I hadn't played my G110 for a couple of years, opened up the case and surprise - one of the G string hooks had broken. I emailed Gold Tone and bought a couple of "B" stock replacements for a very...
Type: Posts; User: Steph
I hadn't played my G110 for a couple of years, opened up the case and surprise - one of the G string hooks had broken. I emailed Gold Tone and bought a couple of "B" stock replacements for a very...
Have a well earned rest Don - pour yourself a large martini - oh wait!
Are you going to build instruments to order?
Hop you guys enjoyed the workshop, your builds look pretty good.
Sterling - I've been to several of Don's camps and enjoyed every one - my first had about twenty people attending and Don was running around like a crazy guy trying to make sure everyone went home...
Two participants! You guys will have a great time and with Don's attention between two of you, you should finish up with something special. At the first camp I did with Don back in 2003 I think we...
Sorry to hear you are winding it up Don.
I still have my mando from the early Front Royal Days - not much to look at compared to the more recent kits, but it still very playable. The Front Royal...
Brian McNeill in his Battlefield Band days
One of the Simon Mayor books (forget which one) has fantastic tab for The Hurricane, it shows how he uses open strings to aid the left hand position change to get to the high bits with enough fingers...
Most people bring along other instruments and jam in the evenings - or you can sit round and have a few beers with guys from all over the place. It obviously depends on the characters who show up but...
I'm a serial attender (?offender) at Don's camps. Accommodation is basic and food is plentiful. The evenings can be riotous. Building with Don's help is great fun - as long as you can tolerate his...
Hi Jeff - you should have dropped by one day to see how things were going, we would have kept some beer cold for you - good fun as before.
Karen, I've been trying to convince Don for ages to make a...
Leroy - it is fun - especially if you like pork/bacon - I guess it must be a staple in that part of Virginia. It's only a few miles away from Appomattox Court House National Park - well worth a...
Here's a collection of photos from Don's camp in Appomattox that took place at the beginning of the month. Apologies to all the guys, I'd hoped to post these sooner.
The camp was, as usual, a great...
Don't know if Niles (mandocrucian) is still running any sort of group mando camps, this could very well be the sort of thing to tempt him back from his flute. I think he did an emando tutor with...
Just saw this and yes it is his Mike Vanden mandocello - but you already found that out. One thing I've always noticed about Simon's playing is how much he varies his "picking area' between close to...
Nicely done Barry, I'm interested, as I did mine at a camp where I could devote all day uninterrupted to the task - how long elapsed time do you think it took you start to finish.
I agree with Karen on the neck shaping, on the one hand it really is a piece of customization that you as a player are free within certain bounds to express your preferences, on the other hand those...
Barry, the binding is much easier if you have 4 hands. At the camp we teamed up to do this, glueing and taping a few inches at a time. It was pretty messy work and there was a lot of cleanup sanding...
Here's the one I did at Don's camp last year, the shot on the right was with flash.
I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out, plays well and sounds good. One day I'll do a build from scratch...
I think it was Karen (Otterly) who mentioned about the hardware with Don's kit, I'd agree it's not "high end" but clearly meets the needs of the majority of folks who are trying this building...
Kip, talk to Don regarding the OM kit, I went to the camp last year, had a blast and came home with a pretty reasonable good sounding OM. It sounds like your woodworking skills are way beyond mine,...
Another vote for Don K. If you can get to one of his camps - it's a blast, if not, his kit + teaching support is hard to beat.
I don't understand why CBOM builders/owners don't fit tailpieces that will take both loop and ball end strings. That, and a tension calculator should be enough to let you use your favorite materials...
Thanks Bill, I guess the one in the middle without any reflections or flash is the closest, the top is redwood and I believe Don just sprayed it with nitro so no additional staining. I'll take a...
I previously posted some pictures of the OM I built at Don Kawaleks camp in April, at the time I asked Don if he could spray it for me. I picked the finished article up from on yesterday.
I'm pretty...
Another fan here, I'm just back from a 12 hour round trip drive to John's place to pick up an instrument he was fixing for me. Despite my best efforts over the winter my cittern suffered a top crack...