Danzig Cover by Leighton on a Beansprout

Here is Leighton from Safe Boating Is No Accident singing a Danzig song while playing his banjo uke:


It is a vintage pot with a new neck I built him, 19 inch scale.

The 1st Baritone Beansprout Banjo Uke Video

Redwood and Apple Concert Uke

For Jeff Menzies.

-Redwood top
-Apple back, sides and headstock overlay
-mahogany neck
-rosewood bridge and fingerboard
-15 inch scale and Kumalae shape

The 1st Baritone Beansprout Banjo Uke!

Well, here it is!
-19 inch scale
-10 inch banjo rim
-maple and ebony
-gotoh tuners, worth strings, renaissance head
-custom nickel plated steel hardware
-tuned dgbe with high d

This instrument could also have 4 steel strings in various tunings, including gcea, cgda, and gdae.

It has a nice loud sound but is pretty and mellow due to the 10 inch pot and 19 inch scale.

We should be ready to produce this in early 2011!
www.thebeansprout.com

Denver Ukulele Festival

The 4th annual Denver Uke Fest is coming up. We have been around and helping out since the 1st. Thanks to Swallow Hill for always putting on a great event. This year we are going to two nights at the L2 center!

San Juan Mandolins!

After the show the other night in Delores, I got talking with a guy about my banjo ukes. It turns it his name was Bobby and he builds San Juan Mandolins. I have known about him for a long time and I was glad to get to meet him. Instead of staying at the hotel, I went back to his shop to check out what he is working on, listen to Leadbelly records and play some tunes in his kitchen. Here are some pics:

First, here is a new mandolin in progress for Drew Emmitt. Notice the one piece maple back and awesome sunburst. Up close and personal, you can see Bobby's careful scroll carving. You may have read in the last Fretboard Journal about Drew selling his Nugget mandolin to Jeff Austin. Well, he sold it so he could order this one!




Here is a spruce top and maple back being joined for an "A" style mandola.


And lastly, here is the scroll of Bobby's personal mandolin. Great inlay and peep the awesome engraved Waverly tuners!

Strings

For about six months now I have been sponsored by Curt Mangan strings. They are a small company in southwest Colorado and make all sorts of guitar, etc... strings.

We played in Delores, CO at the Brewery last weekend and they came out to see the show and deliver a batch of strings for me. Since I was going back and forth on what strings to put on my guitars, Curt brought me several custom sets to try! How cool!