Colorado Case Company is going pink in October in observation of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. They will donate a portion of the sales price this month if you order in pink.

During the month of October only, you can order any Colorado Case Company branded soft case, case cover or rigid case in pink.

We will then donate 25% of the base case price to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. This money will be used to help find a cure for breast cancer through increased research and awareness.

In addition to this gorgeous pink color, we will be embroidering a pink ribbon on each case at no extra charge.

This offer is only valid through the end of October 2009. Full details online.

Ever since I first started playing bluegrass music 35 years ago, I have been hearing stories of musicians parking their acoustic instruments in front of stereo speakers to help break them in faster. The idea was that music from the speakers – vibrating the instrument when you weren’t playing it – would achieve the same natural “break in” effect as playing it all day long.

I never tried it myself, but know many pickers who swear by the practice, insisting that it helps new instruments open up faster, and offering a more balanced tone and response more quickly.

This is the concept behind ToneRite, a product developed by a trio of stringed instrument-playing engineers to provide a more direct, efficient method for accelerating this process.

The company was founded by Augi Lye, Ryan Frankel, and Hans Yeakel after Lye became frustrated that he didn’t have the time to play his new cello enough to break it in adequately. Augi had a background in acoustical physics, and enlisted Frankel (with his military signal processing expertise) and Yeakel (an industrial engineer) to assist in developing a product that could be demonstrated to deliver the goods.

Their first production model was debuted in 2007, and the new Luthier Model design was introduced at the IBMA convention last week.

The ToneRite sits atop, or rests against, the bridge of your instrument where it delivers a specific set of frequencies to the vibrating surfaces. The company’s testing indicates that a minimum of 72 hours of use on a new instrument generates dramatic results, and recommends 2 or 3 similar 72-hour treatments in the first few weeks.

Regular use for an hour prior to playing a few times each week is also recommended for maintaining the tone and responsiveness of an older instrument.

Grasstowne mandolinist Alan Bibey is a fan…

“The ToneRite supercharged my instruments to their max in volume and tone! One of the most useful new products I’ve seen in a really long time!”

ToneRite models are available for guitar, mandolin, violin, viola, cello and bass. Prices range from $150-$250.

Full details can be found on their web site.

Here’s something any musician can identify with… the hunt for a new axe.

Casey Driessen takes us along as he and Luke Bulla journey to Scottsburg, IN and the shop of noted violinmaker John Silakowski to check out some new 5-string fiddles.

Watch and listen as he tries to narrow it down – which one will he choose?

Find out which one he takes home in part 2, coming soon.

Everyone seemed to get a kick out of the fake trailer for Jim Van Cleve’s AcuTab fiddle DVD which we ran last week. Jim said that he heard from people all over the country who had gotten a chuckle from watching it.

But lest you think the DVD itself is a joke, here is the real trailer, which offers a glimpse of what is actually covered in this 4 hour presentation, titled Become A More Complete Fiddler.

Van Cleve has long been regarded as one of bluegrass and progressive acoustic music’s most technically versatile fiddlers, and in this new 2-DVD package, Jim shares a great deal of the insight and experience he has gained over the past ten years of performing and touring professionally. He teaches four songs that he has recorded (Nature Of The Beast, Devil’s Courthouse, Wheel Hoss and #6 Barn Dance) but the largest part of the presentation is dedicated to finding melody-based breaks and improvising on familiar bluegrass standards.

He takes Banks Of The Ohio and Pretty Polly and demonstrates them down in 3 different keys. Before going over them, Jim breaks down the scale and common positions for each key in turn. He shows where to find the melody, and where adjacent double stops are located, as well as licks and phrases that suit each song. He also goes over the different scales that inform these two songs, one in a diatonic major key, and the other based on a Dorian, “mountain modal” scale.

Attention throughout is given to both playing a melody-based solo and what a fiddle can do to assist the band sound in accompaniment. A booklet with transcriptions is also included.

The DVD will begin shipping next week (9/22) and AcuTab is accepting orders now. More details can be found on the AcuTab site.