10/03/2026
As I stood on the stump of Granny Cypress, I was so very inspired to build a tribute to the oldest Cypress in Golden Gate Park with a theme of hardly strictly. Each of these hardly strict instruments has a story.
First, the guitar. I discovered the guitar 20 years ago on the Big Island of Hawaii while we were milling a Norfolk pine. When it came off the trunk at the mill, I said, “Oh my, it’s a guitar,” and I’ve held it for 20 years. Now she blesses one of three sides on the tribute stand.
The small drum beside her was made by my sister Valerie. She made it while taking a course from Ellen White, an elder of the indigenous people of British Columbia.
The banjo’s Body is made from a Cypress log we gathered from Golden Gate Park five years ago, and now she's back home. The neck of the banjo and the three corners of the structure are from a 275,000-gallon redwood water tank, and those are the tank band marks on them.
The two-tone mandolin is made from a young and beautiful windfall Redwood tree. All the tuning pegs are made from used cabinet pulls. Carlos made both the banjo and the mandolin.
The Hardly strictly bluegrass logo is carved on another piece of Cypress from Golden Gate Park.
Reggie made the upright bass from a single piece of Cyprus from Golden Gate Park. All F-holes on the instruments are leftovers from a custom railing job. The cymbal is made from the top of an old chicken feeder. We repurposed the three sides from a room divider we made 15 years ago.
