The Impractical Guitar Maker, Part 1
...some contemporary luthiers refuse quite bluntly to deal with anything that has the slightest scientific "flavor" to it. Gila Eban, luthier, 1990 The last couple of days I have been leafing through the James Krenov trilogy, The Cabinetmaker's Notebook, The Fine Art of Cabinetmaking and The Impractical Cabinetmaker. As a classical guitar maker, I really don't need these books anymore, as I have said before, I make guitars, not cabinets. Squares, rectangles and triangles don't interest me, shapes that are based on the human body do. I keep Mr. Krenov's books because of all the little bits of advice on how to enjoy life and to see the world around you that he hid and tucked away in paragraphs about dovetails, sharpening, woodworking education, etc. I am not a big fan of his writing style, a little too verbose and perhaps too sentimental, so these days I scan the pages looking for words that are familiar and excite me like spokeshave , friend , and cu