March 4 2006

Many many things going on here as Joshua begins to wrap things up after almost two years of construction. I mentioned before that he is uncompromising in his quality standards. Here you see an example of that. He did not like the look of the head, and decided he wanted to carry the herringbone design up into the head to tie everything together, so what did he do?? Threw out the old head, and built a new one from scratch. It's things like this that separate the best from the rest.

Prior to receiving these pictures, I was really getting a little antsy, I'm afraid I was a little pushy about getting pictures as well. I suppose that's understandable, after all, it's been almost two years, still, I felt bad and apologized later for this email. Joshua, as always, was a model of diplomacy.

I wrote:
"Okay Joshua, now you are officially toying with me. You said I'd get pictures last week. I waited all weekend and still no pictures. What gives?:-;"
--Jer

Joshua responds:
Jerry
- nothing gives, just working hard to get your guitar done over the next couple days. I had a couple of guitar makers from out of town come visit my shop Friday, and was otherwise tied up over the weekend. But the good news is I've got a bunch of pictures for you. Right now I am shaping the neck and getting it ready for the bridge. I'll probably string her up and see how she sounds on wednesday, and then prep her for french polish on thursday. Obviously there will be better pictures as the neck and bridge complete the guitar, but here's ten or so (in the next couple of emails) that show what I've been working on. Something wasn't quite right with one of the tuner holes - it wasn't as good of a fit as I wanted, and overall I haven't been really happy with the head since I finished up the detailing. So I disassembled the V-joint, made a new one and redid the entire head, as you can see in the pics. I wanted to add some half herringbone to the outside part of the head, between the edge and the slots, like Tarrega's Torres was. I thought this would be a nice touch, and complete the aesthetics of the guitar, and I'm much happier with the look now. This wouldn't have been possible on the other head, because it needed to be a bit wider. You'll better be able to see how this fits with the guitar when I send pictures when the bridge is on, etc. Adding two lines to the head was quite a bit more difficult than I imagined - more time consuming really, but it looks good. The inlays on Issa essentially are my interpretation of those on the guitar Torres made for himself and later sold to Tarrega. Its all similar - the herringbone, the meander, the head - except for the rosette of course. They're not the same - very similar, yet with my own aesthetic approach. I'm really liking how its all finally coming together, and redoing the head has really helped that.
Best wishes,
Joshua

Jerry wrote:
Beautiful, I thought as much, hey, by the way, how did you like the bridge block idea and pix. I STILL can't seem to remember to get those measurements to you. I guess I'm going to have to leave a message formyself on my home phone. I know my past few emails have been short, been real busy, but I just wanted to express my appreciation for the great care you've taken to make sure everything is just right. I know that you probably could have just let the head go the way it was, but you chose not to, and that is one of the things I admire so greatly about your character. You still thinking about coming up here for that convention?
--Jer

A couple of days before stringing up the guitar for the first time. You now can see the remarkable craftsmanship that has gone into the making of this instrument. What's left is gluing on the bridge, stringing it up for testing, then removing the strings for the final French Polish.

1) Here you can see pictures of the fretboard after it was drilled for the position markers. I have not always been a classical player, and old habits die hard, so I requested position markers on the side AND top that were more in keeping with my past experience with guitars.	2) The mother of pearl markers now in place .