Well,

The guitar I built is finally set-up and playable. Overall, I’m pleased with the guitar. The feel of the neck and body is very close to my own guitar, which was my goal from the beginning. The wood stain didn’t come out as deep as I had hoped and the protective clear-coat isn’t very strong.

It was fun to get back into the shop again and work with my hands. Of course, having the neck professionally crafted took a great deal of the difficulty out of the building process.

I call the guitar a “Str-elecaster” because it’s a combination of a Strat and Tele-style guitar. The neck is very thin and has a 70’s Fender CBS-era headstock from Warmoth. The bridge and electronics are the same as a Tele. The bridge has 6 individual saddles for improved intonation. The pickups are from two different sources: neck - Stewart-MacDonald Golden Age, bridge - Fender American Standard. Finally, there is simply one master volume knob, a tone knob that controls both pickups, and a 3-way selector switch.

I’ll bet only guitar nuts will find this article interesting but I hope you at least think the guitar is handsome!

My latest music project is teamed up with Tinderbox Entertainment on their yet-to-be-titled video game release. The music is being scored for a small group of instruments: flute, bass flute, bassoon, harpsichord, and percussion. The aim of the music is to be simplistic with the ability to be looped and layered. I am loosely styling the music as baroque but, at times, using modern harmonies - I suppose neo-classical would be a better descriptor.

As this is my first time writing music for this kind of project, I am very excited to learn about the relationship of video game music and the game itself. The main challenge is to make sure the music has enough presence to engage the player but to not draw attention away from the action or sound effects during gameplay. Fortunately, the team at Tinderbox HQ has been very supportive and helpful in this collaboration so far.

No release date for the game.

Check back soon for pictures of my newly completed electric guitar!

Hello,

I have been receiving many comments about my workstation (which you can see in a couple of the photos here). To answer your questions, I built the desk using a design that I tailored to my specific needs. I mostly wanted a lot of open desktop space, plenty of storage for supplies and sheet music, and to have a pull-out tray for my digital piano to rest on. Many of the raw building materials were found at the Rebuilding Center in Portland, OR. I decided to use recycled materials not only for obvious environmental reasons, but also because the prices are much more affordable than those of brand new materials.

The desktop is simply a solid wood door 6.5′x3.5′ - and it’s very heavy! I positioned the doorknob hole to be at the back of the desk so that I could route computer/component cables easily and neatly. There is a recycled set of drawers holding up one end of the desk and a homemade shelf on the other side. I designed the shelves so that they would be the right size for my numerous 3-ring binders full of piano/orchestral scores. Lastly, to keep the desktop clear at all times, I made two pull-out trays: one for the keyboard and mouse, the other for my digital piano.

Altogether, after the rest of the hardware and supplies were purchased, I spent about $80 - not to mention the time it took to design and fabricate the desk. It is certainly more satisfying having saved money by building something that is custom made, rather than spending a couple hundred dollars on a piece of furniture that might not be exactly fit your needs.

What is my next music/woodworking-related project? I am building a new electric guitar. When I was in high school I got the crazy idea to build an electric guitar. It took me nearly 4 years to finally finish the monstrosity and by then I had grown to hate my initial design. In addition, with the limited woodworking skills and tools I had, the neck I produced was unplayable. Having grown wiser in the years since graduating high school, I decided to build a new guitar but to order a neck crafted by a professional luthier. I had a neck custom built from Warmoth in Puyallup, WA. It was made to match the shape and contours of the neck on my only electric guitar which I’ve grown accustomed to over the past 11 years.

When the guitar is finished I’ll post a couple pictures so that anyone who’s interested may admire it.

-Daniel

Thank you for taking the time to check out the site and all of the features. My main goal in establishing this web site is to provide a simple place where anyone can hear my music. In the ‘Music’ page there is a list of works organized by ensemble size; if you click on the titles you will hear some demos, entire (albeit brief) pieces, and many excerpts from music that is available on CD. To anyone interested in commissioning a work from me, I hope the music samples give an idea of the range of my instrumental writing ability. Pages from various scores are posted for musicians that are looking for new works to perform; just click on the treble clef icon.

I hope you enjoy the entire site. Please feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, or suggestions.

-Daniel