Miscellaneous News

Today was an in-shop day. I spent some time cleaning and organizing the tools and parts, and then I decided to work on a guitar. We have a guitar that we picked up from a music store that was going out of business. It is a pretty Washburn guitar made out of ash with a transparent, aqua blue, polyurethane finish. The bad news is that the bridge had pulled up and had been unsuccessfully reattached. I pried the bridge off, then I used a gouge to remove all the old glue and smooth out the surface. The top was a little bit warped, so I decided to use two bolts to help clamp down and hold on the new bridge. (I wouldn't normally do this, but it's cheap guitar and it already belongs to us!) I drilled two holes for the bolts, then I covered the bridge area with glue and clamped everything down. It's no Martin, but it will be a nice, inexpensive guitar for someone.

Normally, I don't teach on Fridays, but today I made an exception. David, a banjo student of mine, needed some help with the banjo part for a musical at school. The school is doing a performance of "Oklahoma," and there is a 4-string banjo playing in some parts. David's mom gave me a copy of the piano score and a CD of the two songs that he would be playing. I spent an hour or two last night figuring out the banjo parts and transcribing them for David. He'll be playing 5-string banjo instead of 4-string, but it will sound the same. I listened to the CD so many times I think I have most of the words memorized now!

This will be an interesting week coming up. Someone from the public television station will be coming to our shop on Tuesday for a documentary. I'll be working with a young girl named Tiffany. She'll be doing some interviews and filming students, the building, the workshop, jam sessions, etc. It will air locally in St. Louis and Illinois out of Carbondale, IL. How exciting!

We're always on the lookout for used and vintage instruments. Do you have any you want to sell or trade? Let us know! In the meantime, Happy Easter!!!