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Pick Up a New Pickup Several new amplification products have hit the market recently. The Ultra-Bass Transducer from L.R. Baggs, based on the popular L.R. Baggs Violin Pickup, aims to provide open, meaty tones without irritating feedback or that scratchy, nasal sound produced by some pickups. Designed to pick up the left-right motion of the vibrating bridge but remain unaffected by finger squeaks and bow scratches, the Ultra-Bass is easily installed without removing the bridge and does not change the acoustic sound of the instrument. For more information, call (805) 929-3545 or write to 483 N. Frontage Rd., Nipomo, CA 93444. EMF Acoustics Oy, Ltd., a Finnish company, is stepping in with a pair of products for violin and bass. The B-Band V.I.P. Violin Pickup System consists of a pickup that slips into the edge of the bridge and a matchbox-size integrated preamp, which mounts to the side of the instrument with a chinrest-style clamp for quick installation and removal. A buffer amp in a metal box supplies the power via a nine-volt battery and offers a volume control and a fixed 100-Hertz, 24-decibel-per-octave high-pass filter. EMF’s B-Band Statement System for Double Bass is intended to allow players to alternate between arco and pizzicato playing, getting a good sound from each. The system includes three easily installed pickups; two have integrated preamps and mount onto the bridge on the bass and treble sides, while the third tucks under the bass-side foot of the bridge. They are then run into a mixer with two individual mix controls that can be preset for optimum pizzicato and arco sound, and a footswitch to jump between them. The mixer also features an SLR input, a line level quarter-inch output jack, balanced mic level XLR output, ground lift switch, body pickup gain trim, master volume control, and a mute switch, and can be powered by a nine-volt battery, AC adapter, or phantom power. For further information, telephone (358) 9-547-4301; write to Leipurinkuja 1, 02600 Espoo, Finland; or go to www.b-band.com. Sound Idea As a musician, performer, and ex–instrument builder, I recollect countless hours spent sitting around with friends and colleagues brainstorming over thousands of routine problems of instrument tone, transportation, amplification, construction, just about every "-tion" problem there is. Luckily, very few ideas get past the sitting-around-raving stage, or we would be awash in a sea of gadgetry so vast as to make it impossible to even find the bathroom, much less our instruments. The ideas that actually penetrate the conceptual wall of possibility often reveal themselves as silly, but occasionally one proves useful, as does the new Soundboard Acoustic Amplifier from the High Cliff Company. We already have a slew of new "boutique" acoustic-instrument amps, tailored especially for the needs of acoustic guitarists and other string players running piezo pickups. But how about an amp for acoustic stringed instruments that doesn’t use a paper cone for a speaker, but instead employs a driver to set a real piece of spruce in motion? And brace it just like a guitar top, and put a soundhole in it, too! Sounds like the greatest idea that never worked—until now. I have trustworthy reports that the Soundboard is absolute dynamite on a solid-body nylon-string guitar, so why not an amplified violin? This amp is certainly one of the most beautiful pieces of electronic equipment to cross my path in years. The craftsmanship is first-rate, with finished-hardwood or vinyl-sided models available, comfortable leather handles, and that beautiful piece of spruce or optional cedar on the front. And the thing sounds…not too bad. I took it down to Alisdair Fraser’s Valley of the Moon fiddle camp in the Santa Cruz mountains, and a bunch of us tested it on two Zeta violins, an Aceto NV, and various other acoustic instruments with Baggs, Barbera, and Fishman pickups. With some knob twiddling, we were able to get a pretty decent sound out of everything. The amp has a strong tendency toward tubbiness and does behave strangely at really loud volumes, compressing the sound and producing odd harmonic peaks. However, the distorted zinginess of piezo pickups (which pretty much all violin pickups are) is eliminated, and, at reasonable volumes, the amp works well. The control panel features a master volume, a gain control, and an impressive row of equalization knobs (very useful for eliminating an inline preamp and adjusting tone). And the amp is capable of wide tone adjustment, although the E.Q. knobs don’t seem to do as much as one might expect. Sort of idiot proof—you can’t change it enough to ruin it. I would recommend that, before buying, you try it with the instrument you plan to use with it. There is no reverb and no effects, although an effects loop circuit is provided. And be warned: the amp is heavy—a weight of 45 pounds makes a wheeled airline cart pretty necessary. The High Cliff Soundboard Acoustic Amplifier is a wild concept that works better than most. It might be just the thing for a string player who is seeking a more acoustic amplified sound and whose volume requirements are not extreme. Prices start at $1,298. For further information, write to the High Cliff Company at 155 Lord St., Elgin, IL 60123; call (847) 695-5626; or go to www.soundboard.net. —Darol Anger String Sets by Subscription Tired of the hassle of buying new strings all the time? A Web-based company, Subscriptionstrings, is betting that you are. To subscribe, a player selects a set of strings—whichever four strings desired, regardless of make and model—and a delivery schedule. Some soloists prefer to change their strings every few weeks, other players every few months. From then on, the selected set is sent automatically through the mail at the specified interval. The company is run by a young couple, both professional string players, and can be found at www.subscriptionstrings.com. Les Barcus Dies Les Barcus, the inventor of a popular electronic pickup for acoustic instruments, died on March 4, 1999, at the age of 89. In 1963 Barcus met John Berry, a violinist who wanted to amplify his violin and was frustrated with the sound and feedback problems inherent in microphones and magnetic pickups. Barcus created a small piezo crystal transducer, which picked up the energy reverberating from the strings as it passed to the bridge of the instrument. The pair established Barcus-Berry Inc. in 1964 and began by marketing an electric violin featuring the new piezo technology. Les Barcus went on to create pickups for nearly every type of acoustic instrument. He and Berry retired in 1994 and, in an interesting twist, sold the business to a company that had been spun off of Barcus-Berry in the 1980s: BBE Sound, Inc. Barcus-Berry pickups are still extremely popular with players of violins and a wide range of other instruments. Net News Players looking for free sheet music on the Web should point their browsers to www.geocities.com/Area51/Realm/5747/. The site does not seem to have a name—just the words "Get Yer Free Sheet Music!" across the top of the page—but what it lacks in slickness it makes up for in usefulness. It provides an amazingly comprehensive list of links to sites offering free sheet-music downloads of interest to violinists and fiddlers, from contemporary composers’ works to Irish fiddle tunes, modern Russian jazz solos to Greek folk music. At Quinn Violins’ Web site (www.quinnviolins.com), you’ll find a comprehensive on-line catalog of bowed-instrument products. A shopping system automates the entire ordering process, including shipping-rate calculations for every country, secure credit-card information transmittal, and in- or out-of-stock availability for all inventory items. For international customers, import duties are listed, and you can e-mail questions in English, French, Italian, German, or Spanish. Strings are a focus at the site; a string I.D. chart offers a list of the colors of end-wrapping thread so you can identify the manufacturer, label, pitch, and tension of a string. And if you find a lower published price on any strings offered by Quinn, fire off an e-mail and they’ll match it. New features are always in the works—one of the latest is V.R. (virtual reality) views of Quinn’s instrument cases. The site uses QuickTime3 (which can be downloaded free) to unite 1,500 separate digital images of violin, viola, and cello cases, allowing you to rotate the product and zoom in on the details. Carl Fisher Closes Its Doors On March 13, 1999, the last sale was rung up at 54 Cooper Square in New York City, home since 1923 to The Music Store at Carl Fischer—the oldest sheet-music store in America, with a 123-year history and a stock of 400,000 titles. For three weeks, everything was offered at a discount prior to the closing of the store, which is housed in a building that just changed hands in a $15-million deal that leaves no room for The Music Store or its siblings, music publisher Carl Fischer, Inc., and Carl Fischer Music Distributors. The Carl Fischer companies have not gone out of business, just relocated—sheet music will now be available only by mail, from a distribution center in Paoli, Pennsylvania, and possibly through the company’s Web site, www.carlfischer.com. The wholesale distributing arm will also be in Paoli, and the printing operation is moving to Long Island City. But it just won’t be the same. No longer can players pop in off the street to select from seven different editions of Handel’s Messiah. A new home will have to be found for the ten-foot-tall tuba that stood for years in the shop. That upright piano will no longer be available to try out the music to see if you like it. And you can’t really bump into fellow players on the Web site. (For a personal view of what visiting the Carl Fischer store was like, see "Carl Fischer Memories," page 90.) The trouble began when the company was sold in 1998 to British music publisher Boosey & Hawkes. Then F. Hayden Connor, a great-grandson of the original Carl Fischer, bought it back—but changes had to be made to keep the company viable. Closing the New York store was one of those changes; the retail stores in Chicago and South Easton, Massachusetts, were also closed. About 30 of Carl Fischer’s 80 employees have been laid off. Musikmesse Here I am, sitting in Käfer’s restaurant at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, sipping a glass of Riesling while I wait to board the plane that will take me back first to Milan, then to my home in Cremona. The large windows overlook the airport landing and takeoff strips, and luncheoners can watch the big "birds." But I can hardly see a thing; my head is spinning after an intense three-day visit to Musikmesse, the biggest music-related trade show in the world. This year’s event ran March 3–7, during which time some 96,000 people turned out to see more than 2,000 exhibits staged by companies selling musical instruments, sheet music, and lighting and sound equipment. I still cannot quite grasp the fact that music in all its aspects can generate such an enormous amount of business activity. This gigantic and noisy fair is a great international melting pot: huge pavilions from China and Korea stand cheek-by-jowl with German and American distributors. It offers an incredible variety of instruments and accessories displayed in several halls, and of course concerts are programmed throughout each day. I visited only one hall, and I still could not see every display there. No wonder—there were 827 of them, many of which were dedicated to stringed instruments and their accessories. The main problem is orienting yourself in this gigantic labyrinth (especially if you check your coat at what you think is the main entrance and later realize that you can’t remember how to find your way back there). Fortunately, if you get lost there are "orientation booths" equipped with electronic monitors to help you find your way. The distances are long, too—thank goodness for the shuttle buses that ferry visitors from hall to hall. Logistical details aside, all the exhibitors I talked to were pleased with their participation, even though some deplored the fact that there seemed to be fewer Japanese and Korean buyers than in previous years. Even so, such events are growing in popularity—music fairs are popping up in other countries, including Vienna, Budapest, Beijing, and Tokyo. One could spend the year circling the planet attending all those fairs! I can’t make it to all of them, but I do plan to head back to Frankfurt for next year’s event, scheduled April 12–16, 2000. For more information, fax Musikmesse at (49) 69 75756099 or go to www.messefrankfurt.de/. —Patricia Kaden Bonhams held a minor sale on February 9, at which 80 percent of the lots were sold. The top sellers were a Scottish violin by James W. Briggs, which sold for £2,700 ($4,430), and a Belgian cello made in Brussels by A. Cuisset, which took £2,500 ($4,100). At an auction of fine instruments on March 16, 44 percent of the lots were sold; sales were topped by a fine Carlo Antonio Testore violin from Milan, ca. 1770, that took £35,000 ($56,700). A violin built by Annibale Fagnola in Turin in 1929, sold for £30,000 ($48,600), and a silver-mounted violin bow by E. Sartory, in "an exceptional state of preservation," garnered £10,000 ($16,200). Another fine-instrument auction on March 16 was held by Sotheby’s, at which 70 percent of the lots were sold. A Domenico Montagnana double bass took the top price; built in Venice ca. 1747, it sold for £155,500 ($251,910). A violin by Nicolò Amati, ca. 1640, went for £128,000 ($207,360), and one made by Nicolò Gagliano in 1744 took £87,300 ($141,426). Phillips sold 77 percent of the lots in its smaller February 16 auction. Top sellers were a ca.-1900 violin "labeled and after" Raffaele and Antonio Gagliano, which sold far above estimate at £6,900 ($11,250), and a pair of five-string chamber basses by Pollmann, each of which took £4,370 ($7,125). At Phillips’ fine-instrument sale of March 15, 55 percent of the lots were sold. Topping the sales were a fine Italian viola "in the manner of the Gagliano family," which garnered £28,750 ($46,575), and a ca.-1830 violin built by Raffaele Trapani in Naples, which went for £21,850 ($35,400). Christie’s held a fine-instrument sale on March 17, at which 71 percent of the lots were sold. The highlight of the auction was the sale of the "Segelman ex-Hart" Antonio Stradivan cello, which went for £551,500 ($898,945). A violin by Antonio and Girolamo Amati took £87,300 ($142,300), and a Carlo Ferdinando Landolfi viola realized £80,700 ($131,540). Coming Attractions In serendipitous sequence, Phillips has planned a sale of fine musical instruments for June 14, Sotheby’s sale will be held June 15, Bonhams’ auction is scheduled for June 16, and Christie’s sale will be on June 17.
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Sotheby's
auctioned this Domenico Montagnana bass in March.