Homegrown Music and... Musical Instruments!

Image Gallery Marc Bristol and other Washington State grassroots musicians wail away on a gutbucket, washboard, and jug (the axe is a gag). For Marc's original homegrown music column?which featured gutbucket, washboard, jug, kazoo, musical saw, and spoons ""makin' and playin' ""instructions?see MOTHER NO. 50. Inset shows gutbucket ""notch and bevel""details

Even homesteaders need to relax and enjoy themselves from time to time, right? And almost everybody these days wants to cut his or her cost of living. So how about a little do-it-yourself entertainment?

And that's what this column is all about. Down-home music that you can make . . . and the instruments (which, in some cases, you can also make!) to play that music on.

We may also publish some songs, discuss music as a potential home business, run discographies, bibliographies, and/or include whatever other do-it-yourself music topics you'd like to see.

The important thing is that this is a new column. If you like it, write to me and let me know. If you have some ideas for this feature, let me know that. I'm open to any suggestions or information you care to contribute. I'll even try to answer your questions about down-home music . . . but—both for the benefit of all MOTHER's readers and to ease my correspondence load—I'll deal with those questions, whenever possible, here in this column . . . rather than in personal letters.

Address your correspondence—for this column and this column only—to Marc Bristol, 31722 N.E. 180th Place, Duvall, Wash. 98019.

Whether you're just a homegrown-music beginner or you've been playing for some time, the chances are good that you have been . . . or are . . . or someday will be . . . in the market for a used instrument of some sort. For that reason, I'd like to share a few ideas and experiences that can help you in your hunt.

Perhaps the best way to get an old instrument is to have it handed down to you from a previous generation or owner. And even though you may not need any special talent or knowledge to be so blessed . . . it certainly doesn't hurt to advertise your desire for such a gift.

Yes, advertise! Tell all your relatives and friends—tell everyone you meet—that you'd appreciate the donation of any old musical instrument in any condition at any time. The truth is that there are uncounted millions of guitars, fiddles, drums, accordions, etc., slowly rotting away right now in closets, attics, garages, and basements all over the country. Some haven't been played for years. Most are owned by people who don't care about them anymore, or who've even forgotten that they exist. All have souls which are crying out to be reborn through the magic of your touch! So look around and ask around. Let people know you're anxious to give some of these instruments a home. I guarantee you'll get response.

For example: I once was given a beautiful old mandolin and a fiddle by a man who'd had them for fifty years. He picked me (and my guitar case) up when I was hitchhiking one day and, in the conversation which followed, I mentioned that I was learning a little bit about stringed instrument repair. One thing led to another and, before I knew it, I was the proud owner of two more old (but new to me) pieces of equipment. Although the fiddle needed both strings and hardware (tailpiece, bridge, and sound-post), plus some minor regluing on the top and back, the mandolin (a rare 12-string "potato bug" model) sounded pretty good with nothing but a new set of strings.