Yep I'm fine. In fact still on cloud nine after a weekend in Lewes at a fiddle and bouzouki workshop led by Nancy Kerr and James Fagan. It was like being on your hols!
I took the Benjamin with me too and Nick had a bash on it after the evening concert, he really laid into it! It's nice to hear it played by other people because the sound is different when it is on your lap. He claims he can remember the sound of every guitar as it is made and always keen to try them later to hear how the sound has developed.
There is a guy who makes instruments with a sound port, a small oval shaped hole on the the top of the upper bout, the idea is that you get to hear what people out front hear. His name is David White. I've tried one of his guitars with a port and it sounded really sparkling although looking through the sound port is a bit strange and seeing its innards! I've also tried one of his guitar-bouzoukis and the sound is strong, balanced and really quite heady!
Back to strings, I've just come back from the music shop and managed to get all the Elixir strings I needed as singles - that's a new development. It wasn't cheap but now I have five sets again.
Finally, I got to see progess on my new bouzouki being made by Richard Osborne of Lewes. It is a large bodied tear drop (I want something that still looks like a bouzouki but with the fuller sound of a guitar) with a pin brdge (rather than floating with a tail-piece) so that I can fit easily obtained guitar strings. I'll probably put on Elixir Phosphor Bronze as unison pairs going from 42, 32, 16 to 12 as GDAD. It's made from Palo Escrito (Mexican Rosewood) and with an Adirondack top. Looks luvverly.
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