Truly a AAAA grade sky! And one-piece!
Truly a AAAA grade sky! And one-piece!
Just stumbled again over this Nugget thread from two summers ago. I think I knew it at the time, but in retrospect this was really one of the most striking mandolins I’ve ever seen. There was some...
Singer nonpareil, painter, humanitarian. His march with MLK to Selma is just one landmark in a life well lived.
Hi Billy—I have not played this mandolin but know John Zeidler from his archtop guitars which are also justifiably highly regarded. The guitar I played, years ago at Mandolin Brothers, was very...
Ken has done an amazingly generous thing, really inspiring!—and Leo seems like he’s the perfect recipient. The world is already a better place.
There’s always Friday for shrimp Creole!
Glad to throw in my two cents! One note: what we call “cypress” in the American South is Taxodium distichum, and not a true cypress. The true cypress, genus Cupressus, is the Old World tree used...
Bruce Sexauer, the Petaluma-based luthier who is extremely generous in sharing his long experience, has built with Chechen and sings its praises.
It’s probably most accurate to say that a piece of spruce sounds primarily like its density, stiffness, hardness etc. would indicate rather than its species. But there are physical generalizations...
JEStanek wrote: “For me best tone is a combination of how I hold the instrument, my technique, and the mix of strings and pick to get optimal tone.”
It’s only human, of course, so many of us are...
“A bad instrument will hold you back, a great one will pull you forward.”
Hi James—That tale from the Asheville pub is terrific and so full of insight! I am always struck by how we as players can fall into asking the world of our instruments but correspondingly little...
Gchris—Say a word about what led up to you breaking your 40-year mandolin fast! —R.
Yeah, it would be great if Carter’s put up a video. Although sometimes there’s a lot of cross-noise in their showroom. Tone, looks, & feel—they all go into the price of an instrument I think. ...
I saw Rusty at the Syria Mosque in Pittsburgh, probably 1974. He was playing a steel guitar built to fit with a strap around his neck and the strings tilted forward to the audience, I heard him call...
Willow20—What a gorgeous mandolin! The back is indeed lighter looking than many Gils, but beautiful and great figure in the maple. Hope it gives years of enjoyment. —R.
Does this count? http://www.gilchristmandolins.com/732
Nice work!
The rolling curl in the one-piece back of that Smart mandolin would swing it for me!
Liked this from James Condino! “ -Is it an emotional attachment to the wood? Did my 9x great granddaddy cut it down by hand when he worked as a 13 year old apprentice for Stradivari back in the old...
I played an oval hole F4-C—Steve’s “classical” mandolin, made a little more bass-prominent, and it was shockingly alive. My sense is Steve has been making top flight instruments for over 40 years...
That is terrific to see, somewhere there is a lucky child!
In my experience there can be a huge gap between how long it takes and how long it feels.
Old Growth, I’d love to see the Ned Alderman article, as I’ve never come across it. Daryl, the Fretboard Journal number is 38. (It inexplicably didn’t but absolutely should have listed the...
Just as a coda to this, I know of an absolute top guitar builder who had a customer come to him and say “Build me an instrument out of the best-sounding piece of spruce in your shop that you could...