Arts/Entertainment
University Daily Kansan / Friday, February 17, 1989
11
Music: The Art of Restoration
Steve Mason, Lawrence resident, uses a variety of tools to repair and restore instruments such as the sound-post setter, which adjusts the tone of the instrument after repair. Mason has been restoring stringed instruments for more than 20 years. He recently opened a repair shop with two other Lawrence residents at 841 New Hampshire St.
Story by Christine Winner • Photographs by Steve Traynor
f all the king's horses and all the king's men can't put your string instrument back together on State
Mason.
Mason, 38, has been restoring, repairing and making string instruments since he was 17. He also recently received a grant from the Kansas Arts Commission to build an experimental Society to teach the instrument restoration to an apprentice.
Mason, a Lawrence resident, shares a newly opened musical instrument repair and sales店 called Harmonic Arts, 841 New Hampshire St., with two other Lawrence artisans.
Mason said he had fixed everything with strings except pianos. And he has had his share of difficult jobs.
It once took him approximately seven months to restore a 100-year-old cell. The owner was carrying the cello when she slipped on a patch of ice, then landed on the instrument and smashed it into more than 100 pieces.
Although the cello repair was a painstaking process, Mason said that many of his more difficult jobs were ones in which he had to repair an instrument after someone else attempted to fix it.
For example, Mason said one man recently brought in a guitar with a crack at the base of its neck. The man had already glued back with apoxy, a hard glue, but the wrong angle, making it difficult to play. Instead of being a $30 job, it ended up being a $150 job.
"There are a lot of guitars sitting in corners because they're not comfortable to play." Mason said.
String band
Mason charges $25 to $30 an
hour, depending on the instrument and the repair needed.
Besides repair and restoration work, Mason makes string instruments and said that an instrument maker must be able to play any instrument he wants to perform a perfect pitch was "at a requirement.
"You don't have to be an excellent musician to be an excellent instrument maker," he said.
"I just take a piece of wood and cut away everything that doesn't look like a guitar." he said.
Mason, who is a member of Lawrence's Alferd Packer Memorial String Band, is modest about his skill in instrument creation.
Besides custom work, Mason also has created a duplicate of an instrument that no longer exists.
Mason estimated a starting price of $2,000 for a custom-made guitar.
While Mason was in his early 20s attending college in Michigan, he was approached by a graduate student working on a project involving a cwryth, a Welsh instrument similar to a mandolin.
The last cwytwh was destroyed in a museum fire in the 1920s. The student researched the dimensions and sound of the instrument, and Mason and several colleagues recreated it.
700 years old
Mason also worked on the Stearns Collection, a collection of antique instruments owned by the University of Michigan that included a 700-year-old English harp with worm damage.
" "Greensleves' may have been played as a popular new tune on that harp, " he said.
Mason has been involved with music most of his life. He learned his craft from his father, who made violins, and other artisans in Ann Arbor, Mich. At 17, he started working evenings and weekends repairing instruments in a music store.
He also worked in Winfield where the S.L. Mossman Co. produced 5,500 guitars in approximately seven years. The staff at the factory increased from five to 35 during that time and Mason
rose to the position of vice president. But when he left the company, he was ready for a change.
"I got out of the music business in '81 to see what the real world was like," he said. "I found out it's a lot harder."
Back to college
Mason earned an education degree with an emphasis in biology from the University of Kansas in 1966, after selling real estate for a while and touring with a country-rock band.
"I got tired of never being home and dealing with sleazy people. he said, I thought 'This week's a good day.' week. I go back to college."
Biesche works with band instruments, and Alonzo Beardshear, the shop's third artisan, does string repair.
One of Mason's co-workers, Jody Biesche, also earned a degree at KU in the radio-television-film department.
Biesche has played in high school, college and military bands and first apprenticed as a piano technician. But she found that she didn't like tuning and was sore at the end of the day
"Piano work takes a lot of physical strength " she said
But pressing dents out of trum pets is not an easy feat, either.
Cleaning cloth
She works with a variety of band instruments including drums, flutes, clarinets, oboes, trombones, saxophones, tubas and bassoons. One of her more challenging jobs was to remove a cleaning cloth that was stuck in a basson.
"You have to be very careful.
The wood is very expensive; and you don't want it to crack," she said.
Like many other projects, Bies he had to devise a tool for that particular job. She ended up solitary and lost her job. Her brass rod, to retrieve the cloth,
Sometimes she receives instruments that would be better off stored in the attic. Forever
Biesche once received a saxophone that was in such poor shape she wondered if it had been dropped from a high place. If the repair work will cost more than the value of the instrument, she recommends that the owner buy a new one.
"But some people are devoted to their instruments. If that's the case, I'll fix it," she said.
EVENTS
C A L E N D A R
FRIDAY
- Pot-Pourri Productions presents the play "Dusa, Fish, Stas, and V" at 8 p.m. in the Inge Theatre at Murphy Hall. Delores Ringer, assistant professor of theatre and film, will direct the play. Students will KU students and $4 for senior citizens and other students. Call Murphy Hall Box Office for more information.
SATURDAY
The Liberty Hall Players will present Noel Coward's play, "Bilte Spirit", at 8 p.m. at Liberty Hall, 642 Massachusetts St. Tickets are $7 for senior citizens and students. Call for senior citizens and students. Call Liberty Hall for more information.
**Pot-Pourri** Productions presents "Ghosts," a musical by Darin Stetting, Topeka senior, at 8 p.m. in the Inge Theatre, Robert Leff, Carvallis, Ore., doctoral student, will direct. Tickets are $5 for the public, $25 for KU for students. Doors open 10:30 am, residents and other students. Call Murphy Hall Box Office for more information.
- "Blithe Spirit" begins at 8 p.m. at Liberty Hall.
The Lawrence Arts Center's show Performance Night will begin at 8 p.m. at the center, 200 W. Ninth St. The show will feature the Prairie Wind Dancers, Michelle D. Brown and John Bouton, the Wide River Ensemble and the Four to One Dancers. Admission is $2 at the door.
A master's recital will feature Matthew Hill, Omaha, Neb. graduate student; on the piano at 8 p.m. in Swarthout Recital Hall.
SUNDAY
- Pot-Pourri * Productions presents "Mass Appeal" at 8 p.m. in the Inge Theatre, Jeannette Bonjour, Prairie Village senior, will direct. Tickets are $5 for the public, $2.50 for KU students and $4 for senior citizens and other students. Call Murphy Hall Box Office for more information.
"Blithe Spirit" begins at 2:30 p.m. at Liberty Hall
The University Symphonic Band will perform its winter concert at 3:30 p.m. in Crafton-Preyer Theatre. Russell L. Wiley, director of KU bands from 1934 to 1968, will guest conduct. Also during the concert, the Kappa Kappa Pi fraternity will present posthumously its Distinguished Service in Composition Award to relatives of KU alumnus Claude T. Smith.
WEDNESDAY
■ The five-day Region V-South American College Theatre Festival begins in Murphy Hall. Ten finalists for the Irene Ryan Scholarship Competition will audit at 8 p.m. in Crafton-Preyer Theater. KU alumnus Kip be the master of ceremonies, and actress Linda Lavin will be the judge.
The Japanese film "Himatsuai," directed by Mitsuo Yanagami, will begin at 7 p.m. in Dyche Auditorium. The film is sponsored by the Center for East Asian Studies as part of the Japanese Film Festival.
THURSDAY
■ The American College Theatre Festival continues. Students from the University of Iowa will perform "Catch My Brother's Eye," an original script by Ken Presniniesta, at 8 p.m. in Crafton-Prey Theater. All seats are reserved; tickets are available through Murphy Hall Box Office.
3:30 p.m. Sunday, February 19, 1989 Crafton-Preyer Theatre Free and open to the public Partially funded by the Student Activity Fo
The Taste That Makes Runza Famous.
We may be new in town, but since 1949 we've been known for Our Homemade Goodness. Fresh Ingredients. And our
Try our Runzas. Original or Cheese. Made from a unique blend of fresh ground beef, cabbage, onions and secret spices - all baked in homemade bread. The most original sandwiches in town.
Or how about our Big, Juicy Hamburgers, Crinkle-Cut French Fries, and Hand-Dipped Onion Rings. Homemade favorites sure to please the entire family.
Wholesome, Hearty, and Delicious. Come on and get a taste of Runza.
2700 Iowa Lawrence, Ks.
749-2615
Tickets on sale now for Cowboy Junkies Wed., Feb. 22