Where Not To Go for Musical Instrument Repairs

As important as positive recommendations are, its also important doubt places you shouldn't go. In the past, I've written positively about Ross Hill (luthier), P.J. Tan's Violin Shop, and the String Emporium(e.g., here and here). Given the recent grief me and friends of mine have run into lately, here's a couple of warnings.

1. Guitar Connection: This used to be the place for amplifier repairs. Boy, how things have changed. A friend recently brought in a Fender Reverb for repair. Whenever the amp was turned on, all that came out was very loud white-ish noise. He was told a week for the repair. After a week, still not ready. Second week, still not done. Finally, after three weeks he decides he's just going to go pick it up and take it elsewhere. After calling the store, he's told it will be ready that day. Goes in that day and is told by the owner how great it sounds, how he had been playing it for a couple of hours to check it out. As compensation for having taken so long, the owner tells him the repair is free. My friend gets to rehearsal, turns it on, and once again white noise.
   Exasperated, my friend takes it to Long and McQuade and gets it repaired in an hour. Turns out the guys at Guitar Connection (if they did anything) used the wrong types of wires and failed to replace a bad power tube.

   
   Lesson: Avoid the Guitar Connection for amplifier repairs.
   

   
   

2. V.A. Hill Strings: The stories from this place about. Basically the stories revolve around the staff at Hill Strings not really knowing much about instruments. My favorite (recounted to me by a luthier in Edmonton) is someone who bought a cello for $800 in Edmonton and was told by V.A. Hill Strings that the cello was worth $3,000. She then sold the cello to V.A. Hill for $2,000 and went back to Edmonton to buy another cello for $800.

   
   My experience with Hill Strings is equally odd. I brought in a 1920's King double bass to get some cracks repaired and the fingerboard planed. I was going to sell the bass in order to get the funds to upgrade to a carved bass. After a couple of days, I got a call from the owner telling me that they didn't think the bass was worth fixing and that the cost of the repair ($650) was more than the instrument was worth. I told them to to ahead and repair the bass. When I picked up the bass, they had put a new bridge on the bass without having fit it appropriately. The fingerboard and cracks were repaired adequately and I paid for the repair. After cutting the bridge myself, I sold the bass the following week for $2,500.

   
   Lesson: Be wary of the repairs and prices at V.A. Hill Strings.

Matt Heller on CBC

Matt Heller (double bassist for the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra) was on Contrabass Conversations recently discussing the ISB convention.

John Philip Sousa on the recording industry

I'm currently reading Elijah Wald's book How the Beatles Destroyed Rock and Roll. In it he discusses the views of John Philip Sousa towards recording and the dissemination of "machine-made music." The quote below is from Sousa's essay "The Menace of Mechanical Music" [published in 1906]. The essay made me think of Jason Heath's recent blog post on why teenagers don't listen to classical music.

Right here is the menace in machine-made music! The first rift in the lute has appeared. The cheaper of these instruments of the home are no longer being purchased as formerly, and all because the automatic music devices are usurping their places.

And what is the result? The child becomes indifferent to practice, for when music can be heard in the homes without the labor of study and close application, and without the slow process of acquiring a technic, it will be simply a question of time when the amateur disappears entirely, and with him a host of vocal and instrumental teachers, who will be without field or calling.

Great Britain is experiencing this decline in domestic music and the English press is discussing it seriously in its editorials. A recent writer in the London Spectator dwells at considerable length upon the prevailing condition, and points to the novel as a sign of the times. The present-day fashionable writer of society fiction, he declares, does not find it necessary to reënforce his heroine with vocal accomplishment, "as in the good old days." He ascribes the passing of home performance, both vocal and instrumental, to the newborn love of athletics among the maids of Albion, together with the introduction of the phonograph as a mechanical substitute for amateur performances....

Under such conditions the tide of amateurism cannot but recede, until there will be left only the mechanical device and the professional executant. Singing will no longer be a fine accomplishment; vocal exercises, so important a factor in the curriculum of physical culture, will be out of vogue!

Then what of the national throat? Will it not weaken? What of the national chest? Will it not shrink? When a mother can turn on the phonograph with the same ease that she applies to the electric light, will she croon her baby to slumber with sweet lullabys, or will the infant be put to sleep by machinery?

Children are naturally imitative, and if, in their infancy, they hear only phonographs, will they not sing, if they sing at all, in imitation and finally become simply human phonographs -- without soul or expression? Congregational singing will suffer also, which, though crude at times, at least improves the respiration of many a weary sinner and softens the voices of those who live amid tumult and noise.

Just so far as a spirit of emulation once inspired proud parent or aspiring daughter to send for the music teacher when the neighbor child across the way began to take lessons, the emulation is turning to the purchase of a rival piano player in each house, and the hope of developing the local musical personality is eliminated.

The country dance orchestra of violin, guitar and melodeon had to rest at times, and the resultant interruption afforded the opportunity for general sociability and rest among the entire company. Now a tireless mechanism can keep everlastingly at it, and much of what made the dance a wholesome recreation is eliminated.

The country band with its energetic renditions, its loyal support by local merchants, its benefit concerts, band wagon, gay uniforms, state tournaments, and the attendant pride and gayety, is apparently doomed to vanish in the general assault on personality in music.

Remember, his was written in 1906. I, like Sousa and Heath, think that the changes in music listening habits has a large part to do with the way teenagers (and the rest of us) listen to music today. With the easy availability of MP3 players and the internet providing quick access to literally hundreds of thousands of listening options, classical music is just not properly "placed" to be consumed like other genres: the pieces are significantly longer; the pieces vary in tempi, dynamics and other ways that don't catch people's attention in a world where individuals can listen to their iPod for 3 minutes at a time between classes, meetings, and other friendly interruptions.

The way we consume music has also affected jazz. The fact that individual's purchase their music online now (more than ever) suggests that the art of writing liner notes is being lost. For jazz fans and musicians, the liner notes of an album provide important information on, among other things, the side-men on a given recording date. This has changed (I believe) how people listen to a jazz recording: if the side-men are not mentioned, what are the chances that the average listener will be noticing their contribution to the recording. Now it is harder to follow the contributions of side-men like Larry Grenadier, Eric Alexander, or Terrel Stafford in their contributions to the recordings of others. As a result, I think the way we are currently listening to music also has something to do with the perception (real or not) that jazz is in need of saving.

Airline Travel with Your Bass

I recently made an airline trip with my bass in my new Tuff-Lite bass trunk. Overall, the trip was pretty easy (surprisingly). Everyone was nice and my bass was well-cared for by the baggage and airline folks. I've included a few tips from my experiences. Hopefully this blog post will help future travelers with similar endeavors.

Just to give some details, I went from YYC to SFO via SLC and back. I flew Delta. As far as i can tell, the only airlines that are reasonable as far as traveling with a bass are Delta and Northwest. They are in the process of a merger, which I'm not sure is good or bad. We'll see.

I packed my bass in my Tuff-Lite case from the String Emporium. As I expected, I got a lot of odd looks at the airport, particularly from the Delta staff who at first seemed a little unsure as to what to do with the trunk.

TIP #1: DO YOUR HOMEWORK:
Prior to making the trip, I got confirmation from Delta that the bass in its case would make the trip. To do this, I spent roughly 45 minutes on the phone making my reservation and getting all the details ironed out. They asked for the measurements of my case and its weight (84" x 34" x 22" and about 100lbs fully loaded). Although this is in excess of Delta's rules (120 linear inches and 100 lb max), the reservation clerk found out the size of the cargo door on the plane (43" X 22") and told me that "if it fits, we'll take it." The person I dealt with on the phone documented our conversation, including all the measurements, and our conversation was able to be reviewed at the various airports by the Delta staff.

TIP #2: GET THERE EARLY:
Even with this assurance, I was pretty paranoid. At the airport, the Delta staff avoided me, looking past me and asking people after me in line to come up. Finally I asserted myself and asked to be served. They finally checked the bag although they were baffled by how the case would be handled once I cleared customs. The extra time it took to get the trunk cleared and in the hands of the baggage folks was about 40 minutes. Add this as additional time you'll need at the airport.

TIP #3: GET A GREEN CARD FOR YOUR INSTRUMENT:
The folks at US customs (which I cleared in Calgary) asked about the value of my instrument. Once I told them, they asked for a "green card" for the instrument. Apparently, when you're traveling with an expensive instrument, you can obtain a green card for that instrument from your home airport's custom authority. This card indicates that the instrument originated in Canada. In this way, when you return there are no questions regarding where the instrument came from. The Canadian customs people (and those in the US too) are apparently on the lookout for purchases made in the US on which duties and taxes may be owed. The green card avoids these hassles upon return. (Given that I don't have a green card for my bass, I'll deal with this potentiality in a week's time.)

TIP #4: BE NICE TO EVERYONE:
Naturally, when traveling with a bass trunk there is a lot of curiosity on the part of fellow travelers and airport staff. Be nice to all of them. Realize that you're in some sense at their mercy. Given that the bass trunk is over-sized, they can always decide not to take it. Its worth the extra time to talk with them, entertain their inquiries, and open the case again and again (for customs and security checks) with a smile on your face.

Podcast: Gerard Schwarz

I recently listened to an interview with conductor Gerard Schwarz on a Naxos Podcast. The main thrust of the interview is Arthur Foote (additional information, scores at IMSLP) and why his music isn't played as much as it perhaps should be. However, Schwarz discusses the role of culture, music education, and the role of the arts in American history (or at least its pedagogy) Great interview (and great music).

Solo to Orchestral Transcriptions

I'm often faced with the following problem: I play in orchestral tuning but have a piece I want to play (e.g. Hindemith sonata) that is written for solo tuning. I don't want to re-tune my bass and can't afford the time/money of switching to a set of solo strings (which I think sound much better than an orchestral set ratcheted up a notch) just to play a few pieces. So what do I do?

For Bottesini's Elegy, there is a Frank Proto edition in which he includes two piano scores: one to accompany each of a bassist in orchestral and solo tuning. This seems to me like a great solution. Well, I just cam across Douglas Mapp Music which offers piano transcriptions for many of the pieces in the repetoire. The pieces look good and seem, to me, reasonably priced.

I'll let you know how my first order goes.