We seriously can't get away from India! There are so many things to do here, and we love all of it. This country has devoted much of its existence to exploring the nature of reality and spiritual practices, so we have spent a lot of time looking around at what all of these practices can offer (you can read more about that in our previous blogging.) After all of our spiritual exploration, though, by some cosmic chance, we became neighbors with Jim, a physically huge, but big-hearted Utahn, former Weber State footballer. As we got to know him, he introduced us to a luthier teacher in the area, and we are now totally hooked!
Although our decision to become luthiers might seem strange to many of you who are acquainted with our backgrounds, education, etc., it really is a perfect fit for us. The results and progress we see each day thrill us, and and we just love the calm and meditative state that we experience in this cingular-focused work. While being a luthier isn't necessarily easy, it is uncluttered by rigidity and is surprisingly flexible. Aside from this, if one is diligent and becomes a master luthier, it can even provide a living. Chris, our England-born luthier teacher, moved to India to open a center, which now provides a comfortable income for his family. However, we aren't necessarily set on taking the same course in life as Chris, as becoming a master luthier really requires a lot of dedication and time. However we develop as luthiers, we are really pleased to have stumbled into this, and definitely intend to continue enjoying the fruits of this work for our entire lives. We'll just let these pictures explain an experience which can't really be put into words.
By the way, a "luthier" is a guitar-maker just in case anyone is wondering exactly what that word means, and we are hand-crafting a guitar of our own. We certainly didn't intend for our ambiguous description of "luthier" and the above worshipful looking images to cause anyone to even momentarily worry that we joined a new religion, which are exceedingly abundant in India.
Below is a picture of the progress we have made so far during our guitar-making course, and a picture of Chris, the master luthier (check out http://www.jungleguitars.com/). Like we mentioned, we get to keep the fruits of our labors as luthiers, although it's a bit difficult to haul around a guitar in addition to all our other stuff. We'll look forward to strumming out a sweet tune for anyone who requests when we return home!
6 comments:
You aren't very nice...I read the first few paragraphs and looked at the pictures and then quickly did a google search on Luthiers. Glad to hear you aren't worshiping trees...yet.
Ha. Nice Rusty. Your blog has officially lowered my productivity at work by 50%. I'll be anxiously awaiting to see where you are and what you're doing next.
This is so cool- making your own guitar. What good memories! Seriously- how much longer are you going to be traveling?
OMG! My sister sent me your blog address a while back and I am just checking it out. What an AMAZING experience you guys are having. I loved to read all of your posts. We really miss you here. I loved the luthier thing, you really had me curious. I was ready to convert.
Hey! My sister gave me your blog address a while back and I am just checking it out. Wow! what an AMAZING experience you two are having. We miss you here and I am so glad I can follow what you are up to. The Luthier thing was great, I was about ready to convert myself.
I was waiting and waiting through the blog to see that you had stumbled across some ancient religion....and well, it is almost as if you have! What an incredible experience. PLEASE re-think opening a shop! You made me a believer!
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