CMG Update

Last night, the MMO Christmas Music Group performed its final gig at Booth Manor. It was possibly our largest audience of the four gigs - Jay is a big draw - I'd estimate there were 15-20 people in attendance and seemed to really enjoy the music. We learned about a new instrument from one of the residents - the flexitron - it sort of sounds like how a saw sounds when played as a musical instrument. Its owner - a delightful 92 year old woman - accompanied us on several of the more familiar carols.

On Monday night, we played for a small gathering at Dunn Brothers in Apple Valley. Sherry Ladig was in the audience - it was good to see her! I inquired about any upcoming MMO composition underway....she said something about "modern" or "gypsy jazz" influenced. Sounds intriguing.

Our VA Hospital performance was a success - the entire group braved the weather that Sunday - black ice and all. We played to a small but appreciative group - and the music therapist expressed interest in having us back.

Finally, our first performance at Grace House (one of Clare Housing's residences) was warmly received. The seven of us were rather cramped in the french doors of an adjoining room, but we overcome adversity and played to a group of 15 or so who sang along with the more familiar carols.

Thanks to the entire CMG for their passion and dedication. Particular thanks to Jean for coming up with the idea and hosting most of the rehearsals, to Linda for helping choose the music. We had a nice balance of orchestral style and familiar carols that worked very well!

The biggest thing that made this so enjoyable was the dedication and incredible flexibility of the group - most of our rehearsals were on Friday night, and one weekend, we rehearsed 2 times - Friday and Sunday! It was easy to agree on dates for potential gigs, and finding places interested in hearing us wasn't a problem at all.

The MMO continually impresses me. Everyone is so much into playing the music, the mandolin and getting out there and sharing our music. I look forward to 2009 and us all playing together for another successful year.

Best wishes to you and your family over the holidays!

Dotty

Hey everyone. Just wanted to update you on the 7 of us (Dotty, Daryl, Jean, Linda, Dave, Anne and me) that have been practicing Christmas music. We've already got a few gigs! We'll be playing at Grace House (a care facility for people with AIDS) at 7 pm on Friday, Dec. 12, and at the VA hospital (for some of their patients that are involved in music therapy) at 2 pm on Sunday, Dec. 14. Dotty has been doing a great job finding places to contact!

Peter Ostroushko Video Workshop

Mandolin Sessions has an article about Peter O's approach to right hand technique with several videos.

http://www.mandolinsessions.com/apr08/Keyes.html


I recall Lon talking about Peter's approach to right hand. Folks might be interested in taking a look!

Dotty

Nov 3 rehearsal in Falcon Heights

We'll be rehearsing at Falcon Heights United Church of Christ on Monday, November 3. The address is 1795 Holton Street. It's about 1/4 mile north of Larpenteur and 1/4 mile east of Snelling. We'll be back at the usual place the following Monday.

I'll send some e-mail reminders too.

japanischen Kinderliedern

I added "Suite nach japanischen Kinderliedern" to our current tune list. If you have a copy, please take to rehearsal next time.

Thanks.

Mary Mack Comedy

This woman has me in tears! Who knew you could use a mandolin in a comedy routine?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go018T0nOZY

WOW!!!! Anitra's Dance played on wine glasses

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcZmlmdzMjw turn up your volume - you can barely hear it, but it's amazing!

2008-2009 Tune List

I see the new tune list on the MMO website. Can it be updated in this blog?
I sent around YouTube videos of 3 of our new songs. If you didn't receive it, please let me know.
Where in the world is Ronda, BTW?

Christmas Music

I was hoping that there might have been a thread started about playing Christmas music. There wasn't, so I'll start one.

From the discussion on Monday, it seemed like there might be some interested parties. I am assuming that if anything happened on this front, it would be outside of the Monday night MMO rehearsals.

If there is anyone who'd like to pursue this, I've got a space available for practice located in a "close-in" suburb.

Jean M.

Thile @ Cedar Sept 5

Chris Thile will be performing with his band, Punch Brothers, at the Cedar Cultural Center Friday, September 5 at 8:00 p.m. I bought my ticket today. There's more information at http://www.thecedar.org/

MMO recess extended

Our usual rehearsal space will not be available on September 8. Since we're already having a recess, let's take another day off on September 8 and resume regular rehearsals on September 15.

Comment from the audience at Harriet

"really enjoyed the Minnesota Mandolin Orchestra concert last night. I was really impressed with the selections of music, great excellence of the local composers' work, caliber of playing and your conductor MC had a great touch. Personally, I think that you guys should make a CD. Also, do you do much Scarlatti or Tartini? I think that there compositions would be great on mandolin!"

2007-2008 Tune List

This blog shows the latest tune list, but is missing the Italian Suite. Should it be updated?

joropo de lara at como mon 11 aug

dear mando-superstars,
this performance was probably the best joropo ever.
nice job, y'all.
james

Calling photographers and videographers

Does anyone have a friend or family member who would want to take some pictures or shoot some digital video at Lake Harriet? We could use some new photos for the web site. If we could get some video of a good performance, we might consider posting one on youtube.

Any volunteers?

Reader's Digest & Mandolins

I ran across this in a recent Reader's Digest:

The Mandolin Player


I printed a copy from online (and cut out the article from the real paper version) and will bring it to the Como Concert.

Perhaps Lon can make a mention of it at one of our performances!

MMO poster

I really like the "poster" that Ronda created for announcing our upcoming August gigs. I wonder if two things might need to be included next time:

• the word "free" ? maybe not since no admission charge is listed on it (the Apple Valley librarian pointed that out); being the cheapskate I am, I might not be inclined to attend a concert that was NOT free (except the MMO, of course!)
• a complete photo or sketch of a mandolin; the one on the poster is very creative photography, but if you don't know what a mandolin is, you can't picture it. I gave the poster to some friends (from another country), and they didn't know what a mandolin was. I had to play my air mandolin to show them.

Just my $0.02 worth! But it's a great poster with nice format, font, etc. Thanks, Ronda - awesome job!

Where no Mandolin has gone Before

When I left rehearsal last monday a Violin Concerto was playing on the Minnesota Public Radio Calssical Station. The Violin player was being virtuosic and the Orchestral accompaniment when I turned it on was swelling Horn (French Horn) Chords, The Horn part sounded very much like the Star Trek Theme in our arrangement "Where No Mandolin has Gone Before". As I listened to the Concerto the Star Trek like theme came up again and again and even the soloists part used the the main theme plainly from time to time. I listened to the end to find out who wrote the Conerto. I was listening to the Korngold Violin Concerto (Wolfgang K though failed to have any Mandolin parts in the concerto)

Broken Bowl on display

I am excited because last night in the mail I got a notice that an attempt was made to deliver a package from Canada - no doubt my "new" mandolin. So I hope to pick it up tonight at the post office. I know it won't be playable, but donating to a cause seemed like a good reason to get another mandolin! I was thinking of displaying it at our performances next to Ronda's sign. Does anyone have a mandolin stand they can bring the next 3 weeks? The only one I have is a 3-instrument stand. BTW, do the mandolas want me to bring that so they can have one stand instead of multiple?

Two mandolins for sale

I got this from Alon Sariel:

My name is Alon Sariel, I'm an Israeli mandolin player...

I decided to sell two of my mandolins:

A beautiful Kerman mandolin and a wonderful Breedlove mandolin (perfect condition!). Both used on tours and professional recordings all over the world.Each for 2300$ and both for 4000$.
Selling in order to buy a baroque mandolin - possibly interested in trade.

I'd thank you if you let the orchestra members know about these instruments and give my details to whoever interested. They can contact me for more details videos pictures and recordings of these two instruments, and visit also www.alonsariel.com,
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Alon-Sariel/19249083897?ref=ts

Thanks in advance,
-- Alon SarielAlterman
11Beer-ShevaIsrael
+972-544-491867
alon.sariel@gmail.com
www.alonsariel.com

Planning for August 25

I'm starting to think about August 25. We might want to celebrate the completion of the summer concert season with a social event rather than a rehearsal. It could be a cookout at the home of someone who has a large house. It could be a pizza party. It could be a gathering at the Bahai Center where we eat snaks and play mandolin music for one another. It could be something I haven't thought of.

Anybody have a suggestion for a social event on August 25? Anybody want to volunteer to organize something?

Extended rehearsal July 28

I'm calling for a two-hour rehearsal on July 28. I think we need a little extra time to cover the music for the summer concerts. We'll start at 7:00, as usual, and go until 9:00. Anyone who needs to leave at 8:30 may do so, but I hope most people can stay until 9.

Dori likes us

Remember Dori who lives in Iowa(?) - the one who stopped by a few Mondays ago to rehearse with us?
I found her blog because I Google subscribe to "Minnesota Mandolin" and this popped up:

[partial] Then we went to Minnesota...saw my in-laws, my college roommate and her family, my family, did some fishing, did some relaxing, spent a couple days in the Twin Cities...but for me the highlight of the trip was sitting in with the Minnesota
Mandolin Orchestra! Wow! I knew I'd enjoy myself, but I had no idea how much.
The people were great...it was like walking into a Toastmasters meeting.
Everyone came over and greeted me. And then when we started playing...I got
goosebumps! I SO wish we had a mandolin orchestra here. I was almost ready to
move back to the Twin Cities that night.

For the full post, go here: http://dorihbutler.livejournal.com/

Mandolin Symposium 2008

Ronda and I just returned from the 2008 Mandolin Symposium at the University of California at Santa Cruz.  If you'd like to see some photos (fresh out of the camera), they're here: http://gallery.mac.com/djcoffey#100119

Wow, what a week!  I'm still processing it all.  In spite of professing that I wanted a variety of experiences, I found myself attending most of Caterina Licthenberg's classical classes.  It was too good of an opportunity to miss, although I did attend a class on doublestops in blues led by Rich DelGrosso and a class on simple break improvisation led by Tony Williamson and Paul Glasse and attended Mike Marshall's "finger-busters" class.

The instructor to student ratio was fantastic - 150 students, 9 instructors - so you were really up close and personal in any class you chose to attend.

Beyond that, there were incredible concerts every night featuring some set of the instructors (Mike Marshal, David Grisman, Andy Statman, Herschel Sizemore, Ron McCoury, Danillo Brito were the others featured).

Ronda and I played in the classical ensemble.  I think Caterina and the rest were surprised by the number of people wanting to play classical - there were around 15-20 of us (forgot to count).

I'm sure Ronda will have some good observations about what we learned at the Symposium and her experiences!

Tunes for summer concerts

I've been working on set lists for our summer concerts. Here are three preliminary lists. You'll notice that each set ends with a golden oldie. Comments, anyone?


Edina


Where No Mandolin
Goldfinger
La Tipica
A Tear
First Minnesota Regiment
Crystal Ship Waltz
Wedding March Set
Sunset on the Pawtuxet
Vus Vet Zayn
Ragtime Dance
Children with Bad Dreams
Battle Royal
Joropo de Lara
Santa Lucia

Como

La Tipica
Sunset on the Pawtuxet
Italian Suite
Goldfinger
Crystal Ship Waltz
Asleep in the Deep
Battle Royal
Joropa de Lara
(intermission)
Where No Mandolin
Vus Vet Zayn
Ragtime Dance
Children with Bad Dreams
Wedding March Set
Waltz for Bill Monroe
Ob-La-Di

Harriet

Where No Mandolin
Goldfinger
Italian Suite
A Tear
La Tipica
Waltz for Bill Monroe
Wedding March Set
Joropo de Lara
Philippino Waltz #1
Ragtime Dance
Vus Vet Zayn
Battle Royal
Sunset on the Pawtuxet
Children with Bad Dreams
Asleep in the Deep
First Minnesota Regiment
Jota

Entry of the Gladiators

By popular demand, here is a link to the 1993 CMSA convention playing Entry of the Gladiators. Notice the small group. CMSA convention En Masse orchestras now have well over 100 players. Those of you who have been to a convention will recognize the animated and talented Mike Schroeder (sp?) in the first chair. Jim Bates is a great conductor to work under - almost as good as our own Lon Hendricks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp_WLlB2MYs

Recommended Local Luthiers?

I know some of you have had Kevin Schwab at Hoffman Guitars work on your mandos, so this is no surprise, but in case others are looking for a good luthier, I highly recommend Kevin. A few years back he dressed my frets and installed a Brekke bridge. This week I had him dress my frets again and set up the mando for the heavier J-75 strings I've been using. In both instances he has done a great job and I highly recommend his work - he isn't the cheapest but if you paid big bucks for your mando, you don't want some hack working on it. Another thing, he promised me the job would be done in one week but he finished it in two days!

I had Marty at the Podium install a pickup in my ax and he does good work too. I don't have any other experience with him though. Anyone else had good experience with a local luthier?

Round-back mandolin auction

This came to me by way of the Chouinard home:

Hello,

A few years back, I inherited a rather mind-bogglingly large collection of bowlback mandolins, and have since been working to get them back out into players' hands. Due to a lack of time and space, I've decided to 'cull' the collection significantly by means of a silent auction website - with 100% of the profits going to our local chapter of hospice.

I encourage you all to stop by, have a look, and maybe place a bid!

And please, if at all possible, spread the word!

Warmest regards,Chris Logan
www.brokenbowls.com

Promoting the MMO

I use the Chanhassen Library twice a year to hold a software user group meeting. The staff likes when I give them leftover food, so they remember me. I just sent my contact person our MMO flyer for their bulletin board. I'm wondering if we can/should take 30-40 flyers to our local libraries, or just have them post one flyer on their bulletin board. I'm not worried about the cost of printing. I just want to promote the MMO. Should we come up with a different flyer format that's more "postable" so that it's all on one side of the paper? Maybe even index-card sized? This would not replace the flyer we distribute at concerts - it would just be a condensed version for postings at libraries , our places of employment, our local grocers, etc. I am a regular at two local libraries (Apple Valley and Lakeville), so I can drop off flyers if this idea is approved.

Slow Downer Software

People were asking at a rehearsal about slow downer software.

I use Ronio's Amazing Slowdowner.  It's reasonably priced (around $50), available for Windows and the Mac, and easy to use.

MMO as a MBOTMA member band

I notice on the MBOTMA website, when you see the list of member bands and click on Minnesota Mandolin Orchestra, there's an old black & white photo of the group, probably from about 1991. Maybe this can be updated to display the recent color photo . . .
To get more publicity, for starters, I asked a Blue Wolf Bluegrass band member to post our link on their website, under "Links to our Friends."

Shameless NLMQ Plug

The Northern Latitudes Mando Quartet will be performing at the Hosmer Library, 347 E. 36th St. on May 31st from 2:00 to 3:30 PM. Come by and hear a new march composed by James! As a prelude to that show, we may be on KFAI's Century Song radio program at 10:00 AM on May 25th (90.3 on your FM dial).

Looking ahead, the NLMQ will be performing on Peavey Plaza for the Macy's Day of Music on Friday, July 11th, from 2:00 to 3:00 PM.

Thanks for your support!!

blog subscription

How can I subscribe to this blog? Do I subscribe to a specific post, or can I get an e-mail anytime someone writes something?

The MMO's Como Lakeside Pavilion concert on 8/11 is posted here. There was a link to add photos, so I added 12 from the 2007 St. Louis Park concert. The first are from Dotty's friend's camera. The "hazy" ones are from the TV video in which I made "snapshots" into .jpg files. If anyone is interested in making snapshots from the CD, let me know. I think you just load the CD, and the camera/snapshot option is there.

http://www.vita.mn/user_images.php?d=view_event&event_id=58014

Mandolin Symposium

If anyone is interested in the "Mandolin Camp" Dotty and I are going to, here is the website: http://www.mandolinsymposium.com/index.htm

Good show at Eagle Crest

Thanks, everyone, for an excellent performance at Eagle Crest. Everyone seemed to be listening and watching more attentively than the week before. That gave me more freedom to shape the music, and made for a more expressive performance. It sounded great.

Improving our Stage Presence

Many of us have been told by audience members that the orchestra needs to smile more and look more like we are enjoying ourselves. I know its hard to do when you are concentrating on the music, but showing a little personality will help draw in the audience. I talked about this subject to a friend who is a classically trained performer and has played with profesional orchestras. She offered the following suggestion:
- Move with the music.
- Make eye contact with others in the orchestra. It will help loosen you up.
- Think of a story to go with the music. It will help with your facial expressions.
- Smile!!! At a minimum, smile at the audience between tunes, and if you can, work it into your playing.
My own suggestion is to look at Lon, (which you should be doing anyway). He makes some great facial expressions and you can trade smiles.

I started a thread on this subject on the Mandolin Cafe. The topic is Improving Stage Presence and it is in the Theory, Technique .... category. Check it out for other suggestions. And keep on Smiling!!

Any interest in a MySpace band page for MMO?

Just checking to see if there's any interest in having a MySpace band page for the MMO. I've done a personal MySpace page, and they're not too hard to do. There is a Celtic Jam band that I'm friends with that has some of their tunes on a MySpace band page, so not everyone with a band page is a professional musician.

It's not necessary to have a multi-track professional recording -- there are groups out there with live recordings, and I know that MMO has a few of these around. There are some restrictions on the file format which is published (I know that MP3 is one format which works), but I have a tool which can do any needed conversion. One to six songs can be published on one of these pages, and everything is free.

If there's interest, we'd need to identify and locate tunes for the page.

Let me know what you think.

Jean M.

Saturday Practice Session & Jam

A good time was had Saturday by those who made the trek into the warehouse district in Mpls.

We tore into the tricky bits of a number of the pieces in our repertoire, sorting out position shifts, fingering, rhythm and the elusive tied note lurking about in Goldfinger.

We reminded ourselves of the mp3 files on the MMO site, and played around with Amazing Slowdowner - getting that full orchestra sound.  I had forgotten how helpful that software is!  And reasonable priced too for Mac & PC!  

After that, we broke for treats, then talked a little about the history of the orchestra and - of course - about our absent friends - all nice things I assure you!

We jammed for a while afterwards - discovering that some of our members are better than average amateur guitarists!  Could have used a few more singers and the words to the songs!

This was just the spark I needed to get out of my practicing rut (or lack of practice)!

We'll see about doing it again in May or June.

Dotty

Good Sam rescheduled

This is just a reminder that our Good Samaritan program has been rescheduled for April 21. We'll be at the Baha'i center for a regular rehearsal on April 14.

Knorr for sale

I got this from Andrew Hendryx (no relation). Anybody interested?


"My name is Andrew Hendryx and I am a professional mandolin player located in NYC. I am selling my Klaus Knorr "La Ariosa" mandolin and was wondering if any of the members of your ensemble would be interested in this amazing instrument. I purchased the mandolin while studying with Gertrud Troster in college. My mandolin was built with the same specs as her "LaAriosa" and the sound and playability is amazing. Its is hard to part with this mandolin, but I was hoping to putt it in the hands of a member of a mandolin ensemble."


He sent me two photos. If you want to see them, or if you want the contact information for Mr. Hendryx, let me know.

Andy Statman at the Cedar

The Andy Statman trio will be playing at the Cedar on 04/03/08. This cat can play! Come with an open mind you will be blown away!

http://www.thecedar.org/andy_statman_trio

Thank you, Lyngblomsten players

I want to say thank you to everyone who braved the snowstorm to play at Lyngblomsten. I underestimated the snowfall when I decided that the show would go on. Our ensemble was smaller than usual (partly for non-weather reasons), but we still had a good performance. I heard lots of favorable comments from the residents.

Peter Ostrusko with Danny Gotham - Bennys' From Heaven

Another sweet tune from our friend Peter on YOUTUBE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9JORlzQ8Og

Daryl

Annuals and perennials

The posts about MBOTMA have made me think about this: Many bands have selections that are audience favorites, and they play those favorites at every show. In the MMO, we keep tunes in our active list for about two years, and the move them out to make room for new music. I do that because I always want to hear something new. But it's show biz, and I wonder if our concert set list should have a few perennials.



Do you think our set lists should always include some favorites from the past? If so, which ones?

Mandolin Orchestra of Niagara

Their website is here:

http://moonmusic.ca/

Remember, there's Niagara Falls, USA and Niagara Falls, Canada; for anyone who's been there (one of my sisters lives just 30 min. NW of there), the Canadian Falls are more popular.
Anyway, I think they have a cool acronym! MOON (Mandolin Orchestra of Niagara).

Kalamazoo Mandolin & Guitar Orchestra

Their website is here:

http://www.kalmando.com/

New Goodin music coming

Next week (March 10), I want to try John Goodin's "Wedding March Set" at our MMO rehearsal. I'll make copies and distribute them then. If you want to get a head start on the music, you can go to http://academic.luther.edu/~goodinjo/WMS.htm and download the parts.

observations of MMO at bluegrass festival

The MMO had its first 2008 performance on March 1 at the Winter Bluegrass Weekend sponsored by MBOTMA (Minnesota Bluegrass & Old Time Music Association).
I'll send an invitation to all of you to view my entire album from this festival soon.
Below are some comments I heard, some from my in-laws and husband, some from fellow bluegrassers with whom I jam, some from strangers:
"Only one guy smiled; everyone was so serious; I thought playing music was s'posed to be fun."
"There was not one bluegrass song played by the MMO. Isn't this a BLUEGRASS festival?"
"The selection of music was poor; you guys should play more familiar songs that people know."
(I explained that the available mandolin orchestra music was limited.)
"I liked all the songs; not one was bad to me."
"You were much better than last time I heard you, at Como Park last summer."
And my own comment: "Hey, we should play Christmas music at nursing homes in December!"
Blog out!

back online & more

I was out of the MMO blogging loop since October. It seems if you're inactive for 30 days, you can't log back in. Well, I'm back, and I posted some comments, mostly for the NLMQ posts in November.
Also, Jackie Webb wants to join the blog. I'll e-mail her and walk her thru it.
I have a vinyl record of mandolin music. Does anyone want to borrow it? If you don't have a record player (we have and use two regularly), I can make a cassette tape of it for you very easily.
I also have a Mando Boys CD if anyone wants to borrow it. They truly play the widest spectrum of music I've heard from any group, and their sense of humor is . . .
Blog out!

James at Cafe Maude

Here's the link to EarWorm, the band pictured in Thursday's Pioneer Press photo, and featuring our own james Holdman:



http://iacmusic.com/artist.aspx?ID=89772



There's a low-resolution version of the photo, and there's streaming audio you can listen to.

Mando Boys on YouTube

There are several videos of performances by Peter O and the Mando Boys on YouTube. Peter Ostroushko, Dick Nunnely, Joe Trimbach, and John Niemann were the best fez-wearing mandolin quartet I've ever heard. Try these links:



Hills of Manchuria http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D-85nT8emg
Solace http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92TOnbFGQ1o
Russian Rag http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg7JrmmBLZk
Little Fugue http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2PykHaYyBw
Air Mail Special http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRGb1hH12d0
Pineapple Rag http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qAer6Z8lr0
Slipped Disk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra8_vI5gI88

Joropo de Lara recording

I just updated the MMO "current tunes" page to include a link to the Mandograpplers' recording of Joropo de Lara. I know the recording has been mentioned before, but I think it's worth mentioning again. You can listen to it for inspiration, or you can play along for practice.

Here's the link:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=133674157

Using the little finger

Thanks, everyone, for playing along with my "why use your little finger" brainstorming game on February 5. I started with a list of eight reasons, and it grew into the following list. It could come in handy for anyone who is asked to to a mandolin workshop.

Twelve reasons for using your little finger when playing the mandolin:

• You can play octaves like Sam Bush.
• You can sometimes avoid string crossings by staying on the same string.
• The little finger is necessary for some chord shapes, like the bluegrass chop.
• People who see you play with your little finger will be impressed by your technique.
• In position playing, it's hard to reach the notes you need without your little finger.
• You can play Bill Monroe's famous lick, alternating between G/D and Bb/D double stops.
• If you injure one of your other fingers, you'll need your little finger to take up the slack.
• You can play a high C without leaving first position.
• It's good training for playing an octave mandolin or mandocello.
• It makes it easy to play some double stops that would be difficult otherwise.
• In some music, the mellower tone of a fretted note sounds better than an open string.
• It's easier to play staccato on a fretted note than on an open string.

MBOTMA WW preliminary tune list

These are the likely tunes for the MBOTMA program on March 1.

• Children with Bad Dreams
• The First Minnesota Regiment Suite
• Goldfinger
• Joropo de Lara
• La Tipica
• Siberian Snow Flakes
• Vus Vet Zayn
• Waltz for Bill Monroe

There's lots of information about the event at http://www.minnesotabluegrass.org/calendar/wbw/index.html

Equipment Query

Do any of you have experience with Waverly tuners? Are thy worth the $500? Also, does anyone have a 1 3/16 inch nut? If so I would like to play it next time we get together to compare to my 1 1/8 inch neck. I'm considering ordering a new ax and these are two of the options.