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Double Stop Fiddle Shop Lost to Fire
Byron Berline's Double Stop Fiddle shop is burning to the ground as I write this. An Oklahoma landmark in the historic town of Guthrie, it would have had Webers, Collings, Gibsons (in mandolins, not to mention fiddles and other musical instruments) on the walls. A great loss to the music community, to Guthrie, and to Byron.
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Re: Double Stop Fiddle Shop Lost to Fire
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Re: Double Stop Fiddle Shop Lost to Fire
My parents live in Guthrie and just texted me the news. So incredibly sad. Byron gave me my first mandolin lesson there. Watched countless shows upstairs. The amount of bluegrass history lost is hard to think about. Thinking of Byron and his family. Hopefully everyone is safe.
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This is so sad! no other words.
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Unbelievably sad. I follow him on Instagram and it looks like such a neat place.
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So sad. all that is lost is just terrible.
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This is such sad news. I watched some great shows by amazing musicians there. It was there that I played my first Loar which Byron so graciously allowed me to play.
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Re: Double Stop Fiddle Shop Lost to Fire
Sad, Sad news indeed. I never visited his shop, but photos and film online looked like it was one of those special places. And Byron is a national treasure.
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Re: Double Stop Fiddle Shop Lost to Fire
Terrible news. Beyond the possibilities of personal injury and financial harm, there is the very real chance that numbers of historically important instruments may have been lost. So sorry for Byron, who I had the pleasure of meeting while doing photography for Andy Statman.
Attachment 175060
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Re: Double Stop Fiddle Shop Lost to Fire
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Re: Double Stop Fiddle Shop Lost to Fire
Uninsured is what we were told by a close friend.
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Re: Double Stop Fiddle Shop Lost to Fire
Oh no, how sad for the entire mandolin community!
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Re: Double Stop Fiddle Shop Lost to Fire
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mandolin Cafe
Uninsured is what we were told by a close friend.
I seem to remember Byron being a Loar owner;
Wonder if the fire got it.
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Re: Double Stop Fiddle Shop Lost to Fire
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mandolin Cafe
Uninsured is what we were told by a close friend.
That's a shame.
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Re: Double Stop Fiddle Shop Lost to Fire
Just read and got info from "Bluegrass Today" that one person was in the shop at the time of the fire, he grabbed Bryon's playing fiddle and mandolin, "and that's it." I've read Byron had 200-300 fiddles, in addition to mandolins and guitars. It's hard to believe he wouldn't have had musical instrument insurance.
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Re: Double Stop Fiddle Shop Lost to Fire
Quote:
Originally Posted by
JAK
....It's hard to believe he wouldn't have had musical instrument insurance.
Agreed. Something very strange--or tragic--about this....
Mick
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Re: Double Stop Fiddle Shop Lost to Fire
I'm sure the store itself had some form of insurance, but insuring every instrument in the house is a pretty technically and financially daunting task, especially for a brick-and-mortar store in today's retail environment.
I often wonder how many casual musicians (like myself) who have more than 10 instruments in the house have each of them insured for their value...
My youngest son used to refer to our instruments as "future firewood". While a joke, it sort of helps put things into perspective. The most valuable items at Double Stop were saved -- those being the people who played and worked on the instruments.
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Sad news indeed. A quick look at his web site looks like he had some terrific instruments.
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This is truly a major loss in the music world. The place was a treasure trove of instruments and memories. I'm incredibly saddened to hear this news, and I cannot imagine the impact to Byron and his family.
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Re: Double Stop Fiddle Shop Lost to Fire
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mandolin Cafe
Uninsured is what we were told by a close friend.
That leaves me speechless. I know some who don't insure because "once an instrument is lost, its lost and money won't replace it," but he had his own and others' instruments in care (consignments, etc.) I hope that isn't the case.
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Re: Double Stop Fiddle Shop Lost to Fire
Just saw video on FB. The Loar survived.
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Re: Double Stop Fiddle Shop Lost to Fire
Hang on to your hats for this bit of news. What I'm told is Byron and his crew are going to post and confirm this on the web as well, where I don't know but I'd guess on Facebook:
Byron's Loar was in a safe on the second floor of the building. By the time the fire was out the safe was in the basement with most of the rest of the building, under several feet of water totally submerged. They talked the fire department into pumping the basement dry from the water used to put out the fire. The safe was opened, everything in the safe was totally wet and ruined, but the Loar was in a --removed, but does it really matter? No one reads anyway--, always said to be waterproof. They opened the case, the mandolin was dry and still in tune.
That's the story as it was told to me just on the phone with Jim Triggs a few minutes. Jim is a close friend of Byron's, said Byron was crying when he pulled it out of the case and saw it was undamaged. This information literally came to me just now in this fashion. I'd say that's pretty damn good news as part of an otherwise tragic story.
EDIT: the video, click the image to start:
[fbv]639243019842336[/fbv]
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Re: Double Stop Fiddle Shop Lost to Fire
That....is....amazing!? :disbelief: :)
Wow.
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Re: Double Stop Fiddle Shop Lost to Fire