Author: Matt Merta/Mitch Matthews

Musician and writer (both song and print) for over 30 years. Primarily interested in roots music (Americana, bluegrass, blues, folk). Current contributing writer for Fiddler Magazine, previous work with Metro Times (Detroit), Ann Arbor Paper and Real Detroit Weekly, as well as other various music and military publications. As songwriter, won the 2015 Chris Austin Songwriting Contest (Bluegrass Category, "Something About A Train," co-written with Dawn Kenney and David Morris) as well as having work performed on NPR and nominated for numerous Detroit Music Awards.

Categories
Lutherie

The Fesley Guitar is Finished!

A day late, but I have a few excuses. First off, because of the holiday weekend and I chose to stay home, a friend asked me to watch her dog while she went to her cottage. A big dog, so I couldn’t bring her to my house, so I was over there a few times each day to feed her and take her outside.

Secondly, I spent the little bit of free time to finish my kit guitar. Yes, after months of plodding along doing a little at a time each weekend, this weekend I put all of the hardware on, mounted the neck to the body, and did the whole set up. This was the Fesley Stratocaster kit I purchased back in May of 2024. I really didn’t start working on it until this past January, and had a few bumps in the road with finishing the body. The final finish has a distressed look with shades of light blue.

After putting the hardware on, which was relatively easy, especially with Fesley providing a thorough instruction manual, I got into the set-up, which I have always enjoyed doing with all of my guitars since I started playing over 40 years ago. For anyone starting off playing guitar or any other stringed instrument, you will never realize how important a good set-up is until it is performed. On an electric guitar, this includes neck bowing adjustment, string height, and intonation/adjusting the bridge saddles. I have discussed guitar maintenance before, and I highly recommend anyone even a little bit interested in playing guitar regularly to be familiar with what goes on, Watch YouTube videos as well as secure a good guitar maintenance/repair book like Guitar Setup & Maintenance by Chad Johnson (Hal Leonard Publishing ISBN 978-1-4584-1824-1).

Once fully set up, I plugged her into an amp to test her out. This kit happened to be pre-wired, so the pickups, switch, volume/tone controls and wiring was already complete – all I had to do was drop the wired pickguard into place. The pickups give off a good Strat sound, although are a bit noisy when a single pickup is switched on. I plan to take the pickguard off soon and line the body cavity with some aluminum foil tape to hopefully suppress some of the buzz. In the 2 and 4 switch positions, which combines either the neck/middle pickups or the middle/bridge pickups, the noise cancels out, and it was a nice warm sound. These two settings have always been my favorite on a Strat, giving off a glassy tone.

Speaking of which, I have never really been a fan of the volume/control configuration for most Strats. This consists of one volume and two tone controls (one for the neck/middle pickup and one for the bridge pickup). Tone controls on most electric guitars are passive, meaning no amplification is there, and the controls only act as cutting back on the tone, namely the high end. Rarely do guitarists mess with the control and usually keep it at 10, since cutting back on the treble also means cutting back on the output of the pickup. In my younger days when I really experimented with guitar wiring, I would often mess with the tone control by re-wiring it to a low-cut control or adding a switch to turn the tone control completely off. Perhaps with a later kit, but this one I just wanted to get it together and see/hear the finished product.

As an added touch, I named the project an Ambertone. I always like the color of ambertone (sort of a honey color, just slightly darker than a natural finish), and Amber is also the name of a co-worker that does a lot of woodwork who has taken some interest in this project.

I may jump into the next kit soon. I have another Strat, a Telecaster, and a Precision Bass kit waiting in the wings. I know that for the bass, I plan on doing a lot more customizing by adding a second pickup, so that one may have to wait for a while. For either the Strat or Tele, I am interested in finishing the entire body with only the Tru-Oil finish (https://luegra.design.blog/2025/05/10/tru-oil-for-guitar-finishing/). I also still want to attempt to finish one of the guitars with a special green stain dye that I ordered sometime back.

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Bluegrass Music Music Instruction

Bluegrass University in Kentucky for Youth

I caught this article on the Bluegrass Today website a few days ago:

Bluegrass University opens in Winchester, KY

This program at the Leeds Center for the Arts in Winchester, Kentucky is intended to help middle- and high-school students with learning and performing bluegrass music. The program will take place one evening per week, and is headed by Jayd Raines and Zach Combs, two long-time touring bluegrass musicians.

I have not had a chance to fully check out the syllabus or content yet, but it sounds like a fantastic venture. Equal amounts of fun, learning and discipline, and capture teenagers at the most productive age while gitting them away from the iPhones and tablets for at least one evening per week.

For years, I have always wanted to do such a program in my area. Back around 2000, a friend and I found the perfect building to start a non-profit music education program. The building had a sign on the front that read “Americana Music Studio.” The history of the building was that a Polish immigrant couple after World War II moved to the area and converted the building to a studio that the husband would teach piano and violin, while the wife would instruct ballet. There were practice rooms and a small recital room. Eventually, they passed on, their children had no interest in pursuing the work, and the building’s neighborhood began to crumble around it.

It would have been perfect for our idea. Teaching kids folk, bluegrass, and other roots-music, like a miniature Old Town School of Folk in Chicago. Unfortunately, we could not find financial backing, and the building was eventually sold to a medical clinic.

As you may already know, recently I have been working hard with the Southeast Michigan Bluegrass Music Association to reward scholarships to kids aged 12-18 so that they can receive live or online instruction of bluegrass and other roots-oriented music on stringed instruments. However, we are not as fortunate as areas like Kentucky and the Carolinas where bluegrass music is part of life, and young people pick it up naturally. Since the scholarship program started a few years ago, we have really only sponsored about a half dozen kids. While most of those kids have continued to pursue the music, a few have lost interest, just like any other hobby for kids after a while.

As SEMBMA is a non-profit organization, we have to be extremely concerned on how we use the scholarship money. We have received many applicants, but some have been not what we are striving to fund. Once parent asked if we could provide funding so that the child could record a CD. Another requested scholarship help for a student learning electric rock guitar. We have broadened our scope a bit to help interested youngsters by providing instruction in folk and Celtic, but we also have to limit it at a certain point.

I have posted an advertisement for the scholarship on the local Craigslist. The only response that I have gotten in the past few months has been someone who is 35 years old and requesting money. Really? I also post flyers at music stores around town, but the Association gets very few bites.

Last week at the Charlotte Bluegrass Festival on Saturday morning, SEMBMA set up its “petting zoo,” where we put out guitars, banjos, mandolins and dobros for kids to try out. It is great to see young ones picking up instruments and learning an easy chord, then an easy song. While most kids are there as a pseudo babysitting service for parents to drop them off for an hour, one or two kids do take an interest in playing a stringed instrument. With Billy Strings performing on Thursday, it is great to see younger people getting involved in bluegrass music.

But at this time, it seems that we need more. If parents and grandparents are into bluegrass music, they need to show their kids and grandkids how fun bluegrass music really is. Get them off of the iPhones and interacting with other kids face-to-face by jamming together. Show them not only the younger successful artists like Billy Strings, Sierra Hull, and Wyatt Ellis, but some of the rising unknown bluegrass musicians that are all over YouTube. Schools have music programs, but they are dedicated to orchestra and marching band music. A motivated teacher may be smart to start up a Folk and Bluegrass Music Club (similar to a Chess Club or Drama Club), teaching instruments, jamming, and maybe showing videos of bluegrass performances.

I leave you with a video of my favorite 14-year-old fiddler, Hollace Oakes. At this year’s Abingdon Fiddlers Convention in Virginia, she recently took 1st Place in the Adult Old-Time Fiddle competition, 2nd Place in the Adult Bluegrass Fiddle competition, 3rd Place in the Youth Mandolin competition, 3rd Place in the Adult Flatfoot Dance competition, and her band Denim & Plaid won the Youth Band Bluegrass competition. This is what I would love to see with another hundred 14 year olds!

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Bluegrass Music

Charlotte Bluegrass Festival 2025 Wrap-Up

Wow! What a weekend this has been at the Charlotte Bluegrass Festival. It was memorable to say the least, and in some ways, there are things that I hope never happen again at that festival. Let’s get to the highlights:

Billy Strings – As this was pretty much a last-minute booking on one of Billy’s off days during his tour, he wanted to play at the first festival that he attended when he was four years old. The show was phenomenal. As Billy can read a crowd extremely well, and he knew that the regulars at the festival want to hear to old standards (while the Billy-goats will dance to anything that he plays), the extended set consisted mostly of songs by Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, the Stanley Brothers, Jimmy Martin, and Larry Sparks. He did throw in a few originals, such as “Dust in a Baggie” and “Red Daisy,” which have a classic bluegrass feel to them. His stepfather Terry Barber came up for a few songs, and Junior Sisk came up to sing a beautiful duet of “Love Me Darlin’, Just Tonight.”

The crowd was twice the size usually found each year at the festival, which meant there was a lot of security, which the regulars are not used to. Add to that we were told the gates would open at 8:00 am, but the couldn’t get in until noon due to the soundcheck. Additionally, the park had let people come in a week early to set up chairs under the pavilion without letting people like me who purchased a three-day pass of that, so we sat in the far-away bleachers or planted lawn chairs ain the mud (yes, it rained all the night before up until noon, so it was like a miniature Woodstock). Moreover, when Billy came on, everyone that was sitting in lawn chairs had to remove them and stand. It was a clusterf**k, to say the least.

While the show was fantastic, it ended on a sad note, as Billy’s mother passed away the next morning. I ask you to keep Billy and his family on your prayers.

Junior Sisk – One of the best traditional bluegrass artists out today. The Billy-goat crowd (by the time Sisk came one, the Billy-goats were crowding the front of the stage) were appreciative of him, whooping and hollering after each song like the older bluegrassers usually do. Sisk put on a great show as well, and the best part was when he announced on stage “If anyone here has a problem with Billy here, they have to talk to me first!”

Red Camel Collective – This is Junior Sisk’s backup band, and play great bluegrass on their own as well. Vocalist Heather Berry Mabe has a wonderful voice, and I recommend anyone looking for a fresh female voice in bluegrass to check her and her band out.

Edgar Loudermilk Band – Another great live band, Loudermilk’s material leans heavily on cowboy and western stories. I have gotten to know him good through the years of playing in the Michigan/Ohio area, though his band is from Georgia, and he loves to talk about fishing, hunting, and songwriting. His parents run the festival merchandise table, selling the special t-shirts for the event, although Billy Strings had his own commemorative shirts for the occasion (I had to snag one, of course).

David Mayfield Parade – What more can I say about this group of fun-loving and talented musicians? From the first time that they appeared at the festival back in 2023, they have been a festival favorite, and never fail to get the crowd motivated. They are also great guys to talk to, and I am glad to be their friend. I implore you to check out the band videos on YouTube, and get some of their CDs or vinyl! The band’s latest album Go Big and Go Home is phenomenal! You will not be disappointed.

Tennessee Bluegrass Band – Old-school bluegrass stylings, to say the least, which the regulars truly appreciate. The band wear matching red sport jackets, which makes them look like the ushers at a church or movie theater. However, their musicianship is excellent to say the least.

Kentucky Just Us – A bunch of younger musicians, I first saw them in January at the SPBGMA conference. While the vocals still needed some strength, the musicianship was wonderful.

Things like extra porta-johns and vendors were brought in because of the expected crowds at Billy’s show, and that was truly appreciated. Wes the promoter of the festival is attempting to book another bigger name bluegrass act for next year, but I have to be honest – I really appreciate the laid-back atmosphere of the previous years. Either way, I will be going next year no matter who is performing. It is my one musical escape from my job in the summer. Of course, with Billy performing, a lot of people were jealous of me.

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Bluegrass Music

Billy Strings Is At It Again (+ Bluegrass At Work)

Next weekend is the Charlotte Bluegrass Festival, so my blog may be later than usual or shorter, or both. I have enjoyed going to this festival west of Lansing for a few years now, but this year will be extra special.

Last week, there was an announcement that the Thursday evening concert will be headlined by Billy Strings. His touring schedule had a few days gap, and he has stated in a press release that Charlotte was the first bluegrass festival that he ever attended when he was a lad, and that he wanted to perform at it one day. I am not sure if he will be playing solo, with his band, or with his dad. It doesn’t matter, you can guarantee that it will be an amazing show.

Pretty much just hours after the announcement, tickets for the Thursday show were sold out, and the three-day pass sold out soon after. Of course, I purchased my tickets a few months back, so I was safe for getting in. However, I did contact my hotel and reserve Wednesday night as well, mainly so that I can get to the fairgrounds extra early on Thursday to set up my lawn chair.

I have tried talking friends into going to this festival for years, and as expected, no one has followed up. Now a few of them, including my nephew, are asking if there is a possibility of getting tickets. I have to tell them that these festivals are not like other concerts that you can maybe find a scalper to get a ticket from. You buy the pass and get registered online at most of these festivals, and the pass can only be used by you. I expect that with this show, it will be followed even more carefully.

I am sure that next weekend’s blog will be filled with highlights of the festival, especially with Billy’s performance. I apologize that it seems that every other blog has something to do with Billy, but you have to admit, he is in the music news a lot, he is a humble guy, and he has put bluegrass music on the map again, the first time it has been this popular in over 20 years, since the release of the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack.

In related news …

Two people at where I work are now getting into bluegrass music (sort of), which was quite a surprise to me.

First, my supervisor, who unfortunately just secured a promotion in another city and moved away, was someone who listened mostly to hard rock and metal-oriented rock, as well as bands like Dave Matthews Band. A few days before he left, he asked me if I ever heard of Bela Fleck & The Flecktones. I just about fell off of my chair!

I explained to him that I have been following Bela for decades, as he played banjo in one of my all-time favorite bands, New Grass Revival. He told me that it came up on his Dave Matthews Spotify playlist, and was knocked out by the banjho playing. So I made a suggestion for him to delve into other jamgrass bands like Leftover Salmon, Yonder Mountain String Band, and String Cheese Incident. Well, he can’t seem to get enough of Leftover Salmon, and I followed up with more artists that were early jamgrass purveyors, such as NGR, Tony Rice, and David Grisman.

I told my buddy Ken about this, and his response was, “Well, it’s a start.”

Another co-worker and I were recently talking. She and I both do a lot of woodworking, though mine is lutherie while she builds and refinishes furniture. I told her that I would be on vacation for a few days for the bluegrass festival, and that Billy Strings would be headlining one day. Her response was, “Billy Strings! I love his song ‘Dust In a Baggie’!”

I got right into it, telling her if she’s into his music, she would be into a lot of other bluegrass artists such as Molly Tuttle, Tony Rice, and a few others. She never heard of the other names that I mentioned, so I quickly showed her a short video of Tony Rice performing “Church Street Blues,” and she seemed hooked. The next day I gave her a bunch of duplicate CDs that I had of Alison Krauss, Sam Bush, and the OBWAT soundtrack. We shall see how she reacts. I have invited her a few times to hit local bluegrass shows with me, but while interested, she never seems to follow up. Perhaps when she gets more into the music, she’ll change her mind.

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Electric Guitars

The Fender Meteora Has Arrived!

Well, the Fender Meteroa that I ordered directly from the company a few weeks ago finally arrived. I should have been here last week, but FedEx kept making up excuses on the delay.

So let’s get to the guitar. It came with a durable gig bag, which I would expect from Fender, as the Squier line usually does not, unless it’s the higher end models. When I pulled off the wrapping, the high E string was broken, so I had to replace that. It was already factory set up, so the string height and intonation were excellent (although I prefer my string height a bit higher from years of endurance). The neck has a good feel, but the fingerboard is made of Pau Ferro, which looks like rosewood but has a density of maple. I am assuming that it is an inexpensive alternative, as Fender and other guitar manufacturers are using it more often.

The tuning gears are locking, which I have never used before, and can be confusing, but other users tell me that they are great to have. The alder body has that non-traditional shape, sort of a more-radical Jazzmaster style. It gives the overall appearance a longer look, even though it is the standard 25.5-inch scale most Fender guitars carry. One review video on YouTube that I saw states that this is comfortable, but as for me, it will take getting used to after years of playing Stratocasters and Telecasters.

The pickups are Fender exclusive Fireball humbuckers. They have a great sound as-is, but what makes them special is a push-button switch on the volume control (more on that to follow) that changes both humbuckers into single-coils. This gives it a hot Telecaster-like sound when needed. However, I would have liked to see individual coil-tap switches for each pickup to gve even more choice of sounds. The pickup selector switch is a three-way toggle similar to that found on Gibson guitars, and is positioned similar to where it is located on most Les Paul models.

The controls are a bit confusing at first. With three knobs, I would have assumed that it would be two-volume/one tone like that found on a Fender Jazz Bass. Instead, it is configured as one-volume/two tone (one for each pickup). The volume knob has that push-button coil-tap switch built into it, which is flush on top and there is no way of telling if it is on or off unless you are listening to the change through the amplifier.

Finally, the bridge is a six-saddle tremolo found on the modern Stratocasters. I have seen on online discussion groups that some players would have liked to see a Jazzmaster/Jaguar style whammy bar bridge, but in my opinion, those are not as easy to maintain, not as reliable for heavy whammy bar use, and would not bode well with the style of the guitar.

Sound-wise, this guitar has a lot going for it. The pickups in the humbucker settings are high output and clean throughout, although you can get some drive from them when the volume pot is on 10 and the amp being used is set right. In single-coil setting, the bridge pickup has a great bit to it, like a Tele or Strat. One thing that sounds good is that, when adjusting the tone pots to be more bassy, there is no drop in the high-end bite that happens with most passive-wired guitars. Overall, this is a worthwhile Fender guitar, especially for its going rate under $700 direct from Fender.

A little history regarding the Meteora model. It was originally designed in 2011 by Fender designer Josh Hurst. It first appeared as a limited-edition model in the Parallel Universe series. Jim Root of the band Slipknot played one, but it never really received any heavy artist endorsement. In 2018 it was introduced as part of the Player Plus series (made in Mexico), and is also available as the American Ultra II model as well (made in USA).

I have seen talk of either discontinuing the model, or a large overstock, leading to the recent cut in price of the Player Plus models. I would not be surprised with a discontinuing, as I do not see a lot of these being played by well-known artists (I may be out of the loop, though). It probably would have been a big success if it came out 20 years earlier, grunge bands and nerd-rock bands like Weezer would have played them easily. It is a great guitar, but I definitely do not see it as a competitor to the Strats, Teles, or even Les Pauls. Like I mentioned in my blog a few weeks back (https://luegra.design.blog/2025/05/24/fender-meteora-hh-on-sale-this-weekend/), it may go the way of the Marauder or Muiscmaster, and could be more collectible in a decade. I will be honest, I purchased it with that primarily on my mind, as I don’t play electric much at all any more, and have my Strats and other electric guitars to band around instead.

I didn’t do any test-drive video of the guitar, as there are plenty of them on the web. Here are a few of them for viewing

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Rock Music

Rick Derringer RIP

When my buddy Ken texted me last week that Rick Derringer passed away, I was floored with sadness. He was always one of my music heroes, not just guitar heroes. Yes, he could play guitar, but he had such an ear for music, he was a top producer in the pop and rock genres.

Rick left us on May 26th at the age of 77. Ironically, a few days earlier, I had just finished setting up a Fender Stratocaster and the first thing I played on it was the opening chords to “Free Ride,” which he recorded with Edgar Winter. He was with Winter’s band during its heyday in the early 1970s when “Frankenstein” was also getting heavy airplay on rock stations.

His first big break came when his band The McCoys had a huge garage-band hit with “Hang On Sloopy” in 1965. That song was a Number 1, keeping The Beatles’ “Yesterday” off of the top spot for a few weeks. As that band started to lose its drive, Rick and a few members soon became the backup band for Johnny Winter. It was during this time that his songwriting skills came into play when he wrote the classic “Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo” for Johnny as a rock/blues crossover song to help boost Johnny’s career.

Due to Johnny Winter’s increasing drug problem, Rick moved to working with Edgar Winter, appearing on the aforementioned hits as well as handling production duties. In 1974, he decided to go solo, and re-recorded “Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo” for his first album, All American Boy. The song had a much more rock feel to it, and it became his biggest solo hit, reaching Number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 and becoming a staple on classic rock radio stations. For me, it is the production that he did on that song. He played all of the guitar parts, as well as the bass and tambourine. He layered each guitar perfectly to have this perfect wall of sound. The riffs and licks on that are what every young aspiring rock guitar player wants to emulate.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, he produced or played guitar for a number of artists, including Steely Dan, Todd Rundgren, Air Supply, Meat Loaf, Cyndi Lauper and Barbra Streisand. Through his work with Lauper, he produced The Wrestling Album for the World Wrestling Federation in 1985. He also wrote several of the album’s theme songs, including the theme song for Hulk Hogan, “Real American.” The song was used for a number of campaign stops by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Donald Trump.

He was also well known for producing six of “Weird Al” Yankovic’s comedy albums, receiving his only Grammy award during that time. He began to step away from the production end, claiming that he did not want to be thought of as a comedy record expert.

In 1997, Rick became an Evangelical Christian, and with his wife and children, produced four Christian music albums. He also worked for a while in the early 2000s with bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice. During his later years in the 21st century, he toured with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band and Peter Frampton’s Guitar Circus.

Just last week, he died peacefully in his sleep after being taken off of life support from medical complications.

There is so much that Rick had his hands in when it came to music. You could tell from his history that he was passionate about it. His production work aside, I think that his guitar work was rock and roll perfection, the way that Keith Richards’ work is perfection. Nothing flashy, but just enough movement to make the solo fit perfectly into the song.

I could go on, but I leave this with one last thought. I remember seeing a photo of Rick on stage, probably taken in the late 1970s, where he is playing a BC Rich Mockingbird guitar. I thought that he looked so incredibly cool, and to this day, I would love to get myself a Mockingbird guitar specifically because of that photo.

Rick, I know that you and Johnny Winter are now jamming out up there in the sky. You will always be one of my guitar heroes.

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Electric Guitars

Fender Meteora HH – On Sale This Weekend!

It’s Memorial Day weekend, so most of my free time is being spent at local cemeteries planting flags at military graves. I just wanted to post a quick note of what I saw and purchased this past week.

Although I am pretty much ingrained in bluegrass and acoustic music these days, I still appreciate the history and sound of the electric guitar. I played electric for 20+ years, and tried my hands at starting a collection years ago that ultimately crashed during my unemployment and recession years. I have sold off much of my collection of electric guitars and amplifiers, but I still keep my eye out for a deal, even if it means keeping it for a while in hopes of increased value.

We come to this past week. I’m on the Fender email list, so every time the company has some type of new edition or sale, I get word of it in my email inbox. Currently, Fender is having a Memorial Day Sale, and I decided to check it out. While most of the guitars are still either out of my price range or not of interest, I came upon the Player Plus Meteora HH for $579.00. Fender started producing these unique guitars about five years ago, and they do not seem to have a big following amongst notable guitarists in any genre. It has a body that looks to be a melding of a Jazzmaster and a Gretsch Thunderbird. Why I didn’t just blow this one off was that it is a Fender guitar made in Mexico, not a Squier product. There are other Meteora models made in Japan that are much more pricey.

The pickup configuration is two humbuckers, similar to what is found on the Telecaster Deluxe model. The pickups have a coil tap with the switches mounted in the volume controls. The pickup selection switch is also like the Tele Deluxe (which is like the Gibson Les Paul), and the controls are two volume pots and one tone pot, similar to a Fender Jazz Bass. The tremolo bridge looks to be similar to the more common Strat type. The fingerboard is made of Pau Ferro, which is a cheaper version of rosewood, and the body is Alder, so the weight is probably less than a Strat or Tele.

Like I said, I haven’t seen any guitarists of nominal fame performing with this model, so it may be why they are selling at an affordable price. Since it is a Fender, there is a quality level that one can expect will be more than satisfactory. As it is not a Telecaster or Stratocaster, or even a Jazzmaster or Jaguar, it may disappear within a few years from production. Looking back on the history of Fender guitars, even failed models such as the Marauder, Coronado, Musicmaster and Swinger are now demanding high resale prices. So who knows? Perhaps these Meteora models will increase in value in a decade due to rarity, or maybe a much-needed endorsement will make them gain value.

I should be receiving my Meteora within the next week, so I hope to do a blog about it when it comes and I have done a test-run on it. In the meantime, If you really want to own a true Fender guitar and cannot fork over the cash for a Strat or Tele, you may want to consider picking up one of these guitars, especially now that it is on sale.

https://www.fender.com/products/player-plus-meteora-hh

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Classical Music Lutherie

The 15th International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Making Competition

This past week was the 15th International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Making Competition held in Poznan, Poland. I love watching and listening to the competing violins, seeing if I can tell any nuances that make them the best. Of course, I am far from an expert compared to those that are judging the instruments.

I wish that I could enjoy the entire competition live, but there are a lot of factors that are against me. First, it is during the evening in Poland, so it is broadcast in the afternoon here in Detroit, so I can only catch bits and pieces while I am at work, Fortunately, the entire stream is posted on the Wieniawski Society YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@WieniawskiSociety). When I do catch a bit at work, I have to keep it really low volume, as earphones are frowned upon.

I had talked a lot about this competition in a blog four years ago (https://luegra.design.blog/2021/05/15/the-14th-international-henryk-wieniawski-violin-making-competition/), so I will not go into details here. This year, 85 violins from 18 countries were in competition. Polish luthier Paweł Kubaca won both First and Second Place with his Sona and Luna violins, respectively. Third Place went to Liu Zhaojun from China for the Sunrise violin.

There are two longer videos on the YouTube channel showcasing the finalists and winners, as well as a third video highlighting a quartet performance of the winners. Even if you are not into classical music, you may enjoy listening to the instruments and why each one was put into the finalist positions. It is truly amazing to see how such intricacies can make or break a choice when most of us just see a simple violin. Musicians who base their life on a quality instrument to continue their careers are stringent, and as a guitar player for over 40 years, I can understand.

The next competition for violin making will be in May of 2029. In the meantime, the 17th International Wieniawski Violin Performance Competition will be scheduled within the next wto years. I recommend that you continue to check both the YouTube channel and the Wieniawski Society website (https://www.wieniawski.com/) for updates.

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Lutherie

Tru-Oil For Guitar Finishing

This week’s blog will be short due to a busy schedule. I wanted to talk briefly about my continued work on the guitar building project.

The neck that was in the Fesley guitar kit had an extremely light finish coating on it. It left the neck smooth, but I could tell that it would wear down to the bare wood after some playing and may cause some unneeded damage from sweat and grime. I wanted to put another coating of finish on it, but not with the polyurethane that I would be spraying on the body.

After doing some research on the internet, I found that there were a few recommendations to use Tru-Oil. This is a varnish-like liquid that is primarily used on rifle and shotgun stocks. It is very easy to apply with a cloth or sponge, and if applied thinly with a few repeats, will give a smooth finish as well as protective coating.

A small bottle usually goes for about $10.00. I had a tough time finding it in my area. I went to three gun shops, and none of them had it. I finally found it at a Dunham’s sporting goods store. According to internet searches, it seems to be available at Wal-Mart and Cabela’s as well, and can be ordered from a number of sources. I just wanted to get my hands on it right away, so I drove around until I found it.

The neck is maple with a rosewood-like fretboard Fesley calls “Techwood.” If anything like rosewood or ebony, it is best to keep unfinished (and oiled with lemon oil during cleaning or changing of strings), so I taped it off (along with the plastic/bone nut) before finishing. I applied three coats total, letting each coat dry 24 hours before the next. Tru-Oil is extremely thin, almost like water or a thin furniture polish, and I applied it with a soft cloth. A little goes a long way, and after the three coats, I still had about 3/4 of the 3-ounce bottle left. Once the third coat was dry, I hand rubbed the neck with OOO-grade steel wool.

I am pleased with the result. The back of the neck is just as smooth as before, yet you can see that varnish-like sheen to offer protecting from sweat and grime. I made sure to apply each coat thinly so as not to have any drips.

I would highly recommend the use of Tru-Oil for this type of finishing on a guitar neck or even a bare wood guitar body (I have seen a few examples online, and I may try it on one of the other solidbody kits that I have), especially if you do not want to fully spray polyurethane or do not have the equipment to do full spraying. It is easy to apply, and gives a great protective finish.

Chew on it and comment.

Categories
Bluegrass Music

Billy Strings Proves He is Cool, …, Again!

The Flatt & Scruggs song “Don’t Get Above Your Raisin’” has a message followed by many in the bluegrass field. Basically, the theme is do not forget where you came from, and do not forget who helped you achieve any success that you have had along the way. Billy Strings proves once again that he is a true follower of this sentiment.

Last September, Strings and his wife Ally were blessed with the birth of a son. Unfortunately, due to immediate health concerns, the infant was placed in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Through 24-hour monitoring and care, his son gained normal health and was able to leave the hospital after some time.

Last week, to show his appreciation to the staff at the hospital, Strings not only visited the hospital, but also participated in a video for the facility’s music therapy program, as well as performed mini-concerts on each of the floors for the patients, including at the NICU floor.

The video performance is part of the Corwell Health’s Blue Glass Studio program that broadcasts pertinent information related to music therapy. Of course, for this particular video, the name was changed to Blue Grass Studio to honor Strings.

While many entertainment figures take time out of their careers to do charitable acts, most of these actions are usually done on off-time or when the career is in a lull. Billy Strings is at the height of his career, selling out concert venues and working with some of the biggest musical artists in the bluegrass, country, and rock worlds. While his adolescent past has been filled with a number of demons, he has fought them off and offered thanks to the people and prayers that have been there with him.

This incident shows that Strings is grateful for everything good that has happened to him, be it in the music field or his personal life. For that, I continue to have a great respect for him.

For more information on this wonderful hospital visit, including photos, go to https://www.mlive.com/news/2025/05/grammy-winning-billy-strings-pays-visit-to-grand-rapids-childrens-hospital.html .

To conclude, here is a recent interview with Strings about his respect for all of the music that he grew up with. Pardon his French.

Chew on it and comment.

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