"You take a bunch of pieces of wood. You bend them, shape them, cut away the stuff that doesn't look like a guitar, You glue the pieces together, sand it, put a finish on it. Then you install tuners and strings and you have a guitar."
See? It's really very simple. So, it's January 14th and I have gathered the wood and nearly all the required raw materials for the Erhardt Stringed Instruments 2012 Guitar Number 1 . Look closely. It's all there but the fret wire, some brace stock and a few chunks of abalone shell. I'm asking myself "How fast can I build a playable guitar if I don't stress over the process, don't freak out over every last detail, don't worry about whether anyone besides me is gonna appreciate it? Wouldn't it be fun to find out?"
I've read about builders who made a whole guitar (their first one) in a weekend, I seriously doubt it really happened that way, but I suppose it's possible... even if only remotely. I'm not going to try and build 2012 Number 1 in a weekend. I enjoy eating and sleeping and spending time with other people too much to go that crazy. What I do want to do, is work quickly whenever I can find spare time, and most importantly - have fun "whipping up a guitar." Yes, I will draw up some plans, but no, I won't wait for "all the right conditions" before working on it. So, the humidity is a bit too high. So what! I'm building it where it's going to live, it will be fine. So, I don't have the right jig or the perfect tool for a specific task. So what! Builders in Mexico have been building guitars with a saw and a sharp handmade knife for centuries. My list of so whats could go on and on. No excuses! Be without reason.
Last summer, Charles Fox asked me how my latest guitar was coming along. I explained that all my spare time has been going into building my guitar shop. He said "That's great! Just remember, you don't need a shop to build a guitar. You can build guitars in your kitchen! The important thing is, build guitars." Okay then. I'm on it!
