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!