Stringing Norman for the Last Time

In one of my last blogs I wrote about some of the "lasts" that will happen before we leave Thailand. One thing I had not thought about was the last time I would put strings on my Norman Guitar. I hadn't really anticipated doing that this month, but I had to make some repairs to it, so I ended up replacing the strings at the same time.

Restringing Norman

I suppose it was fitting that I should have a Norman guitar since both my patrilineal and matrilineal ancestral lines end up in Normandy. But it also meant that hardly anyone else I knew had a guitar of the same make, since they are not common in the US.

I bought this guitar when we were in Canada for our fifteenth anniversary. I figured that buying a Canadian-made guitar in Canada at a time when exchange rates were favorable would be a good idea. That trip also coincided with a celebration of Canadian Thanksgiving with family there. I went guitar shopping with a friend of mine (he was the best man at our wedding), who was also a worship leader in his church.

At the time I was a worship leader at Fellowship Bible Church in Bakersfield. That church closed down a couple of years after that and I didn't play guitar so much for several years as the next church we were at I was a vocalist. After we moved to Fresno, I played mostly percussion.

During our first term in Thailand, I taught guitar in our neighborhood, but I didn't play on our church worship teams since they already had competent players.

Teaching Guitar in Chachoengsao

Then, when we moved to northern Thailand, Norman sat quiet most of the time because the churches all had competent worship leaders and we really didn't know anyone interested in playing guitar. Norman suffered a bit after that (maybe he was mad at me for disuse) because I left him in the case while we went back to North America for three months. The three months turned into five months and when we got back to Thailand, the guitar was moldy and the face had warped, which messed up the intonation. I cleaned up Norman, though, and I ended up using it quite a bit after we moved to Phon Phisai, because I was the main worship leader at our church and I was teaching guitar to some teenagers on a regular basis.

During this time, Norman suffered some more. I lent him out to some folks who somehow managed to strum quite hard while missing the pick guard, scraping away the finish on the face of the guitar. Since moving to Kalasin, Norman has continued to see a lot of use.

Leading Music for Our Church Gathering in Kalasin

I had decided several months ago that Norman would probably not be going back to the US with us. The guitar is not in great shape and I'm not sure it would survive the trip. I have already ordered a new guitar, which is nearly finished and which I will pick up at the end of the month. In the meantime, I play Norman on a regular basis. Last week the guitar fell over and, even though it was in the case, the face cracked. I glued the crack so it wouldn't get worse, and then put new strings on the guitar, something I won't likely need to do again before I leave Thailand.

New Guitar Almost Complete

So, Norman, it's been a good run. I don't know how long you'll hold together under new management, but hopefully you'll hang around for a few more years.