A good rainstorm in August is a blessing, and we got one since the last update. Things get really dry around here about now, and really hot. The deep south never lets you forget where you are for long, even the oasis that is the Texas “Hill Country” with its dense trees and rivers, and – you guessed it – hills. It doesn’t LOOK like a west Texas or southwest harsh, desert, tumbleweed wasteland… but it gives you doses of it. “This ain’t Colorado, son. ‘Specially not in August.” Summer rain here is a sanity test – you’re either grateful for it, with all its challenges and inconveniences, or you’re crazy. It’s not like the spring or fall rains which can actually sustain themselves for days and get very ugly. For most, it’s mercy.
Continuing to work on through August here, I had the year mapped out for spring and fall with some time off about now, but a few hiccups in the parts supply chain and the way things are in the world at the moment, I’m going to stay working until it’s time to break for the winter holidays. I might be done by the hottest part of the afternoon or really go at it 4 days and give myself the 5th, but I’m just going with the flow in here like you are out there in your own lives. I’m grateful I get to do what I do, I’ve worked it down to only TWO full clipboards (started the spring batch with three) despite slipping more orders in, and I’m feeling good about the progress and how much is getting done without beating the hell out of myself. It’s like yeah, we played our 40 minutes and it’s break time, but this groove is HAPPENING and people are up dancing. It’s no time to stop.
I am going to stop taking orders for a while to keep gaining on the orders as a whole, to get a little further on top of that little mountain. BUT the big news is - check out the inventory page! I was cleaning up the workshop, one thing I can do with a little more sane pace, and it looks like last year I marked, numbered & cut a handful of body halves for inventory and shoved ‘em under the blanks & planks for orders on the “next year” shelf. Well, how convenient – it’s next year! So in with others I planed & glued them up, and there they are. If you don’t have an order in, these are your chances to get a Birdsong anytime soon, and they’re already started! And the run of Shortbasses, I have the parts – I can slip those in with others and get them out pretty quick (by workshop standards). If you want something wilder on one of the Birdsongs, I do have an extra neck ready to go with a zebrawood headstock, and some zebrawood slices for plates & trim. Kind of the plaid tie of the guitar wood world, but nobody’s ever going to ask you which GC you bought your bass from. I guarantee you.
And here’s a side project I’ve been working on, in with the instruments. I got the gift of words. I didn’t get the gift of a short-term memory or being able to keep my shoes tied, button my shirt correctly, or keep track of my keys. So I take notes, wear slip-ons, T shirts, and my keys are on a clasp. And I write. A LOT. Because that’s what you’re supposed to do with the gifts you GET, right? Do something with them. Use them. Point is EVERYBODY has a superpower; we’re all just different. I mean you get runner’s legs you refine them and… ahem… run with it. So in with the few things I’m big on aside from manifesting tools of creation to fill the world with good vibrations and bring people together in communion through music, (“Building guitars” would be the simple term for that), I’m big on spreading inspiration. To me, the instruments are actually a part of THAT.
The premise is simple and I’ll make it quick: While acknowledging and respecting whatever troubles or traumas, an effort to focus on what in one’s life CAN be fixed or CAN be changed for the better will make the rest a little easier to manage, partly because of what will shift in seeing how it all really is from an increasingly healthier place, and partly because of how you’ll be seeing everything as a person doing what they can toward being a little better than you were yesterday.
For years I’ve taken the lessons the days bring and distilled them down to a simple thought, a sentence or two to use as a mantra and help keep me on track. Shared starting a few years ago on Facebook as “Thoughts For Mondays” - hopefully as a bright spot there and ideally a little nugget that helps someone else with a piece they can use or a peace they can have during the week – the response has been really something. The end goal? When we feel better anyway – in spite of it all – we find we’re stronger, make better decisions, and are more effective in all we do. And life changes. Including what we give; that has much more impact coming from solid footing and focus than attempts well-meant while we’re flailing. Along the way, some of those troubles and traumas shrink back down in size and effect on us, so they are better dealt with too. Better is best as a VERB, as a word of action, of doing. The person betters, their life betters, the lives of those around them betters, and their ripples better as well. All just by allowing a little positive inspiration and working WITH that. Given a choice what to offer into the shitstorm of 2020, I’m going with that. More than ever. So, I started a bigger garden for it a few months ago with this little green book and an outreach – www.feelbetteranyway.com. A word to the cynics that always come out when you make any kind of positive move – save it… it’s already started, it’s already happening, and it’s already helping. You’re too late! “Neener.”
Like anything I do it’s really about the ripples, and I humbly offer it in hopes it contributes to the good in your world and the good that spreads outward from it. I know these are challenging, tough times full of uneasy decisions. A long time ago I decided, no matter WHAT was going on around me, I was not going to walk this world like a wounded animal. In the face of every naysayer, doomsday prophet (profit?), cynical bastard, unexpected germ, inconvenience, bad day, bump in the road, twisting off relation, hope sucker, setback, circling vulture, crap eagle, uncertain day and unsure step, find something in your life you know needs fixing and start fixing it. You better you and your day, and you better your way and the world around you. It’s a choice of which gets your focus and whether you do it or not. I’m going to build tools of creation and spread music and inspiration, because that’s what the best of my world adds up to. That’s what I’m going to show, that’s what I’m going to lead with, that’s what I’ve been and will continue doing. What does the best of YOUR world add up to? Do that. Offer that. Seed that in the garden and see what grows. Start today and DO ONE THING.
Just give it a good soundtrack, and then maybe write a song about it.
Next week? We’re going to talk about go-to instruments, the main tools on the stands, and I’m going to share a few with you. They’re going to be a bit odd (imagine that)…
Thanks so much for being here!
Listening to: John Coltrane Heavyweight box set; Grateful Dead American Beauty and some live stuff from ’72; Norman Greenbaum Spirit In The Sky; lots of clips of modern jazz guitar players.