It just occurred to me that I never actually posted a picture of my finished guitar once I got it. To recap, it is Boca Raton based luthier Ben Joella’s first archtop guitar and it is absolutely incredible.

It is a completely hand carved spruce top and back. The Benedetto S-6 archtop pickup is mounted to the pickguard, which is also mounted to the floated neck and fretboard. Thus the only thing that makes contract with the spruce top is the bridge so that the instrument can be allowed to vibrate to it’s full potential. Another perk of this instrument is that it doesn’t weigh a million pounds, so you won’t to see a chiropractor after every gig. All that being said, I am obviously thrilled being playing an instrument of this calliber and look forward to seeing more of these instruments for Ben!

So this is a picture of the plane that I just got off of, Allegiant flight 814, out of Lansing Michigan. We took off at around noon bound for Tampa. (I was returning from a college visit with my brother in law.)

During take off, there was a loud banging in the left engine and tons of turbulence. We continued taking off and about 7 min. later the pilot came on and said, we are having problems with our left engine and we are going to have to go back to Lansing. (Everyone turns silent.) He then tells us that we should expect nothing more that a normal landing. (All the while, I’m crapping my pants and thinking, “My Wife!”.) Finally, we land and everyone cheers! Never thought that would happen to me. I guess it is bound to happen though if you fly enough. A few businessmen on the recent U.S. Airways flight 1549, stated that they had experienced some emergencies before and my dad always told me stories of hitting air pockets. Anyway, thank you God and may your will be done.

Get a load of this!

Here’s a great article by Jeffery Tucker, editor of mises.org, entitled The End of the US Piano Industry. The Article draws some parallels between the symbolic nature of the car in American culture today and the history of the American piano industry. Now, most of the musicians I know don’t care much about cars frankly most of us drive Hondas or Toyotas. (I’ll gladly drive a Ford, when they actually make a good one. After all, a good product sells itself.) Honestly, I’d rather live in a city that has a good enough public transit system where I wouldn’t need a car. Anyway, when I was growing up, and still to this day, it is a goal of mine to have a Steinway in my house. It is a status….well, the article explains all of that. Honestly, doesn’t a piano seem like a better cultural symbol than a car that loses half of its value the minute you drive it off the lot. How far we have come…Yay Us!

Article: The End of the US Piano Industry