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I've built cases for a National Triolian, a Washburn bowl-back mandola, a bowed psaltery and a Polk-A-Lay-Lee. I would be embarrassed to show any of them to Cafe members. Definitely "heavy boxes,"...

Vernon Derrick wrote Arab Bounce when working with Jimmy Martin & the Sunny Mountain Boys. I think I learned it off a Martin LP, 'way back when.

What "resonator?"

The manufacturer just drilled a bunch of "screen holes" around the perimeter of a cheap mandolin. The "resonator" Blue Comets at least have a body that looks like it has a...

Elderly used to sell a little wire rack called the Harp Handle; I bought one and have used it for over 20 years, and Dunlop still makes 'em. It's light and simple, and if you keep the wing nuts and...

As an ex-banjo player, you may play a bit of bluegrass (excluding Dueling Banjos, which only got popular in bluegrass when it got into the Top 40 courtesy of Eric Weissberg -- although the Dillards...

Speaking as a long time harmonica-ist:

Marine Bands are good harps; they've been around for a century or so. Only drawback I've found is that the wood dividers between the holes can get moistened...

And just to add confusion and complexity (always my forte), I purchased a Weber Gallatin "sopranolin" that's tuned CGDA, an octave higher than a mandola. I guess the violin equivalent would be the...

The spacing of the frets reflects the proper notes of the scale. If you put frets further apart, you get different notes. As John H says, you can remove the frets you don't intend to use, but then...

"Washburn" was originally a brand name for the big Chicago music firm Lyon & Healy; it was George Lyon's middle name, and L & H used it to label their higher-end line of stringed instruments. The...

Thanx to all who've posted; the Stelling's as ornate and full-voiced as I expected it would be. And yes, I did keep a ukulele -- I actually have a half-dozen: Martin Sryle 0 soprano, Regal 8-string...

I put in a link to the pics on Bernunzio's website; it's marked "Sold" as of 3:30 p.m. today.

Forty-four years ago I purchased a Gibson F-5, Serial #A17518, from Stutzman's Guitar Center here in Rochester. My first (turned out to be my only) bluegrass band had just broken up, but I knew that...

Exactly the response one would expect.

I got Dick Spottswood's The Blue Sky Boys for Christmas, and frankly, was disappointed. It turned out to be largely transcribed quotes from interviews with Bill Bolick (Bill and brother Earl were...

Having just turned 77 New Year's Eve, I find this thread's title ominous

Perhaps just another conspiracy by anti-Shmergel subversives (Gibson, Weber, Collings, Eastman et. al.) to cover up the existence of this nonpareil gem of mandolins?

No, I think not. Access to...

Scale length of 13.2" per the seller's description -- short!

I believe Peerce used to introduce himself as the "hippy" band's "social worker."

All my old mandolins are much more aged than my new ones. I find this consistent across all makes and models.

On the other hand, the new ones are much more recent.

Jeez, I love...

Actually, the phrase came into general use from the title of a 1959 Esquire article by Alan Lomax.

Bill Monroe -- and the Monroe Brothers before Bill started his own band -- used rapid tempos to...

Mandolin tuning (in 5ths) and guitar tuning (4ths and a 3rd) are quite different. Suggestion would be to get a tenor guitar, tuned in 5ths like a mandolin, though in "mandola range" -- CGDA instead...

Didn't intend to point out an "oopsie," just thought people might want to read the somewhat extended/opinionated discussion in the other thread. Clearly, reactions to Simpson's bluegrass efforts...

So what's a "weird sound?" Is it a rattle, a buzz, a squeal, a ringing overtone? I'm not familiar with any component of a mandolin that could be called "weird," but hey, I'm no expert...

If we...

Recent thread about Simpson and his bluegrass back-up band when they appeared on Stephen Colbert's show in November.

Ah, Grasshopper, I see that you have reached a higher plateau...