Objects of Their Affection: Five Musicians and the Instruments They Love

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Chris Thile & Bosty McTriplet

Thile and his Dudenbostel mandolin first met in 1998. Built by Lynn “Bosty” Dudenbostel, and nicknamed after its owner’s fondness for extended solos (“McTriplet”), the instrument, Thile says, “was just so, so balanced and responsive,” with a “low-end, round, whole sound”—a sound that should be familiar to anyone who’s heard Nickel Creek set a match to Britney Spears’ “Toxic.” Like most relationships, however, this one has had its share of near misses. Thile originally commissioned Dudenbostel to construct a mandolin to his own specifications—Bosty McTriplet was a loaner. After playing it for about two years, Thile handed Bosty over for the new mandolin that had been designed for him. But it wasn’t the same. What was so different? “Sound. The feel. The way the neck felt. There are so many different things about an instrument. … It’s the same thing with [a person’s] character—it’s infinitely nuanced.” As the arranged marriage between Thile and his new mandolin began to founder, Dudenbostel sold Bosty McTriplet to another buyer, the dreaded “fellow from Kansas City.” This seemed to rule out any sort of future reunion between the mandolinist and his true love—until the prized instrument, astonishingly, landed back on the market. Thile bought it. Now, he says, they’re forever: “I’ll tell you what I could never imagine, is letting it go. I will always own this mandolin.” (Click on image to view full size.)