Two hours sleep is not recommended when trying to work long days with delicate judgement required, but that's rock 'n roll . . .
An amazing thing about Formentera is the night sky. Driving back from the workshop in San Ferran, we saw the bright lights of Ibiza, with the whole coastline lit up! Looking south from Ibiza town, you can see a few twinkling lights of Es Pujols and La Savina as a contrast. But with almost zero ambient light at night in Formentera, the clear sky is an amazing spectacle with more stars than you have ever seen, including shooters, the Milky Way. It is difficult to explain, so here is a great photo from Casa Eric last night . . .
Well, it is pretty hard to take a photo of the night sky . . . .
Yesterday morning was hard. We are were all hungover and tired, and the first job was to finally sand the newly oiled guitars with the finest paper I have ever seen, but wet with the oil. Feeling a little dodgy, the pervasive smell of linseed oil was not the best thing for the delicate stomachs . . .
Many fiddly things were done. I went through the painstaking process of sanding all 22 frets so they are all in perfect alignment, then ensuing they all had a proper curve at the top, and then rounding off each end from every direction. Agh, I'm feeling dizzy again just thinking about it.
More fret sanding, then fretboard oil, then steel wool, then polishing, and now it feels and looks beautiful . . .
But it's picking up bad habits already . . . Yes, that's Hierbas and Absinthe . . .
I worked more on my pickups, drilled a hole for the earth wire (never even realised there was one!).
A little more rubbing and oil sanding to remove the last few blemishes and slightly soften the front endges of the body.
During this time, Eric did his nut!
Eric also seemed to enjoy the rubbing and oil sanding more than most!
Lunch was fitful hallucinatory sleep, but I felt better for it!
Eric waxed his pickups, after experimenting with a 'back, sack and crack'. He had trouble walking later . . .
I worked on my bridge and hammered a few things which made me feel better . . .
Eric's bass beast is looking good . .
Later in the evening the first guitars were born. First Roland with a stunning Toro, complete with strings and electrics, and he plugged in and we got the first music from his newborn. He is a happy man.
Next up was Christian with his beautiful Gibson Les Paul Smartwood which looks and sounds stunning. Unfortunately the camera battery had run out so this is what it looked like just hours earlier . .
Big pressure for us tomorrow (today). We hope to complete ours . . .
Watch this space . . .
