Ken Smith
09-01-2007, 02:40 AM
At 2am this morning I locked up the shop and went home. Since early yesterday with the exception of a dinner break at about 8pm a NJ/Philly Luthier by the name of Mike Egan and myself did the semi-final set-ups and adjustments all of the new Amati Model Basses (http://www.kensmithbasses.com/doublebasses/Amati/) that I had just received a few weeks ago. We spent about 14 hours working on the Basses with Mike re-fitting/tweaking the Sound Posts, Endpin units and Varnish touch-ups. Of course we spent some time playing the Basses as they do sound great but we aren't supposed to have fun when we work...lol
I met Mike about 2 years ago at a VSA (Violin Society of America) Convention in Pa. which was only down the road a few towns over. He mentioned that he worked on instruments and played Bass. A few months later he shows up at a rehearsal to play in the orchestra with me so now I find out he's really an accomplished Orchestral Bass player as well. Mike also did a few jobs for me like fix the Kay Bass I bought and later sold as well as some varnish touch-up on a Corsini Deluxe I had received. He also works on some of the Basses and Bows in the Philly Orch. Mike had previously worked in a prominent shop in the area as a Cello restorer for many years as well.
So, if you are in the NY/Philly area, Mike is a great guy and a very patient Luthier as well. His shop is about 1 1/2 hours form me and he left here at 2am to go home so you can do the math. In the end we had 2 Basses that needed some fingerboard work so I ended up giving a hand with the scraper and camber work as Mike overlooked my work and coached me a bit. It's has been awhile since I got that dirty working on a Bass.
Well, it's past my bed time and my back and legs are aching. All the Basses need now is the final set-up but I don't want to do the final string spacing until I know what each buyer wants. The Bridges came in at about 1"/25.5mm spacing. I re-cut one for the showroom at 27mm for bowing and lowered the nut which is about 10mm spacing. From there the customer can choose his nut height and bridge spacing. I'm done for now because on this day at 5:25 am in 1951, "I" was born!;)
I met Mike about 2 years ago at a VSA (Violin Society of America) Convention in Pa. which was only down the road a few towns over. He mentioned that he worked on instruments and played Bass. A few months later he shows up at a rehearsal to play in the orchestra with me so now I find out he's really an accomplished Orchestral Bass player as well. Mike also did a few jobs for me like fix the Kay Bass I bought and later sold as well as some varnish touch-up on a Corsini Deluxe I had received. He also works on some of the Basses and Bows in the Philly Orch. Mike had previously worked in a prominent shop in the area as a Cello restorer for many years as well.
So, if you are in the NY/Philly area, Mike is a great guy and a very patient Luthier as well. His shop is about 1 1/2 hours form me and he left here at 2am to go home so you can do the math. In the end we had 2 Basses that needed some fingerboard work so I ended up giving a hand with the scraper and camber work as Mike overlooked my work and coached me a bit. It's has been awhile since I got that dirty working on a Bass.
Well, it's past my bed time and my back and legs are aching. All the Basses need now is the final set-up but I don't want to do the final string spacing until I know what each buyer wants. The Bridges came in at about 1"/25.5mm spacing. I re-cut one for the showroom at 27mm for bowing and lowered the nut which is about 10mm spacing. From there the customer can choose his nut height and bridge spacing. I'm done for now because on this day at 5:25 am in 1951, "I" was born!;)