With this - the first of a batch of five guitars - now strung up, I can begin to relax a little and allow myself a moment to enjoy the sense of achievement at having completed an instrument; for various reasons, it's been a while!
There's always a sense of nervous anticipation when I first install strings on a new guitar, but even after hearing the first notes ring out I know better than to pass judgement immediately; it would seem too much like anticipating a toddler's potential as an Olympic sprinter after witnessing their first steps! Instead, I let it sit undisturbed for a week tuned to concert pitch, knowing even then that only the passage of time will reveal its true character. After this initial settling in period, I fine-tune the action, saddle height and intonation - it's only then that I can derive some sense of its sonic potential. I certainly have expectations where tone is concerned, but they're somewhat nebulous and hard to describe. In terms of aesthetics, I'm very pleased with this instrument, but I'm anything but an accomplished player, so I look forward to receiving feedback from someone more proficient than I am where ergonomics and tone are concerned.
While the woodworking and finishing aspects of my guitars seem to improve incrementally with each instrument, and are relatively easy to assess, the complex and all-important tonal characteristics are more difficult to evaluate. Describing what I'm hearing is difficult enough, and formulating an approach that will render sonic improvements from one guitar to the next is very challenging. I've generated Chladni patterns on my unattached soundboards in the past, hoping for some "light bulb" moments to reveal themselves, but as interesting as they are, manipulating those patterns or translating my findings into tangible gains is a puzzle I'm solving all too slowly. For the time being, the best I can hope for is that I'll come to judge in some subjective sense that I've made improvements over earlier instruments and have been able to establish a new benchmark from which I can implement refinements on future instruments.
Check my "For Sale" page for details.
Cheers, Pete
