I have been on my personal journey through the art of guitar making for over 10 years now. During this time I’ve grown through the various stages, from novice to intermediate, and on to whatever this stage is I am in now. In my experience, the early stages of lutherie are based on the honing and improvement of skill and the acquiring of knowledge. This type of growth can only take you to a certain point. At that level it has reached its limit, because the aforementioned facets of this craft are focused on my ability. Therefore they are limited to what I can do and what I can know, which might be pretty good by some standards but is certainly only a microscopic glimpse of what can be possible. As I’ve continued to grow as a luthier I’ve begun to understand that the leap from very good to mastery is not a leap of skill or knowledge as it is moving from stage to stage in the earlier developmental plateaus of this craft. It is the attitude of the heart. It’s the jump from the confines of the self to the limitlessness of the Creator.