[Cathy]

Mom did it too. I remember at the age of five fooling around with an old fiddle. It was missing a tuning peg and only had a couple of strings on it. It was a Stratavarius copy, one of probably hundreds, and probably wasn't worth a lot of money, but I bet Gramp broke it in just right. It ended up on the rockpile, too.

My aunt used to have a National dobro in the loft of her old barn. Sadly, that's another vintage instrument that's missing.

When I was a kid, my aunt had an old Vega banjo that had 'Archie Brumford, 1923' written on the head by pen. I borrowed it for a few years, and took it to Vyner's music in Bangor to have some work done on it. The drooled over it for awhile, then ofered me $850 for it. Of course, I couldn't sell it, because it wasn't mine. It had a leather case, shaped like a banjo, with red felt inside. The outside of the case had vines and flowers tooled into the leather. I asked my cousin what ever became of it. She thinks it's probably up in her attic. I'd dare to bet it isn't much good now.

Cathy