Wheatland Music Festival, Remus MI

[Bob Hammond]

It's a place to my daughter's potential In-Laws. I think that they're likely Ok considering that they attend most every year, but will it be fun otherwise?

[Mark Swanson]

I attend every year, and have been in charge of the Luthier's Tent each year. About ten luthiers display their instruments in the tent, makers of violins, banjos, guitars and mandolins. It's about two weeks away (7, 8, and 9th of September), I'll take some photos of each of the instrument displays and post them here.
And if anyone goes to the festival, stop by the tent! I'll be gone for most of saturday, I have to come back to Grand Rapids to play a gig with my band.

[Bob Hammond]

Maybe we'll lay eyes on each other, if I get most of the repairs on No.1 to the point where we could talk about setup. It's as they say, gnarly.

[Mark Swanson]

Just stop by the Instrument Builders' tent Bob. I'll be in there, as well as Bryan Galloup, Eldon Whitford, Mike Kemnitzer, and Tim Scheerhorn as well as others.

[Mark Swanson]

Ok, the Wheatland Festival has come and gone, and I am still recuperating. it was fun as it always is. I am the person in charge of organizing the Instrument Builders' Tent, a monumental task since luthiers don't like to be "organized".
But we had a great time, and I went around the tent and took some photos....I missed a few folks, I did not get a photo of Bryan Galloup or his two guitars- sorry Bryan! And I also missed a picture of Mike Kemnitzer even though I did get one of his fine mandolin.
Thanks to all who showed up- and I did get to meet Bob Hammond too!

[Mark Swanson]

Here's a photo of Tim Scheerhorn playing the resonator guitar and Eldon Whitford playing mandolin...

[Mark Swanson]

And here's Tim Scheerhorn and two of his great instruments. Tim builds the best!

[Mark Swanson]

This mandolin is a Nuggett mandolin built by Mike Kemnitzer, a world-class builder. Mike himself had a way of disappearing every time I got my camera out.

[Mark Swanson]

This is Banjo and Violin maker Jan Bloom. I love his open-back banjos.

[Mark Swanson]

Man, it was hard to get good photos in the tent with all the sunny glare from outside!
This is John Long of Bergin Guitars, he brought some sweet guitars.

[Mark Swanson]

This is Joe Mendel, he builds Banjos and Octave Mandolins.

[Mark Swanson]

One more photo of a beautiful walnut resonator guitar that Tim built.
I am sorry that I didn't get a photo of Bryan's "Elvis in jail" guitar, the guitar features an inlay with the frets as jail bars and Elvis peeking through, taken from a photo promoting "Jailhouse Rock". Really cool!
I also neglected to take a photo of my own table and the four instruments I had there! One of them was the Redwood Fatboy I just posted in the flat Top section, and I'll post the others too in the coming week.
Wheatland was fun and I want to thank all the luthiers and folks who made it out there!

[Mark Swanson]

Ok, out of fairness to my good friend Bryan Galloup I found an older photo of the "Elvis in Jail" fingerboard, before the guitar was finished. The finished guitar was at the Festival, and it was great!

[Mark Swanson]

And one more for good measure, Bryan tells me David Crosby now owns this one.

[Mark Swanson]

And here's Bryan, a photo from last year. So much for my journalism chops!