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Guitar Building Workshop with Jay Lichty: Day One

“Well,” says Jay Lichty, “want the shop tour now or after dinner?” Though I’ve been traveling all day and am famished, the answer is easy: “Now, please!”

I’ve just pulled up to the Jay Lichty’s and Corrie Wood’s home and shop in Tryon, North Carolina. I’ll be bedding in the guest house by night and making sawdust by day for the next week and a half. Dinner can wait. I want to see that shop and, more importantly, the scraps of wood that I’m supposedly turning into a guitar.

It’s a simply and beautifully laid out shop that Jay, a former custom home builder, designed and constructed. Jay is walking me through the equipment and explaining which switch activates which gizmo, but my attention keeps wandering to the central bench and its contents, which look suspiciously like the parts that I’m going to attempt to form into a playable, stringed instrument.

“Oh,” says Jay as he notices my latest glance toward the bench, “that’s your guitar.” We’ve settled on an all koa parlor guitar in the form of Jay’s flowing, double-cutaway “Bard” model. Ebony bindings, an elegant, razor thin abalone purfling around the top, and, well, a bundle of precious materials that I may really just turn into sawdust. When Jay hears the anxiety in my voice he assures, “You’ll definitely make a beautiful guitar out of this stuff.”

I do have modest woodworking skills and enjoy making the odd bookcase or moldings for my 1920 home. But, guitar-making is many levels of refinement beyond any craft making that I’ve attempted. But, Jay has a quiet confidence and competence about him and my fears are replaced by excitement.

“OK,” I ask, “Where do we start?” Jay responds that we’ll first bend sides, then install a rosette and, well, “The first day of guitar making is sort of like framing a house. One day you drive by a vacant lot and the next day there’s an entire structure, or at least its skeleton, standing there. You’ll get a lot done tomorrow, then the tedious stuff starts.”

Ah, but the operative word is “tomorrow.” I’ve not arrived until dinner time, so sawdust making will await the morning.

So, it’s off to bed I go, with visions of koa parlor guitars dancing in my head

.…

The day in the shop starts at 8:00 am, sharp, and I’m up (and typing) early, casting glances toward the shop and resisting the urge to sneak in and salivate over that lovely koa. Well, I don’t resist, I do sneak over to the shop and gaze at the scraps of wood. Anticipation.

Jay’s there precisely on time, as is Corrie, who is setting up still and video cameras to document my, uh, craft. They are a lovely couple who have smartly bifurcated the business of Lichty guitars. Jay does the building and Corrie handles the website, business planning, and promotion. As I’m discovering, they are a dream team, two-person lutherie partnership.

As I step in the door, Jay says, “Well, you’ve had the shop tour. So, here’s the deal. You can do as much or as little as you like and I can do what you’re not comfortable doing.” “Oh, I reply, I want to do everything!?” That’s obviously the right answer as Jay and Corrie both break into wide smiles. “OK!” says Jay, “Let’s cut and bend some sides. And away we go.

What ensues is one of the most enjoyable and productive days I’ve spent. Jay and I slip into a so-comfortable-it-was-meant-to-be teacher/eager student relationship. Jay hands me the koa side sets and a pattern that, if properly traced and cut, will yield the perfect taped to fit back to sides and top. “Trace around the pattern onto the wood and cut the sides out on the band saw. Cut so that your line is still visible on the portion we’re going to keep and then smooth the cuts up on the sander.” Gulp. “OK, sensei.”

I’m glad that I’ve used power tools before. I’m even happier that Jay has the attitude of the perfect master to this apprentice. He stands aside, pretends not to be watching, but remains ready if disaster strikes. His style is, to mix my metaphors, neither hand holding nor dumping me in the deep end. Rather, to add another metaphor, he lets the tether just to the edge of my discomfort and then adds just the perfect amount of slack.

The result is that in about ten hours of very hard but very enjoyable work, we, well, OK, I’ll own most of it because Jay is such an exemplary teacher, I cut and bent the sides, installed the kerfing, inlaid the rosette, braced top and back, and shaped, cut and bound the fingerboard. Really.

I’m the sort who thrives in the shadow of a steep learning curve. Today, that curve was vertical. “Exhilarating” doesn’t begin to describe the sensation.

So, check out the pics, post your questions, and check back tomorrow when we close up this box o’ koa.

All photos by Corrie Woods

Next stop: Day Two.

……….

The story from the beginning.

Cutting the sides.

Fitting the neck block.

Perfecting the side bends on a bending iron.

The rosette before leveling.

The rosette after leveling.

Clamping the X brace.

Clamping the back bracing.

Checking the sides.

Bending the fingerboard binding on the heating iron.

Bending sides.

Beginning to clamp the back bracing.