Winter Is Coming!

As I immersed myself in the task of designing my workshop a few years ago, I looked into the possibility of dedicating a corner of the building to a spray booth. As inviting as the idea was, I was discouraged by the prospective cost of the necessary explosion-proof extraction fan and lights and abandoned the idea. I'm left with Plan B, which is to erect a temporary insect-proof enclosure in a sheltered area of our property which, unfortunately, limits my ability to spray through the winter months when daytime temperatures are typically in single digits and high humidity is problematic.

I came close recently to buying fresh supplies of lacquer and thinners in readiness for spraying this crop of guitar bodies; however, although there are still stretches of fine weather, they are unreliable and increasingly uncommon. As keen as I am to complete some guitars, I've come to accept that I've probably left my run too late.

I'm impatient and more than a little frustrated, but I'm sure I'll find plenty to occupy me through our winter months. Obviously, I'm looking forward to spring when I'll finally be able to string up some guitars!

Cheers

Pete

The Other End of the Workshop

It's only natural - and advantageous - that guitar builders develop some skills where playing the guitar is concerned. Frankly, I'd love to be more adept as a player and be able to better assess the acoustic instruments I create in terms of their playability and tone. Unfortunately, after 50 years of sporadic playing I have limited abilities and don't practice nearly often enough to improve in anything other than small increments. Some ongoing hand problems I've learned to live with also contribute to my limitations as a player.

Nevertheless, I still enjoy an hour or two of mindless noodling from time to time, and with that in mind I've set up a desk in a spare corner of the workshop where I can plug in an electric guitar, with visions of recording some original music on the rare occasions that inspiration pays me a visit.

Having concluded that I have no aspirations to gig anywhere even if I thought I was a decent enough player, it seemed wasteful and self-indulgent to have collected an assortment of effect pedals and an amplifier that together represent a significant financial outlay. With my pedals and amplifier currently for sale, my new approach to playing my electric guitar is to make use of a couple of Neural DSP's plug-ins and either a pair of headphones or some studio monitors. Along with my laptop and an audio interface, I can dial in a greater variety of tones than I previously could with my amp and pedals and, as a result, I have hopes that I'll be motivated to devote more time to playing and practice once our cold, wet, winter weather closes in and I'm less inclined to attend to outside jobs around our little property.

• Audio interface: PreSonus Studio 26c 
• Studio monitors: KRK Classic 5
• Headphones: PreSonus HD9 Professional Monitoring Headphones
• Plug-ins: Neural DSP's Archetype: Cory Wong and Archetype: Rabea
• Guitar: Ibanez Q54

Cheers

Pete