Chet Olsen

PRUNEFACE · #1 11-25-2009, 11:36 AM

Does anyone have any information on this maker? I have gotten a good price on one that I enjoy and was just curious about what years he was (is?) active because the owner is 80-90+ and was the principal of the Pittsburgh Symphony.

Thanks

G-force · #2 11-26-2009, 05:54 AM

I knew him. What are you interested in ?

PRUNEFACE · #3 11-26-2009, 06:44 AM

Do you know the time period in which he was making bows? Did he use real whalebone during the construction of his bows? Any info you have on his background as a bowmaker wouod be appreciated.

G-force · #4 11-26-2009, 03:25 PM

HIs name is Cheston Olsen. He studied at the Curtis Institiute of music as a db student of Roger Scott. I think he graduated in 52. So that would make him in his late 70, early 80s.

He then played a bit in the New Orleans Symphony. I think then returning to the east caost to study bow making and inst repair in NYC with salchow.
His bass bows are fairly well know in the Philly area. He made some heavy bow based on the Delucia style. Very strong with a good soud. Not my taste in balance and sonewhat too drak for me though.

I remember an ivory frog he made. Maybe it was whalebone. Though,

I heard he moved to FL .
some clever googling will find you his contact info in Florida. You can call him yourself.
If you want to contact him if he is still alive. I would contact the Curtis INstitute in Phil. curtis.edu and look for the alumni dept.

I have not seen him since ca 1991.

Hope this helps.

PRUNEFACE · #5 11-26-2009, 08:15 PM

Thanks for the info. Whalebone actually isnt bone, it's the teeth of a baleen whale, also known as "baleen" which the whale gets its name from. But yes, I have found an excellent bow and I just want to try and date it. I'll try contacting curtis possibly tomorrow.

PRUNEFACE · #6 11-27-2009, 09:47 AM

Okay, I just found the date under the frog. It's from 1984. I haven't seen a ton of "maker" bows and did not know whether that was a place to look -I'll have to remember that.

G-force · #7 11-28-2009, 03:13 AM

Yeah it´s like finding a secret code.

Look if you get in contact with Chet. Do you think you could send me a message on how he is doing ?

You can PM me if you like.
Thanks
Glenn

PRUNEFACE · #8 11-29-2009, 03:30 PM

I'll let you know as soon as I have the opportunity to call him.

PRUNEFACE · #9 02-03-2011, 04:32 PM

Well, is it German or French? And what year?

LouisF · #10 02-03-2011, 05:49 PM

Mike Richmond uses one of his bows:
http://www.rd3jazz.com/gear.htm

Gatortail1 · #11 02-05-2011, 11:57 AM

Wow. I think I have found one too. I did some research on this guy and he apparently only made 30 bass bows. It looks likke there is a French one on ebay. It looks pretty nice. Anyone ever play one of these bows? Just curious.

**john turner** · #12 03-10-2011, 07:18 PM

i've cleaned this thread up. while we allow users to delete their posts, doing so on such a large scale is, at best, rude.

my apologies for having to delete some other perfectly fine posts that responded to nothing and in general looked pretty odd without the posts they were addressing.

in the future, i'd suggest that folks quote the posts they respond to. this way, if the original post is deleted, the quoted post remains.

PRUNEFACE · #13 03-10-2011, 07:34 PM

Thank you

Quote:

Originally Posted by john turner

i've cleaned this thread up. while we allow users to delete their posts, doing so on such a large scale is, at best, rude.

my apologies for having to delete some other perfectly fine posts that responded to nothing and in general looked pretty odd without the posts they were addressing.

in the future, i'd suggest that folks quote the posts they respond to. this way, if the original post is deleted, the quoted post remains.