The Weekend of the Craftsman: End of the First Run [WE: 118]

The weekend comes by and I fell like I'm making a post about my last days of the week with the intention of pondering upon the future of the workshop. It seems like G-dog knew something. He has an oracle's insight sometimes. There are also plenty of interesting topics to address in this #weekend-engagement initiative.

With no further a due, let's dive in:

First Run of Instruments

As some of you might know, I'm a luthier. That means I build musical instruments. My area of expertise is the Venezuelan Cuatro for the moment but my sights are into expanding my crafting repertoire. I think every maker of cordophones (strings instruments) ought to know how to build guitars. They are the most popular instrument in the world. But I digress.

My first big project was completion 10 instruments on my own. On Thursday, during the religious celebration that takes place on September 8th each year, I found myself making the last bits of work to accomplish this goal.

Yesterday, I made the last pieces for the instruments and got the tuning machines and strings on them. They were number 8 and 10 part b. These were the last two of the first batch. And the results were incredible.

After going over some final details, I can make a list of the things I've learnt on this two years of work making these ones:

Lessons

1. Trust your instincts when building. A lot of experienced people will like to tell you what to do. Listen to them, hut not to their egos. And there's a lot of ego among artists.

2. Be in the search of your own aesthetics. We want our instruments to be recognized wherever they stand. They are a represebtstiin of your ideas and self. Stay true to that. Imitation might help you understand the process, but there will be a time when you need to break the mold

3. If you don't feel like working, don't. Rest is important. The art is taxing for body and mind. Taking a break from work will be for the better of any project.

4. Never let a "client" try diminish your work. Making an instrument requieres a lot of time. If they don't have the money and would argue about your prices, send them to hell. But do it politely.

5. Trust you selection of materials. People will want to tell you how to do your job. Nod in agreement and keep doing your thing.

6. Accept advice whenever needed. Don't let th bego of others cloud your judgement. But don't let yours do the same. If you don't know something and need to ask, do. And thank the person who gives you th answers.

7. Always make your keep a spare time to observe th development of your instruments. Wood moved and shifts according to the weather and tension. Unfortunately, a lot of the issues with an instrument are only visible once the strings are on. This is the time to fix any details.

8. Be flexible with payments, but don't let people take advantage of this. You can have as many payment methods as you need. But let people know your work is not for free and they need to pay in order to see the results.

9. Don't stop studying. Crafts need a lot of hours in both practical and theoretical knowledge. Don't think you know everything. There's always something new to learn.

10. Never. Never. Never. For any reason in the world accept a request where the client states they will bring the wood. Why? Simple. Choosing the right woods for the project is part of the process. You could get the most beautiful exotic and expensive woods. And the build might results deaf. This happens because of a plethora of reasons. To put it simple and technical at the same time. There should be a difference on tones between the back and sound board. If they have the same tone, frequencies will cancel themselves out. Thus, the instrument will lack volume and projection. Thusz you'll have a nice piece of stringed furniture.

Words for the future.

So 10 lessons for 10 instruments. I don't want to go into crafting details since I have a whole section of the blog for that. That reminds that I need to create collections of posts for each build. Or at least one in which we have all the instruments.

The aftermath of this first run has given me insights about the business and how to make the instruments. I need to build lots of things to make my work easier, just all in due time. Meanwhile, my weekends will be full of more woodworking and more instruments on the making.

Showcase

So you might be wondering how these instruments look like. Don't worry. I'm here to show you some photos of my instruments.

This is Dis. Number 10 part b.

This is Ask. Number 8

A Saving Grace

It might look like I'm chestkng, but here's some footage of the work I was doing to finish this two. I also added mounting the strings on Ask. Moreover, yesterday I went to my teacher's house. The music teacher. And he tested both. I had some fixes to do on Dis but he fell in love with Ask. That latter part is really cool. That means it's quite s good instrument. And that's just awesome and something to brag about.
While you read this, I'll be working on more projects over the weekend. New and better instruments are on the making. And I'm glad to be able to share them around here.

Have a great weekend!

The Music in the video is free of copyright.

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