Life is Cheap… And So is Art

No one would ever accuse me of being a tree-hugging hippie.

At least not if they want to stay out of a dentist chair.

But I will confess to having fairly… ecological thoughts.

Speaking of which, when did ‘environment’ and/or ‘environmental’ replaceecology andecological ? I’m doubtlessly showing my age, but I remember in the 70s when theecology was the thing the Native American on TV was crying about.

But never mind that.

My point is simply this: I am actually aware of environmental issues and general life matters such as being wasteful, etc.

I spend a lot more time than people think being aware of the absolute luxury of being able to drink water from the tap, and drink as much as I want. I can even have hot water if I want.

The ability to choose not to drink tap water and to buy ‘better’ water is such a monstrous luxury on a global scale that we probably don’t even want to think about it.

I feel guilty at times living in Hong Kong because we are an incredibly un-environmental city. The number of plastic bottles I go through makes me queasy.

I was shocked to learn that something like 30% of waste in HK is food. That bothers me. I was raised in a house where wasting food was only slightly less of a sin than standing up in church and screaming “F@#$ the Pope!”

Don’t ask me how I know the difference. Just trust me.

So in my own life, I try not to be wasteful. As someone who loves guitars, I have a lot of respect and indeed affection for wood. I hang on to almost every little piece of wood I can use, and I’m glad I do. Not just because it is conscientious, but because it allows me to occasionally do things that have some kind of artistic merit.

This is one of my guitars. The body and neck are made of Padouk , an African wood that does not require a finish . I really like the natural look of it, and it had a reddish hue that I like a lot.

Granted, Padouk dust gets everywhereand makes everythingit touches red.  I have socks that are orange from dust that got into them 4 years ago.

This is the back of the guitar.

Notice the control cavity cover. It’s hard not to notice it. It’s black plastic. Nothing wrong with that, I just don’t care for it.

A few years ago I made a replica of Edward Van Halen’s Kramer ’5150′ guitar:

But instead of red, black and white paint I used red, black, and white woods: Padouk, Ebony and Maple.

The neck I bought for it was made of maple, and to make the guitar match the original, I applied Padouk veneer to the headstock.

**

I had a lot of veneer left over, so I put it aside and kept it. I’m glad I did.**

I used some of the veneer to cover the black plastic cavity cover. Using lots of super glue, I simply attached a sheet of veneer to the plastic, trimmed it to shape, and sanded it. Then I applied some Danish Oil just to clean it up a bit.

You can see where I needed to do a patch on the lower portion. Since this is a backplate, and for one of my own guitars, I will let it slide. I’d never do work like that for a customer. I can live with it, though of course I don’t like it.

Here it is next to a stock cover. I think the difference is obvious.

Which you can also say about the guitar:

Among my collection of wood scraps, I also have lots and lots of little pieces of different kinds of wood. I keep these tiny pieces since I never know when I might need them or when inspiration may strike. Like it did yesterday.

I took several pieces of different woods, among them Walnut, Rosewood, Flame Maple, Mahogany and others and fashioned some wooden guitar picks.

I was mostly just trying to get my hands back into practice after the local freezing weather had put my hands (and workspace) on hold for what seemed like an eternity.

The two-tone pick in the top row is mahogany with ebony veneer across the top for reinforcement; the pick split during construction and so obviously would need some extra strength.

The pick on the bottom right was made from a cutoff piece of the body blank used for the aforementioned 5150 replica:

So I managed to be vaguely artistic with ‘junk.’ I was very happy with the results, and I was also glad that I made use of things others might see as just garbage.

So don’t let anyone fool you; art is cheap.