The project that I am working on is to help low-income/at-risk kids build their own electric guitars.  Over the course of my life, the State of California has given me a great many things, and now it is time for me to give back, and this is the only way that I can feel I can really contribute.  Soooo......

Feb 7, 2003

The way it happened is this:  During the summer of 2003, I read an article about an organization called Guitars Not Guns (www.guitarsnotguns.org)   in the local rag (www.campbellreporter.com, July 12, 2003).  What GNG have been doing is taking in acoustic guitars and giving them to at-risk kids, and then teaching them to play the guitars.  So I put 2 & 2 together and I had a brain flash.  Instead of merely giving the guitars to the kids, how about teaching them to build their own.  Make them put some equity into their guitar.  My theory being that people put more value in something that they have created rather than something just given to them.

So I called Nick Langston, in charge of the San Jose area for GNG.  Nick liked the idea, and put me in touch with Ed Solis, who works for the City of San Jose Parks & Rec Department.  Ed is in charge of 1 main facility and several outlying facilities.   Ed also plays guitar: Big Surprise.  Now Ed S. is fired up about the idea, and he has the space to make things possible.  I get to teach the kids how to build.   And because GNG is a 501(c)(3), all donations are tax deductible.

My intent is to start simple, with the Saga T-style kits.  They are entry level, but they are cheap and easy to build.  And I will do the wood work and major sub-assemblies myself.  That means that I should be able to teach 8 kids in about 2-3 hours.   After that, the next step is to identify some of the more motivated kids and teach them how to build a more sophisicated guitar.  A bare body that needs finishing, they do all the sub-assemblies, etc.  The last stage would be to teach them to build a guitar from a body blank.

My biggest challenge, at this point, is that I am trying to raise the funds for this project.  Please  Email Me  if you have any questions about this project.