More inspiration...

If you have Netflix, watch 'The Watchmakers Apprentice'. It's about master watchmaker George Daniels and his apprentice, Roger Smith. The degree of humility in this documentary is matched only by the flow of pearls of wisdom regarding perfecting 'craft'...

If you can swallow the absurdly romantic commentary there is so much inspiration in this documentary. I already feel a better person for having watched it and have promised myself I will make a greater effort to do better work this coming year.

If you are about trying to make beautiful looking and sounding things, this is a 'must see'...

Thanks, Pete. I'll watch that. You've probably already seen it, but Netflix has "Life on Four Strings," a documentary about Jake Shimabukuro, I found quite good as well.

Nelson

Not showing in Europe Nelson..

watch making, there's a good subject. i've done trade work all my life and we are keenly aware that we work to a tolerance. it's a relaxed tolerance. the work shapes up nice and all that but we are no machinists. there is always some craft that will put you to shame with its fineness and detail. for that matter perlman can put a lot of players in their place. luckily there's room for the lot of us.
the funny thing with trade work is that on a certain level the finished product itself becomes second business. the most important thing is making someone happy with satisfaction. in my case the specialty is coming up with unique design and doing custom work, one of its kind in the world, that for various reasons no one else would have produced in the same way. the actual workmanship is normal good procedure no more and no less.
you can make a beautiful instrument and all that. it could be homely for all i care. the most important part of ukulele making is what the builder knows about sound. mass production does not approach this. each instrument is an individual. what you can see that the maker has done is the tip of the iceberg. it sure isn't a watch or faberge egg. wood is seductive and its own little mystery coaxing the spirits inside the musical box.

I'm not see in it available through my Netflix either. It might be one of those UK things,

http://www.thewatchmakersapprentice.com/but-when-can-we-see-the-film/

Shame because it is not a film about 'trade work' but about craftsmanship and the search for perfection... It has themes common to all hand builders of anything.