News
Starting Line
If you want a clean house first clean each room.
I've had a few conversations recently that made me realize that we are too far sighted and, perhaps, act a bit entitled. We know what we want so that's what we look for. The...
Read more
Dont Believe Yourself
Mistaking affinity as knowledge. Rationalizing instead of testing. Reacting instead of contemplating. Thinking instead of trying. Comfort is not confirmation. Inclination is not experience. Habit is not practice. Inaction...
Read more
Don’t be clever be strong
I wear a shirt with these words when football coaching season rolls back around. Sometimes new players trick themselves into trying “an easier way” - something that seems more clever. It doesn’t work. For those of us who...
Read more
How we Set Up Resonators
When you see a resonator do you think, “Oh that’s cool. But I don’t really play slide.” I did too. High action, slide to the fifth fret then then 12th. We don’t “set up for slide”. 9/10 of my customers say “I play with my...
Read more
Charlie Parr - 1890
Charlie Parr is an American treasure. To see him doing his thing on the Mule - a privilege and so very inspiring.
-Matt
https://youtu.be/X74nBiFcMoI
...
Read more
Jeffrey Foucault and Kris Delmhorst - All The Way Around
https://vimeo.com/237489274
If ever there was a favorite moment of mine it was driving down to the Ark to meet Jeffrey Foucault. I brought a whiskey made in Detroit that tasted like it was made in Japan. He's from...
Read more
Know Your Limits
How much is too much? Too much work, too much leisure... too much talk, too much doing? Sometimes finding the questions is the hardest part. Are you working too hard? Are you working hard enough? Are you enjoying...
Read more
Books to Buy
If you are guitar maker, resonator guitar enthusiast, or are just looking for a good book- Guitar Lesson by Bob Taylor and The Way of the Seal by Mark Divine are two of the most helpful I've read this year.
The hard part of...
Read more
Ant Hill Luthiery
I was listening to the radio a while back and they had a scientist on to talk. She studied ants. First I was stunned that there was such a thing, second that she most likely was not the only ant researcher. She spent all her...
Read more
Aggregate Alternatives
A bit of a tangent but it still applies.
We tend to think of alternatives in aggregate. "If I didn't work this job I could start that business, go back to school and still have more free time." We take the best parts of all...
Read more
Challenging Assumptions
I never wanted to be a business person. It still makes me feel awkward just to write it. I just wanted to make things and support myself doing it. I had attached (have attached) a lot of misconceptions about what it means...
Read more
Resonator Fiddle Edge Dobro Ramp Mayhem
Making stuff to make stuff. A brass fiddle edged tricone, complete with fingerboard ramp, modeled after Dan Auerbach's 1935 Dobro, that I had the privilege to possess temporarily. SWEET GOODNESS I'M PUMPED....
Read more
Cell-e-phone Conference
Me talking to Mark and Anna from Room 608 in NewYork City. In what they call a "conference room". They have 7 Emmy awards and 18 Emmy nominations between them and they are making an episode for a maker series for PBS. It will...
Read more
On Tour with The Steel Wheels
Trusty Mule in hand, I drove the van for the Steel Wheels solo from Virginia to Boulder, CO. This is Jay's new Mule and it will be making it's rounds around the west for the next two weeks. I'll be there two, I love the...
Read more