Meet The Maker - #backsurgeryboredom
In regards to Meet The Maker, I have a couple of brief announcements.
- I apologize for the delay. Hurricane Irma granted us a few house guests and then she hit us...like a downgraded hurricane a day or two later.
- We are changing things up a little....Meet The Maker will now be dropping on Sunday afternoons instead of Wednesdays.
And now...without further ado.....Meet The Maker #backsurgeryboredom is now underway. This week, we will be featuring none other than everybody's favorite Secret Service Special Agent (he's even better than Clint Eastwood in "In the Line of Fire"), woodworker (makes Sam Maloof feel inept), and luthier (make's Les Paul question himself)....yup, you guessed it, it's Rob Franklin from Franklin Woodworks right here in Marietta, GA.
Rob works out of his basement shop, which is 22x13 at his house (which is awesome, I've seen it first hand). Rob's woodworking journey starts back in 2011. During the year, he had a couple of back surgeries and was stuck at home for over a month. As most of us do, he began to see if the internet was infinite, or if there was an end somewhere he could find. During his search, he stumbled across a website with a guy who made a table saw out of a circular saw, and curiosity ensued. He went to work in his soon to be shop, and once he built his "table saw" he was hooked. His next tool, was actually a Delta contractors saw he got for $20 on Craigslist (where was a deal like this when I was table saw shopping???) Once he picked up the saw, he made a dust collection cabinet for it out of OSB, and while he had made a few guitars out of kits in the past, he decided to make one from scratch. "And of course, I needed more tools for that" he told me.
Rob came across Southern Woodworkers right from the get go. He had met founder Zach Manring (Southern Ginger) at a Rockler event before Southern Woodworkers was even a thing, and once it was created, he was all in (and still is, Rob is one of our most active members). Excited to meet another YouTuber, a friendship was forged, and the rest is history. Rob helped with our booth at The Woodworking Show in Atlanta, and was the FIRST host of a Southern Woodworkers Lollygag (click here for explanation of a lollygag).
When Rob is in the shop, and he needs some audio happiness he has two avenues for which he will venture down. First, if it requires precision and concentration, he turns on some "orchestral metal" like Dream Theater or Nightwish. The other avenue, for the more mindless tasks like sanding and finishing, he will turn on one of the many great woodworking podcasts we have. Rob draws his inspiration from tons of different makers, but some of his favorites are Izzy Swan, Jimmy Diresta, Jay Bates, and John Heisz. These were the original inspirations back in the day. Their knowledge helped him build out his shop, and prioritize his tool purchases, which we all know can be vital when you're first getting started.
The Franklin Woodworks build we are featuring is one of his guitars. This particular guitar is made of laminated padauk with a black fumed maple veneer. The neck is maple and has a zebrawood fretboard (it's incredible). With the exception of the hardware and electronics, everything else is wood and began as rough stock and milled to...well...perfection. The contours of the neck and body are hand carved. Rob told me that the coolest, and most difficult part of the process is that almost every step requires a unique jig, so no piece of furniture can come close to the satisfaction he gets when building a guitar.
The attention to detail and pure beauty of this guitar just show what an incredible woodworker Rob Franklin is. It's works like these that keep me motivated when I am in the shop working on my next project. You can find more from Rob on Instagram and on his YouTube channel and of course, over on Facebook.
Thanks again for reading along on Rob's incredible journey, and stay tuned for the next installment of "Meet The Maker"
Man is a tool-using Animal. Nowhere do you find him without tools without tools he is nothing, with tools he is all. – Thomas Carlyle