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Location: Los Angeles, California, United States

I have been a Los Angeles City firefighter for 20 years. I work in the Glassell Park section of Los Angeles. In 1985-1986 I worked for Charvel/Jackson in Glendora, California. It was a great experience, regardless of it being just a $5.00 an hour job. I worked in the wood shop and did the inlaying and fretting. I did get to see Neal Schon, from Journey, in one of his videos use a guitar I worked on and fretted. That was over 23 years ago. I was watching MTV with my cousin when I saw the guitar. I said, "Jim, look, I made that guitar." "And how much did they pay you...?" he asked. "Five dollar an hour" I told him. "Five dollars?...that's it?" Then he changed the channel. Making only $5.00 per hour puts things into perspective. But it still was fun. Now, it's just simple tools and equipment. It ain't perfect, but it is fun.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Fretboard binding and neck repair.



Got the binding cleaned up and it looked good. A bit strange with the styles of inlay, but I used it all up like I said I would. As I was sanding the neck sides, I got too excited and sanded a bit more than I had planned. Even though I like the new sander, I should have been a bit more careful. As you see, I am using a piece of wood sawn from the neck side as a little repair piece. It'll look great when it's done. No worries! That's what makes it a challenge. I want to show all the problems and design quirks that go with this project. I don't like seeing the before and after, where someone starts with a piece of wood.. then the finished item with no in-between. And you seldom see the mistakes, because we know there are some. If I had all the fancy machinery big builders had, maybe it wouldn't be so challenging. Hey, I worked for a company, and they too messed up on occasion.

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