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Old 05-18-2016, 03:24 PM
John Cubbage John Cubbage is offline
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Join Date: 04-22-2016
Location: North Carolina
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A practice mute can be made of any heavy metal and attached to the bridge usually between the strings. David Walter used to have a large practice mute made of solid brass. I once made a few from two 1/4 inch thick aluminum plates with a 1/4 inch thick brass plate in between. It worked O.K. for what it was. I used it for practicing while in motel rooms. One mute went to Dwyght Bryan, Assistant Principal Bass of the Mexico State Orchestra.

I knew Andre Fantoni from back in the late '60s and '70s when he was at #130 and then #140 W. 42 St. NYC. I was told Fantoni retired and moved back to Bologna, Italy. Mr. Fantoni did excellent repairs and re-haired bows very well. He knew a lot of bassists and helped me locate two of my basses, one from Sam Coscia, and one from Mario Polisi through John Schaeffer. Mr. Fantoni was a fine gentleman who enjoyed taking his wife to Metropolitan Opera performances.

Paul Biase joined with Fantoni (1974?) and later took over the shop when Fantoni retired. Paul had been a bassist with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. When he took a leave of absence to work on basses, they got me to be a long term sub for his spot in the bass section (1974). In the late 1970s Paul did a fine repair and adjustments on my P. Pallotta 1790.

- Dr. C.

Last edited by John Cubbage; 05-25-2016 at 10:52 AM. Reason: spelling
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