f eature s ES F EATUR
Local by Carrie Scozzaro
M
usic is powerful. Just a few beats of the drum sets our toes tapping. A familiar refrain invokes memories, instantly transporting us to distant times and places. Studies have shown animals are impacted by music too; dogs in kennels, apparently, are calmed by soft rock and reggae. Who hasn’t looked back on their life and wished they’d learned a musical instrument (or been glad they had)? But where do the things that make music come from? Factories, for the most part, in an industry hovering above $7 billion in 2018. The largest consumers? Hobbyists, around 63 percent. And although digital instruments are gaining market share, percussive and especially stringed instruments make up the bulk of consumer interest. No wonder. Pop culture has made strumming a guitar ubiquitous for any Hollywood hero although guitars are only one of many, many string instruments. There are actually three
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categories: harps (a descendant of ancient lyres); zithers, including pianos; and lutes, which includes guitars. Variations on the lute can be found in some fashion the world over, from the European mandolin and Russian balalaika to the Indian sitar and Middle Eastern oud. They appear in every kind of music, which on American radio stations ranges from bluegrass banjo to country fiddle and orchestral violins and cellos to the newly-popularized ukulele. Stringed instrument makers, along with those who do repairs, are known as luthiers; locally they are a close-knit community where clients become friends and jam sessions with the outpouring of one’s labor is the norm. “We all more or less know each other,” said Dave Powell, who joined brother Tony to create Tonedevil Guitars around 12 years ago. Growing up in a somewhat musical family—their mother played the saxophone in the Rose Bowl Parade and also played piano—the Powell brothers maintained an interest in music
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