Eased on back into the shop this week. Ideally this is the last I’ll mention of “the leg” unless it affects my ability to work on your basses. Working on the balance it takes to keep it healing but do what I do; I have to move more efficiently and not run around up and down stairs to just look for my friggin’ glasses or the pencil I put down. Those stay ON me, with the phone and a small notebook. I’m more confident after this week than I was a month ago, I can tell you that! And it feels great to be back in the workshop. It is very minor compared to what it could have been, what may be to come, and what many of you cope with. But from in here not knowing if this was the new normal or not, I see it as having been given it back to use more sensibly to the time and circumstances that are mine now, which are different than at 30. At 50 if one leg is going to be the years it has earned I have to respect that and work WITH it even if the rest of me is still 30. A more efficient but less completely balls-out pace honestly leaves me time to work on other things I’m here to do too – so it’s all good. Progress is happening, wood has been cut, and the big wheel’s rolling for another year.
One important piece of wood in my world has been Van Ted’s cane. If I’m occasionally going to have the swagger of a swashbuckler, can you imagine me doing it with something normal? Of course not, I couldn’t either. So being proactive in October I went to a friend who flies under the radar a bit and makes some cool walking aids with nifty things hidden in them. I didn’t need any of that, but I did know sooner or later I would need a cane to keep going, if a leg was going to be the first part to start wearing out. In the batch he brought out we found the Keith Richards of canes and it fit me perfectly! It has been a real blessing, as sooner soon came. Hoping to not need it after a while here but I keep it handy even though I’m getting around better. It’s an upside down cypress root – very strong. He gave it to me; a gift to help with my leg that really saved my ass over the past several weeks. Wood has always done this for me whether guitar, shack, job, or the instruments I build. Wood has always sheltered me and given me the means to move on. I was sent to quest for “The man who works with the wood” when I was much younger – and though men who fit that description have shown up at crucial moments, it was my older self who would fill that personal prophecy… with the help of them, and others, and the pieces of tree…
So let’s keep talking wood… now in planks. Spanish cedar. My main supplier of wood has stopped carrying Spanish cedar! No worries, all orders spec’d for it are covered by what of it I have aside. Evidently it was getting hard to get and the quality was going down. Keep in mind it’s not cedar, that in its country of origin it has one name as a tree, and in every new place and different form it may be called something else. By the time I buy wood, mostly in nicely dressed long and thick planks, in the specialty wood store it may be referred to as yet something else… like “Spanish cedar.” To me it always worked, sounded, and looked like a lighter weight mahogany that was a bit lighter colored. On the lighter end of mahoganies where it overlapped into this wood species (a variant of it) it was indistinguishable. One useless factoid, the first years I worked with it, I would drool uncontrollably. Go figure…
So rather than traipse all around looking for the kind and size of quality pieces my supplier carried, we’re going to build one with their recommended replacement wood – hemlock. It’s a beautiful amber color instead of the orangey Spanish cedar and I can’t wait to see it sanded and oiled. The grain feels good and it supposedly works like butter which is great – some of the lightweight woods can be a bit chippy or stringy when being worked. And it’s VERY lightweight! I’m sure it’ll sound fine – it’s wood, and only one small contributor to how a total wood tone machine forms its voice and response on its way back into the strings, into the pickup magnetism, through the controls, into the amp and its controls, through the speaker, into the air, off the surfaces and into your ears… as triggered by your hands, their position, and playing technique. Don’t sweat the body wood. It’s something that seasons the voice but most of the time its impact is dwarfed by you moving your amp into a different kind of room. I’m going to make a basic Cortobass out of hemlock and see what it’s like – I’ll give you a full report. So from planks…
…Now news about pieces and sawdust. Wood has been worked, workshop is working. First cuts on the next 12 basses! They’re all out of the planks and will be planing to thickness, prepping any stringers, and gluing them all up – with another batch all drawn out on planks to follow right behind them. Thanks for your patience, I’m on them.
And last but certainly not least, let’s talk paper! Or, at least, let’s show you some really cool paper I’ll tell you more about next week…
Yep. So for now brethren, stay inspired – step toward your goals – give it a good soundtrack – and stay tuned. Have a great weekend, and keep up with what’s happening during the week on the Facebook pages for Scott Beckwith and Birdsong Guitars.
Listening to: Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers; The Band Rock of Ages; more live jam compilations of mid ‘70s Dead; Alice In Chains Dirt; Aerosmith Rocks; Tim Buckley Greetings From LA… and Starsailor, which is a bit of a challenging listen to be sure.