The Music of Woodworking
When I was a young boy, my dad would get together with some friends and play some bluegrass music. He played guitar. At one point, he taught me how to play mandolin. Well…I knew a few chords, anyway. I had fun, but unfortunately it was a borrowed mandolin and I had to give it back. So I’ve long since forgotten everything I knew about playing. That’s why I became a drummer, instead.
Since finding my love of woodworking, I thought it would be fun sometime to build a musical instrument. One of our craftsmen here at Woodsmith has built a violin for his wife. And one of our editors has built a guitar. Maybe I’ll start with an electric guitar for my teenager. That seems simple enough.
Here’s a story about a self-taught woodworker who retired to Florida and found himself making harps. Lowell Patrick says, “I decided to tackle this challenge after I found a place in California that offers detailed drawings of various sizes and models of harps and has all the necessary hardware, strings, tuning pins, etc. Fortunately, all my harps have turned out well. They definitely are from ‘tree to tune.’”
Hopefully I won’t have to wait until I retire before I can make music.