The Pete Seeger model 12 string has been getting a lot of attention of late, what with appearances at the Inaugural Concert, a recent David Letterman show, the cover of the "Pete Seeger at 89" CD and "The Power of Song" DVD. The original instruments were made by UK luthier G. Stanley Francis and more recent versions by Bruce Taylor of Weston CT.
This signed drawing was given to me by the late Dr. Anthony A. Verstraete of Penn State, one of my very best friends. When we met as students in the late '60s we soon discovered that that we had each been bit by the 12 string bug at Pete Seeger concerts years earlier, before 12 string guitars were widely made or distributed in the USA. Tony had written to Seeger asking for advice in finding a 12 string. Pete sent back contact info for Stan Francis in the UK. Tony wrote to Francis and got back the drawing and a letter explaining options and pricing. A few years later, when I was seeking out every 12 string reference, recording, catalogue, article, photo, ad, and whatever, Tony gave me the drawing. He always said he would give me the accompanying letter when he found it, but he never did.
So many things came full circle for me at this inauguration. I retired as a choir director and passed the torch to others four years ago. Seeing all the choral groups featured so prominantly in the festivities renews my faith (once waning) that that torch is being picked up. It was overwhelming for me to see the grandson and the man who inspired my lifelong love affair with the 12 string guitar playing a copy of the very first 12 string I ever saw in person, a guitar now made just a few miles from the Connecticut town where I grew up in the '50s and 60's and where I first saw and heard Pete Seeger. And I miss my old friend, Tony Verstraete.
' Strang