November 2007 - June '23 Loar visit
This fall, I had the pleasure of having a rare June '23 Loar at my shop for some fretwork. This instrument is unique in that it has the triple side binding that appeared on the July 9 batch which included Bill Monroe's legendary mandolin. |
October 2007 - John Reischman played Cranbrook
I was happy to have presented John Reischman & the Jaybirds in concert in Cranbrook BC on Friday Oct. 5th 2007. John is one of the all time mandolin greats, and I feel very fortunate to be have introduced him to my hometown. |
June 2007 - New Making the Body page
I have added a new page to the building section that shows how I do some of the tricky work on the bodies of my F-5 mandolins. Be sure to click on the thumbnails to get a large version of each photo....read more |
December 2006 - New Instrument Page
I have updated the photos and layout for the intsruments page with new shots of the Wiens #22, the first of the completely re-designed mandos to leave the shop. We have also added a page for each style of mandolin, the F-5 page is up, and the H-5 and P-5 pages are coming soon. Check it out...read more |
June 2006 - New Building Page Launched
I have been putting together a new building page to show all of you some of the crucial steps to putting together a Wiens F-5 mandolin. There are plenty of nice, high-res pics to zoom in on and my first-hand account of the process. Check it out...read more |
June 2006 - Interview for Mel Bay Mandolin Sessions:
I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed for "Mel Bay's Mandolin Sessions" online magazine. Check it out....read more |
February 2006 - LoarFest West, Bakersfield, CA:
In February, I managed to get down to Bakersfield for the first, and hopefully annual, Supergrass Bluegrass Festival. This festival featured "Loarfest West"...An historic event that combined a public display of over twenty examples of original Loar-signed instruments, performances on the instruments by top players, and a panel of the top Loar experts discussing the finer points of "Loar lore"...read more |
January 2006 - Refinements to the Wiens F-5:
After spending a couple months with a beautiful March '31 1924 Loar F-5 (read story) and absorbing it's wonderful vibe, I decided that there was room to further refine my mandolin design in a way that reflected what I was seeing and feeling in that Loar. So back to the drawing board I went...read more |
October 2005 - Loar Visit:
This fall, I had the pleasure of having a Loar signed '24 F-5 at my shop for some maintenance and minor repairs. The time spent with it gave me a good chance to closely study and document a very fine example of these great instruments. It's beautiful tone and form left a deep impression and resulted in dozens of new refinements to the Wiens F-5 design...read more |
