I Guess Jack Bruce Didn’t Get the Memo…
It seems that it’s now de rigueur for legendary bass players from the British Isles to take up the mandolin-MJS
1 comment May 24th, 2007
Archive for May, 2007
Happy Birthday, Bob
In honor of Bob Dylan’s birthday, here’s a link to Michael Gray’s blog, the guy who compiled the Bob Dylan Encylopedia.-MJS
Add comment May 24th, 2007
Ukulele Chord Program
John Baxter at Uke Farm has put together a great little program called Chordette. He explains it as “a ukulele chord library program that can be used as a stand-alone application, or in conjunction with a word processing program, such as Word. As a stand-alone, it provides a handy interface for looking at uke chords in first and second position on the fretboard. When used with a word processing program, chord charts can be built by using the keystroke information for entering the chords.”-MJS
2 comments May 22nd, 2007
Steampunk Guitar
J.Ritzmann at Thunder Eagle Guitars decided to a take Jackson Randy Rhodes V Custom and modify it to look as if it had been built in an era when guitars were powered by steam instead of electricity. Now how cool is that?-MJS
Add comment May 22nd, 2007
William Eaton Clip from 1984
Here’s a video clip of luthier and musician William Eaton from 1984 where he talks about building and playing. Eaton is the director of the Roberto-Venn School of Luthery and makes some of the most amazing instruments I’ve ever seen.-MJS
Add comment May 22nd, 2007
Mario Maccaferri, the Harp Guitar and the Plastic Ukulele
Gregg Miner over at HarpGuitars.net has posted an amazing amount of information about Mario Maccaferri and the harp guitars he built and played in the 1920s and 1930s. I thought I knew a lot about Maccaferri, but Gregg has turned up photos and history I had no idea existed. In other Maccaferri news, John King has posted a very informative article about the plastic ukuleles Maccaferri designed in the 1950s.-MJS
Add comment May 21st, 2007
Hemp Guitar
Mada Guitars is an Austrian company that has come up with a semi-hollow body instrument made from a material called Hempstone, which is made from, well, hemp. I’m sure you can come up with a punchline or two on your own.-MJS
2 comments May 21st, 2007
Return of the Single
According to this article in Businessweek, the single, which was presumed dead, has been making a comeback in the digital realm. The article quotes a number of sources who bemoan the decline of the multi-track album because of this, but I’m not sure this such a tragedy. After all, for its first 60 years or so, the record industry, and some of the greatest musicians af all-time, did just fine selling and recording nothing but singles.-MJS
1 comment May 17th, 2007
Eddie Peabody’s All-Electric String Band
Here’s an amazing clip from around 1930 of Eddie Peabody and his Beach Combers playing the Electraphone, which appears to be four electric instruments (tenor guitar, plectrum banjo, Hawaiian guitar and mandolin) mounted to a table. I’d hate to have been the roadie that had to load that into the van.-MJS
2 comments May 16th, 2007
The First Rule of Fight Club is…
…You don’t sing songs about fight club. In Guam, some teenagers have started up illicit fight clubs. It turns out that the lookouts strum a ukulele whenever an adult gets too close.-MJS
Add comment May 16th, 2007
