Sam Bush's mandolin fingerboard

**GTison** · Mar-28-2010, 5:19pm

I have some old "FRETS " magazines, one with an article on Sam Bush. The pictures all show him playing his mandolin WITH the fingerboard extension! When did he get that fingerboard extension cut off. Also are there pics of the engraving on his inlays somewhere?

**TEE** · Mar-29-2010, 12:12am

He bought Hoss in 1973 and played it for a year or so that way and then had Bob Givens remove the frets on the extension in '74 and played it that way until he had John Monteleone cut the extension off completely. So if the Frets pictures were taken in '73 or '74 it is possible.
He can be found on You Tube playing mandolins with extensions before 1973 before he owned Hoss.

I don't think he had thought about taking the entire extension off until he saw Rolands around '74.

Any photos before Jan 1973 would not be Hoss.

Hope this helps!

Let us know what year the magazine is please.

**GTison** · Mar-29-2010, 10:11am

the FRETS magazine is the august 1982 issue. The front cover show is as well as the picture inside. Ill try to post a pic here but I haven't done that in a while. hmmm.

**mandroid** · Mar-29-2010, 10:23am

Given: It's been over 20 years, After years of working lots of gigs, its not unusual to, after many refrets, to replace the fingerboard with a new one,
and I can imagine the conversation including something like: just leave that bit off I Never liked it there .

**Scotti Adams** · Mar-29-2010, 10:27am

Im thinking that issue of Frets shows Sam and his Anderson mando

**jim simpson** · Mar-29-2010, 5:32pm

Scotti,
Would that have been a Gerald Anderson?

**Jeremy Darrow** · Mar-29-2010, 5:52pm

Originally Posted by mandroid

Given: It's been over 20 years, After years of working lots of gigs, its not unusual to, after many refrets, to replace the fingerboard with a new one,
and I can imagine the conversation including something like: just leave that bit off I Never liked it there .

I seem to remember hearing that Hoss is on it's third, or perhaps even fourth fingerboard. That's strictly hearsay, though.

**Lynn Dudenbostel** · Mar-29-2010, 6:35pm

I spent some time with Sam recently and he told me he's on his 4th fingerboard. The replacement job is flawless. He also related some of Hoss' history regarding Norman Blake's "random hippie sanding", Randy Woods re-graduation and re-finish. It's held up amazingly well over the years with only a couple of well repaired cracks. I believe it's arguably right up there with Monroe's Loar as one of the most significant mandolins in bluegrass history.

Dude

**sunburst** · Mar-29-2010, 7:16pm

I've heard the story several times, the first time directly from Sam Bush, that he didn't like the extension because of pick click, but he worried about having the extender removed because he was afraid it would change the sound of the mandolin. Then one day he saw Roland White and saw that Roland had had his extender removed. He said he asked Roland, "Did it change the sound of the mandolin?" and Roland said, "Yeah, it got rid of that horrible clicking sound!". Sam said he had the extender cut off right away. He also said he carried the extender around in the case for a long time, but it eventually got lost.
I've posted this before, and I'm still waiting for whoever has Sam's fingerboard extender as a souvenir to fess up!
He also told me that he was thinking (at the time) of having the fingerboard replaced because it did not play in tune.

The Andersen is a Steve Andersen mandolin, not a Gerald Anderson mandolin.

**GTison** · Mar-29-2010, 7:57pm

I'll try that pic again. There are 2 in the magazine. Both appear to say "Gibson" straight across the headstock. Look there by his ring finger, the fingerboard extension. Seems like I saw a pic of the engraving of the blocks somewhere also.

**Capt. E** · Mar-30-2010, 4:00pm

Isn't "fingerboard" an alternative name (perhaps the correct name) for a pickguard? What this thread addresses should more accurately be called the "fretboard". Maybe this is picky, but I am trying to get my terminology straight and have been corrected on this myself.

**Mike Bunting** · Mar-30-2010, 4:14pm

Originally Posted by Capt. E

Isn't "fingerboard" an alternative name (perhaps the correct name) for a pickguard? What this thread addresses should more accurately be called the "fretboard". Maybe this is picky, but I am trying to get my terminology straight and have been corrected on this myself.

Pickguard=finger rest
fretboard=fingerboard
Perhaps this is what you are thinking of.