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Old 10-17-2020, 09:19 PM
Wade Hampton Wade Hampton is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Chugiak, Alaska
Posts: 31,165
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A forum participant named Jofari just posted in the identical thread that I started in the general discussion forum that my guess is correct, it was made by Fletcher Brock. I was hoping to get a definitive answer to my question reasonably soon, but was surprised and delighted that I got an instantaneous answer!

That’s so cool....

So do any of you all have any experiences with Fletcher Brock’s beautiful instruments? I saw the ones he had at Healdsburg, of course, but didn’t want to play them in his absence - when he left me stranded at his booth, after 45 minutes or so a friend of his came by and I asked him to take over. I never did see or talk to Fletcher again; for the remaining two or three days of the festival he was never at his booth any time I walked by.

Which was both annoying and disappointing, because I had been contemplating the idea of having him build an instrument for me. But while I know he didn’t intend his extended absence as a deliberate slap in the face, that was the impact of his behavior, nonetheless.

I assume he’s shy and hates talking to the public. But some warning ahead of time would have been nice...

‘Nuff said.

I also happened to see a great string band from out of state one day a few years later: they were playing in a corner of a remote rural roadhouse out on the Kenai Peninsula one day when I just happened by. They were playing this great high level stuff, while the locals were mostly ignoring them, though not in a truculent way. I didn’t catch the group’s name, which was stupid of me, because they were excellent musicians.

One of the guys had what I thought was a Brock octave mandolin, and when I talked to him on their break he confirmed that.

I asked: “What are you guys doing up here? Did you have a few paying gigs scheduled and wanted to play a few more to get free food and beer while you were still up here?”

He laughed and said: “Exactly!”

I put a twenty dollar bill in their tip jar, and didn’t even ask to play his Brock mandolin, as much as I might have wanted to. But I know how much I dislike it whenever strangers come up to me at gigs and try to talk me into that, so I didn’t ask.

Anyway, thanks again for responding.


Wade Hampton Miller

Last edited by Wade Hampton; 10-17-2020 at 09:25 PM. Reason: Corrected a typo
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