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Thoughts for today

SamanthaCay

SamanthaCay

Like bass guitar OMG!
Nov 16, 2008
2,401
5,650
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Denver, CO.
#1
What it feels like to have love under the fingers.
Longing for more, creation of more than an object.
Walking mile after mile for one single perfect inch.
I give my years to you my love.
My life is but a reflection of you
I am just a messenger of your glorious voice, a wind upon your string.
Your voice ringing throughout me till the very end.

I've been infatuated with guitars all my life. When I was a teenager I started building them and have been attached at the hip every sense.
I've tried so hard in my life to do so many other things, all in the name of simply scraping by yet it all has felt so inexplicably wrong. Being a luthier is a labor of love they say, however I don't see it that way, rather just as love. There is no labor, only a blissful journey to create yet another beautiful guitar.

I'm transgender, and that in conjunction with my passion that I can't seem to let go of even for a day I feel have met a great deal of trouble.
My family has abandoned me, I've lost jobs, housing and even been denied a chance at going to college. The last decade has been unbelievably troubling for me yet also unbelievably beautiful as throughout I have continued against all adversity to do what was meant for me.
Without a shred of doubt I am a guitar maker through thick and thin. It's funny that some of my hardest times have produced some of my greatest breakthroughs simply out of my will to continue. There has been so much that I could never afford that I simply had to create. This is truly beautiful to me and it's the sole reason that I live regret free despite my difficulties.

Still today I find myself troubled in many ways, in what most would probably consider the bottom. I am poor, technically homeless and in a world of debt, but I am in love, happy and free. I am proud of what I have accomplished and too of where I head.

It's a true blessing to know in every waking moment of life what you are meant to accomplish. I hope I may have caused some small twinkle in your eye a moment of inspiration to love and perhaps follow your own dreams in what capacity you feel is natural.

I hope to some day see bigger and better things, to have financial stability, a place to do my work, ways to provide for those I love and inspire as many wonderful musicians as I can.
 
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#3
Thank you for sharing this and I wish you the best in your endeavours. It caught my attention because I am coming from the opposite angle. I finished college 14 years ago and have had the same job for the last 13. Its in my field though its pretty corporate. I have worked my way up to a position in management which means now I am a technical administrator/babysitter. I now really hate what I do but it provides more than enough financial security for me.

I am now looking for work that more closely aligns with my passions. I know this will be at the expense of my salary. Probably. But I have to do it because I am now what I would have called a sellout in my youth. I thought all along that ive been successful but really am I? Not so much anymore.

There is a happy medium out there. You have passion in what you do but seek financial security we all need. I have financial security but loathe what I do on a daily basis. I dont have any revelations here but I just wanted to say I hope to "meet you in the middle" so to speak. Get after it. Ive been applying to places that look interesting to me.
 
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#4
It's "more THAN an object" not "more THEN an object".

You seem like a neat enough person. Perhaps you may just need to Lighten up a bit. If you approach all of life with the same intensity you did that post, you might just be a bit much for some people to handle. If guitar building is your thing THEN you need to get to a guitar builder with a good reputation and explain that to him/her........maybe not with the same intensity of your post here though. Tell them you are willing to learn. Tell them you are willing to work hard. Tell them you are willing to carry on their tradition.

Who knows? It might just work.
 
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#5
two fingers said:
It's "more THAN an object" not "more THEN an object".

You seem like a neat enough person. Perhaps you may just need to Lighten up a bit. If you approach all of life with the same intensity you did that post, you might just be a bit much for some people to handle. If guitar building is your thing THEN you need to get to a guitar builder with a good reputation and explain that to him/her........maybe not with the same intensity of your post here though. Tell them you are willing to learn. Tell them you are willing to work hard. Tell them you are willing to carry on their tradition.

Who knows? It might just work.
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Thank you for the spelling correction and suggestion.
 
#12
Thanks you guys, I was in a place of needing to vent yesterday, have been a little up and down as of late and you all really cheered me up.
As for pictures of stuff, for starters this is the latest build.
0 some kind of bass. | TalkBass.com
These are the two I still have right now aside from the one above and an old harmony classical.
IMG_20150525_160413.jpg

IMG_20150412_003722.jpg

So this is one that I built/through together fairly recently it's a bit of a rat rod as it took about two weeks to build and a cost of $11
The reason I say through together is because the neck is/was an old half finished Dano neck from the days of yore.
It's a 24" scale and with heavy flats it's crazy muddy thus it's name. ;)
IMG_20150304_072439.jpg

heck%20008%20e.jpg

IMG_20150525_161001.jpg

IMG_20150525_160830.jpg

This is tank, it too is a bit of a rat rod (I have a thing for that) however a tad more refined.
The parts/wood came from all over the place on this one and everything was crazy cheap or salvaged, everything down to the screws was touched.
Its engraved/acid etched hardware and the electronics are things that I'm very proud of with this one, that and about 300 hours of time put into it.

Idk that's just a snippet, I've built quite a few, some that just slipped by without even a photo.
One thing I've been thinking about lately that I want to do is a quality gloss finish. It's something I haven't done in several years and I feel like I need a bass that represents that I can also do "clean" if you will.
I like to use a lot of recycled stuff and I've been tossing around ideas the last few years as far making it something I could actually make money at.
A big part of that is the whole rat rod look though I think it's important to do shinny and new as well.
 
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#13
^ I really like the second bass. Now that is what I call road worn. I have thought about a bass built from recycled wood but I don't have the skills you do. I always wanted to see a bass built from re-cycled redwood. There was a time in Northern California when you could get that for cheap or next to nothing from old barns and chicken coops. I wonder what a redwood bass would sound like?
Not suggesting you build one I like what you have done.
 
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#14
SamanthaCay said:
Thank you for the spelling correction and suggestion.
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Ha ha, I've always had a completely different take on you, found your posts amusingly bizarre sometimes, but always amusing and entertaining (I vaguely remember a critique of some "Dennys" like establishment that I thought really funny and well written). Your post really impressed me, it's the thing I'd like to be able to do - lay all the passions and doubt out there for all to see and then see what happens/
 
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#15
Here's an example of clean (mostly). This is a '72 Mosrite that looked as though the original finish had been removed with a hammer or something of the like.
It hung around for about six months while being slowly restored to its original color and shape.
before%20after%20mosrite.jpg
 
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#16
bachlover said:
Ha ha, I've always had a completely different take on you, found your posts amusingly bizarre sometimes, but always amusing and entertaining (I vaguely remember a critique of some "Dennys" like establishment that I thought really funny and well written). Your post really impressed me, it's the thing I'd like to be able to do - lay all the passions and doubt out there for all to see and then see what happens/
Click to expand...
Bachlover and I had a conversation in the lobby about what it means to be real. I think Samantha's post is a good example of that.
Hi Samantha, don't mean to talk about you like you are not here.
 
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#17
slobake said:
Bachlover and I had a conversation in the lobby about what it means to be real. I think Samantha's post is a good example of that.
Hi Samantha, don't mean to talk about you like you are not here.
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Gah! You talk like I'm not here, like I am not even real!:D
Wait, no, yep I'm real, otherwise how could I possibly be here typing this, which means you must be real as well! Unless this is just a dream, but it would be a real dream so that's real at least.:roflmao:
 
#20
SamanthaCay said:
By the way, how is the lobby? It's been a few years since I was last a supporting member and I just remember that it used to be a bit of a ghost town.
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It has been pretty active since some trouble maker started a thread called "Ask a Jesus Freak Anything". Since then there have been other active threads about religion. I haven't been there myself since my paid membership lapsed. As soon as i save enough from my lunch money I will be back.
 
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