Electric Strings Monthly
Circulation: 1500
Editorial:
Andy
Design&Production:
Andy
Administration:
Andy
Finance:
Little
Advertising:
This is it
Marketing:
Please tell someone
Correspondence:
20 Brewers Wharf, Newark, Nottinghamshire, NG24
1ET, U.K.
Telephone:
(44)(0)1636 677416
If you would like to contribute to this newsletter with details about new products, new music or just news, then please send me an email.
Although this newsletter is light-hearted in it's style
please note that the content is copyrighted and remains the property of Andy Holliman,
Achieve Instruments. No part of the contents may be reproduced, in print or electronically
(except for your own personal use) or stored in an information retrieval system or
workshop or bathroom without the prior permission of the author.
In Previous Ask Andys:
#1-Do I need a
Preamp?
#2-What wood is best?
#3-LR Baggs Para DI Box
#4-Strings fitting & Octave
#5-Bow Bugs
#6-Anti Virus Software
#7-All about Midi and Zeta
#8-Amplifiers
#9-Effect
Pedals
#10-Earths and Hums
#11-OctaveStrings
#12-Silent Violins
#13-Not a lot
#14-UK/USA costs
#15-Viruses
Welcome to newsletter number 20. I hope you
like it. If you do, please tell others, if you don't, please tell me.
It is my endeavour to be
completely fair in the things that I write or tell you from these pages. If you feel that
I have voiced anything that is inaccurate or unfair, please let me know. Lots of things to
tell you so let's get on with it...
If you would like me to publish details about any of your equipment or products then please send me some information.
ElectricStrings - A Detailed Guide to Electric Violin Construction
My book is now available for ordering. This book is an in depth, step by step guide from the design process through to the construction of the final finished instrument accompanied by a comprehensive set of photographs of every stage in the making process. The instrument that I am making and documenting is my Griffin electric violin. The book has 256 pages and has over 145 photographs.
The 'book' is published on a CD in electronic format as an Adobe Acrobat PDF. You will then be able to read or print the book off-line from your computer.
Also on the CD will be:
- The Book in PDF format
- A copy of my web site so you can explore the site off-line
- A Thumbnail gallery of all of the electric violin designs that I have found on the Internet
- A link to enable you to install Acrobat Reader on your machine if you do not already have it
- A link to enable you to access my web site on-line
By having all of my web site off-line and the Thumbnail gallery you will have access to all of my pages including all of my Newsletters and all of the images of all the electric bowed stringed instruments worldwide. The database list of makers and suppliers will also be there for you to refer to. This will provide you with a complete reference work when you come to designing your own instrument, ordering supplies and seeing how other people have made their instruments.
The cost of the CD is £32 which includes postage and packing.
To order the book (via credit card or UK cheque) click on the CD image on my Home page oron the image below. You will also see the complete table of contents for the book.
Now a word of warning.
Many of you may have received E-Mails from Nigeria asking you to help some estranged relative of the Nigerian government to 'liberate' some $20,000,000. This is of course the well known Nigerian email scam. Hopefully none of you have replied to their email or ventured any further.
Now they are sending out emails to suppliers of musical equipment and are pretending to want to buy things from you. Here is one E-Mail that I have received:
Hello,
I saw your advert via the internet and i am interested in
the purchase of yourSupplier of Violin, Viola, Cello and Bass fittings,
accessories, cases et for sale.I am aMusical Equipment dealer based in Lagos
Nigeria,West-Africa into importation, i have alocal shipper that takes care of my shipping
,as soon as the transaction is completed my shipper will come to pick it up.Kindly let me
know your best price and also, if you accept a cashier check drawn in United Kingdom
Bank,so if this is ok by you, kindly let me know your
best price offer via email and forward me your phone number.expecting
your urgent response
Thanks
This is another scam.
I replied asking them what they were interested in buying. They told me that they wanted one of my electric violins for their local church group. I told them how much and then I got this reply:
Hello, Thanks for the reply.I will instruct a client of mine in the United Kingdom who is indebted to me to send the payment to you imediately.He will be sending a check worth of 6000pounds to you,You are to deduct your 1400pounds from it and help send the remaining to my shipper who will be coming over for the pick up from Lagos, Nigeria.
Please do note that business must be done with good faith and trust so do not hesitate to send the funds to him as soon as you receive the payment.You are to send the funds to him via Western Union Money Transfer as it is a quick means of transfering money worldwide.
Once more, do not hesitate to send the funds to him as soon as you receive the payment as he will leave for the pick up and arrange for the shipping and clearing as soon as he have the funds.
I await your timely response.
BEST REGARDS,
TIMMY
Banks usually clear a cheque for £6000 without any immediate checks. If you go through
with the transaction you will find that some five or six week later the bank will inform
you that their cheque for £6000 was not viable. So you will have lost the item your
suposedly sold to them as well as £6000!
Dont reply to their E-Mail. Unfortunately this means probably do not reply to any emails from Nigeria.
Here is an unusual instrument I discovered. It has 12 sympathetic strings that run diagonally across the instrument! It is made by Peter Ridsdale in Bristol. His web site is: www.popacat.com and is full of 'unusual' instruments.
On his web site he shows this instrument:
Does anyone know what it is/called or its origin?
Previous
Articles:
Pickups:
http://www.stringsmagazine.com/issues/strings83/Longmkt.shtml
Ithaca:
http://ithacastring.com/articles.html
Violin
Making:
http://guitarplans.co.uk/
and:
http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~kehinger/ee107/violin.html
Soft
Cases:
http://www.soundwear.com/ and http://www.dimbath.de/
Octave Strings:
http://www.supersensitive.com
Jordan Music have just announced their new asymetrical cello. A superb design that retains all the positional cues with a beautiful design:
Their web site is at: http://www.jordanmusic.com
The
Electric Violin Book
The
Electric violin book is now being sold in Euros and costs 81Euros. You will have to check
the current conversion rates for Euros to Dollars/Pounds etc. There are several web sites
for converting Euros to local currencies. The easiest lookup table I have found is at: http://www.x-rates.com/d/EUR/table.html
When you have decided that money is no object and you just have to have this book, please place your order at: http://users.netmatters.co.uk/holliman/Fah100.html#Book
New
Music
I
will use this section to inform you of new music that I have been introduced to that
features electric violin. So if you have something to contribute to this column, please
let me know the details.
Mary Lou Newmark ( http://www.greenangelmusic.com/
) and
Stuart Wyatt (http://www.solostring.com/)
Alex Papadiamantis (http//www.geocities.com/almant2)
Chris Garrick http://www.audio-b.com/cds/abcd10.html
Forums
You
now have access to:
Zeta's Online Users Forum - For existing Zeta users.
Stuart Wyatt's Solostrings - For electric fiddle players
Fiddle Forum - For both electric and acoustic players
Mark O'Connor's Forum - For all sorts
of fiddling styles
Ask
Andy
Go on, ask me something! Or check out my FAQ list.
Best
wishes
Andy
H
Any suggestions for future discussions, Click to Email me
Bye
for now,
Andy
Holliman
Achieve Instruments:
Chief Designer, Paint Sprayer, Varnish
Consultant, Marketing Manager, Receptionist, Secretary, Web Designer, Tea Boy and
Newsletter Editor.
Links from around the World
The Electric Violin Book
The Only book on Electric Bowed Stringed Instruments in the World