At
the end of a long day, I'm usually the one holding the fort down.
Sometimes, a customer or two might drop by during the last hour or so,
but usually I'm left undisturbed to shuffling paper. The only activity
in the Countryside plaza is The Bookworm and the Broadmoor Market.
[Caliph, sporting his new shades that he found on his patrol]
However, it's always fun when I hear the door beep and swivel around in my chair to see our local security guard, Caliph.
chg: "Hey Caliph, how's it goin' man!" caliph: "Not bad, not bad, and how are you?"
Our
typical exchange then goes into what happened that day. My favorite
part is when we catch up on what movies we've seen. Caliph gets his
thrills of action and martial arts from renting VHS tapes, while I'm
pretty picky about what's worth seeing on the big screen. We also get
to talk about each other's cultures and experiences living abroad.
Caliph is originally from Sudan and he told some really interesting
stories of the political turmoils in the region. He fled the country
around the 90's into Ethiopia as a refugee before he made his way here
to Nebraska.
I got to know Caliph on a daily basis because,
well, I saw him every day since I started to work here. Everyday he
takes his patrol around our corner. He's always on foot, dressed in his
uniform, and armed with a walkie-talkie to call backup. Nah, he's not
that intimidating but does his job well and is very friendly.
Today is Caliph's last day on the job. He's headed off to Salt Lake City. Good bye, good luck, and we'll miss you Caliph!
[From Left to Right: David Neely, Frank Resteson, Alex Ross, Diana Frazier, Terry Hander, Michelle Muggli, Karl Roth;not pictured Catherine Wadhams]
Tuesday
nights, are chamber music nights at the shop. What started out as just
Lester, Alex, and a third wheel being rotated out every other week has
now become a crowded octet. Well, it's more like reading off a quartet,
but two players per part.
I had to make up some work hours
yesterday, so I stayed a late to watch them play. They had some fun
with that Mendelssohn quartet, especially during this one scherzo
passage that had a ton of trills playing off of each instrument.
I
promise to get back to posting more business articles and shop related
postings but I had to promote our latest eBay auction. The last auction
went really well and hope that the winning bidder will be happy with
the item and stop by our blog as well:) Click on over for the antique
French violin.
Anyway, Alex and I have been coming up with some
ideas for more lengthy future posts. There's a lot of knowledge that's
gets passed back and forth from casual conversations over the
workbench. I don't necessarily have the time to take notes but I have
thought of publishing excerpts from our dialogue about certain topics.
Excerpt interview posts would be more formal and would probably take up
time but might be informative to the readers. Really cool idea for the
business would be to post podcasts or vlogcasts if I ever get around to
it:)
For a more near future postings, will plan to post about
the how certification versus the appraisal process is done. Good area
to know for any musician or collector as this seems to bring about the
vague area of the business.
I'm in today doing some Amazon processing and packing from the orders that came over the weekend. As usual, a good healthy stream of little accessories but a notable surprise when we got an order for our Blue Case ID tags. Some one likes them enough to market the shop logo on their behalf:) Lester is downstairs working on the horn frog's violin bow. Meanwhile, Alex isn't here today. He's off to Lincoln as a traveling salesman.Other things to note, the article published for the "West O" still hasn't come out yet. Alex tells me within in the next two weeks. In the meantime, if you're a reader to the Midlands Business Journal we had a nice little piece about us in there. Unfortunately, I can't link to the full text on their website since I'm not a print subscriber but some scanned in images from the print copies. For the original posting, visit us at: Corner Violin Shop
Amazon has taken over the majority of the
day in terms of the volume of e-commerce traffic we do here. Over on
eBay, the typical things we auction off are used parts such as pegs,
chinrests, tailpieces, endbuttons, bridges, tuners, and even endpins.
However, eBay still manages to surprise as we auction off instruments
that have been cosigned to us.
This
time though, we think we've got a good consigned violin to offer those
collectors, restorers, or speculators. It's an Italian violin that was
brought to us by another one of our elderly visitors who inherited it
from his grandfather who brought it over from his motherland about 90
years ago. (I really should keep record of all the heirloom stories we
hear from these people).
A solid beautiful example of
late 19th century violin making. It has the correct proportions, a
beautiful arching, and the varnish is golden brown oil layered.
The
widget I've embedded on the blog is one of the things that might slow
you down for you readers with dial up connection. I suppose I could
just have a url link here to the online auction if you're browser turns off these widgets.
Speaking of widgets, I've also added another on the side column for BlogRush.
It's a nice widget that shows the latest blog posting headlines 24/7
from a vast network of blogs. You can specify which category your blog
might fit in (this one is music). I've also found it to be a good way
to generate traffic. It's still a beta product but I think it's
catching on as I saw some major bloggers started utilizing it like Double Bass Blog. If any one wants an invite, let me know. I can send an invite your way.
The
finishing touches and polishes to the horn frog are almost done. I
plopped myself down on a chair, hit the studio lights, and took some
better photos of his work.
Wait
a minute...Lester just came in as I was blogging. He tells me that the
frog I photographed has the wrong button and screw- he'd like to also
note that it's too big and he wouldn't make something like that from
scratch.
The
coolest thing with this frog is that you can actually see the inner
mechanical workings. It's a bit opaque but you can make out where the
screw, mortise, and plug is. I
know that him Les and other bow makers would object to this, but
wouldn't be cool to try out some other materials for the frog? I always
wanted to see a clear see through frog attached to bow. Quartz,
silicon, maybe even diamonds? Unpractical since these materials would
throw off the balance of the stick:)
We recently had an inquiry from a customer up in Canada about a
real nice quarter size violin. He had seen one of our eBay auctions and
gave Alex a call to see what we could do.
We
recently had an inquiry from a customer up in Canada about a real nice
quarter size violin. He had seen one of our eBay auctions and gave Alex
a call to see what we could do.
A
week or so later, we had a Jürgen Klier Violin delivered to the shop.
It took a little longer on the shipping end than we anticipated because
of a varnishing procedure. Plus, we also make sure to get these little
baby instruments with the right setup.
Alex
was able to take this guy for a test drive. It's funny seeing him try
to play a quarter size when he's got such big hands and fingers the
size of meat hooks. For an instrument of that size though, he was able
pull out so much range. It sounded awesome.
I
also had fun taking photos of the instrument. The top's straight grain
and the flames on the back appeared well in the studio. The varnish
they used may have been the reason why many of the photos came out so
well with little glare from the fluorescents.
Last week, we had the pleasure of Dr. David Low visit our shop. David Low is the Kayser Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.You can't miss David with his hat, case, and cello. The purpose of our invitation though was to show case some of the shop cellos and bows, including Lester's latest bows. Last time I checked, has made two cello bows and David gave them a test drive. Better crank out some more bows Les:)
Keeping things organized in the shop is a never ending task. I
mentioned in an earlier post about our task to organize the storage
bins for our new line of string instrument parts called "Alessandro
Fine Fittings". It was a good excuse as well to clean the upstairs
floor space, make the back office more efficient, and rearrange the
traffic pattern between the workbenches.
August was the month
that kept us from maintaining the place. The flurry of receiving and
meeting the shipment deadlines, packing materials went astray from the
designated boxes. Rental returns or traded instruments with cases and
instruments were all on standby to be cleaned and restored at one bench.
Despite
all this piling up of things to do, we managed to survive the
back-to-school rush. The reorganization during the dead summer months
payed off with a system intact. Otherwise we never would have been able
to start thinking about how to organize those darn cello cases.
[cello racks, any one?]
Storing
violin and viola cases isn't a big a problem. Just stack them together
and stick them on the adjustable racks. The cello case though takes up
more room and the majority of the ones, the soft bags, we carry have to
be hung. We only have room to display the solid ones upstairs Hanging
them on garment racks is the current solution for downstairs workshop
that is always changing. At the same time, it's dusty so the next step
in this latest organization project is to find some plastic covers.
Don't even get me started on those double basses. If anyone can come up
with better ideas would be great.
At last we have the critical pieces in place: silver button, silver lined horn frog, and silver tip at the other end of the bow. Lester was hoping to enter this into a bow making competition when this would be finished. The chance to compete though is looking smaller when I heard they may not have enough entrants. Plus, he would need more time to really fine tune this piece of work.
[Horn Violin Frog with Silver Fittings, Work in Progress]
If he ever does get around to finishing the bow, we'll sure to let you know. Come by the shop and give the bow a try ;)
Thanks for the comments regarding the Andre Rieu post. I do have
to acknowledge to his fan base that they bring up a valid point: he is
a good violinist. Same goes to his Orchestra members. But, his concerts
are just not the way I prefer to listen to classical music, that's all.
Please
check out the comments of his loyal fans. It must mean some one out
there is reading our blog:) In the mean time, maybe for future post, I
might go hunting on the web to see if there are any zany web site
shrines adoring Andre. I'd love to see if any one emails me one.
One other very important thing. I mentioned the wrong venue and forgot to mention the date of the concert. Shoot! So here it is:
Andre Rieu & His Johann Strauss Orchestra Qwest Center in Omaha NE October 18 2007 8:00 p.m.
Interesting that it's on Halloween. Wonder if they'll have a masked ball theme or play some Phantom of the Opera. :)
News for the locals, Nebraskans, and Midwesterners. Andre Rieu & His Johann Strauss Orchestra are performing at the Qwest Center in Omaha, NE. I'll be honest, I'm not a huge fan of Andre Rieu and his troupe of musicians (not a position taken by this shop:) It may be because I've got a classical training bias of what I think a concert should be like. Just like some people love the lyric and poetry of the song, I happen to enjoy the way the music sounds or the musicianship of the band members.But that's okay. Most of the people that attend Andre's concerts are not always musicians nor are they hard-core classical music fans. In fact, you don't have to be either of the two, as long as you're to be entertained. Thus the showy fan fare as the Johann Strauss Orchestra dresses in ball gowns, audience clapping in participation, all the while Andre plays the violin and waltzes across the stage.
What wonderful imagery too for all the grandparents living in the Midwest who have heard of Andre's traveling Orchestra and have had fantasies of one day attending his concert. For those classical nerds who still don't get it, his concerts are like pop classical music for old people who tune into to PBS.For those of you who refuse to go see him, don't have the dough, or have never heard or seen one of Andre's concerts there are a host of search results on YouTube. Some of those fun web vids to note.
You won't see me at the concert but I'll keep you up-to-date of any more fun stories about little old ladies visiting our shop and inquiring if we've ever heard of Andre Rieu. :)
How did he fit the underslide on the
frog? While I can't tell the specs he uses, I can show you
some of the tools he uses to to help answer that question.
[Fomer,
Sterling Silver Sheet, Hammer]
The big hunk of metal on the left is called the
"former". The geometric piece next to it is part of it as
well. The sheet of sterling silver on the right is sandwiched
between those two pieces and its hammered away create angles of the
underslide. Any excess of the folded silver sheet is cut
away. As for the eyelet, a hole is drilled for frog so the
eyelet can then be screwed in.
More headway on the horn frog bow today. The Sartory model frog now has its slide glued on with silver.
What
you're seeing in the second photo is called the "heel plate". The two
dimple looking things are the pins that are used to hold the sterling
silver in place. Eventually, these will get filed down and will blend
in with the heel plate. More work in progress to come:)
I had to get up early for work this
morning, as we had a reporter from the West
"O" come by for an interview. It's a local Omaha
newspaper that's doing a story on our business. Yay,
more publicity:)
Alex basically gave the grand tour
of the shop. She also interviewed each one of us to see how
we fit into the whole business operation. We'll post a copy
of the piece whenever the story hits the newsstands. Look for
them near your local grocery store entrances where all the racks of
classifieds and other small business newsletters are piled
up.
Lester keeps going at it with his new line of bows. This time, he's gearing up to enter some bows for a competition in October. Many bow makers often order parts from manufacturers and fit them on to the stick. I was flipping through their catalog the other day, and I had no idea that there are over a hundred different kinds of frogs. Lester tells me though that while basic frog templates by Sartory are studied and published in books, bow makers are always reinterpreting these traditional master makers in their own style.
[Ebony Frog, Pattern]
However, Les' training since this summer has taught how to make even the small things from scratch. Screw and button making was a first for him, but so was frog making. This cello bow he's making are by far the most hand made thing he's made.
[Ebony Frong for Cello, slide]
The photo below shows his latest work in horn. I'm not sure if this comes from water buffalo but there's a bunch of other materials such as snake wood or ivory (the latter now being illegal). Usually though, he works in good dry ebony blanks.
[Horn, Cutting Stage]
The length of time it takes to make a frog can range from 12 hours to a day. Realize though that these frogs are often made as the bows are carved. Frog making isn't a step-by-step process. It's a series of fine cutting, chiseling, and filing are done with adjustments to the stick.I asked Les why he still bothers to make frogs by hand when he can order pre-cut frogs. For one, he says it increases the value of the bow. He also says that he adds an artistic value that he can customize for the player. It may not seem like much but he can control the feel of the frog in the player's hand with slight nuances of the ferrule or curves of the frog's body.
) 
[Caliph, sporting his new shades that he found on his patrol]
