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Sage Wisdom

"Good improvisation communicates harmonic progression melodically. Effective melodies manipulate harmonic content through the use of guide tones and preparatory gravity notes, masterfully woven in systematic tension, release, and transparent harmonic definition."



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August 2, 2006 | Charlie Derrington

This morning the mandolin world mourns a hero, Charlie Derrington. The sudden fatality of a motorcycle accident, this mandolin mentor beloved by all, was killed by a drunk driver Tuesday night. As production manager, Derrington had been responsible for virtually single-handedly resurrecting Gibson mandolins back to the forefront of US manufacturing popularity in the late 1990s. His knowledge and passion for Loar era mandolins had guided Gibson's resurgence into a new era of craftsmanship and market appeal.

It all started with Charlie's gift for understanding construction and repair:

From the Tennessean (Nashville, TN) Thurs. April 26, 2001
"In fall 1985, after Monroe had reconciled with Gibson, a vandal entered his home and smashed the F-5 and another mandolin with a fireplace poker. The stunned musician took both instruments into the Nashville Gibson repair facility in a bag, and a young repairman named Charles Derrington set about sorting out over 500 fragments of wood, discerning which belonged to which instrument.

Derrington consulted a violin restorer for advice on how to reassemble the fragments.

''The smallest were brushed with glue and wrapped to each other with sewing thread, which acted as miniature clamps as the glue dried,'' he says. ''These puzzle pieces were then brushed with glue and fitted into the larger pieces until the body was back in one piece.'' The work took four months, and Monroe wept when he got it back.

A Monroe band member once likened the F-5 to ''a fragment of the holy cross.'' It was built by Lloyd Loar, a classically trained musician who went to work for Gibson in Chicago in 1919. His L-series guitars and F-series mandolins became legendary. Loar approved only about 170 F-5s, and Monroe's left the factory July 9, 1923.

Monroe was already well into his professional music career when he came upon his instrument in a barber shop window in Miami about 1943. He paid about $150 for it, Smith says, and it immediately affected him as a player.

''This mandolin clearly had a very special sound to it,'' Smith says. ''It was very versatile. As Monroe pointed out, it cut through the sound of the band, but also if you softened up with gentle tremolo, it had a beautiful tone.''

Bluegrass was born in the years after that purchase. Monroe's new instrument provided a swinging chop to the beat, while his instrumental breaks on fiddle tunes took on a new assertiveness and speed. Earl Scruggs' banjo and Lester Flatt's singing would round out the band most associated with the birth of the genre in 1946."

Our condolences to Charlie's wife, daughter, and the family of craftsmen at Gibson O.A.I.

Tennesean Brief

Posted by Ted at August 2, 2006 2:25 PM


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