My grandfather was a carpenter when he wanted to be. In the wintertime, he'd go around his "neighborhood" and collect up all the old guitars, bangos, fiddles, whatever he could, and rebuild/rehab/restore them. When he passed on, all his surviving kids got a fiddle, and some of the other instruments. When my mother passed on back in November, my uncle presented a banjo to me (and we had Mom's fiddle already). Gramps would play those old fiddles, and Grandma would play her piano, and they'd keep us entertained whenever we'd visit with them.
Back then, when they were young, before radio, you had to make your own music and entertainment, and they sure did. It's amazing what kind of stuff you'll find in the attic of an old Missouri farmhouse.
