New Children’s Guitar Instructor
Roz Lorenzato is the new children’s instructor at Gryphon. Roz has been a student and customer at Gryphon for many years, and plays piano, guitar, mandolin and bass. She recently made a major career change from the high tech medical field to children’s music education. Her approach to teaching kids is based on the Orff Schulwerk philosophy that music is a basic system like language, and can be absorbed in much the same way by the young. Her method gives students the tools and techniques to explore creative musical play, with the goal of developing musical abilities that stay with them throughout their lives regardless of which instruments or musical styles they may choose to explore in the future. This kind of instruction also gives children a greater awareness and appreciation of music in all forms.

Frank Resorts to Steeling
Our old pal Al Dodge, of the Cheap Suit Serenaders, came to Frank with a favorite steel for playing Hawaiian style guitar, a size and shape that hasn’t been made since the 1930s. The problem with traditional steels made of chrome or nickel-plated brass is that they can get nicked or scratched on the playing surface, and can’t be salvaged. Al and Frank decided that stainless steel would be a good alternative, and since scratches could be buffed out the extra cost would be offset by longevity. Frank went home to his machine shop and started making the 3-inch steel shown here. It has a unique taper, and a nice indentation at the big end for your thumb (for those tricky slanted bar moves). The small end is rounded for single note work. Cost is $54.95, and if you’d like to see how they are made, check out Frank’s pictorial essay on FRETS.com.