Washburn M1S/TS

Purchased new in 1992 at some music store in Louisville.  Solid spruce top, maple back/sides, rosewood fretboard.

If you think the bridge looks a little unusual, it's because it's homemade.  The original rosewood saddle broke, no local music stores could get a replacement, and it was several years BI (Before the Internet) so I took a scrap piece of oak and got as close as I could to the shape of the original.  Since these pictures were taken, I have replaced it with an actual rosewood saddle.

The one very special thing about this mandolin is the signature on it.  Bill Monroe played at a folk festival held at The Homeplace at Land Between The Lakes in 1993.  We took along the mandolin, not sure if we'd be able to get an autograph but Bill was extremely gracious and sat at a table for a very long time greeting people and signing all sorts of things.

Here's a picture of him signing it.  We kind of saved the day because there were several people there with instruments but Bill didn't have anything to sign them with.  We had thought to bring along a Sharpie just for this occasion so we donated it to the cause.

Here's the grinning fool holding his freshly autographed mandolin.

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