Toronto Canada double bass repair

[cman905]

Any recommendations on a double bass repair shop - a place YOU took your bass and they did GREAT work.
I know about Heinl but I'm looking to see what what/who else is out there. Anywhere in the GTA.

thanks

[mattfong]

I've never been there, but The Soundpost is apparently very good. It's also the best place in Toronto to buy strings. They have an entire room dedicated to strings or something like that.

http://www.thesoundpost.com/EN/

[mattfong]

Oh here's the page about the string room I was talking about. Sounds cool!

http://www.thesoundpost.com/EN/services/stringLab.cfm

[Anonymous75966]

Ludi Pollak does good work for a very reasonable rate. Great guy too - last time I was in TO he had me over on a Sunday evening to do an emergency repair on a borrowed bass. He's in the phone book or in Bob G's luthier directory.

In my experience - being originally from TO - Soundpost is OK but not the best place for bass work. (The string lab is great though.) Heinl's has a couple of really expert bass luthiers, but Ludi is a bassist himself and much more affordable.

[carlopetro]

I have had nothing but professional service from Heinl. I have no idea who is the cheapest in T.O. for rates, but for quality I recommend Heinl.

[anonymous12251111]

Originally Posted by carlopetro

I have had nothing but professional service from Heinl. I have no idea who is the cheapest in T.O. for rates, but for quality I recommend Heinl.

Steve from Heinl's does very good work. He's worked on my bass a lot. Just don't go to them for a re-hair, dear god!!!!!! Sound Post is great, but they don't know anything about basses.

[Mark Clout]

Originally Posted by Calvin Marks

Steve from Heinl's does very good work. He's worked on my bass a lot. Just don't go to them for a re-hair, dear god!!!!!! Sound Post is great, but they don't know anything about basses.

I'm curious. What don't you like about Heinl's rehairs?

Mark

[Rob Hunter]

Originally Posted by Calvin Marks

Sound Post is great, but they don't know anything about basses.

I had a bass set up by the SoundPost in 1999 and they did a fantastic job. But last year, when I needed some work done, they told me they no longer work on basses (I was told it was a "storage and space" issue).

They sent me to Ludi Pollak, whom I now highly recommend. His work is excellent.

[mattfong]

Theres also another guy who works out of his house, that my teacher goes to... I don't remember his last name, but his first name is Zoltan. Anyone know him?

Oh and I'm pretty sure he also works at Remenyi.

[Bass Boy]

Another endorsement for Steve and Ludi.

[Anonymous75966]

Originally Posted by mattfong

Theres also another guy who works out of his house, that my teacher goes to... I don't remember his last name, but his first name is Zoltan. Anyone know him?

Oh and I'm pretty sure he also works at Remenyi.

Zoltan Ari - never been to him, but I've heard he's very good too.

Given the choice, I'd go to his house, not to the shop.

When I lived in TO, Remenyi didn't have the reputation for being the most honest dealer in town. Based on my experience I wouldn't go back there. My $0.02.

[anonymous12251111]

Originally Posted by Mark Clout

I'm curious. What don't you like about Heinl's rehairs?

Mark

Wow. Okay where do I begin. Let me fill you in on my bow horror story.

Last November I desperately needed a re-hair quickly as I was playing an opera gig and I needed the bow back within 3 days. I always take my bows to Ludi Pollack, who does the FINEST re-hairs I've ever seen. Ludi spends about 1 week minimum on bow re-hairs since he's so busy and backed up with clients! In fact his quality of black hair is so good that all of Joel's students from Montreal send their bows to Ludi just for a re-hair. Anyways, Ludi was booked SOLID that week so I decided to give Heinl's a try. Remenyi was completely out of the question, because they have serious quality issues in regards to anything to do with a double bass (which mind you is almost non-existent, ALSO surprising since their manager is/was some form of a Double Bass player from St. Petersburg.) I digress! Sorry!!

So the bow horror story.

1) I bring the bow into Heinl's, and speek to John Sirdeven (sp?!), telling him to do the bow EXACTLY how it is (Ie. Ludi's work), of course no two bow re-hairs are going to be identical, but I just mean't in terms of hair-length/width and type of hair. Anyways, I ask for White hair. John is very pleasant and assures me it will be ready within three days. Great! I call in Wednesday morning (day of pick-up), "Hi John, so what time can I come pick up the bow today", John "Uh, woops! It completely slipped my mind! I haven't even touched it yet! Give me 1 hour and I'll have it done for you!!" So I'm feeling a little skeptical, they forgot completely about my re-hair and he now claims he can do it within the hour...Getting kinda worried I'm going to get a hack job.

2) I arrive at the store in an hour and the hair is BLACK. Not that big of a deal really, I mentioned that I wanted it white but John assured me I'd "love" this kind of hair. I quickly drop down a LOAD of cash for this re-hair and head back to the University to try it out...The hair is CRAP. When I say this, I'm not speaking junk. I've used different varieties of black hair before but this hair is incredibly corse and rosin isn't doing anything for it. Not only that but the hair is incredibly short...Like full tension when the screw is set to normally "uber-relaxed." I see that this is just not optimal so I quickly hurry back to Heinl's. I explain to them that this re-hair just won't do, and I have a show in 90 minutes. They assure me they'll have it done by tomorrow afternoon and they proceed to give me a loaner bow. Now, my bow is $4000.00 and of highly quality material. They gave me a GLASSER French bow, their "ultra" model apparently retailing in at about 118.00 instead of 95.00. I head back to the warm up rooms and luckily get to borrow a friends Hudson bow.

3)I return to Heinl's the next day. The bow is ready, shining beautifully, the hair is white, but it is still VERY short!!! This time I knew better and decided to try it out at the shop on one of their basses. It just wasn't working and I had him "edge" out a bit of the hair to increase its length. Personally, I wanted my money back but I had another show that day and just couldn't be bothered anymore. He assured me that the hair length was fine and I shrugged it off.

4) The show, Act II, BANG!!!!!! The hair SNAPS completely during a Forte passage and the screw shoots out of my bow like a BULLET, hitting the timpani player in the knee!! He's howling with pain and soon everyone in the audience is looking into the pit!! The conductor is completely thrown off and no one knows where that huge bang came from.

Anyway, the ferrule was chipped, and I was once again without a bow. I brought the bow back to Heinl's the THIRD time. John "Oh...The ferrule is chipped, that can be fixed easily, it's not too expensive", me "Are you kidding me ?!?!?!?! I'm supposed to pay for this????"

At that point I ended up calling my bass teacher who's been going there for over 30 years for bass related repairs. I then call Ludi and he's luckily home and ready for my bow to be fixed and re-haired for a fraction of the price!

I was later informed by my teacher that John Sirveden is "wary about doing bass bow re-hairs anymore", apparently he's trying to phase them out...He most likely also felt embarrassed that he got such a lashing from my teacher.

My bow is uber healthy now with Ludi's incredible craftsmanship. Never to Heinl's for a re-hair again.

Oh...Did I mention I never got my money back despite calling several times?

[mattfong]

What a disaster, ouch.

[anonymous12251111]

Originally Posted by mattfong

What a disaster, ouch.

Agreed, luckily my bow is fine now. It looks identical to a brand spanking new bow. I take care of it, wipe it down after playing and such. If you like black hair I can't recommend Ludi enough!! His White hair is also excellent, but his black hair is almost "magical." He also knows exactly how long it should be and you don't need to give him any ideas, he's a bass player himself so he knows what's a good feel.

[mattfong]

If I ever need a rehair I'll keep him in mind. I just don't really use my bow enough to need one anytime soon.

By the way, do you know Eugene Stecky? He's an orchestral player who lives in the High Park area, I believe he teaches at a high school or something as well. I bought my Eastman from him.

[anonymous12251111]

Originally Posted by mattfong

If I ever need a rehair I'll keep him in mind. I just don't really use my bow enough to need one anytime soon.

By the way, do you know Eugene Stecky? He's an orchestral player who lives in the High Park area, I believe he teaches at a high school or something as well. I bought my Eastman from him.

No sorry, never heard of him! What orchestra?

[mattfong]

No clue haha! I was just curious if you knew him. He's a great guy though. Had Troy at Heinl build a bass for him, so he sold me his Eastman.

[Bass Boy]

Originally Posted by Calvin Marks

Wow. Okay where do I begin. Let me fill you in on my bow horror story.

Last November I desperately needed a re-hair quickly as I was playing an opera gig and I needed the bow back within 3 days. I always take my bows to Ludi Pollack, who does the FINEST re-hairs I've ever seen. Ludi spends about 1 week minimum on bow re-hairs since he's so busy and backed up with clients! In fact his quality of black hair is so good that all of Joel's students from Montreal send their bows to Ludi just for a re-hair. Anyways, Ludi was booked SOLID that week so I decided to give Heinl's a try. Remenyi was completely out of the question, because they have serious quality issues in regards to anything to do with a double bass (which mind you is almost non-existent, ALSO surprising since their manager is/was some form of a Double Bass player from St. Petersburg.) I digress! Sorry!!

So the bow horror story.

1) I bring the bow into Heinl's, and speek to John Sirdeven (sp?!), telling him to do the bow EXACTLY how it is (Ie. Ludi's work), of course no two bow re-hairs are going to be identical, but I just mean't in terms of hair-length/width and type of hair. Anyways, I ask for White hair. John is very pleasant and assures me it will be ready within three days. Great! I call in Wednesday morning (day of pick-up), "Hi John, so what time can I come pick up the bow today", John "Uh, woops! It completely slipped my mind! I haven't even touched it yet! Give me 1 hour and I'll have it done for you!!" So I'm feeling a little skeptical, they forgot completely about my re-hair and he now claims he can do it within the hour...Getting kinda worried I'm going to get a hack job.

2) I arrive at the store in an hour and the hair is BLACK. Not that big of a deal really, I mentioned that I wanted it white but John assured me I'd "love" this kind of hair. I quickly drop down a LOAD of cash for this re-hair and head back to the University to try it out...The hair is CRAP. When I say this, I'm not speaking junk. I've used different varieties of black hair before but this hair is incredibly corse and rosin isn't doing anything for it. Not only that but the hair is incredibly short...Like full tension when the screw is set to normally "uber-relaxed." I see that this is just not optimal so I quickly hurry back to Heinl's. I explain to them that this re-hair just won't do, and I have a show in 90 minutes. They assure me they'll have it done by tomorrow afternoon and they proceed to give me a loaner bow. Now, my bow is $4000.00 and of highly quality material. They gave me a GLASSER French bow, their "ultra" model apparently retailing in at about 118.00 instead of 95.00. I head back to the warm up rooms and luckily get to borrow a friends Hudson bow.

3)I return to Heinl's the next day. The bow is ready, shining beautifully, the hair is white, but it is still VERY short!!! This time I knew better and decided to try it out at the shop on one of their basses. It just wasn't working and I had him "edge" out a bit of the hair to increase its length. Personally, I wanted my money back but I had another show that day and just couldn't be bothered anymore. He assured me that the hair length was fine and I shrugged it off.

4) The show, Act II, BANG!!!!!! The hair SNAPS completely during a Forte passage and the screw shoots out of my bow like a BULLET, hitting the timpani player in the knee!! He's howling with pain and soon everyone in the audience is looking into the pit!! The conductor is completely thrown off and no one knows where that huge bang came from.

Anyway, the ferrule was chipped, and I was once again without a bow. I brought the bow back to Heinl's the THIRD time. John "Oh...The ferrule is chipped, that can be fixed easily, it's not too expensive", me "Are you kidding me ?!?!?!?! I'm supposed to pay for this????"

At that point I ended up calling my bass teacher who's been going there for over 30 years for bass related repairs. I then call Ludi and he's luckily home and ready for my bow to be fixed and re-haired for a fraction of the price!

I was later informed by my teacher that John Sirveden is "wary about doing bass bow re-hairs anymore", apparently he's trying to phase them out...He most likely also felt embarrassed that he got such a lashing from my teacher.

My bow is uber healthy now with Ludi's incredible craftsmanship. Never to Heinl's for a re-hair again.

Oh...Did I mention I never got my money back despite calling several times?

Ya, I trust them with my bass but not my bow!

[anonymous12251111]

Originally Posted by Bass Boy

Ya, I trust them with my bass but not my bow!

Agreed. Steve does very fine work. It's pricey, about 100 dollars per hour no matter what the work is. Ludi is also good, perhaps better if all you need is a seem repair because he charges based on what's being done versus how much time it will take.

[bassbuz]

boy you're really trashing a guy's reputation! funny he's done great rehairs for me. and steve is the man, bar none.
I guess they won't be doing emergency repairs for you any time soon..