Thread

Mate, you are an artist 💜

Thanks... The hardest part is where the scar in the neck shows the real wood behind the layers of paint, tincture and polyurethane varnish. Fucking hell to disguise and paint and match the colour and hide the bright wood coming out whenever you pass a little sandpaper. I hate it . That's when I'm an artist, I mean, when I explain the client that was the best I could do . I'm a tongue artist. "take two or three free stickers don't ever come back with your stupid cheap guitar, please care for it". I didn't take pictures of it because my phone ran out of battery but also because it is embarrassing how difficult it is and how much work you have to do to save a cheap guitar from looking awful

I'm a really bad guitarist, a slightly better carpenter but mate, you are good

Thanks. Keep sharpening. 70% sharpening

Oh goodness yes, cheap instruments are always a bummer. I rarely attempt to make them look nice, because they are not worth the time, I make it clear up front that you will always see it, but you won't feel it much; folks are usually happy with that.

Yes... Exactly. If I have to take it to the end of good looking you might as well throw away the instrument and buy a new one because it will be more expensive to repair. Anyway I cannot help it. I always try my best and I always end up furious about why on earth did I accept the job. Because it is also difficult to go halfway and let the instrument go to the wild nature speaking like that of your work. It's also your reputation that is at stake and that is not a minor thing to consider. People could ask: "Who fixed this?" "A guy named Sato there" "Hm... Looks a bit crappy" And no one is going to appear out of the blue with the list of justifications for the halfway job. Most people have no clue what a cheap guitar is neither can tell when they have a good one. Anyways. I always struggle with this. I try my best, end up losing time and money. But I think in some way can be a long term good advertising...

I think of it differently. Most people who look at that cheap guitar and don't know that it's a cheap guitar, probably think it's a miracle that anything could be done at all and think the repair is amazing; those who know it's a cheap guitar probably also know that it's not really worth fixing, and will have an eye for the *structural* work that was done.