A big part of my job involves making sure we have the right number of instruments available for our customers.  Too few and there isn’t a good selection.  Too many and we simply run out of room.  Because of my background before coming to Encore, striking the right balance is usually attainable.  However, there are times I can’t pass up opportunities to acquire particularly great instruments.  There are also times when I’ve been waiting for a certain model for months, even years.  The result is that there can be moments when we are SWIMMING in instruments. Right now, that is the case with cellos… If I counted correctly, we have approximately FIFTY (yes, five zero) cellos between $2,000 and $35,000.  Whether you are in the market for a new cello or not, this is an incredible moment to come in and play through this collection.

Listening can be difficult.  I’m fortunate that several of my hobbies – musical instruments, hifi stereo systems, and concert attendance – overlap when it comes to critical listening.  Most people step into comparing instruments, bows, strings, rosin, etc with preconceptions about whether or not they will be able to hear a difference.  When I’m working with a professional musician, there is often the assumption on the player’s part that the differences between two instruments or bows will be easily and readily discerned.  When the parent of a middle-school student participating in orchestra walks into the shop, I often hear them say that they won’t be able to hear any differences between instruments or bows.  Both the professional musician and the parent often leave surprised! The reality is that most people enter into comparisons expecting the outcome to be a clear ranking – one is better, one is worse.  With musical instruments, bows, strings, and rosin, it is often difficult to clearly rank the items being compared.  Strings are a great example.  If you look at violin strings from Thomastik based solely on price, the easy assumption would be that Vision strings are better than Dominant strings, and that Peter Infeld strings are

One of the enjoyable aspects of my job is developing relationships with living makers and sourcing wonderful instruments for the shop.  As often happens these days, I became aware of Eugene Holtier’s work through social media.  We communicated over time and, seeing that he was nearing completion on a new cello, I asked if I could visit and play it.  I was incredibly impressed by that instrument and arranged to order a cello and violin.  We chose wood for the cello and I have watched the progress of the instrument on, you guessed it, social media.  Next week I will visit Eugene in his Ohio workshop to take delivery of the instruments.  I am always excited to hear the brand-new voices! Here is a photo Eugene took of the cello a couple of weeks ago.  While not complete, it gives you a taste of what it looks like.

Later today, I’ll be headed north to Anderson University during their summer string camp.  Throughout the year I have the opportunity to give talks to college students as well as high school and middle school students.  Teacher and professors ask me to speak on several topics, but a common request is for me to describe my path in the music world.  It is more helpful now than ever for students to hear that the trajectory of their career is rarely linear – there are almost always twists, turns, and obstacles.  I entered Butler University to earn my cello performance degree with the goal of winning an audition with a major symphony orchestra.  Well…I did, in fact, successfully earn my degree.  After that, things didn’t exactly go to plan!  During my four years at Butler, I met my future wife.  Suddenly, having kids and a normal working schedule became bigger priorities for me than a performance career.  After graduating: My first job out of school was with Baldwin Piano as a Factory Representative, which lasted six months. I pursued a job with Cummins Diesel (besides music, I loved trucks and diesel engines) and became a Materials Planner, ordering components to support engine production. I asked Angie to marry me (she said yes!) I

In the past, the one drawback to trying an electric instrument in Encore is that you were tethered to the amplifier by a traditional guitar cable.  No more!  We are breaking in the Line6 Relay G10 wireless system and should have it all dialed in the next couple of days.  Now, you can do your best Lindsey Stirling impression – jumps, kicks, spins, leaps…anything you can imagine.  That being said, if you do kick a violin off the wall, across the room, and smash it against the wall…well, you break it, you buy it! Stay tuned – John might even try his hand at a little dance-fiddling…  

Having a wide selection of cello cases in stock is almost as important to us as having a wide selection of cellos and bows.  A hardshell cello case serves many important functions…and can also be a lot of fun!  We see so many professionals and students using their hard cello cases as a blank canvas – they choose their favorite color, cover it in bumper stickers, you name it!  Special colors are sometimes hard to come by because they are made in smaller production runs and aren’t always in stock.  One of our popular, affordable cello cases from Bobelock comes in an array of attractive colors.  We currently have black, white, forest green, red, dark blue, and sky blue.  When I saw the red and forest green together, I couldn’t help myself…

Yamaha has a great little amp they were using at the NAMM show in January to demonstrate the great qualities of their YEV series electric violins.  I knew we HAD to have one for the showroom so that our customers who want to rock out on the electrics have a way to do so…without us needing a giant Marshall stack in the corner!  We got the amp today, plugged in, and had a blast.  Granted, John (the cellist) was playing the violin with a viola…but even this sub-optimal trinity sounded pretty good!  Come on in – we have the YEV-104 and YEV-105 in stock and ready to play!  

I love looking at photos of instruments.  Old instruments.  New instruments.  Instruments in the process of being made.  There is just something about the wood, the varnish, the outline, and the craftsmanship that enthralls me.  Over the past twelve years, Tim Gee (Marketing Director) has invested a great deal of time and resources to allow us to capture accurate images of the instruments we have in our studio room.  We typically only post instruments that reside in that room; the finest instruments we carry.  Sometimes these are individual creations by modern masters, sometimes these are excellent examples from leading workshops.  In the coming months we will expand the portion of our website devoted to our step-up string instruments available on our rent-to-own plan.  We’ll have richer descriptions of these instruments and we’ll also feature beautiful photographs of example instruments. Do you remember picture day at school growing up?  I must have viewed picture day as a time to have some fun, because most of my school year pictures are…um…”memorable”.  I leave you with one of my favorites.  If I remember, this was from 8th grade.  What, didn’t you wear jorts and a cowboy hat for YOUR school pictures?

I wonder how bass players feel about that song?  After it came out, I feel like you couldn’t utter the word “bass” for a while without five people breaking into a karaoke session!  Encore has ALWAYS been all about that bass and we have as wide a selection of upright basses as you are ever likely to see at one time in our showroom.  Fully carved, hybrid, laminate, 5-string, willow, maple, flat-back, carved-back…whew! Two members of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra bass section came and played through all of our basses today.  It’s so wonderful to have the impressions from professionals of that caliber, and the impressions were favorable!  Come by to play and I’ll show you their favorites…  

It’s always fun to write about an incredible modern cello we have at the shop made by a single pair of hands and carrying a hefty price tag…but it’s also fun to talk about beautiful instruments suited to a player only a year or two into their journey.  We recently received almost a dozen instruments from several different workshops, covering a wide range of lower price points.  I’ve been playing them in and they are fantastic!  A couple of them not only sound great but feature maple with incredible, unique figure.  Take a look at this back!  

As I was trying to create a catchy, rhyming title for this week’s blog post, I stumbled upon a nugget of nostalgia – who is old enough to remember the Nike campaign “BO KNOWS”?  Bo Jackson was a multi-sport athlete back when I was in grade school and I still remember the poster of Bo in all kinds of different sports jerseys lined up in a row.  Because of this fun ad campaign in the 90’s, you – my wonderful readers – are treated to an incredibly witty blog title this week.  You see, I took “BO KNOWS”…and ADDED A “W”!!!  Mind blown, right? All of this to say, we currently have the broadest selection of higher quality pernambuco bows I can ever remember.  A full lineup from Arcos Brasil (nickel, silver, special edition, replica, and gold!) along with Paesold, Seifert, Wanka workshops.  We also have cello bows from Rodney Mohr and Burgette, the work of Kate Mohr. Come and spend some time finding the perfect bow for your instrument!

On a recent trip to Washington, DC, I had the opportunity to spend some time with the 1701 ‘Servais’ Stradivari cello that is cared for at a Smithsonian museum.  This was a monumental event for me, as I have admired this particular cello above all others for as long as I can remember.  My experience with it did not disappoint.  I offer you this rather long description of both my experience with the cello and background on how I approach trying instruments…   This is my attempt to describe playing the 1701 ‘Servais’ Stradivari cello. My purpose in writing this is to both cement the experience in my own mind and discuss how I evaluate an instrument unfamiliar to me. This entire exercise will likely only be of interest to a few friends, but I felt it worthwhile to share as it might spark an interesting dialogue on the subject. First, a few caveats and qualifications. I count among my friends individuals who are far finer cellists, individuals who have significantly more experience playing antique instruments from the great masters, and individuals who have deeper knowledge of the great masters’ work. In a case or two, one person might fit

We get the question regularly – “Do you have any used instruments?”  What I’ve found is that this question has many different meanings.  Some customers are asking if we carry antique instruments.  Some wonder if we have any “ugly ducklings” that we’re selling at extremely low prices.  Others just want to know if we have something a little less expensive than a brand-new instrument. While we rarely carry antique instruments, we do often have “ugly ducklings” and also previously rented instruments that are in beautiful condition.  If a previously rented instrument meets our strict cosmetic standards, it is rented/sold at a 20% discount compared to a new instrument.  These instruments are often indistinguishable from a new instrument and give families the opportunity to obtain a higher quality instrument for a given budget.  We have an excellent selection of violins and violas right now that fall under this category. We also have the occasional instrument that is excellent structural and mechanical condition, but has excessive wear and tear to the varnish.  While we make every effort to make the instrument look as good as possible, it’s not always cost effective to completely restore the finish.  These instruments can be a great

We were thrilled to have Fan Tao of D’Addario join us in Encore last night to talk to local educators about strings – how they’re made, their history, and practical ways to choose the right string for your instrument.  Fan wears many hats in addition to his role at D’Addario and is able to talk about practically any subject related to violin-family instruments with authority.  Everyone in attendance asked questions…which inevitably led to other questions…and other questions!  I’ve heard Fan talk on many occasions and he does an incredible job of answering each new question while also staying focused on the original topic.  With the help of D’Addario, we distributed samples of their Kaplan strings to participants. We look forward to hosting events like this in the future!      

At the request of a customer, I bought a pair of white Musilia S1 cello cases for the shop.  She came and selected the one she liked best and I’m left with one for stock.  Interestingly, they were NOT the exact shade of white – one could be considered bright white and one was paper white.  Chalk it up to different batches of paint.  I am impressed by the general fit and finish of the cases and their exceptionally light weight.  Even the S1, which is the entry level model of cello case from Musilia, is only 7.9 pounds.  It feels even lighter than that!  The latches are easy to use, the handle is fairly ergonomic – although I wish there was a little more clearance for my hand – and the two halves of the shell lined up with only an average amount of wiggling.  Musilia gives good sizing information for the case.  The S1 fits “standard” Strad-sized cellos.  My larger, Garimberti-inspired cello did NOT fit.  Musilia makes larger models as well, so I might bring one of those into the shop for a test as well. No case is perfect, but the Musilia strikes a good balance of

I am excited to announce a new partnership with Coda Bow!  Encore and Paige’s have had a relationship with Coda Bow from the very early days of Coda’s existence.  We have stocked and sold their full lineup of bows for decades and have watched both the technology and the company grow and evolve over time.  In our continuous pursuit of offering exceptional value to our customers, we approached Coda about creating a unique product we could offer our rental customers as part of their instrument outfit.  The time was finally right and we are thrilled to introduce Protégé!  These bows represent Coda Prodigy level performance with a beautiful, easy-to-maintain look.  They are included with any Encore instrument rental for violin, viola, and cello.  Don’t worry basses, we didn’t forget you!  Our bass players will receive a Coda Revelation in their choice of French or German style. Our more advanced customers might select a different bow from higher up in Coda’s lineup, or a pernambuco bow from a number of excellent workshops, but the introduction of Protégé means that even our customers in the earlier stages of their journey will have a fantastic bow that facilitates learning and furthers their musicianship. Come visit

There are some tasks in the string world that almost no one enjoys.  One that is close to the top of my list is changing a bass string…or a SET of bass strings…or MULTIPLE sets of bass strings!  If you are an orchestra director and have an aging fleet of basses, you might find yourself needing to change 5-6 sets of bass strings at once.  Because a typical upright bass has geared tuners, you find yourself turning, and turning, and turning, and turning… Enter the New Harmony bass gear attachment.  Chuck it up in your favorite electric drill, keep the speed under control, keep everything lined up, and watch your fingers rejoice!  You can’t fall asleep at the wheel, but used properly this can be a tremendous time saver! We have several in stock right now and can always order more!

In a world of self-proclaimed “masters”, the genuine article can be challenging to find.  Nestled in Northfield, Minnesota is a maker with the instruments, client list, and awards to add substance to the title.  David Folland has so many awards and medals that he was awarded “Hors Concours” from the VSA which, in essence, means that he’s won so many gold medals that he isn’t allowed to compete anymore!  I had cello no.166 by David in the shop and sold it to a fortunate client.  That cello was one of the finest modern instruments I’ve ever played.  Since then, I’ve dreamed of David building another cello for the shop…and my dream is coming true!  Not only is he building us a cello, but he is using a 50-year-old maple cello back I took him.  He put it through all of the measurements and deemed it an “ideal” piece of wood for the project.  Stay tuned – the cello should arrive in late 2019!