Guitar, banjo up for raffle through festival

Two superb instruments are up for raffle at this year's Sisters Folk Festival.

The annual instrument raffle raises thousands of dollars to support the nonprofit's work in the schools and community. Ticket-buyers have a chance to own a world-class guitar and banjo while supporting Americana Project programming in the Sisters public schools. The money raised will provide children from pre-school through high school access to scholarships and classes in music and visual arts.

The Breedlove Custom 2017 Sisters Folk Festival Parlor Guitar was crafted by the talented Breedlove builders in Bend. It was designed and built to be an ideal representation of the perfect "folk" guitar for this year's Festival. The highly figured custom-stack myrtlewood back and sides have tremendous coloration, figure, and visual appeal.

This unique and stunning tonewood grows exclusively in this region, making the instrument a perfect expression of the Pacific Northwest.

The custom inlay was designed to match this year's festival poster theme. The parlor body shape was selected instead of the standard dreadnought body shape to fit the playing style and comfort needed by most folk singer/songwriters.

Breedlove Guitars, owned and operated by Tom Bedell, handcrafts beautiful acoustic guitars. Their mission is straightforward: to handcraft the finest acoustic stringed instruments in the world. They do not replicate guitar designs of the past but have turned to scientific research to understand how sound energy is transmitted through tonewoods, how various elements in an instrument can best complement one another, how to design for playing comfort and how to meld every aspect of their instruments into extraordinarily exquisite musical and visual design.

The company sells these handmade instruments through a network of 300 music retailers across the U.S. and internationally through distributors. To learn more visit www.breedlovemusic.com.

Easy to play, durable and easy to maintain, the Deering Goodtime banjo produces a vibrant ringing tone from its natural-finished violin-grade maple rim. At only four pounds, the weight makes it ideal for both children and adults to play and to travel with conveniently.

Deering's mission is to champion the banjo and inspire creativity around the globe by supplying the best quality, American-made banjos available to players of all abilities. They are a family-run business whose passion is to create great banjos that enable artists to fully express themselves and their music. Visit www.deeringbanjos.com to learn more.

The Breedlove guitar is on display at Paulina Springs Books, and the Deering banjo is at Melvin's Fir Street Market. Tickets are available for purchase at those locations or at http://www.sistersfolkfestival.org/festival-raffles.

Tickets for the guitar are $20 each or three for $50. Banjo raffle tickets are $5 each or three for $10.

For information about this year's festival, instrument raffle or tickets, visit www.sistersfolkfestival.org or call the Festival office at 541-549-4979.