08-20-2010 - BAM
Cases in Black HiTech are in the studio.
Oasis Strings in Normal and High Tension are also in the
shop.
08-17-2010 - Cleaned up a few pages including the
guitar page. A Tom Blackshear and a
George Smith are incoming soon.
BAM Cases are also
incoming.
08-11-2010 - Had to go into the
guitar page and fix her up. Strange how web pages just
break out of nowhere? I went with a simple table design,
which is easier to fix in the future...hopefully.
-
New Oasis Humidifiers are en
route as well as Oasis Carbon Strings.
08-09-2010 - Kenny Hill
Signatures are selling. Signature 2902 is out
the door to a nice gent from New Jersey.
08-08-2010 - The
'56 Manuel
Velazquez is sold to an accomplished player in Germany.
08-07-2010 - The shop has been busy of late. A few
guitars out the door with many more coming in the next few
weeks. Have to touch base with a few luthiers in the next
few days.
07-27-2010
- The Naprstek #136
Cocobolo was sold today.
-
Guitar Sleeves are in as well as
Alessi Tuners. I have to
photograph and catalog everything, create pages, etc...but,
they're here! Sweet!
07-22-2010 -
Quite a few guitars are out the door this week. Numerous
Naprstek Concert Guitars
were sold including a gorgeous Cocobolo. A few custom orders were
also taken. The man builds a gotdam nice guitar! :-)
07-20-2010 - George Smith
from Portland Oregon will be sending me a guitar in the next few
weeks!
07-18-2010 -
Expecting a guitar from Richard Prenkert in the next
month. Sweet.
07-10-2010 -
Summer is long and hot these days and I'm loving it. A new
Hill Flamenco Signature is in the
studio. Also a used
Hill Rodriguez
in mint condition. Updates tonight.
06-18-2010
- Just got off the phone with
Tom Blackshear who
informed me that he will be sending a Reyes model with Spruce
top and Dark Chocolate Brazilian Back and sides. I can't
wait to see this baby!
06-17-2010
- More supplies are in such as
Bees Wax Polish and
a few more guitars.
06-08-2010
- Few updates...I know. I've been working outside, while
taking care of business quietly. New updates are up
regarding a Cocobolo
Vincent Classical - a
Ziricote
Concert Acoustic by Richard
Mermer Acoustics - and a
Navarro
Cocobolo Classical Guitar. Ordering for
Bees Wax -
Oasis Humidifiers
and D'Addario Acoustic
and Classical Strings have been taken care of regarding
supply issues.
05-28-2010
- New guitar from
Robert Vincent is incoming - Cedar and Cocobolo. It
looks amazing. I'll update next week when she arrives.
-
A new guitar is in from
Richard Mermer - steel string acoustic that I discussed
earlier this month. Man is this baby like a grand piano
with beautiful separation of voice. Gorgeous, black Spruce
with Ziricote back and sides. An amazing instrument that
I'll post some time this weekend.
05-24-2010
- I have a Felix Manzanero - which I am in the process of
restoring. Nice ringing monster of a guitar.
05-21-2010
- A new Francisco
Navarro Especial 1A Rodriguez Model is in the studio with
Western Red Cedar and Cocobolo. Sweet sweet instrument.
05-19-2010
- Still trying to recover. Now my right eye went kablooie
with something called iritis. all while recovering from a rather
serious upper respiratory infection, hacking cough, and other
good stuff. Fun.
-
Working on still more repairs and setups! Guitars out the
door, ordering new ones, and working on the outside of my home.
-
While ill, I cleaned up the entire property, mulched, weeded,
etc. More fun! Now I'm digging a new pathway off of
my old stone path that leads to my 2 level deck in the back
yard. More gravel, sand and stone. Custom job, this
is not being done with stone that fit each other...the stones
need to be selected individually for thickness, flatness and
interest of shape,. Then firmly placed into the sand, then
screed, hammer, screed more, blah blah blah....ton of work.
I'm nuts, thoroughly convinced I'm outta my friggin' mind.
:-)
05-14-2010
- Actually still not feeling all that great. Updates have
been slow. I've really spent most of my time in the
background with repairs, setups, ordering supplies, guitars,
printing, publishing, etc. Busy, but quietly so.
05-03-2010
- Having spent a bit of time talking with numerous luthiers,
Rich Mermer Guitars
will be available in the shop in the next week. A black
Spruce/Ziricote Acoustic Steel String will be here by Friday.
I will be increasing our guitar offerings to include Acoustic
Guitars built by the best American Luthiers over the next year.
05-01-2010
- I've been ill of late, thus the lack of updates or guitar page
updates. I've listed 6 new guitars
that have come in the past 2 weeks, from the likes of Rich
DiCarlo - Jamonn Zeiler - Lubos Naprstek and Ken Whisler -
more guitars are on the way from Frederich Holtier - Joe Slack -
Tom Blackshear - Rich Mermer - Bob Desmond - Francisco Navarro
and a bunch more.
04-25-2010
- Kenny Hill
Player Series 628s in Cedar or Spruce are in the studio, as
well as another 640 Spruce Estudio Model.
04-24-2010
- Uploaded a new video of Mike
Chapdelaine playing a Naprstek Concert Classical Guitar #135
with Black Cocobolo
04-21-2010
- Guitars, equipment and repairs have been taking much time.
Every time I go away I seem to need double the time to recover
and catch up. New guitars coming in from
Kenny Hill - Player Series
and Estudios 628s and such will be here in a week's time.
04-18-2010
- The Newport Guitar Festival was fantastic. I met a ton
of great people, way too many to list, but among others Glen
Perry - Paris Banchetti - Gerald Sheppard - Monica Esparza -
Norman Haight - Rich Mermer - Alberto Rodriguez - Mike Chapdelaine -
Richard Brune and Marshall Brune - Talia de Jonge and Corin de
Jonge - Jamonn Zeiler - and a host of other great luthiers were
there. I'll be spending the next week talking and writing
with the numerous contacts made at the Festival. I'm
guessing that my list of luthiers and offerings in general will
be going up in a big way over the next few months.
-
I'll probably go next year, this time as a performer for the
numerous luthiers as well as a dealer representative. Next
is the 2010 GFA in Austin, TX. I'll be there for the
latter half of the week, walking and talking with everyone.
04-15-2010
- Spent a great morning with
Rich DiCarlo in Massapequa. I'll be representing his
guitars and don't kid yourself, the man is a great builder of
instruments at a fair price.
-
Taxes are done...phew! Cool. Also getting ready to
leave tomorrow morning for the
Newport Guitar Festival in Fort Lauderdale. Should be
a lot of fun. Look me up (I'm going as a guest, not a
vendor) if you're there Friday or Saturday. I'm going for
the simple purpose of meeting everyone, playing some guitars,
talking with luthiers and checking out the scene. I'm
available to talk and I'll have the time to spend. Sweet!
Talk to you soon.
04-12-2010
- A custom ordered Lubos
Naprstek Concert Classical Guitar has been sold.
Modeled after the Black Cocobolo featured at the GFA , the
customer is very excited about his new build.
04-08-2010
- Updated the Video Page
with all of our results. Tax time is upon me and I wish to
go back on vacation. Send no taxes...gack!!!
04-07-2010
- Updated the Tone Wood
Discussion Page. Taking it easy, ordering supplies and
such.
04-05-2010
- I've spent the last few days just catching up with things.
I released the new Weiss
TAB publication - made phone calls, emails, etc. A new
batch of Guardian
Classical Cases Vintage Style are en route as well a bunch
of smaller scale
Kenny Hill Player Guitars. 628 and 640 mm in Spruce and
Cedar Tops.
04-02-2010
- Compiled the new book on the plane, checked it out and it's
all good to go. Looks to be a fun book to just open up and
start playing, which was the whole idea.
04-01-2010
- My Weiss
TAB publication is finally completed. Some final
editing, pagination, and compiling is all that is required to
release the book. Yesterday we took an ATV excursion to
Cambioso Beach, a favorite place of mine on the Northern Coast
of Dominican Republic, about 60 miles East of Haiti, with a gorgeous,
unspoiled, golden beach and wonderful people. Looking back
at the beach from the water, you get a very clear sense of what
Columbus or other explorers had seen when they first approached
land in this region of the world. An amazing little peek
back into the beginnings of modern day America and the
Caribbean.
-
I spent a good part of the day by the pool updating a
Ragtime and Blues Book that I'm
working on. Original standards that fall comfortably into
the hands. I'll see about releasing this publication in
the very near future. I have about 3 pieces left of about
7 to edit, finger and mark. Just not sure that I will
release it. I'll have to think about it for a bit.
03-31-2010
- 1 more update to the Weiss
TAB publication - slow morning this Wednesday.
Yesterday we went to Paradise Island and Punta del Rusia.
Beautiful and highly recommended. The coral reef at
Paraiso Island was incredibly gorgeous. I spotted a 3 foot
crab among other gorgeous creatures. Pictures are incoming
when I get back.
03-30-2010
- 3 more pieces are updated to the Weiss
TAB publication - hitting the home stretch with 3 to
go...sweet! OK, so yesterday was a complete lounging
day. A couple of rafts with the girls, 2 new friends, and
a pool led to us having a great time. Very relaxing.
Rich and his daughter Renee are great people. My girls
adopted Renee as their older sister and it was game over for the
whole afternoon. I spent the morning by the pool updating
and marking my blues and ragtime book with music playing in the
background. It's nice down here. I get so much work
done it's ridiculous. hehehe
03-29-2010
- 2 more pieces are updated to the Weiss
TAB publication - the weather is fantastic down here - hot,
sweet and sticky baby. :-) Moved my suite today to a
place directly on the beach. 2 King Sized rooms facing the
water. It's 6:20 AM, while I finish my latest updates,
with the magnificently golden reds of the sunrise coming over
the hills, silhouetting monstrous clouds that sit on the
horizon. Yeah, this sucks. LOL
03-28-2010
- 3 more pieces are updated to the Weiss
TAB publication with updated photos to the page.
Drinking Mamajuana with a Cerveza chaser is sweet, while you
work and hey..the beach is right there. Yeah baby!
03-26-2010
- More updates to the new Weiss
TAB publication while I'm down in the Dominican Republic.
I'm working early in the AM, as I do in my studio and when I'm
away, out on the balcony overlooking the sea. I'll
probably finish the book while I'm down here. It's a nice
thing to work without distraction while the Caribbean is in your
line of sight and the sound of the surf is in your ears.
03-25-2010
- New Kenny Hill
Estudios are available in Cedar and 628 and 640mm scale
lengths.
03-24-2010
- Still working new hardware and software configs for the
studio. Pain in the ass, but necessary. New
Hill Guitars are en
route...should be here tomorrow in the AM. I'll get back
to the Weiss TAB book over the next week as described below.
-
Updated the Tonewood
discussion page
03-22-2010
- New hardware in the studio and the time to configure it all,
software, settings, backup procedures, security, etc...is taking
much time away from music production. My guess is that I
will be working on the Weiss TAB publication while in the
Caribbean. I'm having trouble with my engraving software,
where I will probably have to use my old notebook to continue
the work. Not cool, but hey, I started it, I gots to
finish it.
03-20-2010
- A good stock of BAM
High Tech XL Cases are in the studio, ready for shipping.
Black and Tweed are available.
03-17-2010
- More updates to the New Weiss
TAB publication that is forthcoming. I'm now into the
London MS side of the book. Gods, this is an awful lot of
work. I'm going on vacation after this. Caribbean
Sea...nice!
03-15-2010
- New Kenny Hill Estudio 628s and a Player 628 coming next week.
03-14-2010
- A Pat Caruso old
age Spruce and Brazilian Rosewood Classical Guitar is
available in the studio.
03-13-2010
- Calton Cases are coming to Savage Classical Guitar.
03-11-2010
- Mostly supply issues, business and luthier work being handled.
No time for much else of late.
03-09-2010
- My latest Weiss
TAB publication is further updated.
-
BAM Classical Guitar Hi
Tech Cases will be in stock as of this coming Friday.
Black and Tweed ... sweet.
03-08-2010
- A signed 1968
Felix Manzanero Classical Guitar is in the shop.
Cedar and Brazilian Rosewood, she sounds amazing. A little
finish distress with some dings, but heck, she's 42 years old.
I'll probably restore her before listing.
03-06-2010
- Back to music, I've updated 4 more pieces in my upcoming Weiss
TAB publication, highlighted below.
03-05-2010
- Busy with web admin, sales and advertising issues. No
music. Updated the
latest Bellucci repair page.
03-04-2010
- Turns out that quite a few of my guitar pages
were broken,
where the left border justified all guitar info down. I've
spent the better part of yesterday and today fixing it while
attending to other jobs. All done now and tested...sweet!
03-03-2010
- Updates are continuous for the Weiss TAB publication, where
the page is now being updated, photos attached, etc.
-
Finishing work on the
Bellucci 2008
African Blackwood guitar.
03-02-2010
- I've begun work on the
Weiss Select
Transcripts Volume 1 with TAB publication. There's a
lot of work to be done to get this book to lay out correctly.
I will continue work as time allows.
-
I've been working towards cleaning my shop out of all repairs.
A Vicente Sanchis restoration is completed, which also needed a
new nut and saddle, compensated...nice guitar. A Concert
Naprstek damaged guitar has been repaired. This was an
unfortunate one, where the client's child figured it was a drum
and REALLY cracked the top. A Cordoba nut set and new
saddle job was finished yesterday and of course, the nightmare
Bellucci is an on-going bad dream that becomes real every time I
walk into the workshop. See links below or on my
Classical Guitar
Repair & Setup page.
02-28-2010 -
I've been working on Guitar Repairs including a
nightmare Bellucci guitar from
2008.
Here's a
dedicated page to this job.
02-26-2010
- Weiss Select
Transcripts Volume 1 in Standard Notation is now available.
I'm getting to the TAB version
sometime today if I can finish up other work.
02-25-2010
- I have a mint Jamon Zeiler guitar with a
signature Humphrey raised fingerboard coming in to the studio today. Looks like a
sweetie. Update: she is a gorgeous guitar with
very old Honduran Rosewood, straight grain Spruce and a Humphrey designed
elevated fingerboard. Gorgeous. I'll photo and
update ASAP.
02-24-2010
- I've been busy with numerous repairs, some jobs that are quite
extensive, including a 2008 Bellucci
that requires a full stripping/scraping, new headstock, a neck
set, and well...you name it. This one is so egregious in
its original build that I've decided to take photos of the
process, which will be given its own page and highlights.
I'll post when it's up. Here are some quick photos showing
the scraping of the back (the whole guitar was polyurethaned and
very heavily at that...this to hide the miserable work he did to
this guitar) and the headstock, which was poorly carved and
finished by Renato.
Photo 1
and Photo 2
-
Books are on hold for the time being while I catch up with the
other jobs in the studio.
02-20-2010
- Our Lubos Naprstek
Master Concert Level Classical Guitar #0909032 is sold to a
wonderful gent from Westchester NY. He was completely
overtaken by the extreme power of the instrument and its
gorgeous voice. He's very happy.
02-17-2010
- Kenny Hill
Player Series Guitars and
Hill Estudio
Series Guitars are all ready. I have quite a selection
and the prices are a bit lower including hard shell case and
shipping to the 48 US
02-16-2010
- The piece list for the
Weiss Selections Volume
1 is created. The number of pieces comes in at
38, but this may be subject to change if I feel I can add a few
more.
02-15-2010
- Took a few days off, relatively speaking. Back to work,
I'm getting my Silvius L. Weiss Selections
Volume 1 ready for publication. A
TAB version of the same book will
be available.
02-12-2010
- Updated the Lubos
Naprstek Luthier Page ... cleaned it up and organized it.
More updates and organization of the site in general.
She's looking pretty good about now.
-
The new books are a hit with numerous orders going out the past
few days. BWV 998
Standard and TAB and
Bach Select
Transcripts Volume II with TAB have been moving out quickly.
-
I finally got around to finishing all of the pages attached to
the Sheet Music Catalog Pages -
reformatting, organizing and polishing. They look mighty
nice now! Sweet...all the Weiss Pages are complete!
Finally...
02-11-2010
- More site maintenance, cleanup, organization, formatting, info
on Weiss S-C numbering, and other stuff. New books
are out. See our Catalog.
-
New Kenny Hill Player and
Estudio Series Classical Guitars are in the studio.
We're now fully stocked.
02-10-2010
- Big snow in NY! Yikes. Cleanup of the site, fixing
broken links, while updating the various pages associated with
the new books.
02-09-2010
- A new book is in the beginning process, where I'll be offering
the Best of Weiss in standard notation
and another version in Tab Notation. They will
both be pretty sizable books as Weiss has lots of great stuff to offer the guitarist.
02-08-2010
- Doing a mini marathon, I finished both versions of
Prelude
Fugue & Allegro BWV 998 -
Standard Version and
TAB version
02-07-2010
- Updates to BWV 998
include finishing the marking and editing of the Allegro and
updating a midi-mp3 file of the same on the dedicated pages.
-
Looks like I may lose the Photo pages for Bach and
Weiss...thinking it over, seeing what works and what doesn't.
The pages are too big and unwieldy.
-
Updated mp3s of the Prelude and the Fugue on their respective
pages regarding BWV 998
02-06-2010
- Seems I'm breaking all kinds of personal records for web site
hits and views and hey...phone calls too! The past 2 weeks
have been my busiest ever in terms of web activity. Very
cool.
-
OK, finished engraving the Allegro from my latest collection,
BWV 998. Now comes
the unsavory task of marking and editing the
Fugue and Allegro. A few more
days and it should be out, way ahead of schedule. This
entails both the standard and TAB notation editions.
Amazing what I can do when I puts my minds to it. LOL
-
Put up 2 sample PDFs of the above
work. They can be found in the detail page for the
upcoming publication. Working pretty darned good this
morning! :-)
-
Updated the Video Page to
reflect Ken Whisler and
Eduardo Diaz
02-05-2010
- Busy as ever, I'm now well into the Fugue from BWV 998. 1/2
way done... Man, I hates fugues. 3 and 4 voices, this is a
PIA to engrave, never mind mark. Photo snapshots are
updated on their respective pages.
02-04-2010
- Finished the Prelude from
BWV 998, both the Standard and the
TAB version.
Updates to the pages have already happened, including cover
updates and jpeg snapshots.
02-03-2010
- Updates to the site as well as to the
BWV 998 publications,
which are
coming out soon.
02-02-2010
- I've begun work on BWV 998 Prelude
Fugue and Allegro, which will be a Standard Notation and
a Standard/TAB Notation publication, again, at the request of a
few customers. I've engraved the Prelude and have started
editing, fingering and marking the score. I'll update the
pages as more of this collection comes to realization.
01-31-2010
- I recorded some impromptu videos at Lubos's workshop and
decided to upload them to YouTube. I've linked a few to
the site as of today, but if you search for Naprstek or Richard
Sayage on YouTube, I'm sure they'll come up. If not, a
direct link is available (as of right now) to the
Naprstek Cocobolo GFA
candidate #0909032
01-30-2010
- Spending a great weekend with
Lubos Naprstek and
Dana at their home. Me and Lubos are doing fret work, neck
sets, French Polishing, and hey...Saturday night, I got to spend
the evening with Bill Turner who was kind enough to turn me on
to all kinds of Bluegrass technique and playing. Great
guy...great player.
01-28-2010
-
Bach's Select Transcripts Volume II with TAB
has been released and sent to over 12 customers already on
pre-order. Nice book.
-
I've increased my advertising budget significantly over the last
week, including premier ads with Yahoo Search, GFA Web Ads, GFA
convention ads, GFA's SoundBoard magazine ads and GAL ads in
American Lutherie.
01-26-2010
- Among other product representation deals I've cut this
past month, I'm proud to say that we are now an official
Savarez String dealer
serving Long Island New York and the web.
01-24-2010
- While business issues, phone calls and ordering continue
seemingly non-stop (not complaining mind you), I continue work
on the Bach TAB
edition I'm hoping to release in the next week. I just
finished the last Double from Partita I in B Minor. Great
music...should be a great book.
-
New guitars from the Kenny
Hill Player and Estudio Series are on order, being shipped
in the next 2 days.
01-23-2010
- About a week ago, a client called me to thank me for all
of my TAB editions. Always gratifying to hear that someone
has gotten excellent use of my books. But...there's always
a but....he wanted more. Of course he did. :-)
Telling him I would give it some thought, I went thru my various
publications and selected some pieces from my Bach library that
would be well suited to a TAB edition. Thus the creation
of our latest TAB edition,
Select Bach
Transcripts Volume II with TAB. I should be finished
with it some time this week. The page is being updated as
I go thru the 15 or so pieces.
01-22-2010
- Business issues have kept me busy. A few updates and
corrections to some of the recent guitar pages were necessary.
Gods, I dislike making mistakes on the web pages, but hey...it
happens. All fixed. :-)
01-20-2010
- Photos and specs are updated for the
Cocobolo beauty that
Lubos Naprstek left with me...#0909032
01-18-2010
- Recording and writing some new material. A few Kenny
Hill Estudios were sold over the weekend.
Lubos Naprstek and his
wife Dana spent the weekend with me. We had another
fabulous time. He brought me a high end Cocobolo that is
out of sight. I have to photograph and record her,
hopefully tonight.
01-14-2010
- Recorded the Barthell #149
Classical this afternoon. What a smooth mother of a
guitar!
01-13-2010
- Sold the Hippner #572 Torres
to a wonderful and nice gent from Westchester.
01-11-2010
- I recorded the
Kenny Hill
Signature #2885 Spruce & Indian Rosewood baby monster.
Nothing baby about her, but she's a baby :-)
01-09-2010
- The Kenny Hill Signature
#2941 is sold.
01-07-2010
- Updates to the web site including catalog pages for the sheet
music...getting to Weiss now. Updated guitar pages,
processed photos, descriptions, etc. I played the
Robert Vincent
Brazilian yesterday, for myself and a client. I put it
away laughing and smiling. What a honey bunny of a guitar!
-
updated the About Us page....things
were broken...all fixed.
01-06-2010
- Crazy work in the background. Guitars coming in, photos
to take, web pages to create and update. Now recording,
commentaries, etc. Ordering supplies for repairs,
store inventory, you name it.
-
Free USPS Express Shipping is a hit,
so it stays. One day and it's there.
FedEx and USPS Priority are still an
option if you're close, but it will be Express Shipping
for anything over a day to get to you.
01-01-2010
- Happy New Year! Whoo, that went fast. Time with
Lubos was great.
New guitar in from Navarro. Pete
Barthell is sending #149. Updates, photos, recording!
Yikes...
12-31-2009
- Spending the weekend with
Lubos Naprstek and family and
hey...having a blast. Smoke, drink, playing guitars!
Sweet! Cocobolo monsters, Brazilian sweethearts, numerous
repairs, French Polish work, re-stringing, we're having a good
ole time. I'll be back in the studio on Saturday morning.
Back to work....gack...lol
12-29-2009
- Send more work! Jeez...non-stop workie workie.
Taking tonight and tomorrow off! More guitars from more
makers are making their way here. A new guitar from
Pete Barthell is
on the way. Spoke with Robert
Vincent today...nice guy. He's sending me one of
his Brazilian monsters. Francisco
Navarro is sending me a Rodriguez model. And
there's more. Send more space! Yikes.
12-21-2009
- New guitars are starting to flow in, which is nice. I
have an excellent offering by
Francisco Hernandez - a Cedar
Double top with gorgeous Brazilian Rosewood.
-
Another maker is sending me a guitar for evaluation, but I have
no worries. A friend of Tom Blackshear ... I'm sure these
guitars will be fantastic. I'll write more next week when
they come in.
12-20-2009
- New guitars are in from
Lubos Naprstek. New guitars are in from
Kenny Hill - 2 Rodriguez
Models from his Master Series. Nice!
-
The trip to NJ with Lubos and
family was great. We drank, we played, we smoked, and then
we did it all over again. Dana took perfect care of
us...she's an absolute sweetheart of a lady and then there's the
gorgeous Amy. My daughter Dhiana has clearly adopted her
as her 'new' baby sister. Adorable. I came home with
2 beautiful guitars from Lubos...a
Brazilian baby and an Indian Rosewood 640. The
man doesn't know how to do anything bad. He constantly
finds improvements. His workmanship detail is amazing.
Little issues such as heel and joint polish issues....he spends
so much time experimenting and finding the best way to get
superior results. A man after my own heart.
12-18-2009
- Off to Jersey to meet with Lubos Naprstek and family.
Kenny Player Spruce 650mm is sold today. Nice guitars.
12-17-2009
- The sub-title of my latest piece finally came to me, when I
realized it was about remembering my Dad. As a result,
it's sub-titled "A Son Remembers".
12-15-2009
- More guitars are coming in from
various makers. A number of
Lubos Naprstek guitars
will be available next week. Man, I gots to catch up on
recording...I'm gonna be crazy busy next week.
12-12-2009
- 2 new Rodriguez Master
Series Guitars coming in from Kenny Hill within the week.
Also, I have a few other luthiers en route, but I'll wait to
discuss them until I see them.
12-11-2009
- Been workin' my tail off since Sunday night. Goin' away
is a nightmare when you come back. Anyways, I finally had
some time to myself, taking care of supply ordering, phone
calls, etc....slow day finally! Trying to record this
weekend, to make up for the guitars that need sound files.
I'll update as I go, and will definitely
re-record Prelude #13.
Don't like my first version much. Stiff and not
well-played, I have it in my hands a bit better now.
12-09-2009
- Ordered The Original
Bee's Wax furniture polish for resale as I found it the best
stuff on the market for guitar polishing as well as just about
anything else in your house and car you could imagine.
Good good stuff. Bear in mind that I only offer for sale
that which I use myself. That's the best endorsement I can
offer.
12-06-2009
- Back to work after 7 days in the tropics...tough to do.
I ended up writing numerous ragtime and blues pieces while down
in DR. 7 to be exact. I had classical in mind but of
course they can be played on acoustic. Weird to me is how
the music came in a completely foreign environment not conducive
to ragtime?
-
All back orders have been processed and sent. I'll send
emails later this evening. Phone calls are next.
11-29-2009
- Took a business vacation to the Dominican Republic. Warm and wet
baby...sweet. First morning, I wrote a Rambling
Ragtime...don't ask...I have no idea where the music came from
or why. Simple and fun, I'll probably continue in this
vein if I feel up to it. About DR...the sky is way blue,
colors are vibrant, the birds are crazy loud and the water is
warm. The resorts are nice, the rest of the place seems to
suffer typical island poverty. If you go, stay in the
resort. It's rough out there. :-)
11-25-2009
- Happy T Day everyone! I brought in a new
Naprstek Classical
Guitar the other day, Adirondack Spruce and Flamed Maple with
Radial Bracing, one of his high end concert guitars.
Man, is she beautiful. I didn't get to photograph her nor
record her, but maybe I will in the next few weeks.
Gorgeous and Sold.
11-23-2009
- A new piece written by me is uploaded highlighting the
Naprstek Cocobolo
monster guitar. You can find
Prelude #13 in D Major in
the sound file section of the guitar page and the Original
Composition Page.
11-19-2009
- My Teruaki Nakade 1976
Brazilian is repaired and is gorgeous. Master
repair done
by Lubos Naprstek, - She sold instantly.
The Brazilian Rosewood is phenomenal as is the guitar.
11-17-2009
- More cleanup, corrections, and wow, do I have to record.
I just made a list of 7 guitars that need a sound file. I
had no idea I was so behind. The web is more up to date,
sound files have been corrected and heck, I'm still working on
the music pages. I'm only half way thru all that. It
will ALL be done! I swears...LOL
11-14-2009
- A few new luthiers are in touch with me in the past week.
No name dropping yet, but the builds are incredible. I'm
looking forward to new additions in the coming month.
-
Continuing cleanup and maintenance of the site, as well as the
studio. An unfortunate development for my personal playing
is that my joint condition from last year is resurfacing.
It made practice and playing last night unbearable and well...
downright awful. I have to drop the guitar to a lower
position and really lean into it to play. Making
adjustments! :-)
11-12-2009
- Finishing up 2
repair jobs. Trying to record and write today. A
new Maple beauty is coming in from
Lubos Naprstek.
She's gorgeous. Sister to the
Naprstek Cocobolo Radial
braced, she's a simple monster of a guitar.
11-11-2009
- More updates, cleanup, studio work, repairs, lessons,
etc....nothing much else to report. Writing new music,
which will hopefully be engraved in the next few days.
11-04-2009
- Updating more pages, writing new pages such as Classical
Guitar Links - Events pages, writing music, arranging Bach and
being on the phone a lot.
-
I perused the site objectively last night and found a few
errors, misaligned pages, scripts left over, etc. Fixed
them all. No scripts allowed on my site!
11-03-2009
- New classical and flamenco guitars coming in from a very
talented handcrafted builder down South. Updates as soon
as I get some.
-
I also spoke with an icon in the business,
Mr. Tom Blackshear, a few days ago. It's my hope
that I can get one of his awe inspiring instruments into the
studio in the next month.
-
Updates to the guitar music pages
continue. Ack...but they look nicey nice.
11-02-2009
- Slow and steady updates to the Music Catalog Pages. I'm
re-thinking the Samples Page as it is disorganized and fugly!
Hopefully get to some changes sometime today or tomorrow.
-
The seeds of an original piece came to me this morning.
I'm working it during the course of the day, while I take care
of business that actually makes a living! :-)
11-01-2009
- I've been updating various music catalog pages that flow a bit
better. The
Bach
Violin Partita I is a good example of the work. I have
to update the 40 or so remaining pages to fall in line.
10-31-2009
- I've been working on writing my own music, as well as other
books. Still working the Celtic Book, but a few Bach
arrangements have popped up, making me think that another book
of Bach Transcriptions Volume 2 is on the way. Pulling a
few things from various of my 2 decade old Cello Suite
arrangements, I finished engraving and further harmonic work on
the Courante from Cello Suite 3 this morning...a great piece of
music. I'll see how things progress over the winter
months, which is my hay time for music work.
10-30-2009
- Kenny Hill
Player Series Guitars in Spruce and various scale lengths (650 - 640
-628) are in the studio. And no, I didn't play golf
yesterday. Doh...
10-29-2009
- Updated and corrected the About Page. Got all my work
done, pages updated, legal stuff, checks, you name it.
Going to play some golf...finally. Wheee
10-28-2009
- Made some updates to the site, to the sidebar and to the index
page. Added back my Samples Page
and About Us.
-
Still working on my drop down menus for the top links.
<this is me scratching my head> LOL
10-25-2009
- I think I updated all the major guitar pages. Any
mistakes...hey...let me know.
-
The Nakade '76 Brazilian is already sold. I'm not even
having enough time to photograph it and put it on the site.
Looks like the Yamaha GC 3D is out the door too.
10-24-2009
- Working on re-formatting the Guitar Pages now to be in line
with my new presentation and design scheme. Starting from
the Top with the
Avalon
Classical Jazz Guitars - this is a lot of work.
10-23-2009
- Updating, fixing, and formatting all of the
Music Catalog Pages. They got a
bit messed up since I added the left sidebar. I've got to
get around to updating the Guitar Pages
with the format I'm using for the
Ken Whisler
Cedar and Brazilian Classical Guitar page. A bit of
work, eh? LOL
10-22-2009
- Quite a few guitars are out the door this week. A few
new ones are in including a Yamaha GC
from the 1970s signed by the luthier and a
1976 Japanese master luthier guitar with
Spruce and Brazilian Rosewood. I'll update the
pages tonight or tomorrow.
10-20-2009
- Preparing for the Guitar Festival at Five Towns College. Make sure to come by and meet me by the DownBeat Cafe.
-
The absolutely gorgeous acoustic guitar built by
Jack Spira of Australia
is sold.
10-19-2009
- Ordered a set of
Spruce Estudio
Classical Guitars from Kenny Hill - 2 650mm scale - a 640mm
scale - and a 628mm scale - all Spruce Tops w/Indian
Rosewood Back and Sides. Nice guitars, perfect for the
student who wants a superior guitar at a lower price point.
10-18-2009
- Broke my site there for an hour or so. Trying to update CSS dropdown menus and everything went kablooie LOL
Back to normal, I'll have to work it a bit more before I upload.
hehehe....silly, I know, but man, it was really broken..
10-17-2009
- Numerous updates and a general clean up of the site is on
going. The left sidebar threw a few things out of skew,
forcing me to look at each page and update accordingly.
Turns out, from the 1 or 2 pages I started out with just a few
years ago, I'm at 150+ pages, not including archives and Sold
guitars, and other minor pages. I need a web admin and in
a hurry, baby LOL
-
Given the rainy day here in NY I'm looking at cleanup of the
studio - workshop and my upstairs office. I'm also going
to try to record a few of the new guitars that came in ... what
a chore...I get to play and record some of the most gorgeous
guitars you ever done seen :-)
10-16-2009
- The latest and greatest
Kenny Hill
Signature is here...Double Top Cedar/Spruce with Lattice Bracing.
-
You'll notice that there is a slightly different look to our
highlight pages, whether guitar or music. Sidebar on the
left, for easy scrolling and navigation. The guitar pages
now have picture links and photos running down the left side of
the overall description. My thanks to Dan Bouza and Steve
Schram for some great ideas regarding all of this. I like
the newer look and there is a ton of positive feedback. My
job is to now bring ALL of the pages in line with this format.
10-15-2009
- I'm working on updating pages, photos and such. I'm also
removing all scripts, advertising and whatever else that
detracts from the site. I'm slowly going thru the myriad
150+ pages, cleaning things up.
-
I'm also experimenting with a different format for the guitar
pages as can be seen here for
Lubos Naprstek's
gorgeous Cocobolo Classical Guitar. It's still up in
the air, but I like the better feel and look. A couple of
tweaks here and there and I'll bring all the highlight pages for
the music and guitars in line with this page. That should
take me a week or so.
10-13-2009
- So much work today, I didn't get to my "other" work, which is
updating guitar pages, photos and recording.
10-11-2009
- Spent the day with
Lubos Naprstek
and his lovely wife in their NJ home. Working with him,
touring his workshop and witnessing the most astonishing array
of guitars, mandolins, arch-tops and banjos, built by him.
It was an eye opening day and evening to say the least.
His latest innovation is a radial bracing in his classical
guitars that is simply superior in its results. World
Class.
10-09-2009
- Bringing in 4 new
Kenny Hill Player
Series Guitars - Spruce and Cedar - 650mm and 640mm scale -
one of each
-
Also ordered one of Kenny's
new Signature Models with Double Top and Lattice Bracing -
very loud :-)
10-08-2009
- Orders to OASIS Guitar
Humidifiers will set us up as the only NY authorized dealer
of this great product.
10-06-2009
- Small updates to the site, corrections, pictures, etc.
A few guitars out the door, time to re-stock. I need
luthiers callin' me baby LOL
10-04-2009
- Working on many recordings to fill in Sample files for
the various guitars that are missing them, such as the
Hill Signature
2885 Spruce.
10-02-2009
- Fixed numerous little issues the site had with links,
clarity, jpegs, etc. Busy day with clients and students
too.
-
Put up a recording of the
Pat Caruso Brazilian
that I have for sale.
10-01-2009
- Seems I had a problem with numerous sheet music pages
being missing! Yikes. My thanks to Adam for the
heads up. All fixed and my apologies to those
inconvenienced.
09-29-2009
- Numerous recordings and photos have been updated across most
of the guitar pages. Check it
out baby. :-)
09-28-2009
- More updated photos for the Kenny Hill Signatures Pat Caruso,
Avalons, etc. Now I record for a spell.
09-27-2009
- More photos today and recording. Pictures of the
Whisler
Brazilian are up.
- Five Towns College Fall Guitar Festival runs from
October 22 - 25, 2009....make a point to go and check out the
great performers scheduled.
09-26-2009
- Ken Whisler
just sent me a Brazilian Monster. Hehe....suh-weet
guitar.
09-25-2009
- I brought in a
vintage Manuel Contreras 1972 with Cedar top and a gorgeous
ruddy Brazilian Rosewood Back and Sides. She's a beauty
with the sound and playability to match.
- Spent time last
night and this morning updating photos for the various
pages...many more to do....DOH..
09-24-2009
- Numerous repairs and sales have gone out the door.
Finished work on
2 Bellucci Guitars. A travesty is what this guy's
business is about. Finishes had to be taken down, he
sprays the INSIDE of the guitars to inhibit drying of "green" or
immature woods, bowing necks, improper frets, poor setups,
buzzes like a hornets nest, you name it. <shaking my head>
Avoid doing business with Renato. You're getting what you
pay for if you think you can buy Brazilian RW construction for
under $3K. Then...when you call him on his poor judgment
and inexperience, he calls you rude and dishonest? LMAO
-
I've worked on 8 of his guitars now. All the same
scenario. I know exactly what to expect. It's only a
matter of will it be worse or a bit better than the last one.
2 more are incoming. Believe me when I tell you to avoid
his guitars unless I or one of my luthiers worked on them.
Then they're great! :-)
09-17-2009
- Recordings are going up one at a time. First up is the
Hill Signature
#2931 - Mist Covered Mountains of Home. - look under
Sound files on the dedicated page for this and all guitars.
-
2nd sound file is for the
Hill Signature
#2834
09-16-2009
- Working on the photos, lighting and such....very difficult.
I'll be recording many guitars today...finally.
09-15-2009
- Updated
page and photos for the Kenny Hill Signature #2931.
Can't say I'm too happy with the backdrops but the photographs
are improving. I still have to work on it.
09-11-2009
- A
new Signature is in from
Kenny Hill ... #2931 another monster.
09-07-2009
- A whole mess of
Kenny Hill
Estudios are in the studio, all Cedar tops, 650 - 640 -
628mm scale lengths...nice guitars!
09-04-2009
- Sound files are up for the
Hippner 574 and Hippner
572 and the Steven Howlett
classical.
09-03-2009
- Photography equipment has been ordered. I'm pretty much
fed up struggling with various aspects of photographing these
beautiful guitars properly. Backdrops and lighting
equipment was necessary. I'll be spending a good amount of
time taking pictures of everything (again) and recording
everything this month. My thanks to my good friend Rich
Fernandez for his advice and photographic expertise.
09-01-2009
- A 1972 Manuel Contreras 1A is coming in...vintage...in pretty much
perfect condition.
08-31-2009
- Another Kenny Hill Signature
is on the way. Also a
Hill '37 Hauser
model and a pair of Hill
Rodriguez models from the Master Series are coming in to the
studio.
08-28-2009
- I've just put up a listing for a
rare vintage
Manuel Velazquez circa 1956 - Brazilian RW - German
Spruce - Lansdorfer machines - monster of a guitar!
08-26-2009
-
4 New Kenny Hill Estudio Guitars are coming in to the
Studio. 650mm - 640mm - 628mm Scale Lengths - All Cedar
Tops
08-25-2009
- Updated the site with some new information and links.
Spent the day with Lubos Naprstek and his lovely family.
Great day!
-
Lubos left a Hauser with me, priced reasonably and
gorgeous....Spruce and Indian Rosewood, his guitars surprise you
with their dynamic volume and projection towards the audience.
I have to take a photo set of the guitar and update a
Specification page.
08-24-2009
- Setting up a battery of advertising for a full blown campaign
across the country and major web sites. I'll be spending
the rest of this month on ad strategy, supporting my luthiers
and the business as a whole.
08-20-2009
- Our Kenny Hill Ruck model is sold to a good guy from upstate
NY.
08-18-2009
- Been busy with various business projects, web site, guitars,
equipment and supply re-ordering and repairs. I'm getting
to the point where I may need help! Help me help me help
me! Inside joke.....another time.
08-13-2009
- The Hippner #163 is sold.
08-12-2009
- My last Adalid 9C/B Cedar is sold
08-11-2009
- The
Frank Haselbacher #38 is sold as of today. What a
gorgeous guitar!
08-10-2009
- Sound files are up for the
Whisler #21 - Cedar/E Indian RW...what a baby!
08-09-2009
- Spent the day with write-ups, photographs and updating the
site. Numerous photos have been uploaded to dedicated
guitar pages, including
Lubos Naprstek -
Kenny Hill Signatures and the Fleta - the new (used)
Ken Whisler and the
Pat Caruso 1984.
08-06-2009
- Met with
Lubos Naprstek today. A wonderful guy, quick wit
and great luthier. He left 2 beauties with me, which can
be found on the
Guitar Page.
08-05-2009
- The
Hippner #521 is SOLD. A
Kenny Hill Custom Signature #2916 is also sold as of
today.
08-03-2009
- A
Kenny Hill Fleta and another Cedar Signature are
in....gorgeous!
07-26-2009
- Cleaning up the
Guitar Page
for easy navigation. A
Whisler is on the way and I'm
waiting on a Manuel Velasquez Brazilian from the
1950's....sweet!
07-25-2009
- A
Pat Caruso Classical Guitar with Spruce and Brazilian just came
in....gorgeous. A custom
Kenny Hill Signature is on the way. Also, a
Hill Fleta and another
Signature are
incoming....sweet!
07-18-2009
-
A used Hippner Classical just came in - #521 Hauser model with
Gorgeous white Spruce and Brazilian Rosewood Back and Sides.
07-13-2009
-
New Guitars coming in from Hill Guitars - Barthell - Whisler
- maybe even Hippner! Keep checking back in with me.
07-10-2009
-
A New Cedar Signature is in from
Kenny Hill #2902
07-08-2009
- The
1993 Nicholas Ioannou Classical Guitar is sold.
07-04-2009 -
Working on restoring a Juan
Orozco Classical Guitar from 1976 -
beautiful instrument that needs a bridge reset and a complete
refinishing of the top.
07-02-2009 -
Our Hippner Torres #573
Spruce/Brazilian is sold
07-01-2009 -
Pete Barthell #142 is sold as of today.
