Artsy Fartsy

Very cool!

I haven't really been working on any new guitars in quite some time.  So, I have a couple of commissioned pieces to do.  This one is for my niece who wants this made for her boyfriend.



The body is made from an art supplies box that once held drawing pencils.  My niece use to draw a lot and I thought this would be cool just for that reason.  You can see the neck I made in the first shot.  While I still have sanding to do on the "F" holes to get them right, I cut those out yesterday.  This should be a really cool piece when I am done.

Right on!

Very cool, looking forward to seeing the finished guitar.

Me too Staybrite.

That's great, I wish I had a talent I could do as a hobby.

Black Rider wrote:

That's great, I wish I had a talent I could do as a hobby.

I didn't have a talent for woodworking.  I saw one of these guitars at an arts and crafts festival.  I wanted one.  I was looking for someone to build me one when. I came across a group on Facebook.  Several of the builders told me to do it myself and that there were plenty of videos to tell me what to do.  They were right.  I have built 23 of these now.  I am currently working on 5 different ones.  Two will be special made guitars for myself that will allow me to be a one man band.  

How will that work?  Besides the pickups for the guitar, there will also be a single pole pickup under my lowest string.  That pickup will go to a separate Jack that will run through an octave pedal.  Boom.  Instant bass.  Add a Best Buddy drum machine and I will be a blues power trio all by myself 

If you want to do something as a hobby bad enough, you will learn.

Also, you never know what talents you might have until you try! I had never tried making wire sculptures until I had to in high school art class. As it happened, it turned out I had a bit of a knack for it but I never would've known had my teacher not placed a role of wire in my hands.

BR, what are some strengths you have or things you like? Example, were you good at building Legos as a kid? If so, your brain might be wired right for crafting three-dimensional artworks well. Or do you have a broad vocabulary? Your love for music [and therefore a familiarity with tempo] and a big vocab might make for a great base for writing poetry. Sometimes the idea has to come first and then you reverse-engineer how to get there. Just walking into an art or antiques store could spark some fun project ideas. Or for me, seeing certain tools can also inspire. You can get a Dremel-type tool at Harbor Freight for like $10. Find some scrap wood and a couple of the right bits and you can try wood-carving/sculptures!

alldatndensum wrote:

...
How will that work?  Besides the pickups for the guitar, there will also be a single pole pickup under my lowest string.  That pickup will go to a separate Jack that will run through an octave pedal.  Boom.  Instant bass.  Add a Best Buddy drum machine and I will be a blues power trio all by myself 

I look forward to hearing that, sounds really cool.

I have tried working with tools and it never goes well. Back in the day I took wood shop since kids were saying it was an easy A and I got a C because the teacher felt bad for me. I know my limitations.

LOL dang ok then.

If constructing isn't your forte, how about destructing?     Like archery or target shooting?  Granted, these get $$$ real quick, but you're only ever competing against yourself and it's really fun to your skills improve.  You can get a bolt-action .22 rifle and ammo quite cheap and plink away!

Also, as new home-owners, something on our mind quite a bit lately has been landscaping.  Our front yard (and back, for that matter...) could use some loving and it's been kinda fun brainstorming ideas of how we might beautify it.  Maybe landscaping/gardening could be a fun outlet for you.

You want me to come landscape for you for free and call it a hobby? I'm on to you Kerrick. 

Black Rider wrote:

You want me to come landscape for you for free and call it a hobby? I'm on to you Kerrick. 

We just paid our son-in-law $450 to come weed our entire back yard, prune our willow bushes trees, dig up a few dead plants, remove our decorative boarder rocks, lay-down new weed paper (and move the rocks back).  Took him 3 full days.

That's good pay.

Black Rider wrote:

That's good pay.

I think a landscaper might have charged us more (or even about the same), but we knew they could use the money.  So even though we really couldn't afford it, it was good to do anyway.  
I remember when I first got out of the Army my wife's uncle would give me $100 cash to split 3-4 cords of wood.  It pretty much took me all weekend to do it with a few splitting mauls and a sledge hammer....but that was about 1/4 of our rent and I was a college student working part-time for like $5.75 an hour.

It's cool when family helps each other out, a lost art in this country.

Black Rider wrote:

It's cool when family helps each other out, a lost art in this country.

Sad, but true.

Just some of the necks I am working on!

Sweet!

Black Rider wrote:

You want me to come landscape for you for free and call it a hobby? I'm on to you Kerrick. 

So....... that means you're not going to landscape our house?  Dangit!  Eh, it was worth a shot!  

You pay the trip over, my lost time off work and a competitive wage and maybe I'll think about it. 

Hmm on second thoughts...  

Sadly, life has happened and I can't work on my guitars again until....THURSDAY!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

I had several guitars turn out badly.  I needed three before Christmas and nothing went right.  I just quit.

So, I had decided to build one for my brother for Christmas but that one went bad.  So, I picked it up again since we are shut down.  He loves the Cincinnati Reds, so I think he will like it.