Class 3: Anatomy of a Screw Up

Thoughts on Making Mistakes

The plan for the night was to finish routing the channel for the soundhole rosette and then to set and glue the rosette into the soundboard.  The other activity was to bend my sides.  Things started out well as I routed out the channel in three passes with the circle cutting jig set to a depth of about .075" inches, a little bit shy of the thickness of the maple piece.  For each pass I first routed a channel in the MDF work board, then moved over to the top of the soundboard.  The first pass went through the middle of the channel, the second to the inside radius, and the third to the outside radius.  After the second and third passes in the MDF, I tested the fit of one of the rosette pieces along with two strips of purfling.  After the third pass everything looked to fit well.

The only remaining step was to rout a final circle through the thickness of the soundboard to cut out the actual sound hole.  After adjusting the depth and radius, I made the final pass, but it was clear from a little way in that something was wrong.  Turns out I forgot to turn the locking nuts on the jig, so as I cut with the router, the radius of the cut kept increasing.  The result: a spiral soundhole that cut up to the edge of the rosette channel.  After at least 5 passes with the router to cut out the rosette and dig the channel, on the very last pass I forgot a basic step.

Here's a closer shot of the piece that came out.  This should be a perfect circle.

Here's where it also gets interesting working with Edward.  His first instinct was that I might need to start a new soundboard, but after closer inspection he thinks it can be saved.  For now, what I'm trying to do is to glue the rosette into the channel, surrounded by the two purflings.  After it has glued, we will finish removing the remaining wood on the inside edge of the sound hole until the outside purfling becomes the edge of the sound hole.  At that point, we may look at adding an additional strip of wood to give a little more reinforcement to the sound hole.  It should look quite nice and may result (?) in a little more volume from the guitar.

I appreciate Edward's approach to problems.  Generally, mistakes are  looked at as part of the course of developing skill rather than as evidence of imperfection.  While we are trying to make the best guitars we can in the class, by being careful and using the skills we have, it is understood that the experience of learning and developing new skill is part of the journey and that the completion of a single instrument should not be seen as the end of our travels.  This attitude which runs through his classes is probably what has made this process so enjoyable for me.  It stresses the chance to continue developing rather than the completion of products.  This is not to say that there is no interest in completing the projects, but the feeling of growth is in many ways as important.

So, I took Edward's advice and continued using what I had - here's the rosette being glued in, covered by a piece of wax paper and a caul to compress it evenly.  The edge of purfling where the channel has no inner wall is held against a few finish nails tacked into the piece of MDF.  I'll have to see what it looks like after the break for Thanksgiving.

Here's a shot of a similar rosette done by another student.  This is how mine was intended to look.The strip of spruce on the inside of the rosette is what will be missing.








Side Bending

I also bent the sides of my guitar and the binding strips.  I think they look pretty nice:

The first side took some additional manipulation to get set evenly in the mold, as a result it was essential bent twice.  This might be why there are some compression marks along the waist.  Edwards thinks that these will mostly sand out.  More adventures.

It was also interesting to contrast my experience in working on this project with a conversation at lunch with a friend who's late father was a serious luthier.  Apparently he was a woodworker and a machinist with much passion for the craft.  The type of craftsman who honored his tools, sought out his own materials and rarely took shortcuts.  Almost all of his work was done without power tools - planes were apparently his passion.  Although, he apparently did not make his own rosettes (another lesson here?).  I would love to see some of his work. 

However, sitting at lunch with my friend and his brother, both of whom were brought up in their dad's shop, neither could profess any interest in woodworking on their own.  Apparently their father had always viewed their efforts as instructional opportunities.  Praise was never available.  As a result, neither ever developed any enjoyment for the activity.  To put it all simply, attitude seems to be important.