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WHY AND WHAT
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The "Guitar Corral" is basically just a piece of
furniture designed for the purpose of storing guitars in a
way that keeps them relatively contained so they're not all
over the place, and yet keeps them each easily accesible for
when they're needed. The project was something which only
gradually coalesced in my mind, as I continued to manage my
guitars without one. There came a point where I sat down and
measured all my instrument cases, and massaged the numbers
to see how big something would have to be to actually be
useful as a solution to the problem of disarray.
Approximately a month later, on Monday, 12-08-03, I actually
began building what I'd come to think of as the "guitar
corral". It was officially finished and immediately
rushed into service, on Wednesday, 01-14-04.
I've termed it a "corral", basically, for lack of
a more apt term. It's not really a shelf, because it's not
mounted on a wall. It's not a cabinet, because it doesn't
fully enclose the contents, have walls, doors, etc. It's not
a rack, because it doesn't suspend the contents in any way
(other than keeping them off the floor), or even have
anything to separate the content items one from another. (No
pegs, dividers, or anything like that.) The design of rails
was fashioned after that of a yard fence - which made me
think of the posts and rails in a horse corral, since its
purpose is to set some limit regarding where the contents
spend time while they're not in use. So, "guitar
corral", it became and will forever remain.
The guitar corral is made out of wood. It has a platform
panel supported at the edges and corners, and via two beams
beneath the panel. It has four vertical boards; one at each
corner, which support the rails, and extend through the
platform frame to fill the second purpose of having the
frame up on short legs. There are two extra legs of short
wood, so the platform is supported front and back halway
along its length. Support beams from front middle leg to
rear middle leg, form a secondary method of support for
the primary support beams (and, the platform panel above
them). There are two sets of rails which are attached to the
vertical boards, enclosing three sides and leaving the front
side open/accessible. The upper rails are 1x4's, and the
lower rails are approx. 1x2's (ripped from 1x4's). All of
the connections between the various pieces of wood are via
use of twinthread cabinetry screws of various sizes - no
nails, and no glue. The finishing of the piece will prevent
those screws from ever backing out.
The wood used, was a mixture of new wood
purchased for the project and old wood (some of it
previously used) scavenged from various places. The new wood
was needed because I didn't have 1x4's that were 4 feet
long, or any boards I could rip &/or trim to create the
necessary 1x4's. The panel also was new wood, for basically
the same reason. The two main support beams were from wood
left over from a project making a new well pit lid for my
mother's well pit - orginally, obtained from my uncle's
woodpile stash of old & used wood in his yard.
The finishing of the piece occured in two stages. The first
stage was the application of outdoor latex paint. Why would
I use outdoor paint? Answer: Because it's more durable,
resistant to weathering, and it's what I had on hand. The
second stage was the covering of the paint with Minwax
wipe-on poly sealant. That made the paint much more durable,
and ensured a better seal against moisture, etc. I could
have (should have?) done a simple stain-and-seal job, and
been done with it much, much, much more quickly than the
time it took - but, I began the finishing process by
thinking in terms of what color I wanted it to be - and,
discovered (to my dismay) after painting began, that
choosing to work in color(s) magically transformed the
process from simply applying preservative finish to become
the churning out a piece of art. Once begun as a painting
process, there was no turning back.
I began this tedious project, because I was driven by a
need. I was sick & tired of my guitars being
all over the place, and continuously needing to wrestle the
cases from one place to another, getting them out of the way
in order to do other things - and, then wrestle them back to
where they'd been, when those other things were finished.
The guitar corral should solve that problem, and contain
those wild things into one place so they're not disrupting
the rest of my activities.
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One thing I hadn't anticipated in my planning, was that the
guitar corral is large enough to make it difficult to get
the entire thing into one picture within the enclosed places
of my workshop & my apartment. When Summer comes, I have
the intention of unloading it, wrestling it outside where I
can back away from it a bit and have it in much better
lighting conditions, and take better photos of it. In the
meantime, the photos I was able to get are going to have to
be sufficient. Please excuse the graininess of some of
them,... I had to make major adjustments to brightness and
contrast of most of the photos, seeking to bring out
details.
Here are some pictures of the (finally!) finished guitar
corral:
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IN CONCLUSION
I hope you've enjoyed my little story about the guitar
corral! Any further developments re. this, or better photos,
will be posted onto this page as & when they occur.
~~~
Scruffy Eagle
~~~
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