Episode 34 Fiddle Banjo

February 15, 2026

Fiddle Banjo

My long-time friend Rhea Burdick just finished making a one-of-a-kind Fiddle-Banjo hybrid!

📍Attleboro, Massaschusetts

Her Website: https://rheaburdick.com/ 

Thoughts and Reflections

Rhea was the first current instrument-maker I met, back almost 13 years ago while we were young in music conservatory. We were both composers. I always liked Rhea because she was both personable, intelligent, authentic, and full of creative whacky ideas. In many ways, her fiddle-banjo is nothing but a continuation of that. 

Rhea, who left social media (and since returned) and also going through a gender identity journey (that I was previously unaware of, I lost touch with her after graduating.

And in some small fate, I was brought back together, when... 

A year and a half ago (right around the time I started releasing my first Instrument-Makers episodes, I was (and still kinda am) teaching at an international school in Japan. We were hosting an incredibly massive concert, and as a music teacher there, I helped organize some of it and was playing in two of the pieces. One of the sets was a big ensemble of Koto-playing alumni, many travelling from abroad to perform in this concert. During their first rehearsal (only a few days before the performance) I spotted somebody and he spotted me, and we had a moment of confusion. Who I spotted was Alec Whiting, a former conservatory classmate who I knew peripherally; ironically, all of my conservatory roommates knew Alec better than I did. Alec (who still lived in the Boston area) is a terrific all-around musician and often plays music with Rhea. It was a bit crazy that the first I ever met this conservatory classmate (who I've heard a lot about but never really talked to) across the world in Japan, in a school he attended and a school I teach at. Anyways, I told Alec about my journey, and he told me about Rhea and her music journey, and shared the contact details. Afterwards, I contacted Rhea, and we were able to catch up and share her fiddle-banjo project, which she was only starting at the time. 

The timing worked out brilliantly; I told Rhea that I would be in the neighborhood in about 3 months; I gave her a date, and she made it her goal to finish the instrument on the day I visited. It was the first time I got to experience the birth of an instrument. Does an instrument come into this world when it's able to make its first noise? I'm not about to start a debate in the comments, haha.

Regardless, it was fantastic catching up, and we had loads to talk about. Even though we talked mainly about the fiddle-banjo, she is a fantastic violin/viola luthier too. 

It was also a tiring day for both of us. In the morning, we actually visited Brightwood Projects (the subject of the next episode) before having lunch and heading to Rhea's. I generally struggle with two-episode days. Interestingly, the drive from Brightwood to Rhea's, which was only supposed to take 30 minutes, took nearly 1.5 hours because as soon as we departed, an insane storm swept through, and basically ended as we arrived at Rhea's. I was hoping it wasn't an omen. It was a very precarious drive and one of the worst driving conditions I've ever been in. I'm glad I'm alive.