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Dear Luthiers,
Web site update.
Several months back, I sought your input on whether it would be helpful if we provided you with an e-commerce site (i.e., internet shopping cart) to order our parts and services (as well as being able to order by email, mail, or telephone). A good majority said "yes," and I announced in March that in response to your requests, a new web site is on its way.
Our marketing director, Kali Nowakowski, has been working with web designer Russ Bunge and, together, they have been performing miracles. I've seen a few sample pages and I'm very excited (as I hope you will be).
We've re-photographed all of our products so that you'll have the ability to pop-up larger images to see things better, and Kali and Russ have also begun redesigning the Lloyd Loar and Orville Gibson pages of our site to refresh their appearance.
We're hoping for a launch of the new site by early summer. There's a ton of work yet to be done; our current site consists of almost 100 pages of content and about 825 images; all of which will be re-designed and restructured.
I can't wait to present it to you - I'll let you know as soon as it is ready.
Thanks for building with us...
Roger Siminoff
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Loar-signed Whistle!
If you've taken the time to read through the Loar information I have posted on our web site (which is just a portion of information I still need to post), you've probably been able to develop a good sense of how prolific Lloyd Loar was during his lifetime. And, if you had a chance to read The Physics of Music (the notebook we've recently published from his last class at Northwestern University), you probably have a good sense of how deep his knowledge base was.
For almost 30 years, I've had a bag of Loar memorabilia. Most things were easy to identify, but one piece stifled me. So, I just kept it to myself, thinking and hoping that someday there would be an opening in the clouds.
The questionable piece I have is a small whistle - too loud and shrill to be a musical pitch pipe or instrument, but I just couldn't connect it to real-life use.
A few months back, a friend with whom I am researching historical information about Lloyd Loar sent me a letter dated May 13, 1943, from Loar to Professor Arne Larson in which Loar described his design for an air raid whistle. Loar goes on to describe the whistle and says that he was going to patent it, but instead decided to give the design to the U.S. Government. I read the letter, took a deep breath, then turned to a small box on my desk that has held the whistle for years - the puzzle was solved!
Loar died in 1943, a time where there were Air Raid Wardens in the United States (my dad was one) responsible for a city block or small region of their town. It was their job to go around and warn folks in the case of an air raid by blowing their whistle (my dad's whistle was different).
Aside from contributing to the world of music, Loar contributed to everyone's well being. There's no Loar-signed label on the whistle - just the memory of a man who did so much for humankind. |
Product Highlights
· Mandola Ribs - As we continue to gear up our mandola parts, we are pleased to announce our set of curly maple H5 mandola ribs. Three pieces, steam bent as we do our mandolin ribs. Part #1300 is $65.00, plus $9.50 P&H.
· Fixture and Template Drawings - We've had quite a few requests for drawings of the fixtures used in The Ultimate Bluegrass Mandolin Construction Manual. So, we responded and have a ProSeries set of drawings for fixtures and templates used for building an F5. The drawing set is Part #DTF5 and is $24.95, plus $7.50 P&H.
· F5 Body Templates - Our clear plastic body templates help to make the job of laying out your stock easy. Templates are profiled to the final outer body shape, including the backboard's neck nub (disregard the nub when preparing soundboards), centerline, and f-hole apertures. Part #370 is $26.00, plus $7.50 P&H.
NOTE: Orders combined with other parts or tools will have lower total P&H cost. Please consult the Order Form Page on our website for a P&H table . |
Luthier's Tip: Fret Dressing File
One of the last steps in fret installation is dressing the ends of the frets and creating a smooth transition of the frets to the edge of the fretboard and binding by filing right up to the binding. Unfortunately, the edges of regular flat files can ding the binding and cause problems.
I use a flat file with edges that have been dressed down smooth, leaving teeth down only the center of the file. With the file laid on the frets, if the file tilts while you are filing the ends of the frets, only the smooth part of the file will touch the binding and cause no damage.
Altering a file is pretty easy if you work just the edge of the file against a table sander (or belt sander turned up side down). Be sure to hang on to the file so that it can't kick back towards you. | |
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Product of the Month: Inlays
The inlay designs in The Ultimate Bluegrass Mandolin Construction Manual were created by DiAnne Patrick, a well known Nashville-based artisan. (For those of you who remember Pickin' Magazine, DiAnne's work was included on our first Fretboard Poster that came in the January 1975 issue.) We have selected four of the designs from the book to become standard inlay sets in our parts list. As a May special, we are offering a $10.00 savings on any design of your choice (click here for the pearl inlays page of web site for design styles and pearl type). Select your part number and deduct $10.00. P&H is $7.50 for the month of May only. Limit one set per customer. |
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