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From: Ross
Remote Name: 76.101.10.136
Date: 15 May 2007
Time: 08:12:41 -0400
Luthier’s Weblog 5/15/07 Well I’ve got to say that it’s not always a picnic getting ideas down on paper. This is not an action that flows naturally. Particularly the mechanics of the whole thing. I watch my kids stare at the screen, their little fingers flying at top speed, and never make a mistake. I have to watch the keyboard and poke away at snail’s pace with two or three arthritic fingers that don’t always hit the keys I’m pointing at. Then I look up at the screen and go through spellcheck hell for 15 minutes. On top of this, the material written is supposed to be at least ballpark cogent. It seems that I’ve not selected the appropriate attitude with which to begin today’s festivities . Usually, each day before I do a human-to-human interface, I’ll select an attitude that is more congenial than the one I wake up with. This occasionally takes some serious mind wrangling. Failure to do this results in an unsuccessful relationship interaction, something I can ill afford, be it with family or with customers. Many women do the same thing, only with makeup. They are simply selecting the face they want to present to the public. A variation on what I’m saying. I need to be a little more forgiving of these women in light of my own version of this. Maybe I’ll use a little shadow tomorrow. There’s probably no way to relate all that to lutherie, except to say that one needs to compose oneself mentally before undertaking design, construction, adjustment or repair of an instrument. An emotion-free blank slate upstairs is likely the best state, and the closer I can get to that, the better the shop experience. And the faster time goes, coincidentally. I frequently remind my robot luthier that it is best to select a mindset for a particular shop experience IN ADVANCE, so that negative energy and the concomitant mistakes that result do not infect the product. That‘s generally more important than what brand of sandpaper he uses. Ross Teigen 8:15 am