Expand Your Mandolin Knowledge
Jazzmando is an excellent site devoted to the jazz mandolin. It includes playing tips, photos of mandolins, discographies and regular news updates.-MJS
Add comment October 30th, 2006
Archive for October, 2006
Bender Collision Bass
As you can see from the photo, English luthier Brian Eastwood has a peculiar, yet wonderful, sense of design. You should check out his other guitars, including the Distortorcastor, the Jellycastor and the acoustic Benderdet-o.-MJS
Add comment October 30th, 2006
Kanilea Ukuleles
Here’s a good article about Kanilea Ukuleles from the business pages of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin that touches on the issues involved in expanding production and modernizing building techniques in a traditional craft. The Kanilea Ukuleles website has a photo tour of the workshop that shows some of the high tech tools mentioned in the article.-MJS
Add comment October 30th, 2006
Guilamp? Lamtar?
Mechanical Art of Merriam, Kansas has found the perfect use for that fifties Les Paul that’s taking up space in your closet. Oh, and they call them Guitar Lamps.-MJS
1 comment October 29th, 2006
Marijohn Wilkin, 1920-2006
Songwriter and music publisher Marijohn Wilkin passed away October 26, 2006. Her hit songs included “One Day at a Time,” “Cut Across Shorty,” “Waterloo,” which were hits for artists such as Lefty Frizzell, Jimmy Dean and Webb Pierce. Perhaps her best known song is “Long Black Veil,” a haunting ballad that sounded so old and authentic that most people didn’t realize Wilkin wrote it in 1958. Wilkin was also a back-up singer and appeared on hundreds of records. She co-founded the Nashville Songwriters Association and her unstinting support of struggling songwriters earned her the title of the Den Mother of Music Row. She will be missed.-MJS
Add comment October 28th, 2006
Guitarlet
I really have nothing to say about this, except that they also make a P-ano version, but I welcome your comments.-MJS (via Gizmodo!)
Add comment October 27th, 2006
Some Good Advice
This rant on Craig’s List about proper instrument selling etiquette has some good points. Check out #3, for example: “‘Cash only’ doesn’t mean ‘dime bag.’ If I wanted you to pay me in weed, I would have written ‘weed only’ in the ad.”-MJS (Thanks, Teja!)
Add comment October 26th, 2006
Giant Guitars Invade Austin!
Either that or Dwight Yoakam is shrinking. Or, it could be that the Austin GuitarTown project is getting underway. The GuitarTown project is a public arts display dedicated to bringing visual and musical artists together to decorate ten-foot Gibson Guitar sculptures which will be placed throughout the city in November 2006. Various groups will sponsor the guitars with the proceeds going to charity.-MJS
Add comment October 26th, 2006
Beyond “The Monster Mash”
Just in time for Halloween, here’s Scar Stuff, a very ghoul blog that’s devoted to nothing but spooky music, monster music, robot music and sounds that will sound just right on October 31.-MJS (via Boing Boing!)
Add comment October 26th, 2006
The Music of Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Nimoy’s music was never as weird as William Shatner’s, which is probably why he managed to make more records. Here’s a very complete site devoted to Nimoy’s records and the effort to get them reissued on CD.-MJS
Add comment October 26th, 2006
