The Little Old Canjo Lady

Not too long ago we had a surprise visitor here at C. B. Gitty. Being an e-commerce company without a physical retail storefront, it is always a bit of a surprise when people show up here in person. We always do our best to accommodate folks whenever we can.

On this particular day, the visitor was an elderly lady, who shuffled down the hallway leading to the warehouse portion of Gitty HQ. As it happened, I was the first person she ran into. As usual, I was caught a little off-guard but as she began talking everything changed.

She had one of our canjos with her, and explained that a friend had bought it for her several months earlier. Since then she had been playing it every day, carefully learning the two or three songs included in the little booklet we include with each instrument.

She told me what a joy it had brought into her solitary life to be able to pick out simple tunes on the one-string canjo, and she had come to visit us that day to ask if we had a book with more songs to be learned. I led her into the shipping room to show her the different canjo songbooks we had, and she asked me how much one would be. I tried to tell her she could have one for free, but she insisted on paying, so I asked her for five dollars. She handed over the bill, thanked me sincerely, and then went slowly on her way.

Her visit and story was a reminder for me just what the work we’re doing here means. It’s not just cranking out parts and kits and shipping them off into a dead, uncaring world. The instruments we build, and the ones built from our kits and parts, or built from other materials using our free how-to guides, they are doing good and changing lives for the better. The ones YOU build and put out into the world are too. It is nice to have a poignant reminder of this amidst the day-to-day pressures of life.

So, I'll say it again as I have many times before: build what you play, play what you love… and if you’re having fun, you’re doing it right. These things matter, and I am grateful to have a part in it.