The Squamidian Report – Sept. 6 / 14
Issue #641
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
I've never had a guitar professionally set up before. I had a guitar
repaired once but that old 12-string had started to pull apart and was
threatening to bend itself into a pretzel. Most instruments come from
the factory with a 'one size fits all' setup, and for pretty much
anything I've ever played that was good enough, or more to the point, I
simply didn't know it could be better. Anyway, I decided to take that
guitar in to someone who knows what they are doing and have it set up
to my liking and my style of playing. Of course that meant I had to
find said luthier, someone who knew what they were doing and was good
at it. I remembered reading in the newspaper a while back about several
women luthiers who were doing some pretty impressive work in the
Vancouver area. All of them were building custom instruments that
rivaled anything out there and all were more than capable of doing
repairs and setups for pretty well anything that needed it.
I did a simple Internet search for luthiers in general and came up with
several names. Most were working in or associated with music stores,
but not all. One name that caught my attention was that of a young
woman who had studied wood working at Conestoga College. From there she
worked her way up and ended up at Larrivee Guitar where she honed her
skills. When Larrivee decided to leave Vancouver and head for
California for tax reasons, she decided to stay and set up her own
business. Her reputation has built to the point where some rather big
name artists are taking their instruments to her, and she has some
dedicated customers from all around the world who prefer to bring their
instruments to her. She works out of a tiny little unit in the rather
gritty east end of Vancouver and is only available through appointment.
You can't just walk in and find yourself at the front counter of a
luthier shop. When you are invited in, you find yourself right at her
workbench. There are all sorts of interesting delicate tools neatly
hanging and various instrument parts being worked on. As you talk to
her, you begin to realize by the way she talks and the questions she
asks that it does not matter how 'good' you are as a musician, or how
expensive or cheap your instrument is. She respects you and your
instrument. She handles it carefully and with confidence. So, I left
that guitar with her for a couple of days and it came back perfect. Not
much else to say about it. She had some advice about humidity control
and suggested I may want to upgrade my endpins to bone at some point in
the future, and that was it. I'm probably going to take my old mandolin
in for her to give a good once-over sometime later this fall, and
perhaps even my old 4-string banjo and have her re-build it. It has sat
in its case, untouched, for so many years now that its not even
playable anymore. And in the mean time I'm just happily strumming away
on that guitar.
Some of you would have already known this, but the rest of you would
not be able to guess because you don't even know what I'm about to say.
So, here it is.... I drove in to Vancouver on Thursday afternoon, right
down to the old part of the city to the railway station. Why, well, to
pick up uncle Russell who was arriving on the Rocky Mountaineer from
Calgary. He had visited with his step-son in Calgary and then rode that
train through the Rockies to Kamloops and on down the Fraser Canyon to
Vancouver. That train ride is almost like a cruise ship on wheels.
Anyway, the train was scheduled to get in at 5:40pm. I checked to make
sure it was on time and then headed in, giving myself enough time to
deal with Vancouver traffic which is always congested and grid locked.
I got there with fifteen or twenty minutes to spare, only to find the
train was now going to be over an hour late due to train traffic,
freight trains get precedence over passenger trains these days. So, I
walked to a Horton outlet about a kilometer or so away and grabbed a
sandwich to pass the time. Eventually the train pulled in. I was
surprised at how big it was, much longer and with many more cars than I
had expected. Something interesting, the station staff all lined up and
waved at the passengers as the train pulled in, and then put out
welcome mats at the bottom of the boarding steps. Very regal.
Once Russ was off the train and we had retrieved his luggage which
incidentally came by truck and was there ahead of the train, we headed
for Squamish. I had come in over the Second Narrows bridge and 1st Ave.
By now it was after 7pm and I figured it would be easier to go right
through the down town and over the Lions Gate because the traffic
reports were still talking about problems on the Second Narrows and up
through 'the cut'. Down town was a breeze and we were through in no
time at all. We pulled down in to Horseshoe Bay so Russ could grab a
bite to eat and then we drove on home.
On Friday we intended to get to the Gondola right away but a few things
came up so it was mid afternoon before we had a chance to go there. We
got a season pass for Russ and had to try it out of course so up we
went. He's now been up there more times than most of you. And thats
about it for now.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Well, it’s September already and it looks like we’re finally getting
that summer weather they promised us! By the way, who are “They”
anyway? Oh well, no matter, the nice weather is here and it sounds like
it’s going to hang around a while.
Today we attended the memorial service of a friend of ours in the
little town of Linwood. The person being remembered was a friend we
made while living in Linwood for eight years starting when we built our
house there in 1990. He was an easygoing gentleman who had
immigrated to Canada back in the late 70’s from Scotland. He was a very
talented musician and a mechanical engineer by profession. He played in
a band on weekends at local pubs around the region and we spent many an
evening being entertained by he and his fellow musicians. He not only
played a mean bass guitar, but he also played keyboards, 6 string
guitar and drums. His heart, mind and soul were always full of music
and he was one of the happiest personalities I’ve ever known. He was a
couple of years older than I but had the exuberance of an 18 year old
when it came to his music. Only last year, he sent me an e-mail asking
if we would come visit he and his wife to view and listen to his newest
toy. He had purchased a brand new Baby Grand Piano from a company in
Guelph and had to have some renovations made to his house so they could
deliver his new toy to his subterranean music studio. They had to
renovate the staircase so they could get the piano into the basement as
well as widening the door to his music room. He apparently had always
wanted his own Grand Piano and since he had finally decided to retire
he fulfilled his own desire for just that, a beautiful Baby Grand. In
that year, he must have repeated his visitation request at least a
dozen times but we were just never able to time things right to make an
evening of it around that Baby Grand.
Last Saturday, after hearing that our friend was in hospital but doing
ok, we received word on Monday that he had passed away in his sleep in
London’s University Hospital. We of course were shocked and saddened by
the news!
In attendance at his memorial gathering today were hundreds of
people that considered themselves friends of his. The church in Linwood
was packed to the rafters and we were sitting up in the balcony next to
those rafters in a little non-air conditioned building designed to hold
300 people. The attendance was in excess of 500 and every one of those
500 managed to squeeze into that tiny church. It was like an oven in
there as the piano that he played every Sunday was being well played in
a tribute to our friend by a different set of fingers.
We were so moved by the tribute and even with the discomfort of the
temperature in the church the atmosphere was amazing. It was truly a
lovely memorial gathering in honour of our friend Iain Mackenzie
Skinner!
Our only regret being that we never did gather around his Baby Grand to
hear him play that beautiful instrument! I’m sure that there’s now a
new keyboardist playing in a position of honour seated at God’s own
Baby Grand!
“Rest In Peace” Iain!
That’s it for this week folks!
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report.
Bye for now … Greg
PS: Something To Think About>
No matter what age you are when it ends, life is too short!
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Have a good one..
the doug
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.
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