Rebecca needed a cello of her own. The one she had been borrowing for years was being called back for resale by the owner, an unusual world traveling benefactor whom she had actually lost track of for a time. Parting with this cello was not difficult for Rebecca, since it had become somewhat of a liability. Being newly made in Portland, it did not adapt well to the climate of Boulder, Colorado, developing some serious cracks requiring expensive repair and re-balancing of internal stresses.
Rebecca began her cello search at the large and well known shop of Robertson and Sons in Albuquerque, where she saw roughly 20 cellos in her price range. After hours of playing and taking 3 finalists to a small concert hall there, she chose the sound of a very beautiful instrument, made by Martin Heroux in Quebec, that had just won the prize for workmanship at the Violin Society of America competition in 2010. When I saw the photo of this cello on the website, I was so excited I could not sleep, very unusual for me.
You can see it here: Martin Heroux Cello
The shop owner in Albuquerque was very professional and arranged for this cello to be shipped by air to San Francisco for Rebecca to compare with others she planned to see.
I picked up Rebecca and the Heroux cello at San Francisco Airport on a Sunday morning, when violin shops were closed, so we had two private parties to visit that day. First we headed across the Golden Gate Bridge to the shop of one of the best living cello makers in the world, Joseph and Sigrun Grubaugh, who work together as a team. Joe showed us two instruments, both extremely distinctive both in sound and appearance. After playing a few notes Rebecca rolled her eyes and I could tell she was very impressed. I knew these cellos were out of our price range, but I wanted Rebecca to hear what is possible in a modern cello. I was also just curious to see more or their wonderful cellos and meet Joe again. We spent about 2 hours listening to antecdotes from our very garrulous host and pearls of luthier lore from his vast experience, illustrated by books and items around his shop. He said of the Heroux cello, "That's a nice sounding cello." adding, pointedly, "It's kinda shiny though." His cellos look like they were made 200 years ago. In fact he was making a copy of a famous Stradivarious, exact even to the presence of a prominant large knot in the upper back -- outrageous panache, but he can carry it off.
We headed back across the bridge, after a very late lunch, processing what we had experienced. We both loved that kind of cello sound. We had one more cello to see before quitting, an instrument listed for quite a while on Ebay by a person with the Ebay name "Bedazzled," who apparently had also sold some crystals. Since we had about 40 more cellos to see at two shops in the next two days we held scant hope for this single cello by a maker whose instruments Rebecca had rejected in Albuquerque. Nonetheless, we kept our appointment and Rebecca stated, getting out of the car,"I will have an open mind." I thought that she probably so advises real estate clients heading to what seems to be an unlikely prospect of a property. "Bedazzled" turned out to be a middle-aged man named Donny. He and his partner, Kirt, were very welcoming as we passed thru a tie-dyed curtain into the apartment, which was as long as an alley and obviously a combination home, office and yoga studio. There were "Om"s on the wall and mats and cushions neatly stacked to the side. The cello was a very handsome one by Wm Whedbee, from Chicago, made in 1997, without the degree of "distressing" (intentionally inflicted blemishes intended to give the illusion of age) seen on his later instruments, . Upon playing a few notes on the C string Rebecca surprisingly raised her eyebrows and gave me very serious look. I simply said, "Shall I get the other cello from the car?" -- we hadn't bothered to bring it in. After several blind auditions from behind the curtain, where we alternately played or listened to both cellos, Rebecca stated frankly that she liked this new Whedbee cello better than the Heroux from Albuquerque and agreed. We made an appointment to return the next afternoon and left slightly in shock that the Heroux "pretty face" cello we were both smitten with was suddenly out of the running. There was no question that we should return the Heroux to the airport the next morning, which we did with some sadness. By the way, at South West Cargo we were amused standing in line behind someone trying to clear in transit 500 snapping turtles. I was impressed with how objective Rebecca was about her new circumstance of starting afresh. We were also grateful that Robertson had made possible an honest comparison of his instrument by shipping it out.
Rebecca began her cello search at the large and well known shop of Robertson and Sons in Albuquerque, where she saw roughly 20 cellos in her price range. After hours of playing and taking 3 finalists to a small concert hall there, she chose the sound of a very beautiful instrument, made by Martin Heroux in Quebec, that had just won the prize for workmanship at the Violin Society of America competition in 2010. When I saw the photo of this cello on the website, I was so excited I could not sleep, very unusual for me.
You can see it here: Martin Heroux Cello
The shop owner in Albuquerque was very professional and arranged for this cello to be shipped by air to San Francisco for Rebecca to compare with others she planned to see.
I picked up Rebecca and the Heroux cello at San Francisco Airport on a Sunday morning, when violin shops were closed, so we had two private parties to visit that day. First we headed across the Golden Gate Bridge to the shop of one of the best living cello makers in the world, Joseph and Sigrun Grubaugh, who work together as a team. Joe showed us two instruments, both extremely distinctive both in sound and appearance. After playing a few notes Rebecca rolled her eyes and I could tell she was very impressed. I knew these cellos were out of our price range, but I wanted Rebecca to hear what is possible in a modern cello. I was also just curious to see more or their wonderful cellos and meet Joe again. We spent about 2 hours listening to antecdotes from our very garrulous host and pearls of luthier lore from his vast experience, illustrated by books and items around his shop. He said of the Heroux cello, "That's a nice sounding cello." adding, pointedly, "It's kinda shiny though." His cellos look like they were made 200 years ago. In fact he was making a copy of a famous Stradivarious, exact even to the presence of a prominant large knot in the upper back -- outrageous panache, but he can carry it off.
We headed back across the bridge, after a very late lunch, processing what we had experienced. We both loved that kind of cello sound. We had one more cello to see before quitting, an instrument listed for quite a while on Ebay by a person with the Ebay name "Bedazzled," who apparently had also sold some crystals. Since we had about 40 more cellos to see at two shops in the next two days we held scant hope for this single cello by a maker whose instruments Rebecca had rejected in Albuquerque. Nonetheless, we kept our appointment and Rebecca stated, getting out of the car,"I will have an open mind." I thought that she probably so advises real estate clients heading to what seems to be an unlikely prospect of a property. "Bedazzled" turned out to be a middle-aged man named Donny. He and his partner, Kirt, were very welcoming as we passed thru a tie-dyed curtain into the apartment, which was as long as an alley and obviously a combination home, office and yoga studio. There were "Om"s on the wall and mats and cushions neatly stacked to the side. The cello was a very handsome one by Wm Whedbee, from Chicago, made in 1997, without the degree of "distressing" (intentionally inflicted blemishes intended to give the illusion of age) seen on his later instruments, . Upon playing a few notes on the C string Rebecca surprisingly raised her eyebrows and gave me very serious look. I simply said, "Shall I get the other cello from the car?" -- we hadn't bothered to bring it in. After several blind auditions from behind the curtain, where we alternately played or listened to both cellos, Rebecca stated frankly that she liked this new Whedbee cello better than the Heroux from Albuquerque and agreed. We made an appointment to return the next afternoon and left slightly in shock that the Heroux "pretty face" cello we were both smitten with was suddenly out of the running. There was no question that we should return the Heroux to the airport the next morning, which we did with some sadness. By the way, at South West Cargo we were amused standing in line behind someone trying to clear in transit 500 snapping turtles. I was impressed with how objective Rebecca was about her new circumstance of starting afresh. We were also grateful that Robertson had made possible an honest comparison of his instrument by shipping it out.
