Guitar Making: Drills, Keyboards and Nerdiness

After a period of time used to find materials and information for those who want to throw themselves, like I did, into the adventure of guitar making, let's talk about guitars with some technical information.

Today we take a look at how to use drills, from simple and small ones such as the Dremel, to real drills, to make cutouts for bridges or pickups.

Starting with the Dremel, we can say first of all that this is a tool that is extremely useful for inlays, both to create the cutouts and the inserts that will be embedded in them.

The cutouts can be made ​​with a drill bit for wood by a millimeter, while the inserts, made from mother- of-pearl, bone or plastic, may be filed with a bit of pumice stone cutter, as shown in particular in the next photo.

Now let's see this beautiful keyboard with inlays after construction. All that's missing are the cuts for the frets...

Texas Wild Horses

As summer's been approaching (and with my increased attention to animals, brought on in part by my fiancèe, Sascha) I have felt closer to nature, especially the more savage parts of it, those that have not yet been tainted by human beings. Sascha often makes me notice how humans have damaged nature, which has its own balance that shouldn't be disrupted by us.

For the rest, this is a simple rock background with a short solo. Enjoy!

Is Rolling Stone Suffering From Amnesia?

I found this list on the Rolling Stone website. The only conclusion one might come to is that the magazine's editors suffer from amnesia.

I have no problems with the way they've placed these musicians - what I disagree with is the omission of some of the most amazing guitarists of all time. The following are indeed missing:



Yngwie Malmsteen

Joe Satriani

Gary Moore

Allan Holdsworth

Tony McAlpine

Timo Tolkki

Steve Vai

...and lastly, the legendary Jason Becker (living legend, thank God!)

I'm sure I'm right because I might be wrong about the quality of one musician, but the fact that the entire neo-classical genre is missing means that the editors of Rolling Stone just aren't big fans of the style. I don't understand why this genre has to be neglected, as it has been responsible for elevating the guitar to a higher level as an instrument. Thanks to this genre, the guitar has regained technique and virtuosity that adds to the expressive powers of this instrument - which means that this kind of virtuosity is more than just virtuosity itself, as these techniques add flair and vivacity to any piece of music that includes guitars.

Good night to everyone.

Always With Me, Always With You

This piece by Joe Satriani (played here by me) communicates warmth and emotion, and at the same time it's easy to tell that it was written and performed by someone who has a great passion for the instrument.

 I went back to studying it because it's a favorite of my fiancée  Sascha. Her enthusiasm reminded me of how passionate I was myself when learning it for the first time. When you study this piece, it kind of comes together on its own: it comes out good because it's just such an amazing piece. I think the feeling you get playing this kind of piece can be compared to when classical musicians play Bach: the composition of the piece does 90% of the work.

I'm not saying you have to be impersonal; you still have to lend your own personal touch to it. Going back to classical music, some classical musicians playing great pieces think the piece is everything and the musician is just the means. I, on the other hand, think that the instrument is merely an instrument (in this case, the guitar) and the musician is the one who has to get the emotion and the message across.

In the end, the guitar is an amazing instrument. This is why we love it.

Always With Me Always With You played by me:

The video background is a portrait of Sascha that I drew.


Note by Sascha: when I first heard David play this piece, I fell in love with it - and with the guitar. I think this is a very refined piece: you have to be an excellent musician to play it well and from what I can gather (I'm absolutely no expert, I just love the guitar), it's a really difficult piece. I think David plays it beautifully. In some parts I can't tell it's not Satriani, while in others, David lends his own touch to the piece.

Other sources of inspiration

I have a classmate at my Swedish course whose work I was recently very impressed by. Her work will be a source of inspiration for the aesthetic side of my guitar. At the moment, I'll show it to you as it is - the original pieces by Fumi Hotta (http://fumi-h.com/ , thank you for the authorization!)

It's very interesting to note how she's inspired by something in a photo, whether it's nature or some simple object. Here are more examples:

Personalizing

Let's take a break from the technical side of the creation of a guitar. To put together the concepts, which will be further discussed, whoever wants to succeed in the making of a guitar, we have to move on to personalizing.

After an experience as a museum guard, I am beginning to reap the results of those boring days. Keeping in mind the aesthetic side of a guitar, I have decided to blend this with my museum experiences. This is an example, a futuristic-style guitar:

In this other example I analyze only one part of a particular impressionist exhibition experience. To tickle my immagination is the chromatic contrast of Chevreul, a scientist studied by the post-impressionists as well as by me. This inspiration has contributed not only to this guitar, but also to the header painting, which I will tell more about in a future post focusing on art.





Last but not least, the influence for this comes from fashion, which means from my girlfriend, Sascha, this is a very glamorous giutar:





I'm sorry about the quality of the photos, but they're hand drawings made by pen. However, I think they succeed in conveying the idea.

The creation of a guitar, part 2

Hello again to anyone who has followed me in the previous phase. Let's continue with the construction part. Now, we'll look into how to cut the shape of the guitar.

The kinds of wood that I find suitable for the body of the guitar are alder, maple and mahogany. You will need some kind of saw, I would advice you to use a band saw:

Armed with some patience and experience, you could use also two other kinds of saws (hand saw and alternative saw), but if you want to be certain of the results and waste as little time as possible, you should use the right instruments.

Now, we will proceed to the shape.

...and a first rough draft of the handle: