Instruments
Bows
Strings
Tailpieces
ServicesDesign & Development
Our designs we are working toward creating home grown products that the rest of the world will marvel at while we are using them. In this way we will draw from our local labour force and inspire more musicians and their instrument makers to grow with us - because why, local is lekker.
Working toward product independence, we have partnered with instrument makers country wide to ensure inclusive design and maintenance support that is easy to gain access to. Additionally ths method is aimed at increasing the foot print for instrument makers to add their relevance and income. All round an envisioned win-win-win scenario.
We make, You have what you need, Instrument makes have increased usefulness.
There are needed design areas where we are focusing our attention. Primarily because of viability and need.
Stands for Sheet Music and Instruments
Currently, the availability of stands is fine with local imports. However, most Chinese stands do not last very long because of predominantly making them with inferior steel which has screws that strip, parts that bend and NO spares in sight when needed.
The American option that comes at a premium is far better in quality and build, still NO spares in sight when any part stops working or breaks.
So, after having picked at their weak spots and redesigned some of it we are almost ready to get into full production of these. This time with complete available spares and services that help anyone who has bought one in future. We believe our South African version is going to rival all other imported types at teh same time as being able to provide what is needed to ensure that you only buy a new one because someone walked away with yours, NOT because it broke and couldn’t be fixed.
Hard Cases
Hard cases are hard to come by in South Africa, they have to e imported and this has two options. From Europe or from China. The European cases are among the best but really pricey and the Chinese are mostly decent but inconsistent in build and both are not serviceable:(
Svencino is closing in on making it a reality! At this point we are completing designs and setting up our ‘final’ vacuum forming mach9ne to pull it off.
By reverse engineering and looking at all of the critical areas of strength, weakness and where or how we can improve on working details we believe that once we have it fine tuned then our case is closed and South African instruments will once again be affordably safe.
Tools & Rigs
Within the parameters of Import costs, availability and quality of tooling we have seen that there are a few areas of tool manufacture that are worth the effort. Most of our training partners and individual trainees need the tool setup to function independently so we are making it possible for them to this with less cost and distributed sourcing.
Systems & Administration.
Slowly we have been working on a system that has endless sharing and working potential. Luckily, today ther are endless systems available that allow for almost plug-and-play solutions. One example is the current work that we are doing with schools and outreach whereby each instrument is catalogued with a code, work history and who did it where. This will ultimately mean that a working store of instruments can be accessed between all the participating partners and the people working on them.
Through doing this we are working toward adding yet another pearl to our equation where an open source environment will help us keep costs down in our working day so that the transfer of these costs don’t have to add onto your buying our products.
While we are a small, we are able to test and implement these in such a way that once this gets bigger with more independent people to manage they have what they need to largely self manage and get on with their work:)
Electronic components.
Still being tested to some degree, we finally have a collaborative conclusion of our Pickups fro string instruments. The type is a passive pickup which is fitted in the bridge in the same way as a tapered peg. This allows for mechanical EQ and bridge replacement without causing damage to the pickup:) The next redesign that we are slowly busy with is the Yamaha electric instrument range whereby we have so far studied their build and seen where how and what we can do to improve on something that is already in the better quality range.
Fittings & things that Harmonise.
Our Harmonic tailpieces that are premised on the Golden Section (or number) have so far gotten us a lot of favourable reviews. Despite the fact that they have proven themselves in sound tests and with spectrum analysis there is more to discovered … we are busy looking at the math behind or under it:)
Another item that we are quite pleased with is the reworking of the Krentz Modulator. a really simple but genius design. what we have found is that they are really easy to recreate and modify in such a way that we no longer need to import them are fantastic prices that make it prohibitive for most musicians who need them. We have made it that much easier and they work like a charm!
Training the next generation of Luthiers.
When I, me Svend Christensen, started with violin making (more correctly said – violin mechanics – in 2000, there were almost none left in South Africa. Among the reasons that I learned were: “There can’t be too many of us in South Africa,” “Not just anyone can do this!” and other short sighted comments.
It took two trips to France to get the skills that I needed along with another 12 years practice to feel confident with my chosen career.
This is best not repeated. Therefore we have been working with a few schools and outreach partners to breath life into having our own tailored curriculum fro violin making that provides enough working ‘tools’ to create sustainable relevance – schooling within schooling, providing a built in place to practice newly learned skills and provide value to active learners without the cost and distance needing to inhibit well maintained instruments.
Conclusion.
Despite the difficulty and challenges to improving on South African orchestral music making and learning we have been discovering and reshaping our reality slowly since our first training setup with the Johannesburg Youth Orchestra Company, in 2007. It was in this time that we realised and discovered the gaps and challenges that music making is faced with in South Africa – probably all of Africa – we are working on changing this bit by bit, as we go along.
