guy wearing a Ford Mustang cap . Being a car buff myself , I started talking muscle cars with him . We ended up talking about cars for at least thirty minutes before realizing who each other was ! Vinnie had brought his copy of the Tsumura 1001 Banjos book with him and , as I had never seen one , let me borrow it for the whole weekend . When the festival came to an end , I went to give it back and he had already left ! So we planned to meet up at a later date so I could return his book . He invited me to stay the weekend with his family and thus began what is now a twenty-one year friendship . We talk almost every single day , no kidding . He taught me a lot about fixing banjos and he always says I taught him a lot about banjo setup .
Since seeing them at my earliest banjo festivals I have always been drawn towards vintage banjos … the craftsmanship , sound , and design differences really fascinate me . My favorite banjo design is the Vega Vox . I purchased my first Vega Vox III tenor from John Bernunzio back in 1999 and learned everything on that banjo . Unfortunately it along with my custom Ome and a Mondello Accutone were stolen in 2007 . While I ended up getting the Ome and Mondello back years later , my Vox ( serial number 99307 ) is still floating around somewhere out there .
With so many aspects of fretted instruments holding interest for me , it wasn ’ t too long before similar activities in the bass world started getting my attention . The University of North Texas is one of the largest music schools in the world . At any given time there are hundreds of bass students enrolled warranting an onsite bass repair shop . During college I was fortunate to apprentice in the bass shop , learning how to do minor repairs and setups on double basses . It was here that I I learned a lot about what to look for in a vintage double bass along with the subtle differences between the Italian , German , English , French , and New England schools of bass making . It has paid off as I currently have a mid 1800s 4 / 4 Mittenwald bass and more recently acquired an early 1800s Italian bass . They are both incredible instruments that I was able to get cheaply because they both needed lots of repairs . While I do most of the minor work on my instruments , if there ' s something out of my league , I send it to my luthier !
In the midst of trying to craft a professional course , I met the love of my life in 2005 while attending the University of North Texas . Kristin was a classical flute major and I had noticed her walking around the music building . I eventually got up the courage to ask her out and to my surprise she said ‘ yes ’ and we dated for the last few weeks of school . I was working construction in Houston over the summer when I got a call from a cruise line needing a bass player . I ended up going away for the summer and we lost touch . We both dated other people for a couple years before we got back together in 2007 . Facebook was still pretty new and your account had to be linked to a college email address , so all my friends were in college . After I posted a picture of me with Willie Nelson , Kristin commented on it . I reached out and asked if she ' d like
28 ALL FRETS SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020