Day 3

So today started off with sanding. Lots of it. Brad had me working on a flat-top that's been sitting in the shop unfinished since the fall. I was mainly just smoothing down the sides, trying to even them out where there were divots and valleys, little hills in the wood. There were two spots where the wood had shrunk after months of humidity changes, so we're going to have to figure out how to work with that some other time. By lunch break I was COVERED in rosewood dust.

Had a good lunch break; ate pizza with Brad, and then I walked up the street to a drum shop that I had passed by last night. This place is called skinny beats drum shop & gallery, and they don't have a single drum kit in there, just african, indian, and other assorted drums from all around the world. After playing around with a set of tabla, I spied a sitar in the corner. Now I've been wanting to get my hands on a sitar for a good long while, so this was a big moment for me (I had even been listening to Ravi Shankar all morning while sanding). I dicked around with it for a minute, and decided that I will not be leaving Asheville without it. After all, it's only $480. Not too shabby.

So after lunch I helped Brad pick out tops and backs for two flat-tops he's going to build on commission. Both have spruce tops, one with a three-piece walnut back, and the other with a regular two-piece honduran mahogany. After tracing the shape of the guitar onto the blank pieces of wood, Brad showed me how to use a router to make the channel for the rosette, and then how to cut out the soundhole. Very cool process.

Tomorrow I'll be picking out the walnut for my back and sides and neck from one of Brad's friends from here in town. I'm really hoping to get pieces with nice figuring in them.