Top that...

...bass! This was the tricky part! Everything had to fit just right. There were clamps and more clamps... and...

it looks great! Have I mentioned I have a GREAT assistant?

A bridge to...

... a bass :) This is the part of the bass that holds the strings up. It is made from 1/2 in. steel with a brass rod across the top to hold the strings.

Of Notes...

This is VERY FUN! I have been having a great time "decorating" my brassy notes. It's a bit tricky braising brass with brass... everything melts at the same time or the thing you do NOT want to melt DOES. But I love the colors that happen on the thinner brass of the note itself.

The note stems have been the most challenging, but I think they are turning out pretty good. Sometimes when things go differently than how you plan them to go... it looks cooler than how you planned them. Bonus!

Road Trip...

Clear notes, brassy notes, notes that sparkle, too! Ha!

I went to Omaha last Thursday (July 17) to get my glass notes. Ed Fennel from Hot Shops made them for me. They are just what I wanted! ...a puddle of glass. Also picked up some stained glass supplies plus a couple of "jewels" for my eighth notes while I was in Omaha.

The brassy notes I cut out today, with tin snips, of course. It was much easier than I thought it would be... which is always nice. More on them later.

Have I mentioned my GREAT assistant?

This project is definitely stretching my skills to say the least. I am finding out how much I do NOT know! More than I had hoped! But, I have a GREAT assistant! And I have to say that this piece is better because I have had his help... especially his welding skills! He has been GREAT!

Ouch... and Ouch...

The nice curves of this steel bass were harder than I thought. I didn't know that pounding metal would beat ME up so. I spent a couple of days whammin' on the front and back pieces... not banging... WHAMMing.

The next day I couldn't make a fist... and my back hurt on one side. I put ice on my wrist... ahhhh. And stopped pounding steel (It's just right for now). So, in another day or two I was back to normal.

WoW! I'm glad THAT part's over!

Live model...

Thanks to my nephew, I have a real live model for my bass! What a great guy! He swore he didn't need it back 'till August when school starts...or was that just a ploy to get out of practice. Hmmm...

Anyway, it has been a tremendous help! Plus! Les Korus, a luthier who came highly recommended to me, has also been a marvelous resource...a fountain of information and has even helped me with some parts.

More than metal...

I'm definitely an amatuer metal worker. But, it is the look I like... rough around the edges. Still, there's rough and there's "what the heck is that". So, I have put my wood-working skills to use in the making of patterns or guides to use with my plasma cutter on the more complicated cuts. My assistant helped with the big pattern for the front/back of the bass and I handled the smaller guides. I really should work out, I suppose. Woosie muscles.

While it did take longer than just free-handing, I'm really hoping that, in the end, the extra work and attention will help the bass have at least a half-way decent sound.

Foundations...

...it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. Matthew 7:25

God made me the perfect rock for my sculpture, the foundation... kind of like the bass as the foundation of the strings... the beat... the low note that carries the melody on its back. More profound than I had intended. I was just so excited to find the exact kind of rock I was looking for :)

Here we go...

Doing this piece was more impulse than one of those well-thought-out-plans. One of those "if-then" moments... "If" I am going to be an artist, "then" I had better start getting some art pieces out there! I have more vision than follow through too much of the time :)

The Omaha Symphony accepted my application into their "Music & Masterpieces" fund-raiser, so at least this piece will be out there. Thanks in no small part to my family... they are my assistants on this particular project. I don't weld...yet; they do, hurrah! And they have bigger muscles, yeah!