How do you carve plywood?

[Jess L.]

I'd blame it on the drugs.

Lol. Some people are just naturally imaginative, no pharmaceutical enhancements required. Hard to say though.

[Jess L.]

He did consider asking the borrow of Mr Bill's penknife, but that would have meant rambling through dark hollows & down lonesome highways ...

Sounds like the makings of a fine new bluegrass song!

[Jess L.]

And together they invented the 12th fret, making sure the florida was south of it.

Yes, their invention of the 12th fret completely revolutionized musical instrument construction & setup.

Before that, no one really knew for sure where to put the bridge, to get the correct intonation. That was why mandolins always played out-of-tune.

But after the 12th fret was invented and patented, bridge placement was no longer vague guesswork. Because of that, we now have mandolins that always play in perfect pitch.

Mr. Dixson (or Dixon, if you prefer) was pleased with that, but his business partner Mr. Mason had higher aspirations which led to the discovery, improvement, patenting, and copyrighting of "harmonics". The world has benefited greatly from this, because when the newly-created harmonics were utilized in conjunction with the aforementioned 12th fret during the design and setup of musical instruments, the result was that all music worldwide became much more in-tune & better sounding.

Unfortunately, as brilliant as those two inventors were, they weren't the sharpest businessmen and they allowed their patents to expire, whereupon their arch-nemesis Gibson immediately began incorporating those revolutionary features into the new line of Gibson instruments.

[MikeZito]

I did some research on the internet; (if it's on the internet, it has to be true, right?) Here is the story that I came up with on a Gibson acoustic message board:

"According to several former Gibson employees, there was a short-lived employee at Gibson, in the late 50's, who worked in Product Development. Some seemed to remember him as 'Dixon' while others recalled that he was known as 'Rick' or sometimes 'Dick'. He was kind of a slick-talking, middle-aged guy who generally worked during the overnight hours because he had some sort of government job during the day. In late 1959, after a long fight with Gibson executives over a new instrument that he was developing, this guy (who was apparently VERY gifted as an instrument maker) cleaned out his office in the middle of the night, and took his plans for the new instrument with him. Fortunately for Gibson, extra copies had been made two days earlier. On the day after his clandestine overnight departure, fellow employees began to posthumously refer to him as 'Tricky Dick'. The one thing about 'Tricky Dick' that the Gibson company did not find out until some time later was that the gifted instrument maker was working for Gibson under an assumed name, (apparently to allow him to keep his government job, while working for Gibson at the same time). Shortly after leaving Gibson, this employee began to make instruments under his assumed name of 'Dixon', to help capitalize on the respected false name that he had developed while working for Gibson. One day, in late 1960, some Gibson executive was reading the newspaper on his lunch hour. On the front page of the newspaper was a large photo of President Eisenhower making a speech somewhere in the mid-west. As the Gibson executive began to take a sip of his coffee, he suddenly spit and spluttered his lunch all over the table. When nearby employees questioned him about the reason for his action, he pointed to the photo of the president and said; "Look at the guy standing behind Ike, it looks like that guy Dixon!" It was only then did everyone realize that the former Gibson employee who was now making mandolins was not Rick Dixon . . . but actually, Richard Nixon.

As Paul Harvey used to say: "And now you know, the rest of the story".

[allenhopkins]

...we now have mandolins that always play in perfect pitch...

Where can I get one of those?

[John Rosett]

Where can I get one of those?

I think hes talking about aerodynamics...

[MikeZito]

Here is another 'survivor' that Gibson missed:

https://hartford.craigslist.org/msg/...541688495.html

[pops1]

Here is another 'survivor' that Gibson missed:

https://hartford.craigslist.org/msg/...541688495.html

Maybe raz3rbak would like to buy it and sell it for hundreds more, what do you think? He already has the story. Who wants to email him.

[Mark Gunter]

This thing's gone up over $300 now ... a shame someon's going to spend that much on a plywood mandolin; evidently, many believe the crazy legend. Maybe even the seller believes it. It's been posted around the internet for a few years, that this Dixon fellow left Gibson, went to Japan and ... yadda yadda yadda.

Maybe Dixon got the plans after being beamed up in a close encounter on a spaceship. Shame on Gibson for stealing his designs, forbidding him to make them, and running him out of business.

[Bertram Henze]

...It was only then did everyone realize that the former Gibson employee who was now making mandolins was not Rick Dixon . . . but actually, Richard Nixon.

There's a mandolin with a story, and Woodward and Bernstein wouldn't buy either

[Jess L.]

... mandolins that always play in perfect pitch. ..

Where can I get one of those?

I think hes talking about aerodynamics...

Actually, aerodynamics are an extremely important but little-known aspect of mandolin design. Dixon mandolins were carefully tested in state-of-the-art wind tunnels to ensure the most efficient aerodynamic mandolin design possible.

When a mandolin becomes airborne, either on stage as part of the performance, or at home as a result of player frustration with either the instrument or the playing (or various combinations thereof), it is extremely important that the mandolin maintain proper pitch, as well as yaw and roll, in order to ensure that the trajectory is such that the mandolin arrives at its intended destination (for instance, an open window leading to the outdoors).

Dixon mandolins were designed with the player in mind. If, for any reason, the player desires for the mandolin to assume a certain trajectory, the player may rest assured that the mandolin's in-flight behavior will be just as exhilarating and satisfying as every other aspect of the instrument's design and performance.

* Dixon mandolins have optional precision attitude control systems available at extra cost, using spacecraft-quality gyros and thrusters to ensure a predictable, safe, and satisfying mandolin trajectory. The attitude control system components are contained in special Dixon-designed patented impact-resistant enclosures to prevent damage during end-of-flight activities, and the entire navigation system can be uninstalled from one mandolin and reused on another mandolin, thus ensuring that the player's investment is maintained should a mandolin become inoperable.

[OneChordTrick]

I think that you're getting it confused with the lesser known Dixon banjo?

[Jess L.]

I think that you're getting it confused with the lesser known Dixon banjo?

Lol! Of course, Dixon also made several models of mandolin-banjo.

[Bertram Henze]

Dixon mandolins were carefully tested in state-of-the-art wind tunnels to ensure the most efficient aerodynamic mandolin design possible.

This may be literally true for Mark Wood's electric violin models...

[Jess L.]

This may be literally true for Mark Wood's electric violin models...

Lol, and this other artist's electric Stroh-look violin too - airborne instrument at 2:43-2:48


(or direct link)

[AndyV]

Perfect!

with a pencil

[AndyV]

with a pencil

[Mark Gunter]

With two pencils and a perfect quote.

[MikeZito]

Final cost; (including shipping) . . . almost $500.

Amazing.

[Mark Gunter]

I guess Gibson really drove up the bidding on that one.

[MikeEdgerton]

There really is one born every minute....

[Jeff Mando]

Lol, and this other artist's electric Stroh-look violin too - airborne instrument at 2:43-2:48


(or direct link)

I'm embarrassed to say I clicked it and watched it. OUCH! That's 4 minutes of my life I'll never get back. I think I lost a few IQ points, as well.......I would summarize it as, "Devil Went Down to Georgia meets Riverdance!" And, not in a good way...................

[Bertram Henze]

That's 4 minutes of my life I'll never get back.

Since the vid is only 3:38, you must have rewound and watched part of it again. So fascinating, wasn't it?
Besides, 4 minutes is not much compared to the 90 I lost once by watching a soccer game...

[OneChordTrick]

Since the vid is only 3:38, you must have rewound and watched part of it again. So fascinating, wasn't it?
Besides, 4 minutes is not much compared to the 90 I lost once by watching a soccer game...

In which case may I suggest you avoid watching the other English sport, cricket. A game can last 5 days.

[Jess L.]

I'm embarrassed to say I clicked it and watched it. OUCH! That's 4 minutes of my life I'll never get back. I think I lost a few IQ points, as well.......I would summarize it as, "Devil Went Down to Georgia meets Riverdance!" And, not in a good way...................

Why the embarassment and negativity? It's just entertainment. I thought it was amusing and cleverly scripted. It's also a refreshing departure from the usual 1950s/1960s TV westerns (plenty of those on upper cable TV channels) in that Ms. Stirling's video features female leads who do stuff (take out badguys with sci-fi music weapons! lol) instead of just playing the usual gratuitous sidekick or token girlfriend/wife role. But, to each his/her own, apparently.