Aero Mail
If you have a letter to the editor, please submit it to MA Editor-in-Chief Jay Smith at 5161 E. Memorial Dr., Muncie IN 47302, or email to jays@modelaircraft.org or at www.ModelAviation.com/editor
Modelers and Musicians
I thoroughly enjoyed your article, “Modelers and Musicians,” as I too am a guitar player. I’ve always found that it seems there is a good percentage of modelers who play some instrument; it must be that we are all of the creative type and need to fill that need!
In line with your article’s questions, I’m 61 years old and come out of the ’70s classic rock school. [I] played in a band throughout the Pacific Northwest in those days. [I was] influenced by the likes of Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Allman Brothers Band, etc. Been a fan of Alex Liefson of Rush from day one. Like a lot of Stevie Ray [Vaughn], Johnny Winter, Cory Stevens—ahh that Texas blues sound.
I used to [have] all Gibson 335s and Les Pauls [guitars], but these days I play a Lone Star Stratocaster that has a humbucker in the bridge position that you can split; it satisfies my Les Paul urges. [I] play through a 40-watt Fender Hot Rod Deluxe that I have [modified] with new caps, jacks, etc. I still play, [but it] seems more acoustic these days.
[I] got my first electric at 13 years old, a Decca hollow body—bad, very bad! It ended up on fire going out of a second story window, then [I] did a Pete Townsend on it down on the sidewalk, what fun!
Well, as I said, [I] enjoyed your article. I won’t bore you any longer. Oh yeah, I scratch-build all electric scale aircraft.
—Dan Schmidt
Rosemount MN
I enjoyed your recent article about modelers who are musicians and thought I’d tell you about an AMA Model Aviation Hall of Fame member—Don Godfrey.
Don was a saxophone player in an army band. He played gigs in Las Vegas accompanying Frank Sinatra and on the Ed Sullivan Show. He owned his own music store here in Binghamton, New York, and repaired musical instruments along with having his own band and being first saxophone with the Mason Warrington Orchestra—a local big band.
Don also was instrumental in founding the IMAA [International Miniature Aircraft Association]. Sadly, Don passed away in July of 2015.
I should add that I’ve had a fiddle under my chin professionally for the past 60 years, teach music, and tune and repair pianos.
—Ed Pettengill
Binghamton NY
