Rich received a 000 Rosewood Martin guitar kit for
Christmas in 2012. He said he felt like Ralphie in the movie, "A Christmas
Story" getting the Red Rider BB Gun. A year ago he had the pieces of a
guitar and on weekends he would work on putting it together. It was patient work of gluing, clamping, and sanding the pieces.
When he had a question of how to do something he searched YouTube to see how
other luthiers did it. He finished the new guitar in November, amazed he says, "It actually works, and it has great action."
Rich's next guitar? We hope so.
Now equipped with a workbench,
specialized tools, and some luthier skills he is ready to build another guitar.
There are several companies from which he can purchase kits or design a kit for
himself such as a baritone guitar. What he has in mind is crafting an instrument using local woods. This has been a goal since he started the Martin kit and may be a reality since a friend
has a stump of black locust we can have. Rich has already contacted a local
mill to see if they would mill it for guitar making once we get pick it up from the friend's backyard. We understand the stump is very heavy which explains why we're not shipping it to my brother in Minnesota to have him do it and send it back.
