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There is snow on the ground and it is well below freezing, but the roads into Knoxville (East Knoxville, anyway) were reported as being clear. So I brushed the snow off my car, scraped some of the ice off, found a way to get into it despite the drivers side door lock being frozen, rolled it into the sun, scraped more ice off, took it out to get gas, and went into Knoxville.
The roads were good, as promised, and Red had her ready to go. She said she'd be happy to order the clamp so she could do the work, but the track record regarding timely delivery of the place she'd have to buy the clamp from was poor and it might be a month before she could start work, so she thought I should probably take it to the other shop. But we exchanged cards and she expressed an interest in hearing my music, (and it turns out she plays too) so that was kind of cool.
The other shop was ... different. It was probably less than a mile away but in an older part of Knoxville, and its part of the building was an odd shaped space with the part nearest the door being full of vintage clothing and boots and hats. I could see instruments farther in, so I kept going, and the repair tech was right there at the counter, working on an instrument.
I explained about Pearl and we moved over to another empty counter, obviously intended for this kind of thing, and I took her out of the case and he looked her over. I pointed out where Red had showed me that the interior brace (which her maker calls a "tone bar" had come partly loose from the top. He took all the strings off (with my permission--I buy strings in bulk and would have been replacing them tomorrow anyway had all gone as planned) and got out a mirror and light dohickey and looked around. Then he started pressing on Pearl's top--I could actually see the wood flexing, which was kind of alarming. Then Pearl gave a cracking sound, and I hunched up and took a half step back and he said "It's okay." Another horrible cracking sound. "It's normal; instruments usually do this when you take all their strings off."
He seemed to know what he was doing so I didn't snatch Pearl out of his hands. He tried a couple of things that were obviously intended to do what clamps do, (apparently Pearl is an odd size inside) then started explaining that he couldn't have her done by the weekend, which I already knew, but it was someone else who spoke to me on the phone before. I told him I understood, and he said he could have her fixed by Tuesday of next week, and would I like him to do anything else; was I happy with the setup and the action and so on?
I said I was very happy with the instrument, but while she was being repaired this might be a good time for a tuneup also, so he said he would check everything out. He agreed with Red that it was probably low humidity that was the problem; he said he had four humidifiers going full blast in the shop and they could barely keep the humidity where he wanted it. He said he expected it to cost about $120, which was pretty close to what Red had predicted. We shook hands and I went home.
Where I ordered 2 hygrometers and 2 humidifiers for Pearl's and Lark's cases. I don't want this to happen again. Also I got a little travelling humidifier for Christmas for hotel rooms at cons, and today I read the instructions and set it up in the bedroom. Because it's kind of dry for humans also right now.
The roads were good, as promised, and Red had her ready to go. She said she'd be happy to order the clamp so she could do the work, but the track record regarding timely delivery of the place she'd have to buy the clamp from was poor and it might be a month before she could start work, so she thought I should probably take it to the other shop. But we exchanged cards and she expressed an interest in hearing my music, (and it turns out she plays too) so that was kind of cool.
The other shop was ... different. It was probably less than a mile away but in an older part of Knoxville, and its part of the building was an odd shaped space with the part nearest the door being full of vintage clothing and boots and hats. I could see instruments farther in, so I kept going, and the repair tech was right there at the counter, working on an instrument.
I explained about Pearl and we moved over to another empty counter, obviously intended for this kind of thing, and I took her out of the case and he looked her over. I pointed out where Red had showed me that the interior brace (which her maker calls a "tone bar" had come partly loose from the top. He took all the strings off (with my permission--I buy strings in bulk and would have been replacing them tomorrow anyway had all gone as planned) and got out a mirror and light dohickey and looked around. Then he started pressing on Pearl's top--I could actually see the wood flexing, which was kind of alarming. Then Pearl gave a cracking sound, and I hunched up and took a half step back and he said "It's okay." Another horrible cracking sound. "It's normal; instruments usually do this when you take all their strings off."
He seemed to know what he was doing so I didn't snatch Pearl out of his hands. He tried a couple of things that were obviously intended to do what clamps do, (apparently Pearl is an odd size inside) then started explaining that he couldn't have her done by the weekend, which I already knew, but it was someone else who spoke to me on the phone before. I told him I understood, and he said he could have her fixed by Tuesday of next week, and would I like him to do anything else; was I happy with the setup and the action and so on?
I said I was very happy with the instrument, but while she was being repaired this might be a good time for a tuneup also, so he said he would check everything out. He agreed with Red that it was probably low humidity that was the problem; he said he had four humidifiers going full blast in the shop and they could barely keep the humidity where he wanted it. He said he expected it to cost about $120, which was pretty close to what Red had predicted. We shook hands and I went home.
Where I ordered 2 hygrometers and 2 humidifiers for Pearl's and Lark's cases. I don't want this to happen again. Also I got a little travelling humidifier for Christmas for hotel rooms at cons, and today I read the instructions and set it up in the bedroom. Because it's kind of dry for humans also right now.
