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The Luthiers
Players and Friends
Music
Thank goodness we got pictures of the Wingert dread prototypes. Craig seems to be putting Sheri to sleep with the dulcet tones of the 12 fret dread. Somehow Kathy has made a dread that feels smaller and more intimate, and of course the decoration, color sense, details of craftsmanship are all inspiring.
I managed to play the 12 fretter and it was quite an experience - rich without being muddy, with that "grounded" Wingert sound. I'm ashamed to admit that I never even got the 14 fretter in hands, or heard anyone else play it either. Gives you some idea of how much our cup overflowed with fantastic guitars.
Jeff Titus is a friend of Matt Sarad. He brought along this stunning creation - a Fred Carlson harp guitar with internal sympathetic strings. I hope that recorder is catching some of what Jeff is doing.
Shucks, it wasn't.
The crowd is gathered around as Jeff opens the access port on the back of the Carlson Sympitar. This is how he changes the sympathetic strings. We've got Dave Skowron, Jeff, Beth Hayden, Kevin Ansberry, Kevin Ko, and Monica Skowron watching.
Janice works with me and provides a little oasis of sanity in our office. Joe brought his Gibson A model mandolin and jumped into the bluegrass song circle.
The heading is obviously "This is the life." Matt Sarad keeps Gigi, the koa Wingert, warmed up.
Sun shot lots of pictures, but she uses real film so it will take a few days to see who she caught. She also sings wicked good. Patrick Flanigan brought a couple of his McCollums, the gorgeous Pterodactyl and a koa baritone.
To the left you see the groaning board, which was barely touched. Even the kids running around were more interested in the music than the food. Behind the table please note the mural of Lynn's family village in Calabria, Italy.
The mural was done by Tami Banghart, who brought our godkids over to help us work through the food.
She decided to help a little with the Queen of Sheba torte.
Marshall Newman brought his Merrill OM along with this very rich sounding mahogany and German spruce Santa Cruz OM. It's a born slack key guitar.
Svea is bonding with her brand new Martin OM-18V. Her guitar is so light and lively that you'd swear it was built by a solo luthier. My OM-18V and I are jealous!
John Mello explains some of his building strategies to Bill Rice.
