The Euphonious Panorama

I
am finally sitting in a good chair. i bought a nice leather one today
for $38. Well, since I was in a Mexican dollar store today, I saw this
nice leather chair and decided to buy it. I opened the container,
noticed the made in China sticker, and put the pieces together. The
destructions on the ” Giannelli Designs” chair Made in China,
required
that I use 4 3/4 inch screws, and 2 1 1/4 inch screws for the ‘easy
assembly’. Also would be included a wrench. None could be found.

What
a surprise that the screws, and wrench was missing. It was bought at a
discount store, so I shrugged it off, and went to Ace hardware to buy
the 1 1/4 inch & 3/4 inch screws.

I returned to the house,
only to rush out to the dentist’s office. Imagine seeing a falcon,
tethered to a string, hooded, and perched on a man’s leather glove. The
man was walking nonchalantly down the street. I stopped him and asked
about the falcon, he said it was a bird that hunted, it was a sport. I
asked if I could film him in this activity. Unfortunately, the bird was
molting now, and was not in prime shape to fly. I thanked him anyways,
and perhaps I will find him later, and film him, or maybe he will let
me hold the bird and be filmed hunting with it, That would be cool.

I
made my way to the dentist, and got drilled for a small cavity. It was
less painful than the last visit. On the way out, I passed a chocolate
cake with cinnamon icing.
What was this doing in the Dentist’s office, of all places?
She
said she was going to eat it with a friend, but I said, ” Shouldn’t you
be eating better foods for your teeth than chocolate cake?”
She just smiled and laughed. Another Mexican Dentist, another surprise.

I
came back to my house, sweating from the heat and tried to assemble my
new leather chair. I have been sitting on a chair I found on the roof
top. A small wooden stool, half eaten by termites, and destroyed by the
heat and sun here; it lasted about 3 months before the legs started
slowly seperating under me while I played. As if it wasn’t hard enough
fighting Bach, I had to fight the chair beneath me also!

I tried to put the screws together on the chair, and what a big surprise, the ones I had, didn’t fit.

God love the Chinese, if they don’t screw you out of the screws, they screw you by giving you the wrong sizes on the screws!

Back
to Ace Hardware, this time I take the cushions under my arm, and go
straight to the screw man. I rush past the front attendant, who tries
to get me to leave my bag at the front desk.
Sometimes it pays to be a Yanki, because I just breeze by, as if I can’t understand a word she says.

I finally find the right screws, they were 7/16 and 1 inch. I am now sitting high in my siamese catbird seat.

Today,
April Fools Day, I continued recording “Josefina”, a song about seeing
a person that takes your breath away, and the feelings we keep
inside,sometimes afraid to act upon them.

I record with Digital
Performer 5.1, and have been using it since DP 4, about 3 years. I have
no bass here, so I improvise, by using a heavy rest stroke on my
classical, and tweak the mixer to add bass to the track. It works well.

The past few days have been very focused on this song, arranging, and re-arranging the form.

Something
funny happened a few days back, on Saturday. I had a lesson arranged
with my teacher, who is a SUPER procrastinator. If he weren’t such a
great player, he would be very skinny from lack of funds. We arrange
the lesson for Friday, but when I called that morning, he informed me,
again, that it was a bad day. Maybe it was a hangover. I was told,
tomorrow, would be a better day.

So I was awoken by a phone call
at 10 am, his frantic wife was calling me, informing me of a terrible
calamity in Japan, about the major earthquake. It seemed that was the
excuse of the day not to have the lesson. Earthquakes in Japan? That’s
why I can’t have a lesson? This was too much.

I called the next
morning, after not hearing from anyone, nor the FEMA team. My teacher
informed me that Yo-Yo Ma was staying at their house, due to the
cancellation of his concert in Japan. Now it made sense, but why not
say that in the first place?
I just happened to be playing the
Bach Cello Suite, and thought it would be great to play it for the
world’s best cellist. Apparently my teacher did not think so.

Bach to the practice room, earthquake or not, the show goes on.

TOday
I went to Paracho, a three hour trip by bus. It’s the guitar capital of
the world, where over 100 guitar makers create guitars, mostly for
Mexicans. Requintos, Basses, violins, and other instruments can be
found there as well. It was there I was to meet my lutier, Guillermo
Rubio.

The tradition started when the conquistadors arrived in
the town, in the mid 15th century. They brought with them vihuelas, and
probably lutes. These were the predecessors to the modern day guitar,
which came into being about 300 years later. The people of Paracho
began making the guitars en masse since the early 20th century. The
technique to build high quality instruments, and the tools, only
recently arrived in the 1990′s. Since then, Paracho has gained
worldwide fame as the home of the Guitar, and as you enter the town
there is a giant 20 meter copper guitar adorned with lights, greeting
you.It was a small town of about 25,000 people. Every where I looked,
there were guitar stores, filled with guitars, requintos, guitarrones,
basses, cellos, violas, violins. It was amazing!

Including his
father, there are six men in Rubio’s family making the
guitars.Guillermo has won many prizes with his guitars, and is the most
reknown of the family.
He picked me up on a two laned, dusty
street, infront of a rusted bench with a broken roof overhead. That was
the bus stop for the center of Paracho. I walked across the street,
tempted by the ice cream shop, had a cone of vanilla and raspberry, and
asked for a public phone.
Since the woman working at the phone booth
was busy eating an ice cream also, we ate together, and then I asked
her to dial Rubio’s number. She told me the phone was out. But she knew
who he was, and gave me 2 different ways to get to his house, in
prependicular directions.

I took the dusty main road, and found
a phone. I called to Rubio, and within moments, we were reunited. For
one reason or another, I had waited 5 months to buy my guitar.

As
we drove across the dusty, two lane road, we passed many houses built
of pine logs. The rooves were constructed of sunburst colored terra
cotta tiles. The ends of the logs stuck out and reminded my of my old
lincoln log toys I played with as a child. The houses appeared ancient;
weathered and cracked by the intense Michoacan sun the pine had turned
grey. The lines ran through the wood like a dried up riverbed.

We
arrived at his house and I was surprised to see so many bars on the
doors and windows. It seemed like Alcatraz to me, but the typical home
has these protections. Some of the ironwork is more ornate than others;
his was delicately detailed with fine curves and twists.

When I
entered his brick house, I was astounded and surrounded by stuffed
animals he had hunted and stuffed: deer heads, rears, ducks, foxes,
owls, eagles, pelicans, squirrels, weasels, lynxes, mallards, pintails,
cinnamon headed teal, wood ducks and mergansars. Rubio was quite the
hunter.

All the talk of hunting made me remember my hunger. I
had been told by a taxi driver that there was a typical food they
served in Paracho that was distinct; I looked forward to finding that
out.
We arrived at a nice tavern, and I was happy to know there was rabbit on the menu.

I
had a bowl of chicken and vegetable soup. THere was a type of green
leafy vergetable in the soup that reminded me of a soft kale. It a a
little kick to it, but after I bombed it with jalepenos, it was more to
my liking. Tornudos, or tortilla fluffs, were next, covered in a light
creme sauce. They were delicious. Finally, Bugs arrived. Fried to a
crisp, the meat was juicy and succulent. Nothing beats food from the
campo! Even the refried beans there were tastier, distinct from the
ones I am accustomed to here in Morelia.

We conversed about the
history of Paracho, and I found out that the original forms of the high
end models came from Abel Garcia. There are many models of guitars
here: Torres model, Hauser, Flamenco, 18th century style, and the
Rodriguez. Few lutiers make all forms. Rubio’s specialty is the Torres,
in my opinion.

We returned to his home, I took out my camcorder, and the moment of truth appeared.

We
walked together up the brick staircase, where I met his wife. We passed
more stuffed animals and Guillermo began reminding me of Marlin Perkins
and Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. He actually looked like a Mexican
version of him! I will upload the video.

Guillermo’s shop was
tucked away above the entrance to the house. It was a small, orderly
shop with dozens of saws, hammers, drills, rasps, laquers, thinners,
and of course GUITARS!!!
There were necks and bodies strewn about in
various states of creation. The molds for the sides, tops and backs
were hanging from the walls. Guillermo later demonstrated the craft to
me, showing me most of the steps of his creation.

Guillermo had
several models of guitars: the Torres, the Hauser, the Rodriguez, the
18th century and flamenco. He has won several prizes for his guitars
throughout the years in lutier contests. My teacher, Victor Pellegrini,
had introduced and recommended him. I put my trust in Guillermo, and
when I arrived I tried every guitar he had. The one for me, was the
first one he showed me.
It was a Torres model, with a Canadian Cedar
top, Indian Rosewood bridge, Palo Scrito back and sides from San Luis
Potosi, Mexico, and an Ebony fretboard. All of the trees near Paracho
had been replanted. Over the years the makers had depleted the rich
mountain side and you could see the new trees were beginning to fill up
the surrounding mountains.

I was truly impressed with the visual
aspect of my guitar, it had a perfect shape and finish. When I began to
play it, it immediately sang out to me. There was a precise balance
between the basses and trebles. The overall potency of the guitar was
immense, and I immediately knew, that this was the one I was taking
home. The clear overtones and the precise tuning of the notes all the
way up and down the neck had me convinced that this guitar was right
for me. The neck felt great in my hands, and it was just a joy to play.
I have been playing too long on a guitar that was not well suited for
the type of music I am studying; this moment was overdue.

The
price was very fair considering the craftsmanship and quality of sound.
I cannot be happier. I hope more guitarists can take the time to visit
this center of guitar making and find the guitar of their dreams.

ChristopherKilday