balance of what they want. It is all practicing to make the best instrument ever--check back with me in twenty years to see if I've made that instrument, but I ain't holding my breath. I will have put in so much practice building, though, that I will be making some wonderful instruments!

There are too many great builders out there doing wonderful stuff with their instruments who have yet to achieve that. I want to visit the shops of at least six builders a year; imagine how informed I'll be and how much we can share back and forth. So don't be shocked if I cold-call all y'all builders! And don't hesitate to visit me when you're in the area!

Yeah. Indescribable. How do I explain the way I feel about building instruments based on a history that is older than I am? Not just the Appalachian Mountain Dulcimer, but me following in the footsteps of the Sunhearth tradition in aesthetics mixed with the acoustic dynamics of Bear Meadow building. And the instruments look so much alike. I was paid a great compliment when Robin Thompson said something like the tradition lives on. As you can see in this image, Dwain's looks like Walt's and mine looks like Dwain's. Just beautiful! I'm still so amazed that I can even be a part of this. And I won't ride on any names, either. I'll do my own thing. But I certainly won't forget upon whose shoulders I stand to have risen so high so fast with my building ability!

And I got so much more out of my time with Dwain, like tools and equipment--even equipment that we designed and built! Like this mold machine, where the sides for the different instruments that I make come off of the base. So I have only one base and four different sets of sides. And we built the go-bar deck right into it! Not only did I get the experience of working on the molds that Dwain has, but I got to build my own--from scratch and a design that was born out of a half-worked idea from one of Dwain's former students.

But I wanted to be home, and badly. So when Val said that she was sick of living alone and that I was done and had to be home by Thanksgiving I began to make plans with Dwain to be home then. We decided on the projects that we must finish before I left and I kept working away on my own instruments. Then, I packed into a minivan that would hold not one more thing all of my stuff from Dwain and from Gretchen, the angel with whom I stayed while in Rochester, and I drove straight through from Rochester to Maryville. 

Yeah, it snowed all of the way through NY and rained through PA, but the sun shown brightly as I went through OH. When I got through KY and into TN it started to rain and snow and sleet depending on which part of the mountains I was up or down on. Twelve hours later I was cuddling with my wife and our two boys, who surely smelled the other cats that I lived with because they just ignored me mostly--or passed out from the excitement of seeing me. I'm not sure which.

And Val. Oh my lovely Val. As kindhearted a person as you'll ever meet. She loves me and supports me in what I do just as I do her. Did we cry in these last six months? I know I did. It was a hard decision to sink everything into a life of building and making so that we can live off of what we do.

But we took the leap. And we landed on our butts a few times, and we've not stopped bouncing yet. It will be a long time before we regain our balance from the move, my training, and getting Val the tools, equipment, and materials necessary for her to do her thing. Please check us out at sunshinewave.org and consider buying something or commissioning something. We'll be a better family for it, and you can enjoy and share the crafts that you get!

And here we are, living in Tennessee and playing our music and making our crafts. This Thanksgiving we went to Val's closest friend up here, and we got to celebrate with her, her family, and their close friends.

And I will grow.

Winding Down

I cannot believe that I'll be heading home in less than two weeks! I've been in Rochester since early June, so I'm just going to call that six months, just like anyone under the age of seven or over the age of eighty does when telling you how old they are--round up.

This is my latest build. It really is the prettiest of the three I've made, and its tone is lovely. I was lucky that I found this gem of a piece of black walnut for the back. It even had some worm holes from when it was part of the tree. This is easily the prettiest instrument that I've made. My craftsmanship is improving overall, like my carving.

The scrollhead on this machine is much rounder and softer. Dwain likes hard, crisp lines, and I did that for my first one. But I was allowed to change it up after that, so I did. There will definitely be modifications to what I do to my instruments, just as Dwain changed what he learned from Walt as he developed his own practice. But the overall beauty and grace will not change. I still dream of burning images onto the machines, and I did practice a little while I was here. So I will definitely pursue that as I build on.

Even though I've started working on the fourth instrument I'm not sure if I will finish it or not. I spent the day today making templates and a template holder. I've still got to build the mold to build and other stuff that I really want to learn.

Dwain has been away--up the river! Dwain is really one of the most self-aware persons I know. As a seventy-five year old I guess he should be standing on pretty solid ground, as far as who he is as a person.

When he came to me some weeks ago to say that he felt compelled to protect NY from frackers and planned some civil disobedience, I told him that it warms my heart that he would do so--after all, I've spent time in jail for protesting (My deployment to Iraq showed me the horrors of war.). He said that he faces up to fifteen days in jail if he goes through with the action, and this would cut into our time together. I said that this is the final session, where I gain my independence; I went on to say that I wasn't expecting him to purposefully put a bulwark between us so that I have to work on my own, but if he had to... He patted me on the head and said it wasn't about me.

So Dwain went to jail

And away I worked. It really was good for me to have the time to struggle. As I was building I had to refer to my sketchbooks for the notes that I've been taking since I started. I'm going to turn them and this blog and other dulcimer information into some kind of building compendium. Maybe. Who has time for that, really?

I've been looking at a lot of old illustrations in old children's books, and I've practicing my drawing with ink and watercolors. I'm not sure why, but I think that this will have something to do with drawing on the instruments with heat. What if I can color them, too? I could use dyes or shellac. I'm just not sure.

One lesson that I learned, and probably the most important lesson, is that something is going to happen with the wood or a tool or me and I'm going to mess up whatever I'm doing. The trick is to not fixate on that and move on. Fix the problem and go. I do this in my own art practice, but it didn't occur to me that I'd have to do it with sculpting and building, too. But now this is my art practice. Wood is my medium. Even if it is contemptible, like the peghead that I'm carving now!

After I knocked off part of the scroll I had to glue it back on. Then I was just done. It was all I could do not to fall down and sleep. I wasn't sure what was happening, and then I realized I haven't had chicken for a few days, chicken or fish only, please, just like in China. I need meat. Sure, I've had protein through fake meat stuff. But I need some flesh. So I didn't want to do any more damage to the carving and decided to make all of the templates that I'd be taking home. I made most of them, but I still have more to do. We'll see how I feel tomorrow and if I'll carve or prepare to work at home.

I'm Backish

Where have I been? Good question. I've been here and working away, but I've really been in art mode. Now this is a great place to be when creating, which I'm doing. But I'm also learning very specific techniques and practices. So I think I'll have to come out of art mode and join again the real world. Dang.

I've put the last coat of shellac on the standard hourglass that I'm building. It is really pretty! I was paid a great compliment by a dulcimer enthusiast who follows my work (Really big smiles to you, Robin!). She saw an image of the latest instrument and said that it was clearly in the Sunhearth tradition. That made me happy and proud. Now I just need to keep improving my building skills to honor such a tradition.

It is two of my dads' birthdays this month. My not-dead-dad had his 70th on October 18. I used to not like him, when my mom first started dating him. But I was a teenage idiot who couldn't see beyond my own small world. I now love this dad as much as I can. And I hope I tell him often in words and deeds. He really does mean much to me, and of all of the persons in FL that I'll miss he is right at the top of the list. He helped me build some wonderful art, and he always has encouraging words for my projects.

I can feel myself not wanting to do this tonight, so I'm going to post this junky post to get me rolling again. More tomorrow? I hope so!

Fret Board and Peghead Missteps

Accuracy does not equal precision. Precision is being accurate consistently. Dwain noticed that I tend to think things are simple, and in my entire life things always have been--I just get them. But that is certainly not working for me in the shop now. I about had a meltdown yesterday over my fretboard that I think should have been done two weeks ago. But the reason I'm still working on it is because it is not right. For whatever reason I'm putting a lot of pressure on me to get done and get home; I miss Val as much as she misses me.

I think, though, that I got so focused on the future that I'm not always here now, and I think that is causing me to be inconsistent in some ways. So yesterday I went into relax mode and drew images and watched some shows. I'm glad that I allowed myself some time because I came to the conclusion that I need to just be here now. My second instrument is nearly done and I've started on the third. I learn daily, and I'm gaining much. I figured that my last machine, or maybe second to the last, that I will build will be my best one. I can only practice building until then. And I'm sure I'll learn something new from each build until then.

I've never been a technician. It just has not been necessary trait for anything that I've had to do. I emote and intuit a lot--even in teaching. Not the stupid kind of blind faith that leads others to fly planes into buildings. This is a strength that I possess, but in order to become a luthier who builds exquisite dulcimers of superb beauty, projection, voice and action.

So I've started keeping different kinds of notes in my sketchbook. In part, they are just more thorough. But I couldn't have done this until now because there really is just so much stuff to learn that I cannot get it all in the first run. Or the second. Probably not the third or fourth, either. I told Dwain I'll be calling him frequently for advice. He said something about nominal fee, and I just shut him out at that point because as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote, "You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed."

I got to try the template that Dwain made for me on my fretboard, and it worked out just fine. The only problem was that I cut a slot in the wrong place. Jiminy Cricket! But I basked in the moment of "I'm and idiot." and then moved on. It means that the fretboard won't be done for a few days beyond whatever it would have been done, but now I get to put in some Bear Meadow FlexiFrets®. Dwain invented them, and he has a mug to prove it.

And I smiled all day.

I worked more on my peghead today after I got as far as I could with the fretboard. Dwain said repeatedly that it is being proficient with your tools, knowledgeable about your materials, and flexible in the way that you deal with each instrument built, even when following the same procedures and processes--which is vital.

I messed up a couple of times on the peghead, but nobody will ever be the wiser because my fixes were pretty good, which is another thing that I'm gaining from my studies here: learning that every misstep, whether mine or the materials or a tool, is an opportunity to learn how to work differently to achieve the same results.

I've not been showing you my food because I eat it before I realize that I didn't take a picture. But rest assured that I'm still eating good stuff. Tonight I had two boiled eggs, two pickles, two pieces of pumpernickel bread, a jalapeño, a banana, and an orange. I'm fed-up!

Fretboard for Standard Hourglass and Peghead for Duck

I had breakfast here at Gretchen's this morning, and this means that I can sleep until 7am! I did eat all of the oatmeal in the house this morning. I'll make cheesy eggs tomorrow. And toast. And some pickles. I did just run 7.25 miles, so I may be a bit hungry still. I did have two big and drippy peanut butter sandwiches tonight.  And a pickle with a banana. Maybe I should have a snack.


I surveyed the fretboard this morning when I got in, and there were some major adjustments that were needed. So I spent the morning doing carving hundreths of thousandths of inches out of the zircote fingerboard. But I finally got the four key measurements within their acceptable parameters, which ain't easy! Here is a screen shot of the log that I keep so that I can better understand the movement of the wood. As I put it into new shapes the wood had to agree to remain there, and sometimes there is a lot of work to convince it to do so. We'll see tomorrow.

The instrument that the fretboard is going on is complete, except for the fretboard itself. Once it stops exhibiting changing pains I'll get the frets on it, and it'll be ready to be attached to the top. And once that happens the top goes on, the pegs get fitted, some strings go on, and the nut and saddle are put in their place to make sure the instrument is intoned perfectly. And the feet, it gets some feet. And more. There really is a bunch more to finish this instrument. I guess all that I'm saying is that this beauty will be done soon!

Then I started work on the new instrument. I got the peghead and tailblock all cut up and ready to be carved down further. There are no crazy logs to keep, but there are some pretty fine measurements to make, like allowing for a saw kerf. 

This instrument is going to be the biggest body for a double bout that I'm going to make until Dwain gives me the okay to build the equivalent of the Bear Meadow Concert Grand, but my version will have different ornamentation. But from the beginning I've always liked the single bout instrument a bit more. Val says its because I like big bottoms. So maybe that is enough of a reason that my top-end model be a single bout. Don't get me wrong, the double bout instruments are remarkably beautiful. Look how the shoulders gently sweep down into the waist to become the major bout. Beautiful. But I do like big bottoms.

I used two different bandsaws to get a lot of extra wood off of the two components. Some of the cuts are pretty complicated, and all of the cuts have to be precise. There are a lot of ways to fix an art problem when it comes to wood. But you cannot put the wood back together if you cut it up wrong, which is why I spent so much time yesterday getting the drawings right.

The tailblock is a bit simpler, but I had to be no less precise. Every problem that I create at the early stages can get magnified at the end. So I make sure that everything is the most right that it can be before I move on. 

After the cuts are made the carving begins. There really are a few other steps before I got here, but how much do you want to know, really? 

I used a cabinet scraper and hand-made scrapers to get the saw marks off of the peghead. This cleanup is really the final one before carving, so it has to be really good, even knowing that much of this wood will get carved away.

Once the peg head is scraped down and cleaned up the lines that I'll follow to carve are put on. Okay, I'll give you some of the minutia. If you look at this image of the peghead you can see the lines running horizontalish, with the edge of the image. The lines on the left side--not the round part--find their home this way:

1. Using a four inch combo square mark lines the approximate thickness of the ribs on the back along the sides of the tongue.
2. Using the rib-thickness lines as a center point, draw two marks the width of the pegbox walls.
3. Using the center line at the scroll head, measure out .5" on both sides and put a mark.
4. Connect the inside lines at the back with the inside lines at the scrollhead.
5. Connect the outside lines at the back with the outside lines at the scrollhead.

This centers all of the activity where the tongue goes into the peghead. This apprenticeship is teaching me to follow this kind of process for each component on the dulcimer. That is why Dwain's instruments are of such high quality and why mine will be very-well constructed, too.

Have you been to our web site? Go and check out the site and what we are doing. I've gotten my second commission, and that is absolutely amazing and most humbling.

Sunshine Wave Studios. Art, music, and education for life.

I will work hard and make great instruments.