A couple of weeks ago I decided to thin down the Ox Rib Bones I had made earlier this year. Not a hard thing to do but a difficult decision to make since there’s no going back. Needless to say I started with one pair and used them a few days before doing the others.
I took an 8th of an inch of of them so they are now 1 and 1/4 inches (3.3cm) wide which is a lot more comfortable for my hands and easier to control.
I’m really enjoying them now although, unfortunately, at the moment I don’t really have anyone to play bones with more than occasionally; with the exception of the two songs with bones on the Swamp Train list. In the meantime I’m practicing my clicks, working on the stuff I have a hard time with like keeping double clicks under control and doubling or half timing the rhythm in different parts of a song. At the moment I like to practice to Blind Blake, ragtime guitar’s foremost fingerpicker, and the Genuine Negro Jigs CD by the Carolina Chocolate Drops, not to mention Walkin’ The Dog with Steve Gardner & Washboard Chaz, Franklin & Baytop’s Searching for Frank (I believe all have been presented here at one time or another) but I also have enough Irish folk music to work on reels and jigs too. Or I’ll just work with whatever is on the radio.