What Is Your Background In Music And Guitar? Aside from playing the triangle in my elementary school music
class, I have absolutely no background in music and I can’t play a single chord on a guitar! However, I have always had a love and a pref- erence for classic rock and oldies over my generation’s music. There is something that’s timeless about the music of legendary bands such as Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, and AC/DC, just to name a few.
What Led You To The Fusion Of These Two Entities? My first few years as a new teacher, I had my students build-
ing very traditional and common middle school woodworking proj- ects such as candle boxes, CO2 powered cars, shelves, etc. This be- came boring for me and I knew the students were capable of much more challenging and high-quality work. During my second year of teaching, I did a search online for “middle school woodshop proj- ects.” That simple search changed my entire career for the better. I stumbled across a webpage entitled “WoodShop Rocks!” The site and program’s creator, Duane Calkins, is a Woodworking teacher at Bul- jan Middle School in Roseville, California. The site had pictures of eighth grade students holding beautifully handcrafted electric guitars. When I saw the pictures, I was blown away. I was in awe and disbelief that eighth grade students actually built these guitars. I immediately sent an introductory e-mail to Calkins loaded with questions about the program. Soon after, Calkins sent me a package with various gui- tar patterns so I could build my own guitar. Over the next four or five months, mostly after school, little by little, I built a guitar. For me, the woodworking itself, is very easy. But I have no musical back- ground and didn’t know about scale lengths, bridge placement, into- nation, and all of the other important musical elements that would go into it. Any time I had a question, I would have to call Duane and work around the three-hour time difference and our teaching schedules. After finishing my first guitar, a Telecaster style, I knew I could use some more hands-on instruction to properly implement the program at my school. So the first day of summer break, at 5:00 a.m., my brother and I got on a plane to Sacramento, CA. Despite jet lag, we went right from the airport to Calkins’ school wood shop and started building. We spent six days out there, four of which were spent building our guitars. I made a Les Paul style guitar and Lee built a Warlock style guitar. Having Duane’s immediate feedback on ques- tions was priceless. Once we got back, I was at my school shop most of the rest of the summer, turning paper patterns from Duane’s shop into wood patterns and setting up specialty machines to be dedicated to various guitar building tasks. It was very exciting to be able to fuse my love of teaching, Woodworking, and music.
What Is The Prerequisite To Enroll In Your Class At Grice Middle School?
There is no prerequisite to enroll in my class at Grice Middle
School. The “WoodShop Rocks” program is offered in my eighth grade Technology/Industrial Arts class, which is an elective. When students in seventh grade are scheduling for eighth grade classes, they have a choice of enrolling in various electives such as Technology/Industrial Arts, Mu- sic, Art, Family and Consumer Science, Foreign Language, etc.
OCTOBER 2014
What Type Of Machinery Is Used In Your Class? Students are exposed to and use most, but not all, of the machin-
ery in my room. The only machine students do not use in my room is the table saw. During my safety lessons, students first learn how to square lumber using the planer, jointer, table saw, and radial arm saw. Then students learn how to use the band saw, scroll saw, drill press, router, disc/belt sander, spindle sander, orbital sander, electric drills, and angle grinders. Later on in the project, students also learn how to use soldering irons when they wire the electronics for their guitars.
Where Do You Get Your Supplies From And What Types Of Woods Do You Use?
The common questions I’m always asked are “Are your guitars
built from a kit?” and “Where do you buy the necks from?” Every- thing that is wood on our guitars (the body, neck, and fretboard) starts out as rough sawn lumber in my shop. The only things we pur- chase are the hardware and electronics. Skip’s Music store in Sacra- mento, CA is a partner with “Woodshop Rocks.” Each year, they put together individual guitar hardware kits consisting of pickups, bridge, tailpiece, switches, potentiometers, input jack, bone nut blank, neck plate, and tuning machines. For cost reasons, I started by using Pop- lar for the guitar bodies. However, I will be switching to Alder soon, which is a better tone wood. All of our necks are made using Maple and our fretboards are Walnut. Occasionally we use curly maple for a carved top guitar body. Our lumber is purchased from Willard Broth- er’s Lumber in Trenton, NJ.
What Do You Think Attracts Young People To The Guitar?
I think no matter what age you are, no one can deny that the gui- tar always has and always will remain the symbol of “cool.” During the Rock and Roll movement in the 60’s, groups such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and many others made the guitar the centerpiece of the band. If you didn’t play guitar, you didn’t get the attention. I think that idea still rings true today. In addition to the “coolness” fac- tor, the guitar is just such a versatile instrument that can span a huge range of musical styles from rock and heavy metal, to country, blues, jazz and everything in between.
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