Archive for December, 2009

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Learning My First Earl Break By Ear

Friday, December 11th, 2009
Casey Henry

Casey Henry

We promised you, those of you who read the TMM newsletter anyway, some discussion of Earl’s tunes and the trials and tribulations we went through to learn them. This is the first post in what will hopefully be a series on that topic.

But first, in my last post I mentioned I was working on a “Greensleeves” arrangement for someone who wanted a custom lesson of it. I got it worked out, recorded it, and here it is if you’d like to hear it.

The first break of Earl’s I tried to learn just by listening to it was “Doin’ My Time.” (It was either that or “Head Over Heels,” I can’t remember which now. But for the sake of the story, I’m going with “Doin My Time.”) Murphy may have steered me in that direction because the break is so straightforward, but I was listening to it on a CD player at full speed, NOT on my record player that slows down to 16 r.p.m. I kept listening to the beginning of the kickoff over and over. I could tell that it started with a slide, so I played the only slide lick that came to mind, which was a slide from 2-3 on the third string, followed by a 2-1-5 forward roll.

That didn’t sound exactly right, so I was stumped. So then my mom prodded me along a little. “What’s another slide lick that you know?” Hmmm. Um. OH! The Cripple Creek lick. Duh. I played it and that was it!! What I played sounded just like what Earl played on the record!! Well, not just like, but you know what I mean.

The excitement of that moment has blotted out the process of learning the rest of the break. I did learn it, and mostly by ear, at least until the end, when I suspect I had considerable help. It sure was convenient to have a Scruggs expert in the same house while I was learning. Well, really two Scruggs experts, because Red could have answered my questions just as handily as Murphy did.

That first taste of figuring out a break by ear got me hooked. I didn’t need an intermediary. I could just listen to it and figure out what Earl did!! Sure it wasn’t easy, but I would definitely remember it forever after working so hard to tease out every note in the roll. For future attempts I did make use of my record player, and it was awfully nice of my parents to let me use their albums. I’m sure they had some qualms about putting them into the hands of a sixteen year old armed with a turntable and a needle. But the LPs survived to play another day, and my Scruggs knowledge grew exponentially.

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Posted in By Casey, Learning By Ear | 3 Comments »

Misfit Jam

Thursday, December 10th, 2009
Murphy Henry

Murphy Henry

I’d like to thank Logan for providing the humor in the following story.

So, we’re playing “I’ll Fly Away” with four banjos. We’re doing it as a singing song, as it is most often done in bluegrass. However, since there are times when it is done as an instrumental (usually by bands trying to stretch their material to fill out a Sunday morning gospel set), I teach both the verse and the chorus on the Amazing Grace DVD.

So Bob Mc kicked it off, playing both the verse and the chorus, and Bobby came in with the singing. Logan took the next break, playing only the verse, from whence the resulting confusion arose. Bobby, trouper that he is, jumped right in on the next verse, thereby averting disaster. Mark took the next break (improvising) and since Logan had muddied the waters, he didn’t really know what to do, so he played the verse, hesitated slightly I thought, and when I nodded, went ahead on with the chorus. Bobby sang another verse. Then Susan came in (improvising, and making good use of the “Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arm” lick, I might add) and she played just the verse. Bobby sang an extra chorus and we were done.

But things had not gone smoothly, and I felt obliged to explain. I did it succinctly with four words: “It’s all Logan’s fault.”

Then I asked Logan if he knew what I was talking about. Actually he did. He said, “Bob played the verse and chorus and I just played the verse.” “Right,” I said, “Why did you do that?” And he said, “I thought he messed up.” I was dumbfounded. (But not so dumbfounded that I didn’t grab pen and paper and copy down what he said.) “So what did you think about the break Mark took?” I asked. “He’s doing it wrong, too,” replied Logan. Out came my pen again. “Do you want to write the whole blog, Logan?” I asked. Then I queried, “And what about Susan?” “She did it right.”

By this time everyone is hysterical with laughter.

Then Logan says, “But usually in a jam you just play the verse.”

And I said, “He does have a leg to stand on there.”

Then Susan says, “But what about the thing about playing your break the same way the first person plays it?”

And I said, “Yeah, that’s the leg he doesn’t have to stand on.”

I continued on with illuminating remarks: “Logan, you should have done what Bob did, even if you thought it was wrong.” And then I explained about the song sometimes being done as an instrumental, where verse and chorus are both needed. But I said, “In this jam, even when we’re doing it as a singing song, we’ll play both verse and chorus so you all can practice both of them.”

Also, I failed to mention, because I never thought of it, that if there are large numbers of pickers in a jam, sometimes the jam leader will indicate split breaks, simply by nodding her head at the next player after someone has played the verse. This would mean “go ahead and play the chorus.” Of course, you could misinterpret and play the verse again, but that wouldn’t be a big deal. Either the singer would start singing, or the jam leader would nod to the next person in line, and this time probably yell, “Chorus!” At least that’s what I would do. Or if I thought of it early on, I’d say, “Since there are so many of us, let’s split the breaks, verse, then chorus.” A little organization sometimes helps.

Remember, although there are conventional ways of doing things in a jam, none of this stuff is set in stone. There’s always room for improvising on the fly! Nevertheless, whatever that first person does, go thou and do likewise!

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Christmas Songs on the Banjo

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
Casey Henry

Casey Henry

‘Tis the season when I start trying to remember all the Christmas tunes I know how to play on the banjo. Some work quite well bluegrass-style. Others not so much. The most common, by far, is “Jingle Bells,” which lays great on the banjo. I posted this link last year, but I’m posting it again, because it is so great. Here’s Earl on YouTube playing “Jingle Bells” with some other pickers who aren’t so shabby, either. It’s a fabulous version because he plays a straightforward melody, yet he’s also got some really, really cool rhythmic licks going.

Since there are not really any standard banjo versions of Christmas carols, you can do pretty much anything you want with them. I figured out really easy arrangements of “Silent Night” and “Joy to the World” for a custom lesson student a couple months back. They’re not so much Scruggsy versions as bare-bones melody versions, but they’re very doable for a beginning student. When I play them for myself, though, I’d probably fancy them up considerably.

I’m currently working on “Greensleeves,” also for a custom lesson. I’ve always loved the melody, but never thought to play it on the banjo. Turns out it’s very simple, but it’s challenging to make it sound a little fuller without skyrocketing the difficulty way beyond the advanced student level. That one should be done next week and if I can get a decent recorded version I’ll post it for y’all to hear. I’m doing it in A minor.

On the subject of recorded Christmas music: last night I was listening to a Gusto Records compilation CD called “Christmas Country Style.”  (That link leads to iTunes.) It has several cuts by Jim Eanes on it and on every one of them I remarked to myself, “Wow, I really like that banjo playing,” or “Now that’s a good banjo player!” I had to call my mom to ask who played banjo with Eanes and I found out it was none other than Allen Shelton. There are a couple clunkers on the disc, but it’s totally worth the $8 it costs on iTunes. It also has one of my favorite bluegrass Christmas songs, the Stanley Brothers’ “Christmas is Near.”

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Posted in By Casey, General | 1 Comment »

Take Your Pick

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
Red Henry

Red Henry

Folks, I was just looking through some old posts, and I realized that I’d never talked about flatpicks. This is an important and interesting subject for those guitar and mandolin pickers who are learning to play.

Some new pickers try out a thin, light flatpick, and get used to it, and use it from then on. Now, everybody will have his or her own preference for picks, but I’d recommend trying out a medium pick when you get a chance. If you’ve gotten used to the thin pick it will take a little getting used to, but a medium pick has some advantages. A few of them are: (1) you get a more solid sound from the instrument; (2) the pick doesn’t bend as much, so you hit the strings with it more accurately; and (3) your motion and energy go less into bending the pick, and more into making the note.

. . . . .

On the other extreme, there’s been sort of a fad in the last several years for using really heavy picks. Some of these are made of exotic materials, such as caribou horn, buffalo hoof, or the teeth of a Siberian timber wolf (just kidding– a little). But these extra-heavy and rigid picks do not bend at all, and can cause clumsiness in playing and a lack of clarity. I use a fairly heavy pick, but not an extreme one — and it’s not made from fossilized Triceratops skull, either!

Try lots of picks, and Take Your Pick.

Red

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Posted in Accessories, By Red | No Comments »

Marathon Man

Monday, December 7th, 2009
Murphy Henry

Murphy Henry

Well, Marty and I just finished two days of marathon banjo lessons–four hours on Saturday and another three hours on Sunday. And I am happy and proud to report that on Saturday, during our last hour, Marty tried improvising for the first time and he could do it! Honestly, I was stunned. He just got it. He improvised good breaks to “East Virginia Blues,” “Nobody’s Love Is Like Mine,” “My Dixie Home,” and “Somebody Touched Me.” I was sitting there, open-mouthed, going, “Wow!”

This is a guy who has been playing banjo for a mere 13 months, who had no previous musical background, and who, not long ago, could not reliably vamp on the off beat, as he often mentioned in blog comments.

So, the question is: What did he do right?

The short answer is that he used the Murphy Method DVDs and practiced his butt off. At this point he has learned all the songs on Beginning Banjo Vol. 1 except “John Hardy,” all the Misfits songs, all the Improvising songs except “Roll On Buddy,” plus “Old Joe Clark.”

In addition to this, for the last year he has totally immersed himself in all things banjo. He went to every banjo camp and clinic he could, took a number of marathon lessons with me while regularly taking lessons from Julie Elkins down in N.C., sought out jams in his area and went to them, persuaded friends to play with him even when he was a rank beginner, bought his wife a bass guitar so she could play with him, listened to lots and lots of bluegrass music, kept a notebook of bluegrass lyrics that he himself copied down, and attended lots of live shows.

Plus that, he bought a good beginner banjo early on (after I told him the one he brought to his first lesson was the worst banjo I had ever seen) and after about six months he upgraded to a Stelling MurphyFlower. Hey, a quality instrument helps!

So, folks, I hope Marty’s story will inspire you. You can learn to play, you can learn to improvise. You don’t even have to do it in 13 months. Slow and steady also wins the race. Practice, practice, practice; play with others, play with others, play with others; listen, listen, listen.

BTW, Marty told me that the Flatt and Scruggs’ album “Foggy Mountain Banjo” has been re-released. Put it on your Christmas List NOW. (I just Googled it to make sure. It is available at the “Flatt and Scruggs Store” on Amazon! Wow! While you’re there, might as well get “Foggy Mountain Jamboree” for $6.99. These two CDs are the bible of Scruggs style playing. And if you want a third one, get the Mercury Recordings. Those are truly the Big Three!)

PS: I can’t believe that I saved this blog on my computer under the date “December 7, 1941.” I knew I had Pearl Harbor on my mind when I typed December 7, but finding I’d also typed “1941” was a shock. Let’s take a minute to remember the horror of that day, and the brave men and women who died, and those who lived to continue fighting in that sad, calamitous second World War.

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Posted in By Murphy, Improvising, lessons | 3 Comments »

No Time for Practice? Think Again!

Friday, December 4th, 2009
Red Henry

Red Henry

Folks, for Thanksgiving we went to visit Murphy’s parents. They live an 8-hour drive south of here, so driving both ways took a lot of hours, and for various reasons no picking developed while we were there. (With Casey, Chris, and three of Murphy’s sisters who play, and brother-in-law Mike as well, that’s a little unusual. But not many pickers were there at the same time, and we were occupied with turkey and other distractions.)

So what could a person do to keep from getting badly out of shape musically? Well, I just played for a few minutes from time to time, knowing that it was better to do that than to promise myself that I’d play a lot when we got home.

Why is that? It’s because it’s better to practice even 15 or 20 minutes every day of the week, than it is to play for 3 hours on Saturday. Especially if you are learning to play, if your daily schedule is so crowded and busy that you can’t play for your recommended hour a day, then play for 20 minutes. Play for 15 minutes. Play for 10 minutes. Play for whatever time you can manage, because it (1) keeps your hands in touch with the instrument, so it won’t feel strange, (2) keeps your right hand — usually the most difficult one — in some condition for those banjo rolls or flatpicking notes, and (3) reminds your brain of how it feels to play.

You might not learn much new material while playing for 15 minutes a day, but you can avoid losing ground, and your family, picking friends, and teacher will all appreciate it. If your day is hectic, just get that instrument out and play a little. By the end of the week, you’ll be glad you did.

Red

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Posted in By Red, Practice | 2 Comments »

Misfit Jam

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009
Murphy Henry

Murphy Henry

As Yukon Cornelius says in that seasonal DVD Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, it wasn’t a fit night out for man, woman, nor beast. (I am paraphrasing, of course…) Still and yet, Susan, Bob Mc, Mark, Ellen, and Bobby Van braved the rain and fog and deer (not red-nosed, which would make them way easier to see at night!) to come jam. And a good time was had!

The quote of the night is from Mark. We were fixing to play “John Hardy,” and he was going to kick it off, so I told him to play it through twice. So what did he do? He played it through once and passed it to Bob Mc. Which completely threw Bob off stride and we ground to a halt. Train wreck! So what did Mark have to say? “In my head, I played it twice!” Priceless! (And to be completely fair, it wasn’t really Mark’s fault that Bob missed his entrance, even though Mark graciously took the heat. In a jam, you’ve got to be ready at all times to take the lead. What if somebody breaks a string? The song must go on!
Other numbers we did:

Cripple Creek

I Saw The Light

Foggy Mountain Breakdown

I’ll Fly Away

Sally Goodwin (played by Susan, who did an excellent job)

Mary Dear (sung by Bobby—same chord progression as Blue Ridge Cabin Home)

Lonesome Road Blues

I’ll have to commend Bobby on “Mary Dear.” The last time we did it, he ended the song before two of the players got to take breaks. That always makes me so uncomfortable when anyone gets left out break-wise, probably because I hate it so much when I get left out! So I had jumped on his case about that…I mean I gently explained that perhaps there was another way he could have done it. And by golly, tonight he kept singing verse after verse until everybody had taken a break.

Then I explained to everybody that when a song is that long and that slow, one way to handle the break situation is to split the breaks, with one person taking the first half and the next person taking the second half. I always like doing that because there is usually a little spark of connection between the two people making the trade off. Both people have to be alert and aware that this break splitting can happen. It’s just one of those cool bluegrass moves. Just one more reason to love this great music!

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Posted in By Murphy, jamming | No Comments »

Complete List of Custom Lessons now Available

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009
Casey Henry

Casey Henry

I’ve had a couple different people ask me this, so I’m doing this post to answer their question. I’ve written previously (here and here) about the custom lessons on DVD I’m offering. I’ve had lots of requests, and have a bit of a backlog in recording them since I was away from my computer for a month. But here is a complete list of all the ones I have ready to go right away. Each song is $30 apiece (about the same as a half-hour in-person lesson).  If you want copies of any of these lessons, email me! Or, now you can order straight from my website: caseyhenry.net. Just type the title you want into the box and click “Add to Cart.” I also now offer custom guitar rhythm practice tracks. Info and ordering about those can be found here.

(List updated August 29, 2011)

B=Beginner, I=Intermediate, A=Advanced, RA=Really Advanced

  • Most Popular Songs
  • Blue Ridge Cabin Home (Earl’s arrangement) (I)
  • Dear Old Dixie (A)
  • Doug’s Tune (A)
  • Fireball Mail (high break) (I)
  • Gum Tree Canoe (I) Watch clip.
  • Red-Haired Boy (I) Watch clip.
  • Sally Goodwin (banjo backup to play behind the fiddle) (I) Watch clip.
  • Shuckin’ The Corn (Earl’s arrangement) (A)
  • Wildwood Flower (in G) (I)
  • Gospel Songs
  • Ave Maria (RA)
  • Beautiful Star of Bethlehem (I) Watch clip.
  • Come Unto Me (I)
  • Come Unto Me (backup) (I)
  • Give Me That Old Time Religion (I)
  • He Will Set Your Fields On Fire (I)
  • Help is on the Way (I)
  • How Great Thou Art (I) Watch clip.
  • I Am A Pilgrim (I)
  • I Saw The Light (high break) (I) Watch clip.
  • I’ll Fly Away (high break) (A) Watch clip.
  • Just Any Day Now (I) Watch clip.
  • Leaning on the Everlasting Arms (I)
  • Man In The Middle (Hot Rize version) (I) Watch clip.
  • Me And Jesus (I) Watch clip.
  • Old Rugged Cross (I)
  • Old Time Religion (I)
  • Prayer Bells of Heaven (I) Watch clip.
  • Precious Memories (I)
  • These Thousand Hills (I) Watch clip.
  • Washed in the Blood (I)
  • Complete List
  • 214 (from Casey’s Real Women Drive Trucks CD) (RA)
  • Angeline The Baker (A) Watch clip.
  • Ashes of Love (B) Watch clip.
  • Ave Maria (RA)
  • Banjo Pickin’ Girl (in the key of C) (I)
  • Banjo Road (I) Watch clip.
  • Bear Creek Hop (B) Watch clip.
  • Beautiful Star of Bethlehem (I) Watch clip.
  • Blackbird (the Beatles song) (I) Watch clip.
  • Blue Ridge Cabin Home (Earl’s arrangement) (I)
  • Blue Ridge Cabin Home (backup) (I) Watch clip.
  • Buffalo Gals (I)
  • Bugle Call Rag (A)
  • Carter’s Blues (I)
  • Cherokee Shuffle (I) Watch clip.
  • Chicken Reel (I)
  • Christmas Time’s a Comin’ (I)
  • Clinch Mountain Backstep (Ralph Stanley’s arrangement) (I)
  • Coal Tattoo (I) Watch clip.
  • Come Unto Me (I)
  • Come Unto Me (backup) (I)
  • Country Roads (I) Watch clip.
  • The Crow (From Steve Martin’s The Crow CD) (I)
  • Cumberland River (I)
  • Daddy Played the Banjo (From Steve Martin’s The Crow CD) (I)
  • Daddy What If (a Bobby Bare song) (B)
  • Dear Old Dixie (A)
  • Deck the Halls (I)
  • Dixie (I)
  • Dixie Breakdown (Murphy’s break from the Real Women Drive Trucks CD) (A)
  • Dooley (I)
  • Doug’s Tune (A)
  • Down Yonder (Murphy’s arrangement off of her M&M Blues CD) (A)
  • Dueling Banjos (movie soundtrack version) (I) Watch clip.
  • Dusty Miller (A)
  • Earl’s Breakdown (walkdown break) (RA)
  • Eastbound and Down (Smokey and the Bandit theme song) (I)
  • Eight More Miles to Louisville (I)
  • Emergency Pulloff (Ned Luberecki tune) (A) Watch clip.
  • Faded Love (I)
  • Faithless Love (as recorded by Linda Ronstadt) (I)
  • Farewell Blues (A)
  • Fireball Mail (high break) (I)
  • Fox on The Run (I) Watch clip.
  • Freddie’s Lilt (From Steve Martin’s The Crow CD) (RA)
  • Frost (from Casey’s Real Women Drive Trucks CD) (RA)
  • G-C-D Songs Backup (I)
  • Gentle On My Mind (I) Watch clip.
  • Give Me That Old Time Religion (I)
  • Glendale Train (Backup in D) (A) Watch clip.
  • Going to Work in Tall Buildings (A) Watch clip.
  • Greensleeves (I/A)
  • Gum Tree Canoe (I) Watch clip.
  • He Will Set Your Fields On Fire (I)
  • Help is on the Way (I)
  • How Great Thou Art (I) Watch clip.
  • Huckleberries (from Casey’s Real Women Drive Trucks CD) (A)
  • I Am A Pilgrim (I)
  • I Run for Life (I) Watch clip.
  • I Saw The Light (high break) (I) Watch clip.
  • If I Die Young (The Band Perry song) (I) Watch clip.
  • I’ll Fly Away (high break) (A) Watch clip.
  • Jerusalem Ridge (RA)
  • Jesse James (I)
  • Jingle Bells (I)
  • John Hardy (Murphy’s low break from the Stelling Banjo Anthology CD) (I/A)
  • John Hardy (Murphy’s high break from the Stelling Banjo Anthology CD) (I/A)
  • John Henry (in G) (I)
  • Joy to the World (B)
  • Just Any Day Now (I) Watch clip.
  • Just Because (Murphy’s arrangement off of her M&M Blues CD) (A)
  • Katy Daley (I)
  • Keep on the Sunny Side (I)
  • Knee Deep In The Blues (I) Watch clip.
  • Landslide (Dixie Chicks song) (I) Watch clip.
  • Leaning on the Everlasting Arms (I)
  • Leather Britches (lead) (I) Watch clip.
  • Leather Britches (backup) (I) Watch clip.
  • Let Him Go On Mama (A) Watch clip.
  • Little Birdie (I)
  • Little Liza Jane (I)
  • Little Martha (A)
  • Loch Lomond (I)
  • Lonesome Banjo (from Merle Watson) (B) Watch clip.
  • Lonesome Old Song (I) Watch clip.
  • Long Journey Home (I)
  • Long Skinny Lanky Sarah Jane (I) Watch clip.
  • Lorena (A) Watch clip.
  • Lost Indian (I)
  • Love is A Rose (I) Watch clip.
  • Love of the Mountains (I)
  • Man In The Middle (Hot Rize version) (I) Watch clip.
  • Maple on the Hill (I)
  • Me And Jesus (I) Watch clip.
  • Me and My Old Banjo (I)
  • Mole in The Ground (I) Watch clip.
  • Molly and Tenbrooks (I) Watch clip.
  • Old Rugged Cross (I)
  • Old Time Religion (I)
  • On Christmas Eve (A) Watch clip.
  • One Teardrop and One Step Away (I)
  • Over The Rainbow (A)
  • Pearl, Pearl, Pearl (I)
  • Pig in A Pen (I)
  • Polka On A Banjo (A) Watch clip.
  • Possum John (fiddle tune that Casey plays with The Dixie Bee-Liners) (A)
  • Prayer Bells of Heaven (I) Watch clip.
  • Precious Memories (I)
  • Pullin’ Time (Steve Huber tune) (RA) Watch clip.
  • Rabbit in a Log (I)
  • Real Women Drive Trucks (from Casey’s Real Women Drive Trucks CD) (RA)
  • Red-Haired Boy (I) Watch clip.
  • Red Wing (A)
  • Ready for The Times to Get Better (I) Watch clip.
  • Ring of Fire (Earl’s arrangement) (I) Watch clip.
  • Roadrunner Theme Song (B/I) Watch clip.
  • Room At the Top of the Stairs (I)
  • Sally Ann (A) Watch clip.
  • Sally Goodwin (banjo backup to play behind the fiddle) (I) Watch clip.
  • Sally Johnson (the banjo backup as recorded by Doug Dillard) (A)
  • Sasha (I)
  • Shenandoah Breakdown (I)
  • Shrimp on the Barbie (from Casey’s Real Women Drive Trucks CD) (A)
  • Shuckin’ The Corn (Earl’s arrangement) (A)
  • Shuckin’ The Corn (High Break) (Earl’s Arrangement) (A) Watch clip.
  • Silent Night (B)
  • Snowbird (I) Watch clip.
  • Sophronie (low rolling backup) (I)
  • Spring Break (from Casey’s Real Women Drive Trucks CD) (RA)
  • St. Simon Says (from Casey’s Real Women Drive Trucks CD) (A)
  • Strawberry Fields Forever (A)
  • Stuck on a Bus (from Casey’s Real Women Drive Trucks CD) (A)
  • Tennnessee Waltz (I)
  • Tennessee Waltz Backup (A) Watch clip.
  • There’s A Little Cabin (From Casey’s Real Women Drive Trucks CD) (A)
  • These Thousand Hills (I) Watch clip.
  • ‘Til The End of the World Rolls Around (I)
  • Tom and Jerry (I) Watch clip.
  • Under the Double Eagle (John Hickman’s version) (RA) Watch clip.
  • Wabash Cannonball (in G) (I)
  • Wabash Cannonball (in C) (I)
  • Washed in the Blood (I)
  • Welcome to New York (RA) Watch clip.
  • When My Mama Sang to Me (Murphy Henry original song.) (I) Watch clip.
  • When the Train Comes Along (I)
  • Whiskey Before Breakfast (A)
  • Whitewater (Bela Fleck tune) (A)
  • Wildwood Flower (in G) (I)
  • Without You (Keith Urban song) (I) Watch clip.
  • Wreck of the Old 97 (I) Watch clip.

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Posted in banjo, By Casey, lessons | 12 Comments »

Maple Mandolin Bridge Update

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009
Red Henry

Red Henry

Folks, our maple mandolin bridges are still selling well, and we’re glad to keep offering them. This is my standard “11-hole” design:

Bridge506

This design maximizes the overall response of most mandolins, producing purity of tone, excellent volume, and exceptional sustain.

Lately, though, I’ve been thinking about offering my older “winged” bridge design again:

bridge27b

The advantage of the wings that they bring out all the bass response a mandolin has in it, which is often deeply desired and wished for by folks who play f-hole mandolins like F-5′s and A-5′s. The winged design may give a few percent less volume than an 11-hole bridge does, but it really does help the low end.

The winged bridges take a bit longer to make, but I’d offer them again if some demand was out there. If there are any potential F5-playing maple-bridge customers out there, let me know what you think!

Red

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Posted in By Red, Mandolin Bridges | No Comments »

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