June 21, 2008

Tomorrow I head off to Portland for a 5 day course called Contemporary Guitar Making.  The course is offered by the American School of Lutherie, aka, Charles Fox.  The description:  CONTEMPORARY GUITAR MAKING is a window on guitar making’s dynamic new reality. Today’s high quality guitar making is based on an accurate grasp of the acoustical behavior of the instrument and a working knowledge of the most effective means of the craft. Armed with these two things, a growing number of world class luthiers are able to systematically optimize important qualities of their guitars, and to build enough of them to both advance steadily in their craft and make a comfortable living. CONTEMPORARY GUITAR MAKING invites you to share the understanding and the techniques that make this possible.

Hmmm, world class….comfortable living….

I’m looking forward to the exposure of information and techniques, being essentially self taught to this point.  Tomorrow I pack up, and I’ll leave just after lunch to get to Portland in time to hang with my step-sister, Shannon, and her family.

Gotta pack my laptop (so I can post daily progress reports), my new Kindle (birthday present from Carol), camera (to document through photos), cell phone (to keep contact with outside world).  Funny, I’m off to learn about the world of wood and craft, yet I’m taking nothing but technology.