devellis’s thirty-two comments

Despite having a longstanding interest in the mandolin’s various forms, styles, and brands, I’ll confess to never having heard of a George La Foley mandolin until now. Foley, yes. George La Foley, no. more…

I’d strongly suggest that you forgo the scroll and get an A-style. You’ll simply be able to get a better-sounding instrument for your dollar. more…

Daniel Levitin, a musician and cognitive psychologist at McGill University, has studied talent and reviewed the extant literature. more…

As I understand the OP, the question is whether two different gauges within the acceptable range would give a sort of best-of-both-worlds tone to the bass. more…

I would respectfully submit that the purpose of the truss rod is to adjust neck relief rather than action. If only the lower fret positions are buzzing, then adding in some additional relief by loosening the truss rod may help. more…

An experience I fondly remember involved the wedding of an Irish friend to his American bride. The Irishman (from Galway) was a fine multi-instrumentalist and many of his fellow sessioneers were at the wedding. more…

The way I remember the Gilda Radner routine, it was about stopping “violins in the streets” with no mention of a sax. I could be wrong, though. more…

The distinctions are useful, I think. I’m currently wading into the third -- flatpicking melody on guitar the way it would be played on other lead instruments. I think this works quite well. more…

I step into this quagmire with considerable trepidation. Decay can be minimized with the handling of each note. Let’s consider a “whatchamacallit” that involves the first finger on the second fret as the base note. more…

I am not an expert, but I’ve been doing a lot of research of late in anticipation of getting a better guitar. For what it’s worth, here is the consensus I’ve gathered from that research, regarding several issues that have been raised. more…