MIM...

The Phoenix Musical Instrument Museum - a truly world class showcase, displaying instruments from around the world, through the ages, and always a new special exhibit.  The place is huge.  If you stop to take in each exhibit, you will be hard pressed to get through it in a day.

We met friends Mark and Cindy there...

All four of us have been here before, so we coordinated a plan: the last time we were here, we spent a great deal of time on world instruments and had to rush through the American contemporary exhibits at the end of the day.  The special exhibit currently is Inlaid Guitars... we plan to spend our time there and in the American exhibits.

We were each given a flashlight so we could see all the detail in these inlay exhibits... these are truly amazing; beyond decorating a guitar, they are true works of art.  I have never seen such intricate inlay, and it was a treat seeing how it was created; learning about the artists who brought it from a hand-laid, labor intensive endeavor (one guitar on display took 2 1/2 years for the inlay work) to the use of CNC machines for the layout, but still require hand assembly.  Guitars costing in the hundreds of thousands of dollars... I don't think I'll be adding any to my collection any time soon.  ;-)

The special display was called "Dragons and Vines"... it was that and a lot more.  Many of the inlays were like story-boards.  From there, we moved on to some of the American displays - Mark was quite taken with the display of Stick guitars...

Look up Chapman Stick to learn more.  Guitar-like, but you tap the strings instead of strumming them.

Looking around more...

Joan at the Martin Guitar display...

A few of the Phoenix-related displays: a luthier school...

And, Alice Cooper...

Mark pointed out this display to me...

That is a Sears electric guitar with an amplifier built into the case!  Mark and I both worked at Sears when we were in high school, but I digress... I wanted one of those amps in the case when I was a kid, but couldn't afford it.  Fun to see one now.
From there, we went down the elegant curved staircase...

Had lunch in the museum cafe - a nice, leisurely lunch; it felt good to sit for a while.

From there, we went to the "hands on room" - instruments you get to touch...

OK, it was mostly kids banging on things, but these big kids had some fun, too!  Joan on the gongs...

Yours truly taking a turn on a cajon...

Nothing says "serious musician" like a Felix the Cat guitar...

Or, this Hee-Haw duet...

Mark, do you know the theme to Star Trek??

Yes, that is a real live Theremin.

Into the Mechanical Music room...

The displays ranged from music box instruments to full-band mechanicals that take up an entire wall...

They turned on this big one while we were there - LOUD!  Speaking of loud, some of the many rock 'n roll displays...

It was an all-day event for us, and we didn't even make it into the European, Asian, and ancient instrument displays.

Great to spend the day with Mark and Cindy, with no schedule, and not feel the need to see every display.  Sometimes there were different permutations of two of us, sometimes 3, and all four.  Sometimes we each wandered a different direction.  A delightful day at the museum.