Quite a Birthday Present!

[Mickey Richaud]

Son Paul surprised me last night. My birthday is coming up in a few days and last night he gifted me with this:

Matt is a friend of Paul's from summer camp days when I was chaplain at the Episcopal camp in Monteagle, Tenn. Had no idea he was this talented. His group is the Ghost Town Blues Band, and they've done quite well. Here's one of my new favorites:

The guitar is truly a one-off, and I'm completely blown away with it. Got to learn to play it now!

Thanks, Paul, and thanks, Matt!

 

[Basil]

Outstandng - and Happy Birthday!!

 

[Mickey Richaud]

Thanks, Bas. This thing is really a piece of work!

Tuning is really simple: D-A-D, which is just like mountain dulcimer. No frets, and played with bottle-neck slide, something I've never done. Learning curve is pretty steep for me; definitely have my work cut out!

 

[JPSmit]

Happy Birthday indeed and what a great gift (and even better family!)

 

[Mickey Richaud]

Thanks, J-P; yeah, the family's pretty neat.

By the way, Paul told me that Matt's group travels to Toronto regularly; they'll be at the Beaches Jazz and Blues Festival in July.

 

[DrEntropy]

Happy birthday, Bro! Neat gift!

 

[Mickey Richaud]

Thanks! Big surprise for me.

 

[Banjo]

Very cool! I play a bit of Appalachian Dulcimer. It's pretty easy to play some neat stuff. With what I have seen of what you can do with a banjo, you should be doing neat stuff with this soon! Very cool!

 

[judow]

WOW. You are indeed a blessed man. Happy Birthday.

 

[SD Bugeye]

Very cool piece happy birthday

 

[drooartz]

Very cool! I think that's a gift you'll remember for a long time. And happy birthday (late)!

It's a bunch of fun to play slide. Just something about that little vibrato when you're holding out a note. You'll have fun learning it.

 

[weewillie]

Nice birthday present Mickey, enjoy. I have a book by David Sutton on building cigar box guitars, was going to build one for my son but haven't done so yet.
also check out www.cigarboxnation.com

 

[Mickey Richaud]

Thanks, Willie - nice website full of information. Just now doing some reading on these things. Surprisingly versatile! This one's fretless, which is really new to me, so I have my work cut out.

 

[Popeye]

Happy Birthday!! (Sorry to be a few days late to the party...)

They say nothing is better than handmade gifts. And that handmade gift is tops!

 

[DART]

Likewise, Mickey. Happy Birthday, and what a really neat gift. Hope you have good weather for the 2 car events next month.