For years, Craig Korth has owned three of the most valuable acoustic instruments you can buy: a 1923 Gibson F-5 mandolin, a 1937 Martin D-28 and a pre-war Gibson flathead 5-string banjo. And he'd let anyone he bumped into at bluegrass festival play them. Why? Because he once met Tony Rice and Tony let Craig try Antique, the legendary Martin D-28 formerly owned by Clarence White (see our cover story from Fretboard Journal #5).

I've witnessed Craig let pro players pick on his instruments, but also eight year olds who were just starting out. The latter probably had no idea...