Home Biography Journal Links Contact |  |
Friday 13th
Toby reminded me today about the arrangement we'd discussed last month. He asked if I could look after the customers on Mondays and Tuesdays so that he can get on with some making. For some reason he's determined to do an 'Ole Bull' Guarneri of his own now (this model is going to end up being more common than a fake Strad label). He seems very keen to get started next week. Shouldn't be a problem... things are usually fairly quiet in the shop early in the week.
Boris came in for an adjustment on the violin - said that he felt playing it was getting to be very hard work. I measured it up and found the fingerboard had indeed dropped slightly - the E string was two tenths of a millimetre too high... virtually unplayable!
I.m looking forward to getting back to the 'Betts' Strad that I was making before my commission - it’ll be a relief to work on something beautiful and harmonious again.
Monday 16th
I'd just arrived at the shop this morning when Mary turned up with a whole car load of instruments from St Mark's School! Four violins, two violas and five cellos!!... and they need to be done this week. I wonder if Toby knew they were on the way?
This afternoon I was doing some delicate varnish restoration on one of the cellos when a young girl came into the shop. Before I could put down the nail varnish, Toby shot past me to ask if she needed any assistance. Turned out she's also a violin maker... recently graduated from the Cremona school. Toby gave her a tour of the shop and they spent a lot of time discussing the finer points of 'Ole Bull'... apparently she's already made three copies of this model herself (why on earth would you want to do it three times!!... must have had some trouble getting it to work).
I offered her a cup of tea but she didn't look very impressed with the teapot. When she found out that I was completely out of organic chamomile, they decided to go out to the local café instead. (I actually overheard Toby tell her that 'his assistant' could look after things while he was away!). Can’t see why he needs to waste so much time on socialising - I thought he was keen to get on with making his violin!
Tuesday 17th
Still working on the wonderful St Mark's instruments. I'd just managed to superglue my fingers together when a man came in to enquire about getting a soundpost adjustment. I started to explain to him about the complex relationship between the bridge feet, bass bar and soundpost but his mobile phone went off. Of course he immediately answered it and started pacing around the room, leaving me standing there with my mouth open, half-way through a sentence. It did seem to be quite an important call though - there was a lot of animated discussion about whether to defrost the beef or the pork sausages.
Toby noticed all this, walked over to the bandsaw and started slicing up the ribs for his violin. (Excellent... he really is learning!). It was so noisy that the sausage man had to adjourn to the street to finish his conversation. Very tempted to lock the door and put up the 'closed' sign.
Monday 23rd
That Italian girl (Bianca something) called in again today. Toby seemed very pleased to see her... more time wasting!
While she was here she looked at my violin and said "Ah… the 'Betts'. Don't you find Strad to be a little sterile and boring? I think del Gesu is a much more exciting maker." I explained to her that although I'd just sold a very successful Guarneri model, I actually preferred Strad and didn't find him the least bit sterile or boring.
They went off to the coffee shop again. When Toby eventually came back (over an hour later!) he astounded me by telling me that he was thinking of taking on Bianca in the workshop - apparently she's looking for a place in England to get some work experience. What an absurd idea! - I pointed out to Toby that this wasn't a very big work space and there really wasn't enough room for three people. He looked at me thoughtfully, but didn't say anything.