I had a guy on the internet try to tell me that this wasn't a tri-cone resonator with a single-cone coverplate. I told him that it was, that I made it, and showed him the pictures. After all that, it still sounded like he...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw8yz5CjA2Q...

I think a special feature of these instruments is the patina. When I originally saw Kelly Joe Phelps play his National guitar, he made a joke about the chrome blinding the audience. I left wondering if I could build a steel...

This is Part 2 of a series of posts aimed at helping other maker-owners achieve balanced improvement in all the aspects of owning a business and making what they sell. "If its important do it everyday." - Wrestling Coach Dan...

This is Part three in a series of posts geared towards owner-makers that are looking for a system for ensuring balanced progress in all the aspects of making a living while making stuff.  Scroll back to part 1 and 2 if you...

Charley Hicks on Mule Resonator Guitar records every Charley Patton Song https://youtu.be/SuWJm4RobXQ If that's not a worthy news headline, I'm not sure what is.   Charley has #42, and tow more mules, a steel tricone and a...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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....

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...

I use the B grade ebony that the large manufacturers don't use because it isn't jet black. I can see why. I mean, look how boring that is. Please, Guitar Builders of the World, continue using the great looking jet black...

Oooooooooo....

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...

I coach JV football and the season is over. At the high school I coach at our freshmen generally come in having never even watched a football game.  There's no grade school football program and the kids come from all over and...

Owner/makers have a lot of different things to improve on. Problem is we sprint from seemingly necessary shiny thing to shiny thing, meanwhile digging holes that we sprint back to later to fill in. And since many of us are...

  Yes! I totally made up that phrase. Thesaurus in hand.  Aren't ALL words made up? It took forever, go easy on me. The point is this: if you're trying to solve a problem - not enough orders, not enough time, etc - there...