Although I almost never truly know what I’m doing, I am setting out to build another guitar. Actually, I know what I’m doing, what I don’t always know is how I’m gonna do it. Then there’s the why: because I can and want to build another guitar. It’s fun for me and settling, as well. My head burns its ADHD fuel and it physically feels good to focus on something that is for its own sake.

A box of parts will be a guitar. I’ve begun prepping the body, which is to say I have one pickup hole ready. The body cavity needs routing and the pickup, pots, and input jack need setup. As of right now, however, I have no means by which I can route and drill the necessary holes.
Because of that current lack, I will prep the neck. I need to install the fretboard, frets, nut, and machine heads. I’ve never installed a raw fingerboard and I have certainly never installed frets. I’ve researched the process, however, and feel confident that if I take my time and focus on one fret at a time, I can get the job done right.

My philosophy, in general, when it comes to doing stuff, is: don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. When we try to be perfect or do something perfectly, we lock ourselves into failure. There’s no getting around that little issue: we have to accomplish something in order to learn and I can almost guarantee that whatever is built will not turn out perfectly. Humanity is imperfect, which is its greatest strength, yet we often seek perfection. But perfection is the greatest illusion, as there’s simply no such thing.

I will build this guitar that came from raw wood as perfectly as I can, however. My master carpenter brother-in-law formed the neck and body from wood that I bought from stew mac. He made them so long ago that I don’t think cameras were yet invented, which is the only reason that appears logical as to why we don’t have pics. But I owe it to the trees that provided the wood to do the best job I can. My goal and fantastical desire is that it will become the perfect guitar. Down deep, though, I know there’s no such thing (except the Wolfgang and Les Paul, those guitars are perfect).

So, it will be another learning experience and this old dog has no choice but to learn new tricks. Today is the first of this guitar’s life and when I play something on it and sound actually emerges from the amp, I will know that I did what I needed to do for this collection of parts to become a single guitar.