Instruments with personal touch
Several artisans in Eugene are
handing down tradition by
handcrafting musical
instruments.
While two local instrument
makers, Sam (ones and judy
Scher, are specializing in mak
ing traditional folk instruments,
another artist, Steve Davies, has
brought amplified instrument
making to Eugene.
When (ones graduated from
high school in 1965, an experi
ment to replicate a Kentucky
style stringed folk instrument
called a dulcimer led him to a
career in stringed-instrument
making.
"The first (dulcimer) was a
solid fingerboard, so it wasn't
very loud. After that we realized
it had to be hollowed out,"
Jones recalls.
Popular demand kept Jones
producing, and today he says he
has made about 50 dulcimers, 30
fretless banjos, 10 guitars and 8
mandolins.
Jones says his wood-working
and instrument making
business is promoted by word
of-mouth.
Jones' handmade instruments
are comparably priced to store
bought instruments of similar
quality. His guitars and man
dolins sell for about $1,000,
while his dulcimers run about
$300 each.
However, the fretless banjo is
a traditional breed, and is not
mass-produced. Jones sells
those instruments for $200.
"It's a specialized instrument.
The only way to get one is to
make one yourself or find a
craftsman," Jones says.
Jones' contributions to tradi
tional folk music extend beyond
instrument making. His fiddle
band, The Northern Broad
casters, headlines at some of the
Eugene Folklore Society mon
thly square dances at Willard
School.
Another local instrument
maker is Judy Scher. Preserva
tion of traditional folk music
also interests Scher, who hand
crafts and sells Bodhrans — old
Irish style drums.
Scher's career began with
dulcimer-making lessons from
Sam Jones in 1979. In 1980 Scher
and Jones each received re
quests for handmade drums.
"The person who asked Sam
to make him a drum specified
how he wanted it made, and we
both used those modifications,"
Scher said.
Completion of the first drum
took about two weeks, and two
to three failures of trying to
steam bend the wood, Scher
recalls.
Tacking the goatskin head to
the rim of the drum was another
skill that required perfecting.
"I probably had to take skins
on and off six drums before I
Steve Davies of Stephen's Stringed Instruments is one of several
local people who makes musical instruments.
got it right," Scher says.
However, Scher now spends
about 12 hours making each
Bodhran, and has completed
about 20 since she began in
1980.
Scher says she has sold about
ten drums to individuals and to
Artichoke Music in Portland,
and she hopes her booth at the
Northwest Regional Folk Life
Festival in Seattle, on May 25
through May 28, will increase
her sales and contacts.
As a supplement to drum
making, Scher does some string
instrument repairs and crafts,
and she markets other
woodwork.
Another instrument artisan,
Steve Davies, says he makes
electric and amplified acoustic
guitars designed for perfor
mance use.
"Most of our market is with
professional musicians because
our instruments are quite ex
pensive," says the owner of
Stephen's Stringed Instruments.
"I think our first big name sale
was to Hoyt Axton," Davies
recalls.
The Axton sale came from the
first batch of steel string guitars
that Davies designed in 1979,
and produced with partner
David Shaw, in 1980. Stephen's
gradually branched into produc
ing classical, 12-string and elec
tric guitars.
Davies says his shop produces
about 20 to 50 guitars each year,
which are sold to individuals
and regional music stores.
However, Davies says, interest
in wholesaling Stephen's
guitars, which range in price
from $700 to $1,200, has recently
come from New York.
To know Stephen's guitars is
to love them. Several months
ago guitarist Robert Cray heard
Davies playing a Stephen's elec
tric guitar at a blues jam at Old
Taylor's bar. The next day Cray
purchased one of Davies' elec
tric guitars.
Stephen's Stringed In
struments will feature a booth at
this weekend street fair, which
will be held outside the EMU in
conjunction with the 14th An
nual Willamette Valley Folk
Festival.
Lori Steinhauer
i
Rainbow Run — 8 km
Run with the business school
Saturday, May 19th • 9:00 a.m.
Registration: Pick up entry forms at all local sports
stores or MBAA lounge.
Race location: Courtyard of Gilbert Hall || l' 1'
T-Shirts and Prizes
$3.00 off registration
with GO l.D.
Sponsored
by
Tape duplication
instant cassette copies!
Quality stereo or monaural duplication.
Check the prices today at your
Bookstore.
Three day Folk Fest
gets under way today
The 14th Annual Willamette Valley Folk Festival opens to
day and runs through Sunday, May 20. It will highlight Ritmo
1m»'; il, a 13-piece Latin band from Portland, at 8 p.m.
tonight. Obo Addy and Kukrudu, who incoporatetraditional
Cihanaian drumming with American electric sounds, is Satur
day evening's headliner.
All other festival performers were selected from audition
tapes submitted to the EMU Cultural Forum, says jamie
McKillop, co-coordinator for the event.
Following is a list of events schedule for the three day
festival:
FRIDAY, MAY 18
12:00 p.m., O'Caralans Consort
12:45 p.m., Jim Kuoni
1:15 p.m., Aurora
2:00 p.m., Rob Mackintosh and Laurie Brown
2:45 p.m., Robbie Basho
4:00 p.m., Beer Garden at Alder Street Tennis Courts:
Crazy Eights
7:00 p.m., Compton, Doherty and Einhorn
8:00 p.m., Ritmo Tropical
SATURDAY, MAY 19
11:00 a.m., Linda Danielson and Chico Schwall
11:30 a.m., Sam Rainey
12:00 p.m., Sandunga
12:45 p.m., Derning, Ovellette and Franklin
1:15 p.m., Jim Guthrie
1:30 p.m., Radiance
2:45 p.m., File Gumbo
3:15 p.m., Manzanita
4:00 p.m., Eric Tingstad
5:30 p.m., Barbara Turril
6:00 p.m., Crystal Flame
6:45 p.m., Balaton
8:00 p.m., Obo Addy and Kukrudu
SUNDAY, MAY 20
11:00 a.m., University Gospel Ensemble
12:00 p.m., Jim, Dave and Rich
12:40 p.m., Mike and Carlene McCornack
1:15 p.m., Rural Recharge
2:00 p.m., Jon Sirkus
3:00 p.m., Wylde Thyme
3:45 p.m., Hedgehogs
4:20 p.m., Wolf Creek
5:00 p.m., Shumba
Fear and loathing in Mac Court
Some have pegged him a
heretic; others call him a
saint. Then there are those
who refer to gonzo jour
nalist, Hunter S. Thompson
as simply a “strange
potato."
Whatever or whoever he
is, “An Evening of Ques
tions and Answers Political
in Nature with Dr. Hunter S.
Thompson," promises to be
more interesting than any
spud-planting ceremony on
campus has ever been.
The 44-year-old Thomp
son, who is coming to cam
pus Thursday, May 24, at 8
p.m. in McArthur Court, is
best known for his unusual
stream-of-consciousness
writing style, as well his af
finity for ingesting
remarkable quantities of
alcohol and illegal
substances. Thompson
himself admits to having
“courted brain damage like
some courtesan of
darkness."
Thompson's journalistic
career has meandered from
mainstream to left field,
beginning in 1959 with a
one-year stint as Carribean
correspondent for TIME
magazine. Thereafter he
followed assignments for
several national newspapers
and magazines.
Rolling Stone readers
remember Thompson as na
tional affairs editor from
1970 to 1981, and High
Times fans are familiar with
his contributions as global
affairs correspondent since
1977.
His first book, an inside
look at America's most
notorious motorcycle gang
titled “Hell's Angels" (1966),
was followed by the popular
“Fear and Loathing in Las
Vegas" (1972), his crazed ac
count of a district attorney's
convention in Sin City.
"Fear and Loathing on the
Campaign Trail" (1973), “The
Great Shark Hunt" (1977),
and "Kona Stories" (1980),
followed.
Thompson was also the
subject for the Bill Murray
film, "Where the Buffalo
Roam," and was the model
for Duke in Gary Trudeau's
Doonesbury comic strip.
Tickets are on sale at the
EMU Main Desk; $3 for
students, $4 for the general
public.
tobapmiuh
HHTAHTE 3MEPAJI#
AND RECYCLE IT TOO!!