Today I really feel inspired by the community we are connected to with our music and our craft. This instrument is built for our friend/student Jann, using wood from our friend/student Lizann’s father’s wood stash. Lizann and Jann play music together and will soon be playing instruments made by the same maker from wood collected by the same man. Next weekend, I am going to Portland to teach them an arrangement I wrote of an old jug band waltz and we will all make music together. I don’t know if the art/music/craft makes the community or the other way around, but I like it. (all this applies to Jeri’s uke in the next post as well, btw)

The myrtle is from a funky board from the Carpenter Ant stash and seems to have a gnome hiding in the back. The top is some striped Port Orford Cedar which came from the Oregon coast courtesy of woodfromthewest.com. The fretboard, headplate, bridge and bindings are pistachio from California orchards. The neck are fir floorboards with cherry lamination stripes. This instrument is a good example of the muted earth tones that are a hallmark of the wabi-sabi aesthetic. From far away, they blend together, up close you notice subtle differences.