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This is meant to be humor which generally means I am the only one laughing.

I have determined that I go through a number of emotional stages during the design/build process -

Desire - Everything starts with desire. I see a cabinet design I like. Worse, acquire new equipment that NEEDS a beautiful wood shell. Even worse, I see beautiful wood I have no use for. I will always find something to do with it. Worse still, I purchase equipment [speakers/amps/guitar parts] to justify the project.

Denial - That a new project will work out as good as the last. I frequently think 'what do I need another ________ for'? I push off the idea for a while - unless I have new gear/wood. Then like a fart with serious hang time, the new idea just won't go away.

Doubt - As the design process develops doubts assail me. Will 'that' even work? What are you thinking? Do you even know what you are doing? The last is particularly insidious as I frequently make it up as I go - doubting all the way.

Resolve - Critical mass arrives in the form of 'SCREW IT!' A new project now lurches forward.

Fear - As the first piece is cut. Did I measure correctly? Do I know what I am doing?!?

Resignation - I'm committed now. Sometimes a sense of well being occurs here - a successful move on the way to victory. I try very hard not to look that far ahead.

OH CRAP! - After the first mistake is made. Trust me, this is an emotion. A roiling ball of fevered agony as failure is snatched from the jaws of victory. One OH CRAP deletes a thousand ATA BOYS.

Relief - As several solutions bubble to the top of the swamp of agony. 'I'll make that the back, no - bottom, no - FIREWOOD!

Surprise - As one of the solutions actually works. Or at least doesn't look like total crap.

Excitement - I realized today as the head shell I was working on was done and now I get to move on the finish process which reveals the beauty of the wood I am working with and mistakes are much harder to make. Not impossible like trying to glue interior bracing to oiled wood. Modern glues are indeed miraculous in their ability to bond with dry unfinished wood. Not oiled, not in the least.

Dread - As a project ends something must take it's place. The gods abhor a project vacuum.

Russ

I suspect the order of emotions is personality driven. I experience many of the same things, but my take on them is different. For example, after I finish an amp, I'll often wait several days before I power it up. This is because I don't like the idea of being finished (silly, huh?) Being finished means I don't have a project to occupy my time. Turning the power on brings the finish line too close.

I get the dread near the end. I get excited at the beginning.

Yes, that emptiness when it's done and the fanfare dies down is terrible. It's PBD - post build depression. Given time it can only lead to . . . .

Desire!

Geeze
Too funny and true

Geeze wrote: Then like a fart with serious hang time, the new idea just won't go away.

Geeze wrote: Dread - As a project ends something must take it's place. The gods abhor a project vacuum.

Thanks
Darin

There is one additional step:

Conundrum - where the heck am I going to store this thing? Every square inch from floor to ceiling is already stuffed with amps, cabs, bins of parts ..... oh dear!

Somewhere in there (after Desire?) I have to go through the Spouse stage, where I come up with a finely crafted line of BS that convinces the wife that I need a Brazilian Mahogany head shell, and I "only" need to buy a few more tools to do it.

Once I get past the Spouse stage, it's all gravy

Ken Moon wrote:Somewhere in there (after Desire?) I have to go through the Spouse stage, where I come up with a finely crafted line of BS that convinces the wife that I need a Brazilian Mahogany head shell, and I "only" need to buy a few more tools to do it.

Once I get past the Spouse stage, it's all gravy

Oh yeah ...... I almost forgot the Spouse Stage.

Great read.......but I have a different interpretation of "Denial"......

My personal experience of denial goes like this:

Wife: Are you building another amplifier?"

Me: Looks that way......you see, I have all these extra parts and I need to do something with them..."

Wife: "Don't you already have enough amplifiers?"

Me: "No...."

I have a variation of "Rationalization." It's called a spreadsheet. And as long as income beats outflow, I can build another.