Settled-in...FINALLY!

Greetings!

Well, I’ve finally got a moment to take some time and bring everyone up to speed on what’s been going on since I arrived in Big Rapids. It’s been a hell of ride!

After visiting my brother’s family in Chatham, NY and then spending two nights with my cousin in Rochester and at her fabulous weekend-house in the Finger Lakes region of NY, I set out on my journey, staying over in Cleveland, OH where I took a spin through the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and then on to Lansing, MI via Detroit and the Henry Ford Museum. I had planned to stay in Detroit overnight, continuing on to Grand Rapids (where I’d planned to stay because it was only an hour from my final destination) the following day, but I found downtown Detroit so dirty and unfriendly (not in a homey, NYC way) that I decided to just continue on toward Grand Rapids and stop off whenever I got tired. I’ve found that out here in the Midwest there’s not a lot between “here and there” and so, after attempting to get off I-96 three times only to find yet another really, REALLY depressing motel and “lounge”, I finally ended up taking the exit for Lansing, Michigan’s capital. The first hotel I found was the Radisson, in the heart of downtown, and a block away from the Capitol building. Saying the Radisson Hotel is Lansing’s equivalent of the Waldorf Astoria is a fair assessment, all things being equal. Lansing, while astonishingly small, is really quite charming, and I was able to spend several hours at The Michigan Historical Center educating myself on the history of the lumber industry, the various Native American tribes and general history of the Great Lakes region. With the new zoom-lens I bought in Rochester I took many photographs of the Capitol building. I had a really nice night in Lansing and decided to stay another, and left for Big Rapids, the location of my school, on Sunday morning in order to arrive on time for my class orientation at noon.

The school is very impressive. I’m leaving out specific names because I want to be able to maintain this blog without someone at the school receiving a link to it from a web-bot search tool they set up to catch any mention of the school’s name. That’s the way I’d play it, at least.

I started class last Monday, and today, a week later I’m in the final assembly phase of my first instrument, a sweet, SWEET four-string Jazz Bass with a honey-amber sunburst finish, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, and a tortoise-shell pickguard. On the headstock, in gold , I’ve inscribed “JRR #1 – MI 05/07.” I will be posting pictures of it as soon as I get my camera software set up properly. Today I did my first “fret-dress” which is all about grinding frets down, and essentially making them like new again. Over the years, I’ve payed other people a lot of money to do this, without really knowing all the steps involved. The only thing more drastic is a complete fret-job, which I will do when I build my accoustic steel-string guitar, beginning next week, I imagine.

It would be hard to touch on all the things I’ve learned in just one week of being here. Suffice it to say that I knew this would be a great “learning experience,” but I had no idea of the sheer ammount of info I’d be getting….nor did I have any idea how much it was possible to know. To be sure, it is an “intensive” program. We are on a break-neck schedule and, throw into that mix power-tools and sheer confusion, and you’ve got the makings of something really interesting.

Tonight, for the first time I have no homework (self-assigned, just copying over the days lecture notes) and I’m kicking back with some fine Yellow Tail shiraz and the new Rush album on my $30 boom-box purchased at Wal-Mart. There’s not much to do here BESIDES go to Wal-Mart, so I’ve embraced it. My house is about three miles from the school, on a dead-straight Michigan farm road (lots of “Ho-Shees,” as my neice Isabelle used to say.) When I first got here, it felt a little desolate, but I’m growing to like it. My housemates are nice, and one of them is in the Master-Builder program, so he’s been through my course before, and is good for tips on stuff that’s coming up. My other housemate is from Oakland, was a roadie for Van Halen back in the day, and a builder of crazy rock guitars in his own right. Both are former professional chefs so we’re all eating well. School starts at 8am every morning, so I’m up at 6:30 everyday.

Thanks for reading. I’ve found the “nice” bowling alley with Wi-Fi, so I’ll be trying to get there every night after class to do email and update this page. Keep reading, and photos are on the way!!

JRR

Prologue: Why I'm doing this

As most of you know by now, last week I gave up my apartment in lovely Brooklyn, NY to drive to the wilds of Michigan for an eight-week, intensive training course in instrument-making and repair.

Q: "Gee, Joe, why did you do THAT?"
A: Excellent question.

First, I own a small museum of acoustic and electric instruments. Living in the East, seemingly always by the water, these instruments require a minimum amount of adjustment as the seasons change, and their wood expands and contracts accordingly. With seasonal "set-ups" (adjustments) averaging around $60 per instrument, per season, I spend rather more than I'd care to on keeping my arsenal in good working order.

Second, a year or so ago I was asked by a close friend to weigh the feasibility of buying an established boutique, high-end guitar store located two blocks from the main gate of the
U.C. Berkley campus, a stone's-throw from San Francisco. The store was a great opportunity, but I wasn't comfortable with my lack of technical knowledge of the construction and repair of guitars and basses. Instrument repair was a large part of the store's income. For the same reason a person who doesn't know how to cook might pass up the opportunity to buy a restaurant for fear of that fateful night the cook calls in sick, I took a pass. I'd like to be better prepared next time.

So, as a way to save myself some easy maintenance money, and to acquire skills that can perhaps facilitate bigger things down the line, I've ponied up the tuition, packed up my car with "essentials" and left New York. For two months...

(More to come...)