Canada's smallest music store
A guitar dropped at ‘just the right angle’, allowing it to impact on an edge will easily cause damage without much force, especially in cedar.
This is one of the Godin series of acoustics with some sort of poly based finish. More challenging to repair than a nitro type finish but doable with patience! Not 100% invisible but close.
We’ve been back at it for awhile now, after our christmas break, and are finally getting our ecommerce platform to a functioning state. Please click on the shop link and have a look, we are adding product weekly, your feedback is welcome!
Frogs that are stubborn in movement when tensioning hair and have a gap between them and the stick are common and in many cases are due to a loose eyelet or, as in the case of this bow, an eyelet that was installed at an incorrect angle. Correct alignments and tolerances of all the components that join frog and stick together are a necessity if the frog is to move easily and to reduce wear on the parts. None of this is too surprising as tensioning the hair definitely produces some stress on these relatively delicate moving parts.
Correcting a loose or misaligned eyelet is usually straighforward with the wonderful eyelet alignment tool in the photo below. One can drill an oversize hole for an oversize shank eyelet at a perfect right angle to the underslide. Or one can drill out the entire damaged area and fill it with an ebony plug and redrill for a std eyelet depending on the situation.
This frog had an eyelet installed at quite an angle.
Removed existing eyelet on left, drilled an oversive hole with tool pictured and installed thick shank eyelet.
Std vs Thick Shank Eylet.
New eyelet installed solidly and showing good alignment!
A “Strumstick” or as the builder of this one called his a “Strumjo”, is an adaptation of the Appalachian lap dulcimer. It is a simple yet charming instrument with only three strings (tuned GDG) and fewer frets than our friends the guitar and ukulele. What this does is take away the possibility of playing a wrong note. You’ve only got notes that are in the scale. Whew! The downside of this, and of course there’s a downside, is that the instrument is restricted to playing almost exclusively in the key of G major. Although by creatively avoiding certain notes and highlighting others you could pull off D and C major.
It is an excellent starting point for children or people with no musical background who want to bring a little music into their lives. Also it’s light, compact design make it an excellent choice for the musician-on-the-go not wanting to take their Vintage Guild or Martin camping or hitchhiking. And the extremely adventurous can explore retuning the high string to access all sorts of different scales. for example dropping the high string one whole step allows for playing in minor keys.
Kevin John who has been apprenticing in repair with Mtn Fruit and also manning the storefront while I had some much needed time off has embarked on another journey for the winter! He’s off to Vancouver Island to find his fortune or whatever comes his way. We’ve grown fond of having Kevin on our team and will miss him but wish him well on his adventure.
Here’s a quick video that Kevin put together to show off the rich, mellow sound of the Octave Mandolin.
Featuring a solid Sitka Spruce top with Maple back and sides, this jumbo bodied acoustic bass has a full, clear tone throughout it’s range. The action is great and very playable all the way up the neck. Cutaway gives you access to the 20th fret. Includes Fishman ISYS+ pickup.
Case not included
Brian DenHertog performs an original song, Bridesville Cemetery Road, Live from the Pew. Brian is shown playing an Eastman 00 with a solid Adirondack Spruce top. Beautiful music, beautiful guitar. Thank you Brian!
Another stunning Morgan guitar on consignment! This guitar was hand-built in Vancouver BC. Superb attention to detail has been put into every aspect of this fine instrument. It has a solid sitka spruce top and South American mahogany back and sides. A fitted hardshell case is included.
Functional (more than a toy) kids 1/2 size steel string guitar, price is right!
Talk about a lot of guitar for the money. This guitar has a smooth playing neck and a very versatile sound. It comes with some very smooth Grover tuning heads. And after setting it up personally we are proud to be stocking this instrument!
This is a nice example of why you don’t need to spend a thousand plus dollars to get a quality guitar. Aside from the gorgeous flame maple top this guitar has great sounding stock pickups and pots. The sound is really versatile, especially due to the fact that you’ve got a push-pull knob that turns the hum buckers into single-coil. This guitar has been professionally set up by us in the store and we are absolutely confident that this guitar is worth every penny and more.
Sahara Jane and Daunt Lee recently played at Kaslo’s Blue Belle Bistro
These two wonderful players show off a Celtic Duo titled Uncle Gerald’s Burnt Potato.
Live from the Pew at Mountain Fruit Folklore Centre.
Another wonderful moment of beautiful people sharing themselves at the Mtn Fruit!
If you missed ‘The Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra’ last night at the Bluebelle Bistro in Kaslo you can catch them tonight at the Gray Creek Hall!
Thanks Again guys!
This small guitar is going to fill a niche that hasn’t really been filled yet.
I haven’t yet found something compact with a larger neck width and scale length that feels like you are finding your way around a std guitar fretboard and this does that quite nicely while having a small but resonant acoustic body. The nut width is just 2mm under a standard classical width and the scale length is 20″ which is joined to the body at the 14th fret.
This is certainly more attractive, to me, than the several models of guileles’s or fractional guitars that I carry or have come across elsewhere to date!
John Kestalic visited the shop awhile ago but I thought now would be a good time to post his visit due to the unusual name of the band he and his brother have formed. ‘No Mothers’ is comprised of two brothers (John and Tony) who both play viola and sing! Story I recall is they had a rule as youngsters that when they disagreed they couldn’t use mom to settle there differences or take sides! Super nice guy with a beautiful handmade viola by Chris Sandvoss who lives in the foothills of Alberta.
This lovely violin had an old crack that was beginning to reopen and fill with grime, as seen to the left. Always more of a challenge when the crack ends blind in the middle of the top!
Below left, apologies for the blurry photo, one can see the caramelized sludge when the crack is flexed for cleaning. Below right is a photo after the crack has been cleaned, one has to be very careful to leave the wood intact while cleaning for a good glue joint.
The middle two photos below show the clamping during glue up and cleating processes. Cleating reinforces the crack and hopefully prevents another reopening.
The last photo at the bottom of the page shows the top reattached to the rest of the violin and varnish touch-up over the reglued crack, all done! 
The Overture is a three octave hammer dulcimer with a soundboard and back made from Finland Birch. The model we have in stock is finished with a black lacqeur
This package includes: Hammers, Tuning Wrench, Table Leg, Instruction Manual, Padded Bag and Note guide strips.
(Natural Finish pictured)
Fantastic fingerpicking guitar with the unique clarity and versatility of an Adirondack spruce top. This particular guitar and run of 600 are special because Eastman discovered some unused Adirondack spruce cut some 20 years ago! Slightly larger than a parlor model but still has that small, easy to hold body and focused projection.
These fine young fellows (and they did seem young) from Brandon, MB played us a song on a brief visit to the Mtn Fruit the other day. Lovely blend of voices and infectious positive energy. Roman is playing a handmade drum from Bill Machuga of Gold Line drums in Kelowna, Liam, a used Vantage acoustic bass and Dillon, one of the new Eastman 00 models with Adirondack spruce top. All currently available at the Mtn Fruit.
Custom Hardshell Case Available for $119.95
Comes with Cordoba Polyfoam Case
Adding anodized aluminum adjustment wheels to a well fitted decent quality bass bridge is a useful modification I offer at the shop. Makes seasonal action adjustments much easier and far more affordable! Done well the affect on tone and energy transmission is totally acceptable. 
