Why I'm Building a Guitar I Don't Need

I just ordered a pile of guitar parts: a body finished in Firemist Silver, aged just enough to look like it was played before I was born, a neck with a dark rosewood fretboard, carved to a profile that fits my (rather large) hands, and a set of pickups wound to sound like 1952. None of it will arrive for a a handful of months, so right now the whole thing exists only in my mind, but I can't wait to get my hands on the project.

In fairness, I'm not assembling a Telecaster because I need another guitar. I don't. I'm assembling it because, right now, I need something both creative and tactile to work on.

Probably like you, most of my work is in my mind. Ideas, words, frameworks, conversations. Soldering electronics or setting a guitar neck is different because the work pushes back. When you spend your days in the world of ideas, there is something clarifying about work you can hold in your hands. I think that's why we're seeing a desire among many people to return to analog tools, hobbies, and entertainment.

Also, I want to make an artifact. When this guitar is finished, it will be a physical object I can hold and play. My daughter is going to help design elements of the pickguard and the headstock, which means her creative fingerprints will be on it too, so the guitar will be a collaboration with someone I love. Every choice will be visible in the final thing, and some of those choices will be hers. Every time I play it, it will feel personal.

And, I need a project with clear edges. This might be the biggest reason for the build. Most creative work never really ends. because there's always another draft, another pitch, another brief to refine. But a guitar build is finite. The last string goes on, the intonation gets set, and it's done. I'll know when I'm finished, and I'll be able to point to exactly what I did. And, it's a new and unique project that can hang on my office wall and bring me years of enjoyment. Which leads me to this...

I'm mining for joy. Years ago in The Accidental Creative I wrote about the practice of unnecessary creating, which is making things nobody asked for, on no one's deadline, for no target market. It sounds impractical, but it's actually essential. Unnecessary creating is where you rediscover why you fell in love with the work in the first place, before there were clients and stakeholders and metrics. Nobody is paying me to build this guitar and no one is telling me what to do with it, and that's precisely the point.

Here's what I want you to consider: what's your version of the guitar build?

What could you start this season purely because the making is its own reward? It doesn't have to be big, but it has to be yours.

As a side note, on this week's episode of Daily Creative, Ian Bogost and I explored finding joy in the small stuff and Jia Jiang and I discussed the art of easy discipline. You can listen here.

As for me, I'll be checking my mailbox. Somewhere out there, a box of custom double-bound Tele parts is soon on its way to my "workshop".

Have a great week!