Help Kyle Eldridge get the guitar he needs!!

Hi there, Deke Dickerson here, I'm trying to raise funds for my friend Kyle Eldridge. Kyle is a massive talent on the guitar, who is carrying on the tradition of the Joe Maphis flat-picking style. He is really the last one playing this unique style and his abilities are absolutely incredible.

Kyle has played a series of guitars since I've known him, and his playing ability has far outpaced these guitars. After seeing him last weekend at the New England Shake Up festival playing an old Carvin doubleneck that wouldn't stay in tune or intonate, I realized that somebody needed to step in to try and help Kyle get the custom built doubleneck guitar that he needs, one that won't hold his talent back, one that is built to size (Kyle's a small guy), that he can take his talent as far as he possibly can with. So I started this fundraiser.

I remember when I first moved to california, I had 80 bucks to my name when I found a vintage Mosrite doubleneck in a Bakersfield pawn shop for $300. I didn't have the money to buy it, but my friend and bandmate Dave Stuckey loaned me the money. I'm sure many of you have had that moment in your life where somebody helped you out. Kyle lives in Kentucky, works a day job and doesn't come from rich parents. He needs our help to get him where he needs to be. The kid is a wizard on the guitar and we should all get behind him to get the guitar he needs in his hands.

Terry McArthur, the custom guitar builder who worked for Mosrite in the 1950s, has agreed to make Kyle a special-sized, custom-built doubleneck at a reduced rate. Normally he charges $8000 to $10,000 to build one of his Joe Maphis-style doublenecks, but he has agreed to make one for Kyle at the reduced rate of $6000. That's the figure we're shooting for in this Go Fund Me campaign. I'm throwing in the first $500 and I hope that those of you who are fortunate enough to have some extra money squirreled away will also contribute so we can get this talented young kid the Joe Maphis-style doubleneck of his dreams.