• 2015 Pickamania Features Bussmann Old Wave Mandolin Raffle

    Silver City, N.M. — A Bill Bussmann Old Wave Mandolin up for raffle helps make possible this year's 7th Annual Pickamania!, a three-day free music festival held September 11-13 in the far southwestern corner of New Mexico.

    The festival features performances by local and national acts concluding Sunday with a performance by the award winning Claire Lynch Band.

    The mandolin, Old Wave #560 is a Varnum Estate birdseye maple/European spruce model. An opportunity to win the instrument can be purchased for only $5 from the Festival web site. Entrants can increase their chances by taking advantage of the festival's 11 tickets package offered for only $50.

    "Varnum estate birdseye refers to Rex Varnum, who brought a semi-load of hardwoods out to Truth or Consequences in 1979 from his dairy farm along the Piscataquis river near Sebec, Maine. The wood slow roasted naturally in an uninsulated metal building for a third of a century before I got it a couple of years ago," Bussmann said.

    Specs

    • Retail value: $2,750
    • Carved European spruce top with red spruce tonebar bracing

    • Desert ironwood fretboard

    • Mesquite burl peghead veneer

    • Turquoise wave inlay and position dots

    • Gold Grover hardware

    • Black TKL hardshell case

    Steve Smith Test Drives Old Wave Mandolin #560



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