I have been getting a lot of mileage out of old number 38, the first Punch tenor. The box is a good size, it sounds pretty good, it is a nice size. So I went back to the smoke shop and asked if they had another of those boxes. Took them a while to get one empty (something about cigars not selling as well. A health risk, apparently. Who knew?), but finally one came free and they called me. About that time I found out that an old friend named Lance from New York had a connection to Pete Seeger and said that if I could get a box over there that Pete would sign it for me. Holy jeebers. Thanks to the USPS and Lance I ended up with a cigar box with Pete's autograph so clearly had to make another tenor.
This one has been an interesting process. Not only is it more fraught for me because I damn well better not screw it up, it is the first time I am building something I have built before, with the possibility of building it better.
That is Seeger's autograph below the bridge.
For a neck I got out some black locust that had been a tree in our backyard. We took it down a couple of years ago and I had some of it sawn into lumber. It is about ready to use, so I took a chunk of that. I have never use black locust before, it is kind of stringy with an open grain. Looks an awful lot like red oak, actually. For a bridge I used a scrap of Corian, a countertop material. I got that idea from my friend Steve Wishnevsky. He told me that Corian transfers the sound to the tone wood better than a lot of woods, so I have been using that.
All in all, it came out pretty well. I have a new favorite instrument. And if anyone wants the first Punch tenor (the one that is linked above) drop me a line. I'm looking to sell it to a good home. I can't play two of them.
It being autographed by Pete Seeger, I had to have the first song be a Seeger tune.
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