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For someone who works with their hands there is nothing as frightening as the prospect of an accident that takes away their livelihood. But for one cabinet maker, an accident with a table saw may have been the best thing that ever happened to him.
He's named Jack Burger, though most people know him as Crafty Jack, and he makes Jack Axe Guitars. He used to make his living building furniture until a shop mishap changed everything.
"I had a little accident in 2002 where I kind of ran my hand through a table saw and had to take 5 months off." says Jack.
During that time off, Jack got to thinking, and then he got to researching, and finally he made a decision.
"I always wanted to learn how to make guitars because I'd been playing since I was 6. A place in Saskatchewan called Timeless Instruments taught courses, so I enrolled and went out there."
Jack seemed to have a knack for it. "I've got a couple of guitars in Nashville, one in Reno, one in Ontario, California and a couple of guitars around Southern Alberta."
The latest step in the evolution of Crafty Jack's work is called the Tropicana Double Wide. The top of the instrument is a mandolin and the bottom a standard six string guitar. Crafting this special instrument was no easy feat.
"Trying to keep the mandolin sounding like a mandolin and the guitar sounding like a guitar, not taking away too much bass, trying to make everything sound right, it was a real challenge."
The wood must be carefully dried, the braces must be perfectly chiseled to get the right sound and the sides must be painstakingly bent to the right shape to give customers exactly the sound they are looking for.
If you're lucky when you visit Jack Axe Guitars he might even have time for a quick jam session.
