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| Contrabass-L: a list for discussion of contrabass *anything*|
|To subscribe, email gdgreen@crl.com with "subscribe contrabass"|
|in the subject line |
|_______________________________________________________________|
Date: Thu, 13 Jun 1996 16:31:27 -0800
To: gdgreen@crl.com (Grant Green)
From: mgrf@pacificnet.net
Subject: Re: Contrabass-L 1:1
Hey grant,
Thanks for the newsletter. It's a good start.
I have one question about the ad from Richard Underhill of the Shuffle Demons. Since he's Canadian, does he want $8000 Canadian dollars or US? If it's Canadian, then the price is a bit different. I'm not sure about the exchange rate these days, but it's a good question.
I could write a few things for the newsletter. I could do an interview with Matthias Zielger and Eva Kingma during the National Flute Association Convention in New York. (August 15-18)
I guess you should know a little more about me, too. I grew up in Mesquite, Texas. I started playing flute at age 11 and was in band and all. I attended Dallas Arts Magnet High School for my last year of high school and played in woodwind quintets and band and orchestra. It was there that I was introduced to the alto flute. We performed a piece by and for John Cage and I got the last note on alto. I fell in love with that sound and started looking for the other lower flutes.
I moved to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in 1986 and started playing in a flute choir. My parents bought me my first alto and then bass flutes in the following years. I played in various new music concerts and alternative bands-including bass flute in a band called the J Jonah Jamesons for 5 years. I attended a community college where I learned jazz and formed a jazz flute quartet called the Four Flutes of the Apocalips. I arranged tunes and played all the upper four flutes. I started playing with Canadian electro-acoustic guy Shawn Pinchbeck in 1992 and we recorded a cd from then until 1995. It was released in September 1995 and it's called Resonance. There are three of my own compositions which include some alto flute.
In September of 1992, I moved to Valencia, California to attend California Institute of the Arts. I majored in musical arts-flute performance. I studied contemporary flute, baroque music, Balinese flute, jazz and played for many composers. I played alot of alto and bass flute.
I went on a 16-week trip last fall all over Europe. When I visited Eva Kingma in Holland, she told me about a flute convention in Riva del Guarda, Italy and that I should attend. There I first heard and met Matthias Ziegler and decided that I should focus on the lower flutes. I love their sound and size. I later visited Matthias in Zurich and he introduced me to his instruments. I have been looking for lower flute makers ever since.
I was put in touch with Howell Peters by Andy Thomson, owner of Top Wind Music in London. I will meet Howell at the NFA convention in August. I hope that he will finish a contra-alto flute for me this year. I don't have a current address for him as his shop was moving somewhere else in Germany.
I am looking for place to do my graduate studies and a teacher who plays the lower instruments more than piccolo or regular flute. I'd like to stay on this coast.
Well, I guess that's all. Thanks for putting the newsletter together. Let me know if I can help.
Thanks again,
Marion Garver
Date: 13 June 1996
From: gdgreen@crl.com (Grant Green)
Subject: Contra-L 1.1
>Hey grant,
>Thanks for the newsletter. It's a good start.
Thanks!
>I have one question about the ad from Richard Underhill of the Shuffle Demons.
>Since he's Canadian, does he want $8000 Canadian dollars or US? If it's
>Canadian, then the price is a bit different. I'm not sure about the
>exchange rate these days, but it's a good question.
He didn't say. I would hope that its Canadian dollars, which would be closer to ~$6K US.
>I could write a few things for the newsletter. I could do an interview
>with Matthias Zielger and Eva Kingma during the National Flute Association
>Convention in New York. (August 15-18)
That would be great! I would love to see an interview with either or both of them. I first ran across EK when she was mentioned in Robert Dick's "Third Stone From The Sun", where she is credited with developing his open-hole alto and bass flutes. BTW, Emerson makes a "Robert Dick model" bass flute, incorporating his designs. Apparently, RD has very large hands, so this bass has the keys spread farther apart. I don't think I have a recording of him playing anything smaller than an Ab piccolo.
EK also participates on the Flute email list these days.
Grant
From: "Paul S. Johnson" <john0058@gold.tc.umn.edu>
Subject: RE: Contrabass-L 1:1
Date: Fri, 14 Jun 1996 07:59:37
X-Tick-Nemesis: The Idea Men
Dear Grant:
I got your 1st contra edition. I'm looking forward to receiving more.
Re: this guy
>>Yes it comes with a case and mouthpiece(although the case is a
>>bit taped up). The horn is in great shape, no dings or dents,
>>silver, serial number around 188000. I'm not sure about the
>>tuning! That's a good question (I've only played it a few times).
>>I bought it off a repairman who gave it a complete overhaul (all
>>new pads). So , I'm looking for $8000. Let me know if you're
>>interested. Rich
>>rapu @ io.org Richard Underhill Shuffle Demons
>$8K is a bit much for me, so its fair game for anyone who's
>interested....
I think I was his first inquiry and his price was 10k! What a turkey! I let him know that his price was way out of line with the market. (in a much more tactful way, of course). In fact, a Buesher, last week went for 4k. He also told me that he's been playing it with a bari mouthpiece; no wonder he doesn't have a clue about the intonation.
I didn't know you were a patent attorney. I invented an instrument that I'll tell you more about sometime. I'm writing an article about it for Experimental Music Instrument. I'm wondering if is patent-able or if I should even bother with it if it is.
I just found out that one of the world's foremost musical instrument museums is in Vermillion, South Dakota, which is only about 6-8 hours away from me here in Minneapolis. I got to check this out this summer!
Thanks,
Paul
Date: 14 June 1996
From: gdgreen@crl.com (Grant Green
Subject: Contra-L 1.1
>Dear Grant:
>I got your 1st contra edition. I'm looking forward to receiving more.
>Re: this guy
>>>Yes it comes with a case and mouthpiece(although the case is a
>>>bit taped up). The horn is in great shape, no dings or dents,
>>>silver, serial number around 188000. I'm not sure about the
>>>tuning! That's a good question (I've only played it a few times).
>>>I bought it off a repairman who gave it a complete overhaul (all
>>>new pads). So , I'm looking for $8000. Let me know if you're
>>>interested. Rich
>>>rapu @ io.org Richard Underhill Shuffle Demons
>>$8K is a bit much for me, so its fair game for anyone who's
>>interested....
>I think I was his first inquiry and his price was 10k! What a turkey! I let
>him know that his price was way out of line with the market. (in a much more
>tactful way, of course). In fact, a Buesher, last week went for 4k. He also
>told me that he's been playing it with a bari mouthpiece; no wonder he doesn't
>have a clue about the intonation.
Then of course, there's the question of whether he means US$ or CN$, and if he's thought about what the import duty might be...
>I didn't know you were a patent attorney. I invented an instrument that I'll
>tell you more about sometime. I'm writing an article about it for Experimental
>Music Instrument. I'm wondering if is patent-able or if I should even bother
>with it if it is.
Another interesting publication! If you're seriously considering filing for patent coverage on your instrument, you must file before you disclose the instrument in public. "Public disclosure" includes showing it off in public and/or publication, so be careful what you do with it.
As to whether or not to patent it, that depends on what you plan to do. A patent is essentially a ticket to federal court. It gives you the right to stop others from making, using, or selling your invention, and the way you enforce your right is by suing infringers. If you plan to manufacture the instrument yourself, or to sell the idea to another manufacturer, a patent is a very good idea. If you don't plan to promote the instrument, but just use it yourself, you might want to save yourself the expense.
Speaking of expense, you probably want to figure about $2-8K (US!) to have an application drafted and filed by a competent patent attorney. You can do it yourself, but in the end it is much easier to have a pro do it (BTW, this is pretty far outside my field of practice - not something I would handle myself). I think there is even a web site for "Patent it yourself." Note that the US patent (and there's no guarantee that you'll actually get one - you have to slug it out with the USPTO, convince the Patent Office that the invention is patentable) is enforceable only in the US. If you want to stop manufacture in any other country, you have to file a separate patent application in each country. The $$ add up fast. You don't have to pay to have the application drafted all over, but the filing fees abroad are in general much higher than the US, and the non-English speaking countries will require translations. On the other hand, you have a year (from your US filing date) to decide whether or not to file abroad. If you're going to sell it to Selmer, you'll probably want to file your US patent first, and then license it to Selmer and have them pay for foreign coverage as part of the license agreement.
If you want to find out whether or not the invention is patentable, the best thing to do is to visit a patent attorney and have a patent search performed. The attorney will probably send it out to a patent searcher, who, for around $300-1,000 (get a quote first!) will search the relevant patents and literature and give you an idea of whether it would be worthwhile to file a patent application.
>I just found out that one of the world's foremost musical instrument museums
>is in Vermillion, South Dakota, which is only about 6-8 hours away from me
>here in Minneapolis. I got to check this out this summer!
Yes! The American Musical Instrument Society (AMIS) just had its annual meeting there (5/16-19). Couldn't attend, unfortunately. If you're interested in AMIS membership, you can email Albert Rice at al_rice@cucmail.claremont.edu .
Grant
End Contrabass-L 1.2