So last weekend J.W. Black (ex-Sadowsky and Custom Shop Master Builder) and his wife Lynn came by to visit my wife Dana and I. J and Lynn moved to Eugene, Oregon, after he left Fender a couple of years ago. He lives about two hours away from me so it's kinda cool… we still see each other every month or so. J continues to do repairs and restorations for some of the top names in music. He asked me again this weekend if I was interested in building guitars again, I told him no, at least not yet.

I guess the NAMM show was last weekend. That's two years in a row I've haven't gone. The first time since 1978. It feels kinda weird, but I hear there wasn't much new to see anyway. That's a drag. I remember that our goal every year was to knock peoples' teeth in the dirt at NAMM. Always come out showing something amazing… sometimes we hit, sometimes we didn't. I think that it's a shame that manufacturers have gotten into this “box store� mentality of “the same thing only cheaper�. Oh well, I guess that's why I just do art now.

I just spent about three weeks building tooling for a new table I designed. It looks really simple, but it's a ton of work to actually build it. I call it “Table 351�, ‘cause it looks kinda like the famous 351 guitar pick. I'll show a picture of the table when I get the first proto complete, but for now, here's a pic of all of the different tools I had to make to build it. These should be in a couple of galleries by February. For the first time, I'm actually thinking of selling these direct as well… we'll see.

Well, it's late… I'm tired… and I've been turning 2� diameter quilted maple balls on the lathe all day, so I think I'll sign off…

John