About Me

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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.

Friday, October 27, 2006

Fixing cracks, but that's not the real issue today.


The crack I had on the slot base caused me to take some measures so as not to further encourage splits. I routed and glued in some scrap pieces of neck stock to secure the body. Just like the back of acoustics, where they have back reinforcment strips. I think it is the humidity playing with the wood too. Right now it's close to the low 20's. It's been a bit high before that. This weather got me thinking about certain things...this humidity and winds we're having just east of me. Yesterday, four firemen were killed and one burned in critical condition, close to Palm Springs. Their fire engine was overrun by heavy fire fueled by strong winds. They had no way to escape. And I think about this guitar, and having to deal with cracks and splits in the wood. Somewhere, about 60 miles east of my house, five families wished all they had to worry about were splits in wood. God bless them.

posted by Mike Perez | 9:49 PM

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