Appendix · the bench

The tools on the bench, in the order a lesson reaches for them.

A studio of this kind runs on perhaps a dozen small objects. Most of them cost less than a decent dinner. All of them have opinions about how the instrument should behave, and over the years I have come to agree with most of those opinions.

§ 01

Plectrums

The single most consequential object in the room. A student's pick choice tells me more about their playing in three seconds than ten minutes of conversation will.

Studio standard. Celluloid, 1.14 mm, rounded shoulder. Broken in for about two weeks before it earns a place on the bench.

Thin. For the first four lessons of a complete beginner. Produces a brighter, more forgiving attack; retires to a drawer once the wrist learns to rotate.

Heavy. For chord-melody work at dynamic. The beveled edge matters; a square edge at this thickness produces a thump, not a tone.

Small-tip. Occasional — for single-string work requiring extreme articulation. Not recommended below Tier III; smaller picks hide right-hand problems rather than solving them.

§ 02

Head & tension

Bracket wrench, ¼". For the lugs around the tension hoop. Turned in eighths, never quarters. The head comes up in the same order a clock does; you go around twice before you check the pitch.

Head-pitch reference. Tap the head just inside the tension hoop; aim for a clear G♯ above middle C on an 11" head, A on a 10¾". This is the single most neglected tuning in the four-string world.

Feeler gauge. For bridge placement — octave harmonic vs. fretted octave, adjusted until they agree at the twelfth fret. Ordinary mechanic's gauges work. Ours came from a hardware store in 2004.

§ 03

The bench itself

A three-foot oak slab on two file cabinets, against the north wall, under a window that is closed most of the year. The layout never changes. A student who has been coming for more than a year can, with their eyes closed, find the rosin.

The studio bench, as it has looked since roughly 2019. The tuning fork is older than the bench.

§ 04

Measuring

Nothing on the bench is decorative. Each object measures a variable we have chosen to care about.

Pick depth — eye and ear; the ear is better.
Head pitch — tapped just inside the tension hoop, compared to a fork.
Bridge intonation — feeler gauge for placement, harmonic for confirmation.
Tremolo rate — metronome set to 480 (sixteenths at 120); we count strokes per beat.
Right-hand tension — by observation only, and by a single question: "can you still feel the pick?"