Included in this edition from www.bryansmusic.com
 

*Cold and dry weather tips for your wood instruments
*FREE sheet music links added

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Cold & Dry Weather Tips:

If you own a guitar, violin or any other wooden musical instrument, then don't forget that the seasons can affect it.  Now that cold weather is approaching, you need to take measures to insure that your musical instruments will not become too dry and develop cracks or more serious problems.  When the weather turns cold the air becomes drier, which can affect instruments even in their cases, stored safely in your house.  Typical symptoms of a too dry guitar are lower string action than usual and frets extending out from the edge of the fingerboard.  Run your finger along the edge of the fingerboard, and if you can feel the jagged edge of the frets extending beyond their boundaries, measures should be taken to humidify the instrument.

To help remedy and prevent these problems you can do several things listed below:

1) Be sure that your instrument is not close to any heating source in your house such as a vent or heater.  Also, being constantly exposed to sunlight from a window can dry out the wood.  Do not store instruments in really cold areas such as an attic or an outside shed.

2) Run a humidifier in your room where you keep your instruments.  This is not absolutely necessary, but it does work nicely to keep the instrument well hydrated.  The humidity should not fall below 50% for the best level.  You can buy room humidifiers and hygrometers (humidity gauges) at most hardware stores.  Often times it is necessary to run a humidifier continuously when the temperature outside really drops down below freezing.

3) Get an instrument humidifier that fits right in your instrument.  These are basically a special type of sponge that is covered by a perforated rubber tubing, and you soak it in water and then squeeze out the excess water, and then place the humidifier inside the guitar or violin, etc.  We sell the Dampit brand humidifiers, and there are models to fit different types of instruments.  Click on this link   www.bryansmusic.com/humid.htm  to go direct to our website page to view this item.  These work nicely, but be sure to wring out the excess water well so that no water drips into your instrument.

Included in this edition from www.bryansmusic.com

*Have you heard about craigslist.org
*Malawi orphan charity project

*Free public domain sheet music link page

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*Have you heard about www.craigslist.org

 

The emerging rival to Ebay?

 

Craigslist is a free website offering classified and personal listings for local communities around the country. This web site has taken off in the last few years for a good reason-it works and it is really free! You can list for sale any item with up to 4 images allowed. Deal locally without shipping, payment or fraud issues. Find out more below.

 

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 *Malawi orphan charity project

 

We have begun a fundraising project to help orphaned children get musical instruments and assistance. By shopping at Musician’s Friend by going through our website, 3% of your total purchase will go to these aspiring musicians in Malawi, Africa. You will not pay any extra for your purchase, and your purchase can really help to make a difference.

 

Read the full story here: www.bryansmusic.com/charity.htm

 

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Craigslist was started in San Francisco in the ‘90’s as a strictly local forum for classified and personal ads. It took off and became wildly popular, and so they went national with it. Now they have even gone international, but it looks like that bold jump has yet to take hold.

The website is still based in San Francisco, and they presently make their money by charging for job ad’s in large metropolitan areas. Ebay acquired 25% ownership several years ago, but they have apparently taken a hands off approach so far. Good things seldom last, and I suspect that they will go to some form of paid listing’s in the future, but right now it remains totally free for everybody.

 

How do they keep the spammers and scammers off you ask? Good question!

The web site is policed by the users. If anyone feels that an ad is a scam, then they can click on the “scam” button at the top. After 5 separate users flag a listing as “scam” then the ad is automatically removed. Likewise, if an ad violates their listing rules then anyone can flag the ad as “prohibited” and it will be removed after 5 flags.

 

Go check it out and see for yourself: www.craigslist.org

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