Before you embark on the journey to become a Ridgewing Maker, we recommend proper orientation. It will be an easy slope to hike, as we see no need to do rock climbing when there is a nice long walk around the back side to get you up to the same place. There are occasional benches in the shade to sit down, kick back and enjoy the view before heading up to the next view.

Along the way you are going to screw up, sometimes big-time, so prepare yourself. DON’T throw away your mistakes. In the shop’s big roll-around mechanic’s bench I picked up at the dump, whose many shallow drawers are otherwise just right for keeping different guitar components in, the bottom drawer is by far the biggest, deepest drawer, which makes it the perfect place to keep screw-ups. Delaminated neck, broken expensive 3D printed frame, huge mold bubbles, broken bridge hooks, even a busted clamp, and many more, they all lie in peaceful reverie, dreaming big dreams of what they could have been, if only …. Probably a person-month of wasted work in there, snoring away.

All the different colors make you think they might be good for decorating some kind of mutant Christmas tree, but no, they really are ugly. Maybe save them to sell at a “sick auction”, but no, you will miss them, and be impoverished.  They are your teachers, and it will be good to consult them every now and then.