Awesome. Happy playing, Ken!

--
Site Owner

Those irritated by grain of sand best avoid beach.
-Strumelia proverb c.1990

No surprise to me either that Bobby made you a gem, Ken! I plan to order one of his instruments later this year and, in the meantime, drool over those built for others.

It's no surprise to me that Bobby makes such a remarkable instrument. Coming from you, Ken, this is high praise indeed.

--
Dusty T., Northern California
Site Moderator

As a musician, you have to keep one foot back in the past and one foot forward into the future.
-- Dizzy Gillespie

Just 15 minutes ago I unpacked the Sow model that Bobby Ratliff made for me, and I just had to force myself to make an initial report.

If you love traditional Noter & Drone style playing and sound, you REALLY want one of these! Shallow sides, narrow teardrop bout, mine is made from Holly wood, Butternut and Walnut. Light weight but solid feeling. His special finish is fabulous. Pictures were posted by Bobby last week.

This thing SINGS! Huge volume and high silvery soundfor such a small body. The narrow fretboard takes a minute or two to get accustomed to, but Bobby's string arangement makes it simple. There's the single Melody string, a wide-ish gap, and then what looks likea typical Melody couplet... but on the far side.The coupletis made up of the middle drone and the unwound bass string. Bobby set mine up for Gdd or Ggg tunings. Nice significantly large staple frets with a full width 3rd fret to facilitate tuning to 1-5-5. The full inch high fretboard makes keeping the instrument on your lap a snap with an occasionalin-flick of your right hand.

Ya done good, my friend. Many thanks!

Playing video will come soon, but don't hold your breath.

updated by @ken-hulme: 06/08/16 09:24:05PM