Changing Strings

This weekend I restrung four guitars. I also oiled the two satin finish guitars and cleaned polished the the other two. The two satin finish guitars were my Guild DCE-1 and the Goya N21. The remaining two were my Madeira A-9 and my Greco....????. Oi. I can't remember the model of the Greco. Small body. Fifteen inch lower bout and shallow. A beautiful sunburst finish though. A wonderful tan going to a brown without any hint of red. I discovered, in the activity, that this is one of the few activities in my life that is timeless. It is almost meditative in that the activity flows in and of itself without relevance to events around it. In addition, in the midst of the activity, I forgot about how badly I was feeling physically. It doesn't matter what was causing the discomfort. Nothing terminal....I think. The ritual aspect of the process became absorbing. The placing of the guitar on my work table. The neck resting in the saddle I made from plastic foam and covered in soft rubber webbing and then covered again in toweling. Then the removal of the strings with the power winder in which I had placed four new AA batteries. After that the cleaning and oiling or polishing. Buffing is next and then the inspection and, in most cases, rebuffing the guitar, Oiling the fretboard and the bridge with a medical swab I had swiped from Dr. Williams' office the last time I went for a blood test. Wiping the excess oil off with a tissue.Next is the opening of the box of new strings after, of course, reading the blurbs on the outside and reconsidering the gauge I had chosen. This weekend I had decided to increase the gauges staring with 1E at 12mm. I was hoping for a firm feel in the picking and the chording and, perhaps, a bigger sound. I used Dean Markley Helix strings for the first time. There is the opening of the envelope that holds the string and, in my case, the shaking of the coiled wire so that it pops open.  Then the placing of the string in the bridge hole and the insertion of the pin in its correct position. Aiming the string in the stem hole on the tuner and carefully using the power winder to tighten the string using one finger to hold the pin in as I do it. Then the hand tightening and tuning and then tuning again as the strings stretch and then tuning them again and again as the strings settle in. After that is the marvelous moment, one hopes, of some sound that causes a momentary elimination of the rest of the world. Just the sound and me. Just the sound and me. Yesterday was a triumph. Well, mostly a triumph, the 6E on the Greco is a wee bit thumpy but I believe it is the guitar itself. The last guitar I worked on was the Madeira A-9 and after it was done and tuned and strummed I looked at it and was transported to a place of transcendent joy, I propped it up on it's bottom on the workbench and leaned it against the wall and then stepped back. It was exquisite. It was beautiful. So very beautiful. I went downstairs and brought Beth up and asked her to look at it and see how beautiful it was. She agreed. Tonight, when I get home, I am going to play the four them sequentially in the same order that I restrung them. I look forward to it with great and loving anticipation.