Only people that love guitars, build guitars. This may seem like a superficial statement or aimless soundbite, but consider it for a moment. Nobody ever took time out from their busy and hectic life to make a guitar just because they couldn't think of an alternative way to fill their time. Ask anyone that has built their own guitar and they will tell you that they gave far more than just time and money to the project, and gained more than just an instrument in return. Or ask yourself how many people you know that have sold the first guitar they made.
I could speculate about what people may get out of building an instrument but perhaps its better to share my own experience and see whether others can relate.
The act of building a guitar is a cathartic experience, irrespective of whether you start from raw unprocessed lumber or order a full build kit, ready for assembly. In our world of ever increasing complexity & pressure and ever decreasing work/life balance, there's something profoundly rewarding and pure about carving a perfect neck pocket or watching the first layer of finish as it brings your wood grain to life.
There are a hundred things a day vying for our attention in one way or another, none of much consequence, but nevertheless, the noise is persistent and unyielding; and very few that relate to the passions in our lives. Conversely, there are rarely activities in our everyday lives that require and capture our attention to such a degree that all the noise
is momentarily dialled out and our focus is drawn solely to the task at hand. Ask anyone what they were thinking about while catching up on their emails or sitting in that meeting this afternoon and they'll list a hundred things, but ask them what they were thinking about while cutting their guitar body outline or routing a neck pocket and everyone will
give the same answer; 'nothing but the task itself'. In the same way that an intense exercise session demands that you dial out everything else, each critical stage of a guitar build requires the same attention, and there's a wonderfully therapeutic experience in fully immersing yourself in one of your passions for even the briefest of periods.
Forgive me then while I delve a little further as to why a prescription of 'guitar build' may be just what you need. The sense of achievement gained by devoting the time to get each step in the build process perfect before moving onto the next is something that doesn't tend to happen too much in most of our daily activities, not in mine at least! Furthermore this only serves to compound the satisfaction at the end of the project in having successfully completed something as simple as it is complex, as technical as it is artistic, and as creative as it is functional.
Thereafter, each time you pick up your guitar to play serves as a reminder of both the elation of success and the intense frustration, to which, anyone that has build their own instrument will be able to relate.
Guitar building is great for the soul!... on the other hand, an icy cool beer also covers a lot of the above.
CoolWoodItaly
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