I heard Buddy many times, but only met him once, in my younger days; we had a brief chat. He was soft-spoken and gracious. To my mind, you had to hear him playing for a dance to hear him at his best - of course, it was a treat to hear him in any circumstances.

(I found this an odd statement from the CBC obit.: "MacMaster is credited with bringing Cape Breton fiddling to the world stage." It is no discredit to Buddy to say that there were a number of other CB fiddlers who more aggressive in seeking and creating performance/show-biz opportunities beyond the local. He seemed willing to go where he was asked, but not to push himself forward.)