Day 62: Filling the Holes

Well yesterday I didn't tell you about the dilemma that I had. I was just cold. Since I've been up here the weathers been down into the 40s, but it's also been up to the 70s. Jim, the guitar guy next-door that I blogged about before, is fixing up his house so that he could sell it and move. He's redoing his kitchen with some new paint and trim and getting new a floor put it in. Well he was generous enough to offer me a job, which is to help him do whatever needs to be done. So this weekend I made $125. And that was great because I needed some clothes for this cold weather.

So I went to the used clothes store and I got a pair pajamas, a pair jeans, a pair of slippers, and hoodie. And about three days ago my computer wasn't working because it wouldn't charge. So I had to take it to the computer store. Turns out that it was just the cord, but the battery is also going to die to. So I had to get a cord. The court it was $49 and I just looked at the guy. He said let me think about that I bought three how how about $42? Which was just great for me because I had exactly $42 left after my clothes shopping. I asked what kind of wizard he was that he could guess how much money I had. He didn't answer. But I will send any business I can to him because he was so generous and kind. He went over the computer and told me how good it was. Thank you nameless person!

But wait, used clothes. I bought these jeans. That's right: Can't Stop the Crooks! They didn't have many boy clothes here, but the money goes to help homeless children. And who's looking at my but anyway, really?

This morning was great because we started with a nice breakfast of bagels and lox. I know, I know, where are the pictures? I've not been taking too many images of my food lately. But I took care of that tonight when I ate my snack of the sharpest cheddar cheese I've ever had, some almonds and peanuts, two cloves of garlic, and some chamomile tea. Delicious.

Today was a great one in the shop. I got a lot of work done. It is really nice because I only half know what I'm doing, and Dwain just turns me loose! Of course, he is always there for an encouraging word and instruction--and occasionally to save my butt. If you are thinking of an apprenticeship to build dulcimers I cannot recommend highly enough Bear Meadow Folk Instruments.

So the ribs are done, and the glue areas are filed down and ready for some glue action. I had to trim up the peg head and the tail block so that the ribs would have optimal gluing surface at the edges. This may seem a bit silly, but it is really necessary because if I don't do the filing then the corner of the edge on the rib is the only thing that will touch this certain area. And if there is any mistake, like the corner gets dinged, then there is nothing behind it but space, and this would be glaringly obvious. 

Dwain had to give me a refresher because I forgot some of the stuff to do, but he was very patient. I'm taking notes still, which will really augment the ones I've already taken. There are just so many steps to take to make a dulcimer this way. But dang, the results are so worth it.

I also choose my tone wood today. I've explained this before, I think, but I'll do it again so that I reinforce it in my mind. I choose how I want the instrument to sound, and I chose a baritone. Now this isn't about tuning, this is only a way for me to know what I want out of a machine. Dwain keeps a log and notes about every machine, which is how Walt came to his final design; he had notes on a bunch that he made and choose the best, #14 I want to say. But I don't recall.

So Dwain let me go through his book because I don't have one yet. I read through it and picked out all of the AD-3 models that sound like what I want. I then narrowed that down again to the four that I thought best suited me. The data that Dwain keeps lists the date, serial number, tone wood, and target sound. The tone wood is logged with the tap and ring sound. That is, the board is held a certain way and then tapped in the "sweet spot." There are two tones. One is the initial sound and the other is the ringing after that tap. Dwain breaks them down into tenor, baritone, and bass, with the appropriate adjectives, like strong, applied. So once I had the four narrowed down and determined what the two tones were, I grabbed the stacks of backs and tops and went to tapping.

I narrowed my choices down to just a couple. I was looking for baritone/baritone or baritone/bass on my top and bottom, which is what I found. And both pieces of wood are really pretty. But that is hard to tell at first because there are tool marks and oxidation on the wood. So that gets scraped off.

Which is what happened next. I was using a scraper plane, but the edge was dull. Dwain showed me how to give an edge to other scrapers, and I'd imagine it is similar with this one. But he was leaving for an appointment and we didn't want to risk it. I used a cabinet scraper, and that worked just fine!

Once the tone wood was planed down to around .090 of an inch all of the tool marks were gone, and I was good to go, which is a military term.

Did I ever tell you how much I love and hate my time in the service. I never been freer then when at war. And I've never been less human. To go to war the other guy get dehumanized. If I'm willing to dehumanize one people why can't I do that with others? Did you know biker gangs were started by vets who returned from war and wanted the same freedoms they got while fighting overseas? I want that, too, a lot. But I also want to maintain my humanity, which I only regained some years after my service. There is not one day that goes by that I don't repeat the mantra "Kill the head, the body dies." I don'w want to, but I cannot not do it. When I was going through basic and AIT the Drill Sergeants would say the first part and we'd repeat the second. What do I do with that now? I don't want to kill the head. I don't want the body to die. Our "new" war in Iraq has really saddened me, and I'm powerless to do anything to stop it. But I will stay active and help those that I can locally. I need to volunteer more to assuage some of this guilt.

War sucks.

Okay, perhaps you've noticed that I'm a bit whiny. I recognized this about mid-day, and I just had to hold it together with good thoughts of Val and our future together. Then after we got done a 6pm--a long day, for sure--I got on the bike to come home and the tire was flat. Thank goodness Dwain was there and on his way out because he gave me a ride home. I went for a four mile run, and ran fast. 33:47. The sun was just setting, but I got sunshine the whole run. I needed that too. Now I'm more tired than mopey.


I guess you're here for dulcimers, so lets get back to it. Once the wood was planed the template was put on and all the marks were marked. I'm really stoked for this instrument because it is going to look great. The woods together are remarkably beautiful, and the sound should be great, too. Of course there is some magic that happens during the building process, and that is way out of my control, which is why Dwain is so vigilant in maintaining control over the processes that he can and why his instruments are so good.

Then I had to cut the wood. There was no issue with the bottom, and I got it done and put on a shelf for assembly--probably tomorrow! But the top had some issues, in that it was a bit too thin. Okay, it is instances like this where I'm really growing because I'd never even had thought of much less tried something like this before. So Dwain was gone and I was cutting, and I was really pleased because I didn't mess anything up. We had to add wings to my first instrument, so I knew how to do it. But this wasn't the same, and I'm really proud that I got the rig all rigged up to Dwain's approval.

I got the wings all glued up and we had sandwiches.

Nothing follows. This is also how reports are ended in the army. There is so much army stuff that I cannot shake. Maybe I'm not shaking the right way. Maybe I can just bury it.