Fido’s Ass, or Making a First Guitar

by John Jackson

Originally published in American Lutherie #114, 2013



Sometimes a new direction in life comes at the end of a long chain of barely remembered events; sometimes it comes with a sudden jolt of clarity and inspiration. My decision to build my own handmade guitar was a sudden jolt. Often, during the 400-plus hours it took me to complete this project, I wondered if what I thought was clarity and inspiration was really just blindness and foolhardiness.

I decided to build a guitar about the time I was finishing a Shaker-style slant-top desk. This desk had all the pigeon holes, drawers, hand-cut dovetails, and pinned mortises, and I was feeling smug about my accomplishment and my woodworking abilities. I needed a can of paste wax for the finishing touches on my desk, and that brought on what turned out to be a fortuitous trip to Woodcraft of Orlando.