Rufus Waggler

Contributed Profile

I became interested in playing the bones through a combination of living history and a love for 1850’s and 1860’s music.  By following the advice of a friend who plays the banjo in the original method, I quickly took to the bones.  Within several weeks I was playing them with ease.  I am now particularly interested in playing civil war era minstrel music.  Currently I am the bones player for the Allendale Melodeons, a recreated civil war minstrel group.  All of the boys say the the bones were the finishing touch for that periods sound.  I favor playing an original set of rosewood bones and a pair of bone bones.  I also have an original set of ebony bones that I call my “parlor bones” because of their quiet sound