Mandolin Dreams

Following a week of misery from the catastrophic destruction of my beautiful and very beloved "Venice" model Lonestar mandolin (The headstock mysteriously cracked off while it was protected in a hardcase.), today has been a day of joy. Raina and I drove out to Big Muddy Mandolin, LLC (formerly Mid-Mo Mandolin) in Rocheport, Missouri and met with a great guy by the name of Mike Dulak.

For a extremely kind price he sold me a prototype mandolin that caught our eye the minute we walked in the shop. She was an experiment for him with Cherry wood used for the back and sides. She has an Englemann Spruce solid soundboard (Their tagline has been "No Frills, No Plywood"), a Mahogany head and neck, and Rosewood fretboard, bridge, and head laminate.

He replaced the standard tuning machines at my request with beautiful gold and pearl Grover model GX1247 tuning machines which boast a 21:1 gear ratio for very easy and very fine tuning.

It sounds absolutely beautiful and is a wonderful middle ground between the big Irish/Greek sound of my large soundbox pseudo-gourd-back style Venice, and the bluegrass style mandolins which I feel sound rather dead, but have a very bright attack with a very quick decay.

I'm absolutely in heaven and don't deserve (or rate) such a fine instrument. I am blessed with a wife who loves me very much and indulges my desperate longing for music and musical instruments (and, well... musical talent... no hope there) and who felt terrible for me when the mandolin I play nearly every day died such an untimely death.

Further kudos for Mike and Big Muddy... he was kind enough to throw in a very lovely used (not so as you'd notice however) high quality gig bag gratis, so I can keep this gorgeous little gel safe, gorgeous, and with me at all times. I need to name her, but inspiration has eluded me so far.

Pictures to follow soon I hope.