Hi guys
I don't hang around here much anymore. Over the years, I've had less and less interest in electric music, and haven't felt the urge to build anything. I've sold off a lot of my stuff, and will sell off quite a bit more, and have been playing almost exclusively acoustically. I dropped out of my last electric band a few weeks ago. I just don't want it anymore. 45 years electric guitar is enough.
Which doesn't mean I'm not playing. My Martin OM-21 and Loar LH-700 get a lot of time. I picked up tenor banjo a couple months ago and have 3 gigs in the next two weeks, playing in Dixie bands.
A few months ago I decided it was time to replace my Chinese-made Gewa pressed-top mandolin with something respectable. At first I thought I would buy an Eastman (easy way out), but in the end I ordered a custom Silverangel (well, they are all customs, really) from Ken Ratcliff in Elliotville, Kentucky. Since my mandolin playing leans more to Yank Rachel (look him up) than Bill Monroe, I wanted an instrument with more body and less piercing high end, and that's Ken. When I asked Ken what you get from his more expensive models, he said "you get a different shape. The sound is the same." So I ordered his 'Econo" A model, which only has binding on the top, a rosewood rather than ebony fingerboard, and a few other details. What I got was highly figured silver maple, and a red spruce top that had been harvested 80 years ago and was recovered by Ken. I had the option of sinker redwood harvested 150 years ago, but I wanted to see what all the red spruce hype was about.
Shipping was a long, frustrating story. The shipper made an error and shipped it to Swaziland. Yes, really. It sat there for two months, and we couldn't get it to move. We had actually given up on it, and Ken was nearly finished with a replacement, when it magically showed up in Europe. And, even more magically, it was unharmed.
So I attached a couple of poor pictures. These are a pale representation of the flame; it's much more intense in real life, and the sunburst is deep and soft. It's a beautiful instrument, visually, sonically, and haptically.
Next: a Pietsch Ne Plus Ultra to replace my 1928 Slingerland; but I'll have to sell a lot more stuff first.
Oh, and I am officially stateless. A month from now I should be German.
It's been swell. Bye.
steven
