The instrument can make all the difference in the world. This week I'm officially retiring my twenty year old Lowdon/Flambeau. It has been the best sounding, best playing instrument I've ever owned, but it's time has come. The cedar top has become increasingly erratic and I never know whether the action will be high or low from day to day. It's seen a lot of the world, been played by hundreds of others, and has many battle scars, and I'm feeling very sentimental about it. (just as I felt 17 years ago when I retired my Larrivee- another cedar top)

If I'm being silly I can picture my Lowdon talking (with an Irish accent of course) to "Woody", it's replacement: Hey there "yank"! (Woody is a Martin 0-18) "I'm only twenty and you're fifty, and I'M getting replaced??" Ahh, don't take it so hard, I've got a spruce top, and I'll be around longer than Fielding will!
I guess I'll put silk and steels on the Lowdon and hang her on the wall, but I remember that first day I played her...magic!
rick