Bean Blossom was typical: wicked weather, great music and all night pickin’.
Here is the ‘Back 40′ in the overflow at Bean Blossom. Just minutes before this photo of the rainbow, a storm had ripped through the area causing flash floods, power outages, fallen trees, mass chaos!
Camp Infinity setup and ready for pickin’.
Jason B. gets some instruction on reaming a headstock, installing tuners and nut fabrication in the wild. Here he is showing off his handy work.
New models for Infinity Luthiers: ID-18eco and the new A model mandolin. The mandolin is a crossover from early and later Gibson A models. Short neck with longer fret scale to pick old time tunes with ease.
Kenny Smith of the Kenny and Amanda Smith band test drives the new ID-18eco. Kenny Smith is one of my favorite pickers and two-time IBMA Guitar player of the year. I did not know it before this trip, but Kenny is a luthier himself. He spent time working at Gallager Guitars in Tennessee before touring full-time.
Kenny plays a 1935 Martin D-18. Here we are comparing the neck shape and thickness of the ID-18eco to the old Martin D-18. The ID-18eco neck was based on the 1949 Martin D-28 being restored. Surprisingly, the ID-18eco and Kenny’s ’35 D-18 neck were nearly the same in shape and thickness.
You can purchase Kenny and Amanda Smith’s cd’s, books and other merchandise at their website.
While breaking down camp, we found a visitor hiding from the torrential downpours under the rain fly. A mama brown recluse complete with full egg sack. I guess this spider does carry a fiddle so it must love Bluegrass.
