Frank Deimel opened his guitar/bass-workshop in 1998 in Berlin. Some of his clients are Sonic Youth, Tocotronic, Nikki Sudden etc. We had a little chat with him about his work as a luthier.
Hi Frank, thank you for taking your time to speak to us. Could you tell us a little bit about how and when did you start your company? Where are you located?
I started my guitar-building company in Berlin during my study at the UdK Berlin, while I took the Industrial Design courses. I developed several designs of my guitars during that time, and besides that I got to known Berlin as a divided place. In 1998 I officially started the business, which is based in former west, called “red island”, it`s a place somewhere between Potsdamer Platz and Tempelhof. Continue reading →
The Jobfactory Music Store from Switzerland specializes in the sales and service of Electric and Acoustic Guitars, Bass`, Effect generators and Amplifiers. We had a little chat with CEO David Max about the “Best Guitar Shop in Town”.
Hi David, thank you for taking your time to talk to us. Could you please tell as a little bit about The Jobfactory Musicstore? Where are you located?
The JFM is located in Basel, Switzerland, in the Dreispitz section of town close to the borders of France and Germany. The musicstore has existed for almost 8 years. I have been a member of the team for almost 3. The store is owned by the Jobfactory AG, a company who’s core purpose is to help young people find careers paths through schooling, training and apprenticeships. We have 2 apprentices currently, both studying retail sales, as well as being aspiring musicians. The store is designed to cater towards all levels of guitar player, beginner to professional, and all tastes, from the basic to the boutique. Pawn shop to Custom Shop!
What initially led you to set up a music store, and when was that? We heard something about a girl, New York etc…could you elaborate on that?
I am originally from New York. My wife and I met there, due to circumstances revolving around Sept. 11. She was doing a Masters Degree program there. We became engaged some years later, and decided to start our family in her home town of Basel. I came without any clue as to how I could make a living. However, my experience in the music industry, as a player and a salesman, payed off and I was lucky enough to find myself with a beautiful little store to run.
In EU the current Gibson case “lacey act” has gotten a lot of attention, what is your perspective on shipping between US & EU? Have you had any problems regarding this case so far?
These are really two separate issues. As far as I can tell, the Lacey Act has been a very effective Environmental protection control originally designed to prevent American companies from trafficking in illegal materials. However, it seems that this law has been perverted by the US government for unknown reasons to go after Gibson, and the rumour is, other companies are next. I believe the Lacey Act itself to be a good law, however there needs to be some simple common sense amongst our government officials. And if they do not begin to go after other guitar companies, then it seems that, for some reason, someone with power has an ax to grind with Gibson.
The second question, about shipping between the US and Europe, is really a question of free markets, which I believe in, as long as they are properly controlled. Free Market Capitalism works, as long as people play by the rules. It’s the cheaters that ruin it for the rest, and cause huge economic meltdowns. But the markets are fixing the problem, and hopefully after many years to come of economic pain, better controls and support of the controls that bring the concept of currency in line with the concept of tangible value and not speculatitve value will be instituted world-wide. I think that if I can buy something cheaper in the States or in China than I can in Germany, for example, than I should be free to do so. Competition, when the rules are followed, brings out the best in people.
What do you consider the biggest challenge for dealers of music instruments today?
The biggest challenge is serving the customer well enough, and making the shopping experience satisfying enough, that he would rather pay more money for a product that he could be buying from a huge, totally impersonal corporation that can buy in bulk, at a lower price. Without the ‘Mom and Pop’ stores, the music industry, including the ‘big boxes’, will suffer greatly. The small shops remain the ‘life-blood’ of the music instrument buying public. When they go, so does the culture. Do you play music yourself? If so, what do you play, for how long have you been doing it? I have been a guitar player and singer-songwriter for over 20 years. I have recently finished my tenure as lead guitar for Psychic TV (www.myspace.com/ptv3) and released my first solo album (www.davidmaxxx.com) I am now working on the follow up with my new band, The Sons of the Void.
We have watched a video of your store and you have a great variety of instruments. How do you choose what instruments to carry?
It is a combination of the local demographic, that is what people in and around Basel are into and talking about, and what kind of bands are emerging amongst the youth, with a dose of the ‘traditional’ sensibilities of older guitarists mixed with the tastes of myself and the sales staff. No one sells anything better than the thing that they themselves are taken with.
Do you have any personal favorite vintage guitars in your shop? If so, why is said guitar your favorite?
I have a lovely Gibson ES 225T 1957. The neck and perfect fret wear make for an incredibly playable instrument that just kinda melts all over you as you play it.
Given that this is for a blog, what role has technology (the internet, your website, etc.) played in the success of your business?
Not as much as one might think, simply because we have been mostly focusing on the local music community here, in which word of mouth means a lot more than internet presence. That being said, we have begun selling more consistenly on-line, as well as building a presence in the traditional, ebay, facebook, linkdin kinda way, and of course, the brilliant idea that is vintageandrare.com.
Is there a general trend to the people who purchase from you, in terms of how skilled or experienced they are?
I definetly see more and more young people wanting to learn guitar. It is somehow a more accepted and attainable goal than it used to be. Its more a facet of the collective consciousness and less of fable or dream.
What advice would you give to somebody looking to purchase a vintage guitar?
Take your time. Do your research, know as much as you can before spending a lot of money, and be clear about why you are buying a vintage instrument over a new one. Vintage instruments can be a burden as well as a blessing.
Any famous last words?
Money can’t buy happiness, but it sure can make being sad a whole lot easier.
So I`ve been reading this blog by a guy stating that today`s Fender Stratocasters are “light years” better than any 70`s Strat he`s ever come across. The argument was supported by the fact that Fender was taken over by a company called CBS in 1965 and every Fender made between 1965 and 1985 supposedly belonged to the dark era of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.
Doing some research on the net about the subject, as I had no historical knowledge of Fender guitars, even though I own two Fender Stratocasters myself, I found out that players perceived a loss of the initial high quality of Fender guitars after the company was taken over by CBS. As a result, the late 60`s Stratocasters with the large “CBS” headstock and (from the mid 70`s) the 3-bolt necked models (instead of the conventional 4 bolts) with the “Bullet” truss-rod and the MicroTilt adjustment system fell “out of fashion”. I literally have to get up and make myself a cup of coffee after writing this last sentence. However, the point of the above-mentioned, is that all of this supposedly led to a reduction of the quality of Fender`s guitars while under the management of “cost-cutting” CBS. When Fender was bought from CBS by Bill Schultz in 1985, manufacturing resumed its “former” high quality and Fender regained market share and brand reputation.
Furthermore, so-called “pre-CBS” Stratocasters are, accordingly, quite sought after and expensive due to the perceived difference in quality even compared with contemporary post-CBS models. In recent times, some Stratocasters manufactured from 1954 to 1958 have sold for more than US$175,000 which is perverted if you ask me, but then again everybody has their own fetishes.
I have two Fender Stratocasters, one from 1976 and the other one is from 1995, and after doing this research, I was amazed to learn that my 1995 Fender should be superior to the 1976 model according to these so-called guitar-enthusiasts and experts. Well, I have to say that my personal opinion is that my 1995 Stratocaster is a toy, which should be sold at supermarkets around the country, compared to my 1976 Fender Stratocaster. The history of Fender guitars, or any guitars for that matter, has never interested me and the only reason I did this research was because I was asked to write this blog. Personally, I don’t care about whether a guitar is made by well-recognized companies such as Fender, Gibson, Martin or a luthier from China or some monk chopping a piece of wood in the mountains of Tibet (hard to find by the way, the wood that is) who decides to open a Custom Guitar Shop, just out of boredom.
When I pick up a guitar I don`t look at a label or a serial number or what kind of wood the top, back and sides and fret board is made of. If it sounds and feels good, than that`s the right guitar for me. I`ve played guitars from the above-mentioned brands that sounded like crap and that are being sold for ridiculous prices, and I have played guitars sold for much less that sounded a lot better. For example, my $600 western Chinese-made Fina sounds better than some guitars that I`ve played in $2000-3000 category. This goes another way around, of course, but I`m just saying. The important thing to remember is that it is individual what kind of guitar suits one`s playing style and feels comfortable, and not what you read on the Internet and follow the sheep-mentality.
My purpose with this, rather short, article is not to promote 70`s Stratocasters, but to make some kind of stand against the ridiculous statements that one can find on the Internet. To end this article, I have found pictures of a few guitarists that are playing these ridiculous 30-40 years old badly-made Fender Stratocasters.
But what do these guys know, I think I`m going to start saving money for a $50,000 1957 Fender, instead of buying a “crappy” Fender from 70`s for around $4000.
Lukas Schwengeler is the no.1 session guitarist in Switzerland. We talked to Lukas about his guitars, amps and his taste in music.
Hi Lukas thank you for taking your time to speak to us. Could you please tell us a bit about how you got into playing music in the first place? Do you remember any specific moment that sparked your interest in music?
Since I was the youngest of 6 kids and all of them played an instrument I was elected to start up playing the violin with 6 years of age and enjoyed playing this instrument until I was 12. During that time my hippy neighbor gave me her guitar because she moved abroad. I picked up that lovely instrument and I was hooked. From that moment on I started to play and play and play. I stumbled into some old blues tunes and worked my way up.
Could you explain to us why you initially got into the genre you’ re currently playing? What musicians or bands inspired you in the beginning?
Blues and old hippie stuff was the start up. The first band I started to admire was the Spencer Davis Group. My first guitar hero was definitely Eric Clapton. Later I got into the tunes of Jimmy Hendrix, Duan Alman and Gary Moore. Today one of my favorites is Robben Ford.
Can you tell us about the gear your using, and why?
One of my favorite guitars is a custom made from Claudio Pagelli. Next in line is my 62 Fender Stratocaster Relic from the custom shop. I also have a Gibson Les Paul Slash Sig and I also use a Gibson Les Paul R6 . And sure enough I also play the standard Fender Tele. Besides that, I have a full set of acoustic guitars. The amp I mostly use is Fender Deluxe Reverb and Bogner Extasy.
Can you please tell us about your collaboration with Good Tone Pickups?
Claudio Pagelli made my guitar and we started to discuss possible pickups. He told me about a small swiss manufacturer that handwired pickups. We decided to give it a try and I got into contact with Ralf from Good Tone Pickups. He was open to all my suggestions and really created a pickup after my desires.
What kind of Good Tone Pickups do you prefer in your guitars?
I am using the customized pickup Ralf created for me. He made a Humbucker with low output in order to do coil tapping without significant loss of output . The result is amazing. This Good Tone Pickup is now selling it under the label Lukas Schwengeler Signature Pickup.
Does the gear you play live differ from the gear you’re using in the studio?
The guitars are pretty much the same. But the amps, stomp boxes and other stuff can vary. In the studio you can include some gimmicks in order to specialize the sound. On stage you need to stick to the stuff that definitely works.
Are there any special guitars, brand or a model, that fit your specific sound or genre better than others, and if so, why?
Sure. If the music requires the sound of Strat I use a Strat . If it requires Les Paul … I will use that guitar. I do have no matrix to show.
How important do you find the gear to be, in relation to the sound you’ re trying to produce?
Absolutely elementary. I only use the best gear I can find, because this is making the difference of the output.
Any famous last words?
There will be guitars in heaven.
Dave Walsh owns a small one man workshop in Britain where he builds authentically aged, “relic” electrical guitars. We had a little chat with Dave about Eternal Guitars and his working methods.
Hi Dave, thank you for taking your time to speak to us. Could you tell us a little bit about how and when did you start Eternal Guitars? Where are you located?
Hi there. I’ve been a luthier for almost 20 years – I originally did an apprenticeship in Denmark Street in the west end of London but in that time I’ve also worked in other areas of the guitar world, including writing for Guitar & Bass Magazine in the UK and a stint at Guitar Institute in London, but I’ve always loved repairing and making guitars. I moved away from London a couple of years ago down to the south coast of England and I had to start my business again, so I decided to do something a little different. I love vintage guitars and being a creative person with a bit of an art background, I found that I really enjoyed the relic process on the few guitars that I had done for customers in the past so I decided to begin making them. The first review that I received was very positive and now people are beginning to love the guitars because they sound as good as they look!
What motivated you to begin building aged “relic” electric guitars in the first place? And what type of guitars do you build? Standard models? Custom orders? How does it work?
The primary motivation was a love of the process. I’d seen plenty of relic guitars on the market – some very nice and others not quite so good! So I wanted to make aged guitars using high quality components and nitrocellulose lacquer which in my opinion sounds better than modern poly finishes and combine the look with my experience in setting up vintage guitars so that they play as well as possible and of course also sound amazing within a realistic budget. I offer standard models based on well known instruments but I also build hybrid, custom or totally one-off models.
Please describe to us how do you come up with the names for your guitars?
To be honest I can’t really take the credit or the blame for that! My wonderful girlfriend usually christens them depending on how they look. I don’t think she sees them (or anything else) as inanimate objects – and I think she’s right… : )
You are currently building your first bass guitar. How did that come about?
To be fair, it’s not the first bass that I’ve ever made but it is the first Eternal. I’d been wanting to make an aged bass from the beginning but time and constant guitar orders conspired against me! My good friend Chris (who also helps out with the marketing) is a bass player so we collaborated to make a special one for him. He has a particular style and sound that he needs so that’s why it ended up as a bit of a hybrid with modern hardware and his choice of pickups. It sounds thunderous though and he’s very happy with it. Next up will be a stock early ‘50s T-Type bass in butterscotch blonde…
Can you describe to us the process, from idea to conception, of building a great relic guitar or bass?
It may sound obvious, but it really does start with the wood. Every guitar – even electric ones – are acoustic in nature and if it doesn’t sound good unplugged then put it back on the wall and walk away! Ash, alder and mahogany bodies all sound very different too as well as maple or rosewood fingerboards so I go through a very long process of determining exactly what tone a customer is seeking before settling on the right wood combinations. Some are tried and tested like ash and maple for an early ‘50s T-Type sound but sometimes like on my T-Type Jr which is actually a hollow mahogany design it can be a bit more experimental. With the T-Type Jr I was looking for a fat, warm sound without the associated weight of a Les Paul for example and the result is a very lightweight but incredibly loud guitar. The pickups are only there to amplify the core tone and colour the sound to a point – we have a saying here that you ‘can’t polish a turd’ and with pickups that’s very true as they will never make a terrible guitar sound great. So once I know what a customer wants in terms of tone, the rest is about making it feel and of course look great by using the right finishing products, hardware and professional set-up.
Do you have one instrument that is your favorite or that makes you the most proud in terms of craftsmanship, sound, look, and so forth?
Oh, I love them all but the Blonde S-Type ‘Betsy’ is a truly wonderful guitar – as is the Custom T-Type that I made for Sound Venture Guitar Boutique. I also love the T-Type Jr as well as the new Olympic White over Three-Tone Sunburst J-Type that has just been christened ‘Lola’.
How do you consider musical styles and genres when building your guitars in terms of selection of pickups, woods etc.?
That’s good question. Usually a customer will have at least a vague idea of what they want, but not always, and some people are embarrassed by a lack of knowledge. Sometimes I have to coax it out of them but by asking the right questions I can usually narrow it down. As I’ve mentioned above, some wood and pickup combinations are classics that will work 99% of the time whereas sometimes I have to be a bit more creative and interpret what a customer needs and wants into a workable design. The Eleanor E-Type guitar is a good example – it’s owner Mike approached me to make a one pickup T-Type relic but with the feel and sound of an Ibanez Jem… On the surface, it looks like most of my other guitars but the neck profile is copied from one of Mike’s own Jem guitars, there are 24 frets on a 16” radius fingerboard with a bullet truss rod adjuster at the headstock. The lower cutaway on the body is deeper than normal for better access to the top frets and on the back the heel is sculpted away and there’s also a ribcage contour. The pickup is a DiMarzio Evo2 which is coil split and makes a great T-Type twang as well as all the usual hi-gain grunt. Oh, and there’s a kill switch and an angled jack socket like a Jem too…
Are your guitars especially common among musicians playing a certain genre?
Not especially. Obviously the more classic vintage designs lend themselves to certain styles of rock, jazz and blues but a great sounding guitar can work in any musical environment. Ultimately, I’m happy to build whatever the customer wants and if that means installing a Floyd Rose on a banjo then I’ll consider it..!
When building a custom guitar or a bass for a particular player, what considerations do you make?
It’s up to me to get it right first time so I ask A LOT of questions and nail down the exact spec. before picking up any tools. My guitars represent a fair investment for most people so they have to be right in themselves and for the individual player. Everything from fret size to the capacitor values can be specified and decided in discussion with the customer. Once the build is completed I then go through an exhaustive set-up procedure to ensure that the instrument plays at its best for the style that the player requires and most importantly how he or she plays because we all play differently…
Any interesting new relic guitars or basses on your workbench right now?
I’ve just finished a Reverse J-Type in Sea Foam Green that is a killer one pickup guitar and I’ve also been commissioned by a gentleman in Sweden to build a VERY obscure Jeff Beck S-Type which has been a lot of fun as no one anywhere has any real knowledge of the instrument except some footage from a German TV show in the early ‘70s.
Any advice for players looking to order a custom relic guitar or bass?
Don’t be afraid to ask! Almost anything is possible be it a straight copy of a classic vintage guitar or something hybrid or totally unique – drop me a line through the website or give me a call. I love a challenge too…
Given that this is for a blog, what role has technology (the internet, your website, etc.) played in the success of your business?
It’s vital in creating awareness if nothing else. Technology plays a huge role in marketing a brand or business and for a one man business based on the seaside in England it means I can reach customers worldwide as well as locally. I’m currently building guitars for customers in Sweden and Japan too – and that would never have happened without the internet…
Any famous last thoughts?
Thank you so much for talking to me! I now have to return to repairing guitars and refitting the bridge to an old 12-String acoustic – it’s not all glamour here… ; )
Good Tone Pickups is a premium guitar pickup manufacturer based in Switzerland. We had the opportunity to interview the owner of Good Tone Pickups, Ralf Schoenberg, and ask him a few questions about his company.
Hi Ralf, thank you for taking your time to speak to us. Could you tell us a little bit about how and when did you start your company?
I started Good Tone Pickups in April 2010 after having very good response from many guitarists around my music environment. Basically, I was never supposed to establish a pickup manufacturing at all because I started a few years before to create my own sound in my guitar collection just to have a great tone for myself. When they all asked me to do one of my pickups for them I first refused to do so, because I wanted to have my personal sound just for myself and assumed that my taste of sound never would meet today’s market demands. But one day one of the guys encouraged me to offer Pickups to everybody. I first thought if my discriminated ears hear the same way like all the others, it must be worth to figure out a business idea. I must confess that it is also big luck or a god-sent-gift to have that ability to do so.
What is the story behind the company name?
Well, I think that Good Tone speaks for itself, because every guitarist wants to have good tone and many are searching their whole lives to get that tone and that satisfaction. Maybe Good Tone is helping them to get closer to what they are looking for.
What motivated you to begin building guitar pickups? And what type of pickups do you build? Humbucker? Single coil? P90? etc?
I always had an affinity for Pickups since I swapped the lousy Select against a Jackson J-80 Humbucker in my Washburn HM-5 when I was 14 years old. Since then I have tried hundreds of different Pickups from DiMarzio to Seymours ect. On all the Strat or Tele singles I always hated their hard attack and shrill appearance clean and especially overdriven. Even most of the Humbuckers sounded dead without proper overtones what makes them impossible to use on clean settings. I first started to develop the Classic Blues Strat set which now has become Good Tone‘s
bestseller and then started with PAF Humbuckers because I always liked the classic rock tone and character of the old Les Pauls. Today Good Tone offers a wide range of all classic Pickups also Tele, P-90, Classic Humbuckers, Distortion Humbuckers or even customized stuff which often is desired by guitar builders.
Do you make pickups with a certain period of time in mind regarding guitar tone, as for example a PAF-style pickup? 54 strat style etc?
I never focused on a specific period of time because it is more crucial that a pickup sounds great itself and I suppose that it is also impossible to categorize a specific sound to a specific time because Fender‘s and Gibson‘s were mostly handmade and so differed extremely in their parameters and sound. Even Gibson in the 1950`s didn‘t specify the material they were using for their Pickups. They just took what was currently available. For example you can find 3 different Alnico types they were using in those days but the worst was that they were winding each of the bobbins on two different winding machines to irregular number of windings between the boobins which explains why old PAF can differ between 7.4kilo Ohm up to 9 Kilo Ohms what really affects sound. We also do not know if the wire was differing in diameter and content of copper. I rather guess that in those days the content of copper was very low (max.70 percent) which has a huge impact on tone. Using Plain Enamel coated wire is not an evidence to get that old PAF vibe. A leading example is a well known US pickup manufacturer who is using plain enamel and one of the original winding machines from Kalamzoo to wind his PAF replica. His replica does not even come close to the sound and dynamic of an old PAF.
Can you describe to us the process, from idea to conception, of building a great pickup?
Let me explain this as follow, mostly customers come with a certain idea how they expect their instrument to sound, asking them first what construction (wood, hardware) is crucial to know. Then playing style and tone forming is also a significant fact to know before you start. With knowing the parameters you can start to distinguish the ingrediences being used to get the desired resonance frequency. Type of wood and hardware has a significant influence to tone and is one of the most underestimated things when people buy replacement pickups. All those Mexican and Roadworn Fender Strats are a leading example for this phenomenon, they all come with thin sustain blocks which kill string energy and therefore overtones and sustain become extremely diminished. If installing Good Tones, they never will response with full potential until you replace the sustain block. Another extreme I realized instrument with a fantastic dry tone but a bad response when played on the amp. I had once a customer who was completely frustrated about his Strat and wanted to give her the last try before throwing her in the bin. This amazed me, even though the instrument had a good resonance from the neck and body and a fantastic hardware from Callaham. I installed him a mixed set of Good Tones and when I played the first tone it was a complete different instrument. The customer was stunned completely and told me that this is the best he ever heard in his entire life. And so it always goes on!
Do you collaborate with a specific type of guitar players, genre-wise, in the evaluation process when building pickups?
Oh yes ! Lukas Schwengeler, one of our no. 1 swiss session guitarists, got a Good Tone signature set on his Pagelli guitar. Claudio (Pagelli)contacted me and told me that there is a customer who is interessed in Good Tone PAF‘s which have sent out for test. But Lukas wanted a PAF set which is well balanced in volume but also boasts up with original twangy, crispy Telly sounds without volume loss. After discussing with him it was clear what way to go. Don‘t ask me how I got the idea to develop this pickups, I don‘t know! Another many inputs I get from guitar builders like Egon Rauscher (Soultool Guitars), Marco Bernasconi (Bernasconi Guitars) and Gerd Nikolaiski who create fantastic instruments and have become close friends of mine too. At the moment Tommy Vetterli (Coroner, Ex-Kreator) is checking out the Good Tone Doombucker which is perfect for drop tunings and extreme hard music stuff played today. (It‘s just too hard for me as I am an ordinary old school 80`s Heavy Metal poser)
Are you and your team also musicians?
Yes, I have played guitars in 25 years and grew up with all those Hard ‘n` Heavy stuff and developed later to further styles like Blues, Jazz and World music. I also like African music because it is so optimistic and groovy.
What is your own favorite pickup and why?
Definitely, the Good Tone Classic Soapbar and Hot Soapbar in combination, no one offers that rich tone with sparkling highs and is so versatile to use. What accomplished guitar brand and musicians would you most like to see use your pickups, and why? Actually, any musician or guitar brand (except all that Chinese craps which are resource wasting), I think all could profit from my pickups regarding tone and performance.
Given that this is for a blog, what role has technology (the Internet, your website etc.) played in the success of your business?
A huge role as I maintain my website on my own and also get all the contacts and information I need from the Internet. And it would be extremely time intense if you had to investigate without the Internet.
Any new exciting things on the bench from the Good Tone tech team?
Yep, Egon and I are working for a fantastic new release for the next Frankfurt Musikmesse 2012 and also Good Tone is going to release many new models like the P-90 in Humbucker size and singles with quarter inch rods which can be operated in a tapped mode or something especially for the Telecaster.
Perhaps this is something that you’ve thought to yourself as you’ve looked at high resolution images of handmade or highly customized basses that cost $3,000 and up.
Are they worth more than triple what you can spend to pick up a decent bass off the shelf at your local music store?Do all those exotic woods do anything besides look, well…exotic? Are they really just over-priced pieces of furniture fashioned into the shape of a bass guitar?
Yes and no.
You see, any particular bass guitar is going to be worth more or less money from one person to another. Some instrument collectors will pay outrageous sums of money for rare instruments because they happened to be owned or even were only played a few times by someone famous like Paul McCartney or Jaco Pastorius.
Others may pay to have a bass guitar built by hand that many may feel is either ugly, or even unplayable. It’s true that one man’s trash is another
man’s treasure!
For me, it was the price tag that really put boutique basses on a pedestal for me.
Here I was, a modest rock bassist playing covers and original music who was happy to go home after a gig with $100 bucks in his pocket – what right did I have to daydream about a high-end custom bass guitar? The ‘realistic’ side of me said that I could own a bass like that ‘one day’ when I ‘made it’.
While there is a market for boutique bass guitars that look like furniture and that span 5, 6, 7, 8 strings and beyond, a significant chunk of the high end bass guitar market is devoted to what I’ll call ‘modern vintage’ instruments.
Luthiers like Sadowsky, Mike Lull and Alleva-Coppolo (just to name a few) offer modern takes on the classic Fender Jazz bass guitar – that cost several times more than it would cost to just pickup up an actual Fender bass yourself.
So why pay more for a ‘copy’ than buying the original bass from the actual manufacturer?
The reality is that the art of creating a bass guitar has changed dramatically in the last few decades.
Basses are now mass produced and outsourced to overseas operations all in the effort to keep them as affordable as possible. While this is great for the typical musician, the professionals and perfectionists among us have often lamented that many of the instruments just don’t feel or sound as good as the basses made back in the 60s and 70s.
Part of the reason for this could be using inferior woods, rushing the manufacturing process and not allowing even the quality woods to age sufficiently.
Perhaps in an effort to trim back costs to compete in the global market place, wages were reduced to the point where it’s not as economically viable for master craftsman and women to be employed at some of the bigger name companies?
Whatever the reason, the best advice I’ve heard and often repeated when it comes time to buy a new instrument – especially one that’s mass produced by one of the more popular brands out there – is to play as many as you can and let your hands and your ears tell you which one to buy.
In a perfect world, you should be able to just walk into a store and pick the model you like the best and get it in your preferred colour and walk out. You wouldn’t worry about another bass sounding better because they’d all sound the same right? However, even among the most reputable manufacturers the consistency may fluctuate from bass to bass.
With Fenders I’ve heard of some people exclaiming that Made in Mexico basses were as good or better than Made in America basses – but you’ll only find that gem of a great sounding bass at a more affordable price if you’re willing to hunt for it. So again the advice, play every bass you can get your hands on, play every bass in the store and buy the one that sounds and feels the best to you.
Do you see where I’m going with this?Advantages of using a luthier?
Time is a huge factor behind why many people are more than happy to pony up the big bucks for a modern take on a vintage classic. They can chat with the luthier about what they’re looking for and get it made to order – the finish, the string spacing, the woods, the hardware – whatever.
Compared to hitting every music store in every neighbouring city within an hour’s drive; or camping out on Ebay or classified ads sites waiting for a certain vintage bass to come up for sale, the amount of time saved can be tremendous…and we all know that time is money right?
Plus, who’s to say that when you finally do find that vintage Fender that you’ve been pining over for years that you won’t pick it up and find the dreaded ‘dead spot’ after plunking a few notes?
Going the custom route alleviates a lot of those difficulties; many of the luthiers have exceptional warranties to go with the instrument. After all, it’s their name on the headstock and they want to make sure every customer is going to speak highly of their products and customer service.
Then again…
Boutique basses aren’t really about a particular style of music, or the status of the player – you don’t have to be a celebrity to own these high end basses (and I’d argue that the vast majority of owners are nowhere near famous)– the instrument just needs to offer that something that you can’t easily find elsewhere to make it worth the cost.
For some, it’s a replica of a vintage bass guitar that they always loved but could never find. For others, a boutique bass is where they get to tailor things like the weight, the neck shape and depth or the number of strings that the mass produced versions just can’t do in an economical fashion. Still others want the best of traditional styling and a 20 fret fingerboard along with modern features like a low b string and active electronics.
Whatever your reason, boutique basses are worth a closer look whether you find modern instruments lacking or covet extremely rare vintage bass guitars that are in short supply.
In the end you might find the biggest pain is not how much the custom basses cost, but the agony of waiting for your boutique bass to be built!
Our own piano enthusiast Ric Overton is back with his second blogpost for the Vintage & Rare blog. This time the main focus is Collard and Collard pianos. Enjoy.
Collard and Collard
Among the pianos that I love and adore Collard and Collard would be one of my favorites, mostly because of the absolutely exquisite cabinetry and design. Collard and Collard are certainly among the nicest pianos with the most respected name in the industry world-wide.
F.W. Collard was baptized in 1772. The actual year of his birth is unclear. In or around 1786, he moved to London and at the age of fourteen he began working for a music publisher and pianoforte builder known as Longman, Lukey and Broderip.
Unfortunately, in the later part of the 1700’s Longman, Lukey & Broderip began to suffer some levels of financial problems and were forced to sell their interests to other investors. By the later part of 1800 a new company had emerged, owned by Muzio Clementi, Josiah Banger and F.W. Collard with a portion also going to David Davis. The new firm was known as Muzio Clementi & Company. The reason this name was chosen was that by this time Clementi had risen to substantial fame and notoriety as a composer and performer not to mention that he had also become quite wealthy.
It is not clear when David Davis left the company but it has been noted that Banger left in 1817 and William Frederick Collard came in. In 1831 the partnership between the Collard brothers and Clementi expired and in 1832 the company was renamed to Collard and Collard.
In 1842 William Frederick Collard retired and F.W. Collard became the owner of the company. He in turn took F.W. Collard Jr. (his brothers son) and Charles Lukey Collard (another nephew) in as partners of the firm.
Among the many changes that were made during the transition that the next few years would bring, is that Collard & Collard decided to completely divest themselves of the publishing business and concentrate mostly in piano building. One problem that arose is that they had a contract with India to provide bugles, drums and other musical instruments until the government of India was transferred to the Queen which left the family firm free to turn their collective energies solely to the manufacturing of pianos.
Over the years Collard and Collard were met with many successes. They won numerous design awards because of F.W.’s considerable talent as an engineer and good fortune smiled on them in several situations where they simply saw an opportunity and were able to react to the needs of the demands of their time.
Of course, along with the great accomplishments also came two devastating fires, one in 1807 which destroyed the Tottenham Court Road factory and again in 1851 when the newest factory on Oval Road in Camden Town was also completely destroyed.
In 1860 the firm announced the passing of F.W. and again the passing of W.F. in 1866. Interestingly, F.W.passed away in the same house on Cheapside where he arrived at the age of 14 and lived until he was 88.
The company was among the most celebrated piano companies in all of Europe. It was finally purchased by Chappell Piano Company of London in 1929 and remained in production until sometime in 1960.
Once you have the opportunity to see and experience Collard and Collard you will also see why this would rank among my favorite pianos of all times.
At Vintage & Rare we are not just into vintage guitars. We’re also into other instruments. Therefore we are lucky to have the piano enthusiast Ric Overton write guest blogs for us. He has been so kind to share how he fell in love with the piano and what he is doing today. We welcome Ric in our community and look forward to his many blog post in the future.
Passionate about the Piano!
It’s hard for some people to understand how I could have fallen in love with an instrument, but, I am in love with the piano. Of course, I like piano music and I enjoy practically every style of music under the sun, but, I love the piano itself. Let me explain:
Several years ago I worked for Baldwin Piano Manufacturing in Arkansas, United States. My first week of training I was asked to work in the factory so that I could capture the story of how Baldwin pianos were made and the steps that we went through to get the finished product and that is when it all began. I was instantly smitten with the process of how it started all the way to the finished product. There are an incredible amount of hours of labor that go into the making of the piano, the hardwood cabinets, the action, stringing, plate, etc. and to think that a person and not a machine actually has to touch each and every part made me realize that what I was playing on would have been touched by perhaps a hundred people or more. These people had families and lives of their own and while they would most likely never be heard of outside of their community, the world would hear their work.
That began my quest to understand how we arrived at where we are today in piano building and where it all first started.
Since Cristofori’s invention in around 1700 there have been vast improvements. Today, we have changed the construction of the plate, integrated new details for the strings, and changed the hammers as well as bits and pieces of the action model. But since the later part of the 1700’s and going into the early part of the 1800’s very little has been altered from the basic original design. Of course we have changed and updated some things because it is more feasible to create and the tone change is dramatic, but, for the most part the piano of today is very close to Cristofori’s first design.
In the early 1800’s we had builders who are still making pianos to this day. That list would include such names as Sauter (my personal favorite), Steinway, Grotrian, August Forester, Bluthner not to mention Bosendorfer and several others that are to long to list. However, these guys knew how to build pianos that would last and have kept the integrity of piano building that would last for generations to come.
I operate a small retail piano store in Nipomo a small piano shop on the Central Coast of California. I can’t tell you how happy I am to be in this business. To see young musicians that are just starting out and entering their formidable years is fun and exciting. I try and explain to each of them the heritage that has shaped the piano building process and where we are today.
Of course, as is with any product on the market, we have products on the market today such as digital pianos that can mimic the piano but there will never be a duplicate of the original.
I look forward to explaining some of the details of the great piano builders of our time and hope to hear comments and questions.
Meet John Dutra. He has been drumming for fifteen years and making custom drums for the last ten. He’s the owner and creator of the world renowned Guerrilla Drum Making DVD, which helps the average Joe build his own professional custom drum set with no tools and no experience. He’s also heavily involved with live gigging, studio gigs, and teaching drums. Lastly, he is the newest addition to our rooster of competent guest-bloggers, and this is his first contribution. Enjoy:
The minimalists guide to knowing your drum shells and designing the perfect sound.
Let’s jump right in and start talking about the most important factor in the sound design of drums: drum shells!
Any drummer who’s played a variety of drum types knows that the shells are the meat and potatoes… the heart and soul of the drum. It’s where the true sound of the drum comes from. Other factors like heads, snare wires, hoops, bearing edges and tuning styles affect the tone of drums as well. But remember… with good shells those factors help boost your sound and with bad shells, you’re dependent on those things for a good sound. I’ll take the former, thanks.
But this isn’t about what’s good and what’s bad – that’s just to subjective. In each variety of wood (it’s estimated there are over 100,000 species of trees), metal, synthetics, and construction of all three… there’s huge potential for some awesome drum tones with unique sounds perfect for what style of music your after.
If you want a minimalist guide to understanding drum shells with some easily digestible sound explanations, this is it. Hopefully this will get you started down the road to designing the perfect sounding drum set with the best products.
Let’s break this guide into three parts: Wood, Metal, and Imitation Drum Shells (A.K.A Synthetics).
PART 1: WOOD
Wood Drum Shell Construction – The Big 4 and 1 Other One 1. Plied Shells: good range of pitch (great for tuning) and long sustain. Built with plys and lots of glue!
2. Steam Bent: very strong and brilliant sound with long sustain and resonation. Built by steambending a plank of wood and glued at an overlapping joint. Low amounts of glue and lots of wood!
3. Solid Shells: tone is like steam bent shells but higher in pitch and more woody. Truly a solid construction (think of a hollowed out tree trunk made into a drum) with no glue.
4. Segment: not long sustain but high pitched and more “wood” sounding. Lots of glue used with grains running horizontally.
5. Stave: awesome construction with low amount of glue and wood grain that runs vertical. Shell tone has long sustain and a rich resonation.
Popular Wood Drum Shell Types
– Maple: very even sounding wood. good high tones and low tones and all around a great all purpose shell.
– Birch: hard wood with higher pitch than maple and cuts through nicely, but very similar to maple as well. Awesome shell for studio gigs in my opinion.
– Mahogany: a very soft wood…nice rich low end that resonates beautifully
– Bubinga: also a very rich low end with a punchy sound and beautiful looks. Makes awesome snare drums.
– Beech: if maple and birch had a child, his name would be beech.
– Poplar: very smooth and even tone with highs, mids and lows.
Please note: there are tons more wood type than the above mentioned. However, these are the most common.
Depth, diameter, and thickness all play a huge roll in sound design as well. Remember this rule of thumb when considering your shell thickness: the thinner the shell… the lower the tone. The thicker the shell, the higher the tone.
PART 2: METAL
Metal Drum Shell Construction- The Big 2 1. Cast: liquid metal pored into a mold. sounds like,… metal! high pitch.. long sustain and good tuning range. 2. Spun: formed by high speed spinning. Spun metal also has great resonation and sustain and a high pitch.
Popular Metal Drum Shell Types
– Brass: Nice open sound. Good range of high tones and low tones and sounds awesome at live gigs and in the studio.
– Steel: very high pitched sounding drum with decent lows.
– Aluminum: a very versatile sounding shell with a lot of tuning ranges. good highs, mids and a nice low thud!
– Titanium: Very metal sounding! Resonating high pitch and not the greatest low end tones.
Please note again: there are tons more alloys than the above mentioned. However, these are very common shells.
PART 3: Imitation or Synthetic Shells
Popular Synthetic Shell Types:
– Fiberglass: an even sounding, soft shell with nice tones. Projects well in live gigging situations and very clean sounding.
– Acrylic: Very powerful and aggressive sounding shell. Awesome for live shows and harder to control for studio gigs yet perfect for that big rock, aggressive sound
– Carbon Fiber: A Dry sound. the high end tone outdoes the low end and mid range qualities of the shell, but can be perfect for that cracking snare drum your after.
Why isn’t there much info on synthetic shells?!! Well.. to be honest, synthetics have only been in the shell marketplace for about 40 years. There’s still a lot to learn!
CONCLUSION:
All in all… there’s a ton of options to consider when designing your perfect drum set. Things like shell thickness, diameter and depth, bearing edges and other important factors are not included in this minimalist list to understanding drum shell properties. But I hope you’ve learned a little more about shell types and their sound qualities, so that you can pick a type that best suits your immediate needs.
Questions? Comments? Opinions?! Leave them below in the comment section.
