I build guitars in my spare time. Definitely not a luthier, more a hobbyist mainly because guitar is also my main hobby.
I like the woodworking because the results are immediate. Nothing is ever the same, either. Different woods have different properties. Different batches of the same wood can be different. Lots of surprises.
No project has ever been smooth sailing from start to finish, so you always learn something new.
Making your own tools - jigs, templates, modifying tools, etc. - is a huge part of the process.
And there are so many parts to the process...in professional setting, you have workers that only work on small number of tasks, since they're experts on said tasks. But as a hobbyist, you just have to learn a bit of everything.
Though some parts can be really tedious (sanding being the worst), it is very rewarding to start seeing results. I absolutely loathe the finishing/painting process, but getting a mirror-like sheen is very rewarding, after spending all that time wet-sanding a surface.
I like the woodworking because the results are immediate. Nothing is ever the same, either. Different woods have different properties. Different batches of the same wood can be different. Lots of surprises.
No project has ever been smooth sailing from start to finish, so you always learn something new.
Making your own tools - jigs, templates, modifying tools, etc. - is a huge part of the process.
And there are so many parts to the process...in professional setting, you have workers that only work on small number of tasks, since they're experts on said tasks. But as a hobbyist, you just have to learn a bit of everything.
Though some parts can be really tedious (sanding being the worst), it is very rewarding to start seeing results. I absolutely loathe the finishing/painting process, but getting a mirror-like sheen is very rewarding, after spending all that time wet-sanding a surface.