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Annie Smart has never shied away from a power tool. As the daughter of a carpenter, the Brighton High sophomore grew up surrounded by woodworking projects and took courses throughout junior high school.
"It's always just come very naturally to me," she said.
So when Smart heard of an acoustic guitar-building woodwork class at Brighton, she jumped at the chance.
"It sounded so cool," she said. "It also sounded like such a challenge."
Under the direction of woodwork teacher Tim McNeill, previous classes had successfully built electric guitars.
But those came from a kit.
These acoustic guitars would be built from scratch. Every piece of wood, from the neck to the rosette, would be hand-built and sometimes heated, molded and cooled. Every piece needed to fit seamlessly — off by a millimeter, and the instrument wouldn't come together.
The sound would be even worse.
"There is no margin of error," McNeill said. "Because there are no clear, straight cuts, the whole process is about three times more difficult and takes that much more time."
Smart and her 19 classmates couldn't back down from the challenge.
For two trimesters, the students feverishly worked on their guitars, hoping to complete them by the end of the school year. If they fell off pace, they worked in the shop after school. On a few occasions, McNeill met the entire class for a full day of work on a Saturday. From start to finish, the guitars took each student between 120 and 150 hours to complete.
"It was amazing to see these come together and to watch each student put their own creative spin on their piece," McNeill said. "What was even more amazing to see was their dedication toward the project."
The project itself was not entirely unprecedented.
Last year, under the direction of woodworking teacher Kevin Wood, Alta was the first high school to attempt such a project.
"They'd seen some success, so we wanted to follow their lead," McNeill said.
The Bengals saw even more.
Working side by side, McNeill and the class built each piece together, learning from each other's mistakes and successes along the way. Those who were already guitar musicians brought their own instruments to class to act as tangible models of reference — and the subtle twang of guitar string was both the perfect accompaniment and a reminder of the project's potential.
Of the 20 students who enrolled in the class, 14 completed acoustic guitars by the final day of class. Two more should finish their project soon. Already, 29 students are registered for the class next year.
On May 25, class members held an end-of-year party to showcase their instruments and reward themselves for all the hard work. And though each guitar looked and sounded a bit different, the takeaway value was the same.
"Yes, this was a woodworking class, but these types of projects prepare future engineers and architects," McNeill said. "The hands-on experience gives them a greater understanding of the whole process and trains them to create things for a much larger audience."
"It was the most challenging course, but also the most rewarding," Smart said.