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With over 30 years of building instruments the list of dumb mistakes is beyond cataloguing, but one that immediately comes to mind is the time there were several banjo necks being built, all with various inlay patterns. I was used to doing fine work only when alone, with no one in the shop and usually late at night when there'd be no interruptions from the phone ringing. But things had become so busy and I was getting so far behind on promised deadlines that when several visitors showed up late one evening I decided to just go ahead and cut pearl for one of the necks while we talked and they watched. It made me nervous but, surprisingly to me, within about 15 minutes or so I was totally at ease and able to control the details while still engaged in a conversation.

The pattern was beautifully cut, and the next day with new-found confidence in my abilities to concentrate while multi-tasking, I went ahead and cut the cavities and installed the inlay while customers came and went, all without any problems. But my next glance at the work order revealed that I'd cut and installed a Gibson "Bella Voce" pattern on what was to be a much less expensive "Hearts and Flowers" neck! It seems that although my attention had remained intact on the fine points, the distractions had caused me to lose focus on the bigger issues.

Not wanting to start from scratch again, I called the customer and generously offered him, as a "faithful repeat customer", the option of upgrading to a Bella Voce pattern at no extra charge. He was delighted, saying that he'd actually wanted the Bella Voce originally but since it was too expensive had settled instead on the much more affordable Hearts and Flowers. Since then, I've continued to do intricate work only when no one's around.

Honest, this isn't mine. My friend is building two classicals and he just sent me this. It took me a moment to see it. I told he should just leave it as no on would likely notice.


His subject line for the e-mail was "Think Twice, Glue Once"

A friend eh?

_________________
Bill Hodge


One does not simply, own enough guitars!

I was building a mini gibson sg for my nephew who was about 5 or 6 at the time. I did all the planning to paper based on measurements on my actual full size gibson then i scaled everything down to a mini size on paper. The one thing i didn't think of with the smaller body and string length was the neck angle for the mortise and tenon joint needed to be adjusted. When I finally completed it and strung it up the strings were still resting on the end of the fingerboard with the tunomatic bridge at its fullest height. The neck angle was way off. There was no work around and I had no clue in how to remove the neck at the time. I still have it hanging on a hook in a closet to remind me of my mistake. i ended up building him a mini strat because the neck joint was simpler for me to understand.

I wouldn't want to try to do a set up on that one.