Wabi-Sabi Guitar

[liltiki]

Late to the table on this thread...

Fascinating, Howard. You walk the walk and talk the talk. Always. I'm very excited to 'watch' this build.

When completed, this wabi-sabi guitar should be played with hygge. ;-)

I can tell you all I love the 15" small slope dreadnaught shape of Howard's. It spoils me for any other.

T

[gitarro]

It is interesting that nobody has really posted any photos of any guitar expressly made with the wabi sabi method in mind. It seems very rare - I only found an article written by Somogyi on it, and only two of his guitars that seem to have been made with wabi sabi in mind.

Personally, I think that wabi sabi can be applied to a guitar if the natural imperfections of the material can be used to flow naturally - like a Japanese karesansui rock and sand garden which uses the granular imperfection of sand and rock but arranges them in abstract ways to symbolise aspects of nature or other ideas. In so doing, natural substances are arranged and formed with the mind of the artist to make a human statement whereby a moment of ephemeral "perfection" is caught in the arrangement of the imperfect.

Practically speaking, this would mean that while the materials are allowed to look their natural state, the way they are built to form the guitar will still require the highest levels of fit and finish and excellence in build quality. And while the imperfections of the materials are evident, the hand of the maker is always evident and the exactness of his or her intent is displayed clearly in the resulting art piece.

As such wabi sabi will not be an excuse for sloppiness in making the guitar or giving second rate materials to the customer at first rate prices. Rather the imperfection of the materials is specially chosen for its ability to function like a special color of paint in the painter's palette.

One illustration of this (though probably not of wabi sabi itself) is Judy Threet's "owl" guitar - which had a headstock front plate that featured a very grained piece of wood that fiormed a big knot in the middle. Threet inlayed an owl peeking out of the knot in the space where the knot was. She used a natural imperfection of the wood and chose it in fact to enable her to make an artistic statement of the first order.

[TomB'sox]

Originally Posted by gitarro

It is interesting that nobody has really posted any photos of any guitar expressly made with the wabi sabi method in mind. It seems very rare - I only found an article written by Somogyi on it, and only two of his guitars that seem to have been made with wabi sabi in mind.

Personally, I think that wabi sabi can be applied to a guitar if the natural imperfections of the material can be used to flow naturally - like a Japanese karesansui rock and sand garden which uses the granular imperfection of sand and rock but arranges them in abstract ways to symbolise aspects of nature or other ideas. In so doing, natural substances are arranged and formed with the mind of the artist to make a human statement whereby a moment of ephemeral "perfection" is caught in the arrangement of the imperfect.

Practically speaking, this would mean that while the materials are allowed to look their natural state, the way they are built to form the guitar will still require the highest levels of fit and finish and excellence in build quality. And while the imperfections of the materials are evident, the hand of the maker is always evident and the exactness of his or her intent is displayed clearly in the resulting art piece.

As such wabi sabi will not be an excuse for sloppiness in making the guitar or giving second rate materials to the customer at first rate prices. Rather the imperfection of the materials is specially chosen for its ability to function like a special color of paint in the painter's palette.

One illustration of this (though probably not of wabi sabi itself) is Judy Threet's "owl" guitar - which had a headstock front plate that featured a very grained piece of wood that fiormed a big knot in the middle. Threet inlayed an owl peeking out of the knot in the space where the knot was. She used a natural imperfection of the wood and chose it in fact to enable her to make an artistic statement of the first order.

Not sure where this fits in, but it is what came to my mind when Howard introduced this topic and after reading your post....I saw this piece of koa laying around in Mark's shop. It was just the edge of a nice piece of koa and I said to Mark, I think this is even cool. He incorporated into the headstock as is, I love it, completely natural but far from symmetric and perfect...

[gitarro]

Originally Posted by TomB'sox

Not sure where this fits in, but it is what came to my mind when Howard introduced this topic and after reading your post....I saw this piece of koa laying around in Mark's shop. It was just the edge of a nice piece of koa and I said to Mark, I think this is even cool. He incorporated into the headstock as is, I love it, completely natural but far from symmetric and perfect...

Lovely looking headstock!

[godfreydaniel]

Reading this thread brought to mind a similar aesthetic here in the west - the work of the Shakers.

[gitarro]

Originally Posted by gitarro

It is interesting that nobody has really posted any photos of any guitar expressly made with the wabi sabi method in mind. It seems very rare - I only found an article written by Somogyi on it, and only two of his guitars that seem to have been made with wabi sabi in mind.

Personally, I think that wabi sabi can be applied to a guitar if the natural imperfections of the material can be used to flow naturally - like a Japanese karesansui rock and sand garden which uses the granular imperfection of sand and rock but arranges them in abstract ways to symbolise aspects of nature or other ideas. In so doing, natural substances are arranged and formed with the mind of the artist to make a human statement whereby a moment of ephemeral "perfection" is caught in the arrangement of the imperfect.

Practically speaking, this would mean that while the materials are allowed to look their natural state, the way they are built to form the guitar will still require the highest levels of fit and finish and excellence in build quality. And while the imperfections of the materials are evident, the hand of the maker is always evident and the exactness of his or her intent is displayed clearly in the resulting art piece.

As such wabi sabi will not be an excuse for sloppiness in making the guitar or giving second rate materials to the customer at first rate prices. Rather the imperfection of the materials is specially chosen for its ability to function like a special color of paint in the painter's palette.

One illustration of this (though probably not of wabi sabi itself) is Judy Threet's "owl" guitar - which had a headstock front plate that featured a very grained piece of wood that fiormed a big knot in the middle. Threet inlayed an owl peeking out of the knot in the space where the knot was. She used a natural imperfection of the wood and chose it in fact to enable her to make an artistic statement of the first order.

Threet's owl inlay is shown in this link:-

http://inlayinnovations.com/inlay-artists/judy-threet/

[Howard Klepper]

Neck blank--Honduras mahogany and black walnut. There is a pin knot that will be seen in the neck when it is done.



Here, routed for the truss rod.

[Howard Klepper]

Top braces in and rough shaped. I wasn't sure whether to clean up glue squeezeout or not. Then after gluing the X I automatically cleaned up the squeezeout before I thought about it. That decided it. Things the maker does without thinking are part of wabi-sabi.



I sawed a piece of claro walnut burl for the headstock face that I thought was right for the project.



Here is the rear--a veneer sawed from a board of wenge.

[Thoragaverung]

Funny I should find this thread here, because I often contemplate Wabisabi when I build my guitars. I also think about the weavers of Bayeaux tapestry who deliberately included some flaw because perfection is something that is reserved to God and for a human to achieve it amounted to hubris (not that I'm working at the level of those weavers, far far from it).

I don't sell my guitars for one simple reason: nobody wants to pay money for something that doesn't adhere to the aesthetic of perfection. It is a cultural mandate for any boughten thing now, and I believe our culture is poorer for it. A guitar with "flaws" is treated by people, and the law of contract, as defective (unless sold "as is". You ordinarily don't sell new things as-is. So I give my guitars away as gifts.

That expectation of perfection in boughten things is precisely why everything will be made by robots in another 20 years. Humans can't do that quickly enough.

I think my guitars are beautiful, and the human touch is apparent in them. They sound great. I feel good while I make them and am happy when I play them. I like it when people I give them to are happy to receive them. It is enough.

[Thoragaverung]

got it

[Pat Foster]

Great concept. Like that headstock veneer.

Pat

[TomB'sox]

Originally Posted by Thoragaverung

Hm... I can't seem to insert an image here. Strange.

You need to take the photo from another source such as photobucket et al
In otherwords nothing can come directly from your computer. I use photobucket, download the picture, pull it up on photobucket, to the right 4 options come up, copy the line next to Img and then paste into your post...the picture won't show up until you post or preview the post.

Hope this helps.

[Howard Klepper]

here's the fretboard blank. Gabon ebony.

[Thoragaverung]

Originally Posted by TomB'sox

You need to take the photo from another source such as photobucket et al
In otherwords nothing can come directly from your computer. I use photobucket, download the picture, pull it up on photobucket, to the right 4 options come up, copy the line next to Img and then paste into your post...the picture won't show up until you post or preview the post.

Hope this helps.

Yeah, tried to link to a FB image, that failed. Imgur works.

[Howard Klepper]

Fretboard slotted, shaped, and inlayed with 4mm gold MOP dots. As I said earlier, I will not compromise function in favor of austerity. I like to look at the fretboard markers when I play, and know that many others do, too. There will also be side markers.