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Great video. Pete's half-brother Mike was a genius; if you haven't heard it his last recording 'Southern Guitar Styles' is worth getting - a staggering piece of scholarship and musicianship.

I've been re-listening to The Kentucky Colonel's 1964 all- instrumental recording 'Appalachian Swing' which features the young brothers Clarence & Roland White.

For my money, Roland's playing is...

I'll be there too - the Dolphin Striker is about the coolest venue and best bar in Portsmouth...a destination town with high standards for music, restuarants, and bars. A NYC friend of mine, Judy...

Malcolm - congratulations on persisting through the problems you encountered...it's a testament to your grit and your appreciation for the music.

But consider the cost of buying inexpensively. ...

It would certainly depend on the individual mandolin and the string set you were using.

The next town up the coast from me is York, Maine, and Mark Twain used to summer there with one of his daughters almost a hundred years ago, after he retired from travelling to give humorous lectures...

Maybe I just missed the discussion on this...but this morning I noticed the new banner ad on the Cafe homepage - " The Loar - handcarved nirtrocellulose mandolins" and clicked thru to check it out. ...

My 17-ft custom built rowing dory has black locust frames...a dory guy would call it "cedar (planks) over black locust" rather than the more common "pine over oak." Finestkind, as they say. The...

If it were me, I'd make an appointment with the Mandolin Store (or Gruhn, Elderly, Mandolin Brothers, whoever) and take a cheap bus to the rond-a-voo. Take what you're currently playing for in-hand...

Just an aside about Southern Yellow Pine - the US Navy used to specify it for wooden decks on saling ships - it's the least slippery wood when wet. The guys at the Navy Yards liked it so much they...

Catmandu - genius. Thanks.

And Bruce, so nice - notes so thick you could slice them up like cake...congrats.

Glad to see this up - I've attended this event in the past & found both Skip's workshop and the evening performances excellent.

I'm another fan of your less aggressive cut for the headstock curl...IMHO a curl of these proportions is elegant while still being reasonably strong, Too many mando headstocks have a curl cut well...

That IS a fabulous costume...any idea of what it represents...fraternal order, performance outfit, Halloween..?

I believe those piano-top shaped flanking zithers are usually called "Salzburg zithers." I've got one, picked up at a flea market 40 years ago for $15. Too many strings to tune - 5 fretted & 24...

We are all famous amongst our friends.

I saw a similar one this morning on the bench of a local luthier...except it was Electric, w/ a really sweet D'Armond pickup. The most striking difference is the f holes...no circle at each end, an...

Heard a strong blue-collar contemporary New England song at a jam the other night, "Plow To The End Of The Road."

Sure. A new fretboard can be installed with the radius you like and frets of various widths and heights and materials. Carefully save the old fretboard (masking tape to stable backing [aluminum...

I finally took my 5-year old and acquired-nearly-new Sumi to a luthier for a setup. Jack O'Brien in Jaffrey NH was well recommended on this board and in private. After years of experimenting with...

Bad Link.

Heads Up on the Lovell Sisters...they have a scant half dozen appearances around Florida in the next 10 days, then the trio breaks up as one sister goes off to college & marriage. Per the official...

So many different rules for different priorities. Customs vary by place and time.

In the mid-1600's the first Quakers, disgusted by the elaborate rituals of "hat honor", just kept them on. Hat...

In the spirit of 'other than smoke' problems, I know an old hippie luthier who in his reckless youth was a performer in the early '60's Boston folk scene of multiple performance venues around Harvard...

I agree...for me, the tone-gard advantages are -

- isolating the mando from any muffling effect caused by vibration-damping contact with the human body.

{note: in Gibson's 1903 catalog they...