Contact Us | Home Page | Search
1/15/2006
Hello There!
To quote an old song, "Who knows where the time goes....." and can only offer my apologies for not getting to this page more often.Things have been hectic at Breezy Ridge® and we've all been keeping very busy!
Let me just quickly add some information here about some of the new products....we'll be at the NAMM Show [National Association of Music Merchants--talk about "boys and their toys"] in Anaheim which starts on the 19th...so we're in the process of getting up-to-date information sheets ready...and I think I've given up on printed material! It is usually out of date by the time it gets printed!! So, we're recommending that people check out the website...for the latest and newest!
We've got so many new sets of Strings! Here are the stories behind some of them!
JOHN HARTFORD BANJO STRINGS We really excited about the 2 new John Hartford 5 String Banjo Sets [#1900 G Tuning and #1950 D Tuning with 2 wound strings!]...thanks to Jamie Hartford for asking us to make them and to the help from NewSheriff for the packet artwork! If you buy one of these sets, don't forget to look on the inside of the packet...there's a small "gem" of a drawing there that is priceless! You can check out Jamie's new CD, "Part of Your History" at www.jamiehartford.com It's wonderful!
TENOR BANJO/BOUZOUKI STRINGS Thanks to the push from our new distributors in the U.K., Gremlin Music, we took the opportunity to bring out Tenor Banjo Strings [Sets #2000L, #2010M, and #2020H] and Bouzouki Strings [#5200L, #5220B and #5250S]! Being within an hour of Philadelphia, I was raised with the New Year's Mummers Parades and I truly believe it is one of the main sources of thirties and fourties music in my head! They single-handedly keep Tenor Banjos from becoming extinct! And Bouzoukis...well, what is there to say! Here is an instrument to make your blood hot, your heart beat faster and the fastest way to get you out of a chair and to dance that has ever been created! The by-product of new string sets like this are all sorts of new gauges which are now available as singles...check out the 80/20 Loops--there are 7 new gauges available!
NEW ELECTRIC& JAZZ GUITAR SETS It is appropriate for sets of strings to change as instruments and styles of music change. We're delighted to have added 3 sets for Electric Guitar [#2410, #2510 and #2610]--and so a a lot of players! And, thanks to a friend of Dakota Dave Hull, we've added Jazz Set #2920LD which has an extra long D String--just right for a certain jazz guitar tailpiece which has been creating headaches for their owners who are desperate to play them!
ELECTRIC BASS "SPLIT" SET Here, finally, is the set which "splits" the difference between our previous bass sets of Electric Bass Strings. The "old" standard were .045-.100 or .050-.105.....so Set #6050 goes from .045-.105!
CHATURANGI Debashish Bhattacharia is a good friend...and has been challenging us to keep up with his playing...and his creating guitars which have extraordinary needs as far as strings are concerned! So, since he's now producing a "TRINITY' of guitars of which, one is the CHATURANGI.So,to make things easier, we actually put together a set for them, #5500.We'd suggest that you also keep your John Pearse® String Swipes™ handy to keep the strings from "corroding "under" your hands and saving you the trouble of changing them any more often than you need to! There are twenty-two strings in the set!!To learn more about Debashish and his TRINITY of guitars, go directly to Debashish's site at www.debashishbhattacharya.com/index.htm
NEW C6 HAWAIIAN LAP STEEL TUNING Cindy Cashdollar has been a stalwart Endorsee and Friend for a long time! We always tease her that we know when she's out doing concerts because we get phone calls for single strings, our John Pearse® Thermo-Cryonic™ Hawaiian Steel Bar and Vintage™ Thumb Picks and Hi-Rider™ Finger Picks!---oh, and lots of wierd single string combinations! So, when we'd received our 4th phone call in a week for a certain set of singles gauges, it seemed time to call her and see what was up! The result is Set #7650, our new C6th Tuning Set. If you want to see all of Cindy's Gauges, check out her website directly at http://www.cindycashdollar.com/site/tunings/
NEW SPANISH NECK RESOPHONIC SET We've been supplying National Resophonic Guitars with strings for their wonderful Spanish Neck Resophonic guitars....and have had calls asking for the those gauges as a packaged "set". So, our set #790NR is now available!
SLIGHTLY LIGHTS in 80/20 BRONZE! Set #550SL, our Phosphor Bronze Slightly Lights, are the set we sold as singles to James Taylor, and since we actually packaged it, it has become one of our fastest moving sets. However, there are fans who wanted those gauges in 80/20 Bronze as well....so we're delighted to let them know that they can now, actually, buy a set--#160SL-- instead of ordering the singles!
Check out the John Pearse® Singles Selection to see the impact some of these sets have had on the list of singles now available! It should be that much easier to have EXACTLY the feel you are trying to get on an instrument! That was part of the conversation I had with Cindy when we were talking about gauging. Instruments--even those made by the same manufacturer during the same time period--can be like different people when it comes to temperment and the gauges of strings which will produce specific needs. She was telling me she has three Fender steels which, for the same tuning, take different gauges!
This is really to just remind you that we have many more choices now than used to be available! And it means that you can really have fun getting to where YOU want to go.We try to create "standard" sets...so when you are learning an instrument, you have a basic set to put you in the "range" so to speak. Then, you see how your instrument likes it...and if and where you might need to customize the gauges a little bit! One of the more impressive benefits of progress from my point of view.
John's been under the weather a little lately...so if you feel like sending a get well email, we'll be glad to forward them directly to him! Send them to us at jpinfo@aol.com.
After thirteen years, Michelle Albeck left Breezy Ridge® in May of last year and moved to Arizona. All of us miss her--it's hard to remember twelve years of the company before she came--but we also know that she's embarked on a bright new page in her life that would just not be postponed. Our loss is Arizona's gain! We'll be glad to pass along any emails you send to her so you can stay in touch!
It seems that it has been a long fall...and even though it is January, it was 52 degrees here yesterday...with 40-50 mile an hour gusts! And while the warmth was welcome, it somehow makes Spring look even farther away. Well, in 17 days, Punxatawney Phil, the Pennsylvania ground hog, will tell us how long we'll have to wait. If he sees his shadow, it's six more weeks of winter...I hope we get off easy!
We all need to be making a lot more music...that is the best cure for what ails us! So dust off those instruments, call your friends, and let'er buck!
MF
BACK PAGES 02/01 | 04/01 | 06/02 | 04/03 | 09/03 | 05/04
Graphics and logos on this web site are trademarked, copyrighted, or registered by Breezy Ridge® Instruments, Ltd., Mary Faith Rhoads-Lewis or John Pearse, Center Valley, PA 18034, and may not be reproduced in any form without the written permission of Breezy Ridge® Instruments, Ltd.