So I promised pictures and here they are. The wood of the fretboard is African Blackwood. This particular very cool piece is a combination on heartwood[black] and the sapwood[white]. African Blackwood is also one of the worlds best tonewoods. The rest of the guitar, the body, is all fashioned from Port Orford Cedar. This is a wood usually used in Flamenco guitars. It is also a very cool wood for a steel string guitar, and its sounds resonate pretty much forever which is a good thing for a guitar to do. Port Orford Cedar, or POC is not a cedar at all, but is from the cypress family. So why is it called Cedar? Why indeed.

So the new guitar is still being finished, however IT SOUNDS GREAT!!! It will be finished by Sunday. Only a few things left to do. The very cool piece of wood which is the truss rod cover needs to be fit and screwed in place. This access lets one adjust the up and down plan of the fretboard. The two strap buttons need to be installed. Different strings need to be put on and played for a while to determine which strings sound the best for this particular guitar. Strings pretty much look the same, but are built differently which changes the sound they produce A LOT. Strings also go dead in a very short time frame. 8-10 hours of playing usually is enough to kill the strings. Anyhow, a small and very beautiful guitar is almost complete. Pictures next time of that like totally, like finished, like guitar.

Lets review class. Once the bridge is on, and the neck is on, all thats left to do is put on the strings. RIGHT? Yes, except for leveling, shaping, and polishing the frets. And sanding and polishing the fretboard. And the final polishing of the whole guitar on the buffing wheel. And the careful tapering of the bridge pin holes. And installing the tuning machines. And fitting the bone nut. And slotting the bone nut. And fitting the bone saddle. And shaping the saddle for proper intonation. And least we forget to make and sign and install the label. And clean the inside of the guitar. And install the end peg for the strap and of course the neck peg too. So yes all one must do after the neck is on and the bridge is on is to put on strings.

Why yes indeed, the neck of the next guitar is glued on. But so is the well crafted and handsome bridge. So what to do. Finish one and hear it sing, or create yet another well crafted totally cool and uniquely different bridge for the other. So many choices, so little time.

Well no, the other neck for the other guitar is not glued on yet. Today for sure... However, from what appears to be a piece of crap piece of wood comes out a beautiful, well crafted, properly constructed bridge. So life is still good in the medium-slow lane which is guitar building.

Another neck being glued on the body. This very simple, small, and very light guitar is yet another experiment of tone and playability. I'm really all a twitter [twitter?] waiting to hear this one. A few days more. Meanwhile, yet another neck on yet another guitar shall be glued up probably today. It too is hard to wait for as it is an unusual combination of woods and bracing. We shall soon see and hear. Edwin

What does breaking concrete have to do with making guitars? Not a damn thing. Except taking time. Time spent making a guitar is the most valuable, the most necessary part part of making a decent instrument. Time spent on design is probably the most important of all, cause if you start with a bad design, no matter how much time spent on building is will still be a bad guitar. Factories simply can not spend the time to create as can custom builders. Custom builders make guitars for a purpose other than making a lot of money. All of which has lead us to yet another day on chipping away concrete, not guitar building. This too shall pass.