David Kurtz
What is it about woodworking that first attracted you to it?
When I read this question my initial response was, “The ability to free my mind from
thinking in words and just feel my way through the absolute present for a while.”
But that wasn’t entirely it. Yes, my job and relationships demand constant evaluation of “right
words” in “right phrasing” to express ideas clearly, but woodworking doesn’t just give me a
break from language-dependent thinking...It gives me a break from communication
altogether.
When I’m building an instrument, I’m not thinking about what I’m saying with it. I’m not
forward thinking about how people will react to this or that choice. Maybe pros have to do
that, but I do it for the fun of following my impulse from one cut to the next. Do I want this
smoother? That rounder? These varnished or natural? Do I fix that crack or throw it out and
start over?
So much of my day is wrangling the cyclone of words in my head that the relative silence of a
power tool is an oasis of Zen.
What was one of the first pieces that you created?
A 1-string electric bass guitar made from a Cohiba cigar box. I named it the “CohiBass.”
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THE CONE - ISSUE #9 - SPRING 2016