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Thread: NOT an essential service?!

  1. #1
    Registered User Charlie Bernstein's Avatar
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    Default NOT an essential service?!

    Two weeks ago, I dropped off my new old snakehead Gibson with my mando whisperer to get it up and running.

    Now I have to wait.

    Since when is luthery not an essential service?

    What a world. Sheesh.

  2. #2

    Default Re: NOT an essential service?!

    That truly sucks. You should at least be able to do a drive by, and have them throw it into your trunk. Perhaps they could mail it to you.
    Silverangel A
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  3. #3
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    Default Re: NOT an essential service?!

    I know of couple of very good repair guys who work out of their home - so, I anticipate no problems . . . .

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    Default Re: NOT an essential service?!

    Yeah but all the UPS and Fedex locations around me are closed. I think USPS is still taking packages for delivery.
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  5. #5
    Registered User Charlie Bernstein's Avatar
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    Default Re: NOT an essential service?!

    Quote Originally Posted by MikeZito View Post
    I know of couple of very good repair guys who work out of their home - so, I anticipate no problems . . . .
    Sure. My guy has a shop, but even if he worked at home, I'd still risk a stiff fine if I tried to go there.

    The Guv's orders: only drive to doctors and food stores.

    That's okay by me. I'll just wait. I have plenty of other toys to keep me busy. Just composed this today on my other mando:

    (Arrangement: A A B A)

    A part (bouncy):

    Em - Bm Em / Em D /
    Em C Bm Em / Em D Em - /

    B part (deliberate):

    Em D / Am Em / Em D / Em /
    G D / Am Em / G D / Em /
    C G / D G / F C / G - - CF /
    C G / D - G CF / C B7 / Em /

    I'll probaby switch it to guitar for gigs. (Remember gigs?) Play rhythm and let my hot-guit buddy play lead.

    And, hm. Title? It's kind of a bluegrass klezmer thing. "Tennesse Schmaltz"? "Tuscarora Hora"? "Guns and Moses"? . . .

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    Default Re: NOT an essential service?!

    Quote Originally Posted by Charlie Bernstein View Post
    And, hm. Title? It's kind of a bluegrass klezmer thing. "Tennesse Schmaltz"? "Tuscarora Hora"? "Guns and Moses"? . . .
    Years ago I threatened to write a sad bluegrass song and call it: 'Blue Grass On A Gray Day'

    It's probably best that I never finsihed it, huh?

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  8. #7

    Default Re: NOT an essential service?!

    Deliver food to your luthier with the mando! Do it while you are grocery shopping as well. Just a thought!

    Quote Originally Posted by Charlie Bernstein View Post
    Sure. My guy has a shop, but even if he worked at home, I'd still risk a stiff fine if I tried to go there.

    The Guv's orders: only drive to doctors and food stores.

    That's okay by me. I'll just wait. I have plenty of other toys to keep me busy. Just composed this today on my other mando:

    (Arrangement: A A B A)

    A part (bouncy):

    Em - Bm Em / Em D /
    Em C Bm Em / Em D Em - /

    B part (deliberate):

    Em D / Am Em / Em D / Em /
    G D / Am Em / G D / Em /
    C G / D G / F C / G - - CF /
    C G / D - G CF / C B7 / Em /

    I'll probaby switch it to guitar for gigs. (Remember gigs?) Play rhythm and let my hot-guit buddy play lead.

    And, hm. Title? It's kind of a bluegrass klezmer thing. "Tennesse Schmaltz"? "Tuscarora Hora"? "Guns and Moses"? . . .

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  10. #8
    Purveyor of Sunshine sgarrity's Avatar
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    Default Re: NOT an essential service?!

    UPS and FedEx are not closed in CA. They’re considered essential.

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  12. #9
    Registered User Charlie Bernstein's Avatar
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    Default Re: NOT an essential service?!

    Quote Originally Posted by ABmando View Post
    Deliver food to your luthier with the mando! Do it while you are grocery shopping as well. Just a thought!
    Yup! We're all coming up with solutions like that. Not sure how I'd explain to a trooper why I needed to drive to Waterville for groceries.

  13. #10
    Registered User Charlie Bernstein's Avatar
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    Default Re: NOT an essential service?!

    Quote Originally Posted by sgarrity View Post
    UPS and FedEx are . . . considered essential.
    But because the world is run by Philistines, guitar shops are not.

  14. #11
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    Default Re: NOT an essential service?!

    Can't you drive to a park for a walk? Is there somewhere that you can go near your luthier for walk, or maybe he/she would meet you there.
    THE WORLD IS A BETTER PLACE JUST FOR YOUR SMILE!

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  16. #12
    Registered User Charlie Bernstein's Avatar
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    Default Re: NOT an essential service?!

    Quote Originally Posted by pops1 View Post
    Can't you drive to a park for a walk? Is there somewhere that you can go near your luthier for walk, or maybe he/she would meet you there.
    I have no compulsion to risk a fine or spread germs, and I wouldn't ask my mando whisperer to risk a fine or spread germs, either.

    (Here he is, by the way: Dennis Patkus.)

    Meanwhile, I have a houseful of instruments, including my trusty Red Line A5. No one here is suffering. This is a textbook First World problem.

    Just saying (a) interesting times, aren't they?, (b) how dare they say luthiers aren't essential?, and (c) it'll be a happy day when I bring Junior (oval snakehead A Junior, that is) home and fire it up. Worth waiting for? Hope so!

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  18. #13
    Registered User mtucker's Avatar
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    Default Re: NOT an essential service?!

    Quote Originally Posted by Charlie Bernstein View Post

    The Guv's orders: only drive to doctors and food stores.
    I’m not aware of any state mandating an order like that unless you’re living somewhere under Marshall rule. I’ve been riding my motorbikes through the twisties this week and there are plenty of others out doing the same. Beaches and hiking trails are closed naturally but folks/families are out biking and walking in uber high numbers.

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  20. #14
    Registered User Charlie Bernstein's Avatar
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    Default Re: NOT an essential service?!

    Quote Originally Posted by mtucker View Post
    I’m not aware of any state mandating an order like . . . .
    I'm simplifying. Here's some stuff from the state website:

    Q: What are the essential personal activities in the Executive Order?

    A: Essential personal activities include the following with relation to an individual, their family, household members, pets, or livestock:

    • Obtaining necessary supplies for household consumption or use, such as groceries, and supplies and equipment needed to work from home, laundry, and products needed to maintain safety, sanitation, and essential maintenance of the home or residence.
    • Obtaining medication or medical supplies and seeking medical or behavioral health or emergency services.
    • Providing care, including transportation, of oneself, a family member, friend, pet or livestock in another household or location for essential health and safety activities and to obtain necessary supplies and services.
    • Traveling to and from an educational institution for purposes of receiving meals or instructional materials for distance learning.

    So I suppose a mandolin is medication, right? Better than Xanax! And educational! And it's certainly food for thought . . . .

  21. #15
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: NOT an essential service?!

    New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maryland. Those are the states I know of that have banned unnecessary travel because I live in one and let's try to keep our personal comments non-political. It doesn't matter what any of us might think of the conditions.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
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    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
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  23. #16

    Default Re: NOT an essential service?!

    What part of social distancing do you guys not understand? Does it only apply to everyone else, or only if it isn’t inconvenient to you? When it shows up in your area, it’s too late.
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  25. #17
    Registered User Charlie Bernstein's Avatar
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    Default Re: NOT an essential service?!

    Quote Originally Posted by Br1ck View Post
    What part of social distancing do you guys not understand? Does it only apply to everyone else, or only if it isn’t inconvenient to you? When it shows up in your area, it’s too late.
    Not complaining! At all! (See #12.)

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    Registered User Ranald's Avatar
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    Default Re: NOT an essential service?!

    Boy! I believe Charlie, in the OP, was making a tongue-in-cheek joke about what mandolin players think is important, just as a sports fan might say, "What? I can't live if you cancel ball games." Charlie's since made clear that he does not believe that mandolin repairs are essential in a crisis and he's not trying to beat the system for his own pleasure. It's called ironic humour, which may not be to everyone's taste, but let's lighten up and move on, folks
    Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
    "I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
    Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.

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  28. #19
    Registered User Charlie Bernstein's Avatar
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    Default Re: NOT an essential service?!

    Quote Originally Posted by Ranald View Post
    Boy! I believe Charlie, in the OP, was making a tongue-in-cheek joke about what mandolin players think is important, just as a sports fan might say, "What? I can't live if you cancel ball games." . . .
    Absolutely! If I can't kill time taking pot shots at the gods, what good is a quarantine?

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    Ranald 

  30. #20
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: NOT an essential service?!

    You need to read the posts, I seriously doubt that any serious comments we're aimed at the OP. Carry on.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

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  32. #21
    Registered User Charlie Bernstein's Avatar
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    Default Re: NOT an essential service?!

    Quote Originally Posted by MikeEdgerton View Post
    You need to read the posts, I seriously doubt that any serious comments we're aimed at the OP. Carry on.
    Yeah, I think folks are just venting. Now's as good a time as any.

    Now where'd I put my ventilator? . . .

  33. #22

    Default Re: NOT an essential service?!

    Over reaction sure. But every time I read someone suggesting any interaction whatever, like, I can go over and visit my girl friend, or I can go down to the hardware store and get stuff for that project, or the big issue, it's not here so I don't need to take precautions, I'm going to react.

    One by one, place by place, the pattern is clear. If you are lucky enough to live where it doesn't seem to be, now is the time to ensure the safety of your community. And yes, my comments were a reaction to other comments than the OP's. I've got two amps ready to pick up at a one man shop in an industrial complex. They will sit there a while. Many people are in harm's way taking care of the sick. Stay home for them. I'll try to restrain myself in the future. It is only in the interest of everyone's well being that I say anything at all.
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  35. #23

    Default Re: NOT an essential service?!

    Hi All:

    I resonated with the thoughts of the OP. It's a very, very small issue in the scheme of things, to be sure, but I also took in my mandolin on March 16 for some fretwork. It's a Northfield Artist, 5 bar model with lots of punch, volume, and a gorgeous tone. It certainly hung with the high end instruments I've sampled at Carters and elsewhere. That said, many frets were worn to the point of not being able to intonate correctly anymore (I've had it for 4 years and now use a much lighter touch, although when learning new pieces and riffs, I find I still press down far too hard).

    The music shop I took it to was kind enough to give me a loner instrument, a Kentucky 850. I think it was hanging in their shop for many, many years. After changing the dead strings and adjusting the bridge, the tone is certainly decent, but it still has awful intonation. I'd love to apply Rob's set up tricks to it, but don't want to do that that a 'new' instrument that isn't mine. For me, anyway, the small (and unlevel) fret wire on this instrument certainly makes it more difficult to play beautifully. I'm playing it 2-4 hours/day and have been very grateful to have an instrument at this time.

    All that said, with my NF unavailable for likely at least another month, I confess to shopping the classifieds for a really nice A instrument, preferably used, especially in the Girouard/Pava line, as it really seems they've excellent value in that $2-3k range. If it's a long-term keeper, great. If not, I'd be OK with that too. If the mando market tanks, as I expect it to with the economic fallout to come, I'm fine with that loss in value as the price of having really nice instrument during this time and beyond.

    Have you played any of the Pava or Girouard A's at Sylvan, Br1ck (I'm not certain if they can ship right now)? Anyone else sampled these makes from TMS, The Music Emporium of elsewhere? I'd certainly consider other makes too if they could be shipped. Again, used would be preferred, although I'd consider new as well. I don't have a specific required voicing for this purchase - more modern vs traditional, midrangy vs stronger bottom, etc. - but want it to have 'it'..... you know, where a light touch still gives volume, of how you can 'feel' the air puff out the F holes on a chop chord. Looking F holes only and instruments that could actually be shipped right now. I'd love to hear suggestions.

    I don't ever really post, but I'm deeply appreciative of this community, now more than ever.

    Peter

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  37. #24
    Purveyor of Sunshine sgarrity's Avatar
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    Default Re: NOT an essential service?!

    I assume most stores are still shipping. It only takes one person to be able to handle shipping out online/phone orders. I sold two instruments this week and shipped them out via UPS. Will be purchasing another once those sales are completed.

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  39. #25
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: NOT an essential service?!

    Up until recently most music stores in New Jersey were still shipping and doing curbside pickup but with the closure of all but essential businesses that stopped. What's happening elsewhere I do not know.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

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