Be careful what you wish for (A little B/S).

Subject: Be careful what you wish for (A little B/S).
From: The Shambles
Date: 13 Jun 99 - 06:08 PM

I referred, (on the Favourite Instrument thread, I think) to a problem I had when entering music shops of not being able to decide what to buy, wanting them all and deciding that the best option was to move in and live in one........ An experience I have had recently has cured me of this idea.

At a recent festival, we experienced the usual changeable weather conditions that seem to be reserved for such occasions, at least here in the UK. Dressed only for the warm sunny conditions we had to seek shelter from a violent thunder storm and torrential rain. We found ourselves in the marquee reserved for stalls selling all kinds of folk instruments and had to stay there for the duration of the storm, which was about one and a half hours.

So far, so good you may think. In truth it was nice to have the time for me to be able to sample ALL of the wares..... The trouble was there were about 50 people, of all ages all doing the same thing. If you can imagine melodeons, banjos, whistles, bodhrans, guitars, and fiddles all playing different tunes at the same time, at various levels of competence and all of them competing with the sound of the rain on the canvas roof, you will probably understand the resulting severe headache I suffered.

I have heard the saying "be careful what you wish for it might just come true" and I now tend to agree with those sentiments. My sympathies go with all those poor souls who sell (and make) musical instruments and have to listen to prospective buyers playing, the same old things over again

Subject: RE: Be careful what you wish for (A little B/S).
From: Mark Roffe
Date: 13 Jun 99 - 06:22 PM

One of the owners of Gryphon Guitars, Palo Alto CA contributed an article to Acoustic Guitar magazine a couple of years ago that listed the 10 songs NOT to play while trying a guitar (because everyone else has played them so often and so poorly that the store owners go bonkers when they hear them). The list included: Blackbird, Stairway to Heaven, and I've forgotten the other eight.
I realized a long time ago that I could never own a musical instument shop because I would wince every time someone picked up an instument; would have an anxiety attack every time someone lightly bonked an instrument; would come completely unglued every time someone bonked one hard.
When Ginny bought me a Goodall guitar the other day, even thought it was a midweek morning, each time I was doing a serious "final test" between two or three choices of Martins, Santa Cruzes and my Goodall, someone would suddenly be seated on the chair next to me, playing good or bad music on another Martin (or worse yet, on one that was still in the running to be mine). Drove me crazy. I almost scrapped the whole idea. Ended up doing several pilgramages to the owner's office to sit in a quiet space. Damn, I'm becoming a difficult old codger.

Bark Woof