The Fretboard Journal Guitar Podcast

Author, record producer, historian and performer Bob Carlin joins the Fretboard Journal podcast to talk about his latest project, the gorgeous new book 'Banjo: An Illustrated History.' The book is an exceptional tome for any fretted instrument collector: Carlin walks us through the history of the instrument while showcasing some of the most gorgeous banjos ever created. It also offers profiles on notable players and builders (including Jason Romero, Doc's Banjos, Kevin Enoch, Deering and others). Order the book here: http://amzn.to/29W7i0w

Tim Young is best known for his guitar playing with Wayne Horvitz in Zony Mash but he’s also done a ton of session and studio work with everyone from Todd Rundgren and Fiona Apple to John Legend.  On this week’s podcast, we talk to Young about his career as a session guitarist, including his stint playing on the case/lang/veirs record (he’s also immortalized as the subject of the song “Best Kept Secret” on the album) and his work as the guitarist in the house band for The Late Late Show with James Corden. Young tells us about his time at Seattle’s Cornish College of the Arts, his struggle to connect with some classic jazz sounds and how he found his guitar voice thanks to the music of Bill Frisell and Ween. Added bonus: We shot video of Young playing with Bill Frisell at the Fretboard Journal, coming soon to our website. Stay tuned… Special thanks to D’Addario for sponsoring this episode. http://www.timothyyoungmusic.com https://www.fretboardjournal.com The Fretboard Summit takes place October 14-16, 2016 in San Diego, California. We hope to see some of you there. It's our take on our dream guitar festival, with incredible concerts, panels and talks from some of the world's best musicians and luthiers and a lot of surprises.    

On May 24, 2016, jazz guitarists Bill Frisell and Matt Munisteri performed a short Facebook Live set at the Fretboard Journal’s Seattle headquarters. After the cameras were turned off, we kept the microphones rolling while Bill and Matt had an insightful conversation that covers Johnny Smith, the ‘80s New York City jazz scene, guitars, Bill’s work with Vernon Reid, inspiration, attempting to take vacation time and much more. Watch Bill and Matt’s Facebook Live session here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQUq9v34dsA  or via the Fretboard Journal’s Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/fretboardjournal Matt Munisteri will be appearing once again at the Fretboard Summit, held October 14-16, 2016 in San Diego, California. www.fretboardsummit.com http://billfrisell.comhttp://mattmunisteri.com  

Once again, we check in with Minnesota-based luthier T. Drew Heinonen. As we've discussed on podcasts #100 and #101, Heinonen will be building the Fretboard Journal an OM-style guitar, which we’ll be unveiling at the 2016 Fretboard Summit. As you’ll hear in this podcast, we sent Drew a wide variety of domestic tone woods to choose from – from highly-figured koa to sleeper Black walnut. We also sourced some bracing material from Michael Gurian, a Lutz top from Pacific Rim Tonewoods and a Red spruce top from the Hampton Brothers. During this conversation, we talk to Drew and get his reaction to the various tonewoods we mailed to him. We get his thoughts on thickness sanding, how much (if at all) a luthier can affect the tone of the raw materials he’s using and a lot more. Last but not least, we finally decide on the raw materials we’ll be using for the Fretboard Summit OM. Special thanks to Stewart MacDonald for sponsoring this episode of the Fretboard Journal Podcast. Backing music by Jon Rauhouse.  www.stewmac.comwww.fretboardjournal.com  www.fretboardsummit.com   

Burlington, Vermont's Creston Lea first appeared in the Fretboard Journal #21 when we ran a feature on him and fellow electric guitar builder Paul Languedoc. Over the years, we've continued to follow and be amazed by this created luthier. Today's podcast was recorded live at the first Fretboard Summit in November 2015. This is Lea's presentation entitled "Flame Job!" where he talks about design, collaborating with artist Sarah Ryan on custom paint jobs, customer requests he's willing to take (and not take) and a lot more. He also fields some great questions from Fretboard Summit attendees. Huge thanks to our friends at prsguitars.com for sponsoring our Summit podcasts.  The next Fretboard Summit takes place October 14-16, 2016, this time in sunny San Diego. We hope to see some of you there.  www.fretboardjournal.com www.fretboardsummit.com

Even though his guitars command top dollar and his wait list is several years long, luthier Jason Kostal isn’t done learning his craft. In fact, as we hear on today’s Fretboard Journal Podcast, Kostal just flew to Europe to attend an inlay master class with Grit Laskin. We talk to Kostal about the course, Laskin’s approach to teaching and whether he’ll use his newfound inlay skills on his own guitar creations. Beyond describing his class with Laskin, Kostal also tells us a bit about his build philosophy, how his business is doing and the state of boutique guitarmaking in general. Kostal is a tireless learner and easily one of the most fascinating builders around: Before becoming a full-time luthier, he graduated from West Point, served in the Army, earned an MBA from Emory and did his time working for a Fortune 500 company. Eventually, he found himself at Roberto-Venn in Phoenix, apprenticing for Ervin Somagyi (who will be featured in issue 36 of the Journal) and starting his own guitar company.   This episode is sponsored by D’Addario’s new Nickel Bronze Wound strings:  nickelbronze.daddario.com Subscribe to the Fretboard Journal magazine here:  www.fretboardjournal.com. 

On this week’s podcast we talk to Walter Carter of Carter Vintage Guitars about one of the store’s latest acquisitions, a May 1958 Gibson Les Paul that could safely be called the first ‘Burst. This prototype guitar came from the factory with a three-piece top and a “Special” finish, which just happened to be the same yellow to cherry red sunburst pattern that would be found on all those iconic 1959-1960 Les Pauls. Carter tells us about this unique instrument, how he found it (or it found him) and, yes, the price he’s asking. Carter is an invaluable resource when it comes to all things fretted, so we also ask him about some of the recent sales trends he’s seen in vintage instruments, what guitar markets seem soft and more. http://www.cartervintage.com https://www.fretboardjournal.com http://www.fretboardsummit.com

For 105th episode, we talk to two of the many guitarmakers who built instruments for Prince over his career. Roger Sadowsky tells the entertaining story of how he built Prince's "Ejacucasters" and Andy Beech of D'Haitre Guitars describes the dozens of guitars he built for the late music star and some of the abuse they went through after years of rigorous touring. If you have your own Prince guitar story, we'd love to hear about it. Drop us a line!  www.fretboardjournal.com  www.fretboardsummit.com  This episode is sponsored by D'Addario.  http://www.daddario.com/

Today we talk to Grant Gordy and Joe Walsh, two rising stars in the world of bluegrass and Americana music. Both artists are members of Darrol Anger's Mr.Sun, but during the recording of this podcast, they were touring as a guitar/mandolin duo. Gordy talks to us about the vintage Martin guitar he just purchased from Chicago Music Exchange and Walsh talks to us about how he chose his new Nugget mandolin from luthier Mike Kemnitzer. Subscribe to the podcast if you haven't yet via iTunes. We also invite you to check out the new fretboardjournal.com. 

For years, Eric Daw has been the in-house repairman at Seattle’s acclaimed Emerald City Guitars. On today’s episode, we talk to Eric about his work at the store, his love for vintage guitars and a lot more. Eric also talks about his own Pin-Up Custom Guitars creations and his latest project, the Fret Files podcast.