News

Happy New Year to everyone, my loyal customers, those that peruse my site and gorgeous guitars, my suppliers, and the luthiers that grace my studio and gallery with their exquisite work.

A busy week after Christmas, I was quite surprised at the amount of phone calls, emails and visits to the studio.  I sold a beautiful Luis Fernandez de Cordoba Cedar guitar to a wonderful young man, who knew instantly, that was the guitar for him.  My last Manouk Papazian is out the door, as well quite a few Kenny Hill Signatures and Performance Guitars along with a few Player Series.   A Paulino Bernabe Especial was sold and heck, quite a few others.

Incoming is a stellar classical guitar by Larry Breslin of DeerHead Guitars.  Man, can this guy build.  The guitar is a Spruce/Brazilian monster with a superb musical voice, power and projection and ease of play.  For in and around $6K this will be a stellar buy for anyone.

There are so many other guitars incoming, I’d rather update as they come in to the studio.

All the best, a great and prosperous New Year wish to all, and always feel free to give me a ring if you want to talk guitars.  Rich 631-335-5447

Hi All,

A tough end to the year, but new instruments always come my way.  A Kenny Hill 2004 Fleta with Spruce & Brazilian RW and a Hippner 2009 Torres Model just came in.  In discussions with John Ray, as well as Bob Desmond and Larry Breslin to bring new instruments in to the studio.  I want to do some recording and some photos in the coming week to highlight these new additions, while adding to a growing stock of available instruments once again.  Call me with any questions.  I’m always here to help.  631-335-5447

Best and enjoy the holiday season.  Rich

A very nice guy and good customer, Willard ordered the above guitar from Kenny about 2 months ago.  Kenny went to work, invigorated by the challenge of the Spruce and Birds Eye Maple and the build of the F5 by Torres.

It is a magnificent guitar in every aspect.

This is Willard’s response:

Hi, Rich, The guitar is so sensational I don’t know where to start. First of all, it really is the same dimensions as the double top Hill guitar I bought from you, which I’ve come to believe is my ideal size guitar. I’ve never been very fussy about the appearance of an instrument, only the sound and the playability, but the look of this guitar puts me in mind of an elegant piece of furniture. The bird’s eye maple is exquisite, and the dark trim really sets it off. This is the best (traditional) sounding guitar I’ve ever heard. The basses are warm, and the trebles are bell-like. The sustain on both the bass and treble side lasts forever. What’s really nice is that the sound is distinctly different from the

double top. I love the stark clarity of the double top, which is perfect for Bach, etc. This new guitar is perfect for… I don’t know, everything else! I have one question about the strings. The strings you included are those mixed sets, heavy basses and medium trebles (which I think are perfect for the double top). I don’t think that’s what’s on this instrument. They seem like heavy gauge all the way across, and my guess is D’Addario. I’d just like to know in order to have a starting point for messing around. Many thanks for your help and for the nifty toys you included in the package. I wasn’t familiar with the guitarist’s nail file, but now I’m making it part of my gear.

Willard

So, the end of November hits, marking a cool month gone since Sandy.  During this time, it occurred to me that people looking to buy an instrument through me would be concerned that they are buying a water logged guitar.  A fair question, I can take zero offense.  Saying that, I wish to make it clear that all damaged instruments have been summarily taken off the site as of 2 weeks ago, once I had the time to fully catalog and inspect every guitar.

Again, any damaged instrument was taken off the site and is not for sale.

They are the property of my insurance company.

These unfortunate guitars were downstairs and subject to water damage.

Anything else listed on my site was upstairs, on my second floor, in either my upstairs office, hallway or other parts of my upstairs.

This relates to the part of my accounting of the storm that Monday, when I realized I was in big trouble, with water bubbling up out of my workshop floor.  I moved as fast as I could, moving as much inventory upstairs.  Those 33 or so guitars that were eventually damaged were those that I could not get upstairs, once I knew I had to evacuate.

Average temperature in my home during this time was 65 degrees with a relative humidity of about 50% give or take 5 points.  All perfect for musical instruments.

All of this to say, that I would not and could never conceive of sending anyone a damaged instrument.  They were covered by insurance, and will be paid for by them.  I have absolutely no reason to pass off a damage guitar to anyone.  Besides my reputation in the business, there can only be downside to any scenario where I would attempt anything of this nature.

The bottom line is that you can rest assured that all instruments have been inspected and approved by me personally.  All damaged guitars were taken off the site.  Anything listed on my site is fine, never having been touched by water or any adverse environmental conditions.  You have my word and my guarantee as one of the largest and preeminent classical guitar dealers in the country.  Best … Richard F. Sayage

Hi Everyone,

A quick update for the benefit of any one who has an interest in what I’m doing here, and how I’m recovering from Superstorm Sandy.

First up is that the electric is all repaired.  All wires and receptacles have been tested and changed.

Second is that the heating systems are going in as of yesterday and being finished up through tomorrow. I’ve been heating with the fireplace in the Living Room.  I installed an Electric Hot Water Heater on Thanksgiving morning, only temporary, but man, is it good to have running hot water  LOL

I’ve had all new appliances delivered.  BTW, Sears really messed up delivery, take away of old appliances, and putting things where they needed to be.   It was a friggin’ moronathon with these guys.  The store made good with a 15% credit, but still, it was wholly unnecessary.  Note, that the LG Gas Range is an incredible machine.

Construction begins in earnest tomorrow with insulation replacement, sheetrock, then tape and spackle, paint then floors.  I’d say 3 weeks and we’ll be good to go.

On the business side, I’m just trying to connect with my adjuster and get closer to a final resolution.  How long will this take is a good guess?  Maybe another 2 to 3 weeks?  I’ll be satisfying all outstanding consignments once this happens.  Send more paperwork?  LOL  I’ll get it done.

Business as usual around here, though in a more rustic setting.  A new Ramirez is in, a 7 string DiCarlo, Larry Breslin is sending me at least 2 guitars, Gil Carnal is sending me a beauty classical, one of his new models, and Kenny Hill is sending me a beautiful Performance using Amazonian Rosewood.  Sweet.  So, back to normal, or mostly so.  It will be nice to take care of all the paperwork and get everyone their money.  Just another thing off my head.  Best….Rich

So, Saturday night, a client writes to me asking if I was creating books?   Specifically, if I’m working on finishing the Well Tempered Clavier 1B and 1C books I’ve been promising.  I was a little confused.  Given my blog posts, I thought my personal and business obligations were pretty clear, given the devastation of my home, but okay, I write to explain to him that I’m fairly certain I have larger and more pressing matters at hand.

This prompted him to call me a liar, and I quote, ” Richard, I don’t think you ever were going to finish those books.  You should have said that a long time ago. Now you say you’ll “get to it, be patient”.  Why don’t you write in your blog that you’re not going to get to it. Tell the truth. Liar”.

Well, not being a liar, here it goes….for the foreseeable future, I will not be creating any new books.

I will, however, work on manufacturing ‘existing’ publications that I’ve published in the last 10 years. Thus, the ordering of printers and machines to handle the workload.  I will also be hiring some temp workers to handle those jobs of manufacturing, cutting, binding, covers, and storing.  See, I lost about a thousand or so books in the flood, stored in my workshop and my studio.  These were ready to go books for orders that came in on a daily basis.

OK, got that out of the way.  Moving forward, today and this week, I have insurance matters to deal with, as after 3 weeks of photographs and cataloging losses, I believe I’m close to handing in final reports to my various adjusters, home flood and business coverage.  That’s good news as it has been a long and difficult procedure, with searches on replacement values, depreciation, and so on, not to bore you too much.

Numerous supplies, accessories and machines have been ordered.  This will help with workflow and productivity issues.

The house issues are being addressed, electric, heating (waiting on supplies), and then reconstruction can begin next week.  My family is still off-site, as there is no heat and hot water here.   A little detailed investigation of the job site has shown that my kitchen cabinets have been compromised, all my 1st floor doors, exterior and interior the same, and so on.  So, it has become a bit more involved.  My garage floor, a concrete slab has cracked and lifted in many areas, my garage door has twisted and the electronics have been destroyed.  The list goes on, but it becomes clear that the only thing that could be worse is if the entire house had been destroyed.

The destruction of the home was on the table, the Sunday late evening, after the storm, when the power came swooshing back on.  I happened to be by the boiler switch when it happened.  The whole corner of the garage, where the heating system is located, looked like a fireworks display.  Click, power off, I threw a wet drop cloth on the small fire that started, cutting that threat off immediately.  The whole place would have went up if I wasn’t here.  The fridge was also buzzing and humming, with water whooshing out of the water dispenser.  Fire and flood, after a super flood.  Wowie, that would have been a serious mess!

OK, so today, I call the home flood adjuster with some final questions.  Instead of bothering him on numerous occasions, I wrote a list of about 7 or so questions.  Once I resolve them, I can update lists and file a final report.

After that, I might treat myself to a 2 hour workout at the driving range.  I haven’t hit a golf ball in 3+ weeks, this after my game was starting to really come around.  Figures  🙂

Follow ups with the heating guy, and then the construction guy should have my schedule pretty much set.  Phone is on, fax is on, email is up.  Call or write with anything and thank you again to all my friends, family and colleagues that have been most kind.  Rich

Early Saturday morning, cold as all get out, sleeping poorly, my family 5 miles away (at least they are warm and safe), I spent from 4 to 5 AM looking around, cataloging all the work that is needed, to the home and to the business.

Truth is, except for some accessory ordering, I’m good to go on the business side of things.  Printers came in yesterday, nice big powerful machines that can handle the tasks at hand, so book orders went out yesterday, almost 3 weeks later.  Again, my deepest thanks for the patience of all who made and waited for their orders.

I lost a few Media and Job oriented machines (PCs) in the flood.  I have a monster machine being delivered on Monday (the uber-geek in me is very excited 🙂  We should have it set up by Tuesday or Wednesday.  This to handle Video and Audio work, among other network tasks and back up procedures.  I’ll have another built by the end of the month for further book printing, back up protocols and such.

I’ll be hiring someone shortly to handle book manufacturing and shipping/packing details.  Dan and I are doing it for the time-being.

Dan will, as always, be assisting me in the media/social/web aspects and the growth of the business.  He has been instrumental in many details around here, and has been for the last 10 months or so, including my frustration level  LOL

All of this planning, retrospection, observing and writing my thoughts serves many purposes, as you might imagine.  It is always good to have a clear plan as to how to proceed, whether driving somewhere or building a business and or, in my case rebuilding a home.  Focusing on the business for a moment, I have some thoughts.

My singular driver in business was always to focus on the customer.  Given this latest disaster, and the response from my customers as a whole, well, this motivational business driver has never been stronger.  All of you were fantastic, patient and so instrumental in my being able to focus by taking some pressure off of me.  I’m very happy to have been able to satisfy every outstanding order from the last 2+ weeks, and then immediately satisfy those orders that came in this week.

In my business, I have customers certainly on the retail side.  But the many luthiers, private sellers (who consign classical guitars thru me) and suppliers of accessories are also considered my customer, at least by me.  I’ve always seen myself as an intermediary between the buyer and the builder, finding the right instrument for the player, given budget, needs and desires.  Same with my offering of accessories, which is guided not by what I CAN sell, but that which I use personally and in my business.

My philosophy, albeit a simple one, has always been to take extremely good care of both sides of the guitar, the builder and the buyer.  If I do that well, I’ll always be fine.

I’ve been able to take care of my retail customers this past week.  Those luthiers and private sellers have yet to see satisfaction, but I know I will be able to take care of them, personally guaranteeing such.  Insurance issues are always time consuming and labor intensive, but I am working relentlessly on it all, where I’m certain of being able to satisfy my obligations to everyone.  This is very important to me.

Moving forward, I will be bringing in many lines of new classical guitars at various price points.  I will be investigating best in class per price, making numerous deals in the coming months to have them available for my clientele to peruse on the web and the boutique shop I have set up here and in my eventual location.

Speaking of my present location, look, if you like a rustic, bare wood, broken wall kind of environment to shop for a really nice classical guitar, I am most definitely your guy!  LOL

I’ll be in my temporary new place in a month or so.  It will look a lot nicer, believe me.  Up in Fort Salonga, once I move permanently,  it will be incredibly fantastic with high and extensive views to kill, a beach to hang out and a dock to fish and boat.  I’m really looking forward to the BIG move when it finally comes time.

Books will be manufactured in full going into next week, accessories are on order, guitars listed on the site are all available and gorgeous, and way more are coming.

Focus as always is on you, my customer, whether you are buying or selling a guitar and the level of service that I provide to you.  I will work on even better price points, better selection and any and all innovation I can manage going forward, whether it is here on my site or at my shop.  I work at this relentlessly, tweaking the site, making certain that everything is working at peak efficiency, photography, video and audio, discussions with various suppliers, speaking with clients, answering any and all questions to the best of my ability.  This will never change except to improve upon an already great experience.  You have my word.

All the best and please feel free to call me personally or write to me anytime.

Rich

631-335-5447 in North America and 631-647-4572 Internationally

Here I am 2 1/2 weeks later, set up in my original home, situation normal, except for the top down construction site look to the whole first floor?

Guitars are good to go, inventory is being re-stocked, printers are on order (they all got whacked except for one HP1320 that somehow survived the Great Flood of Sandy Cheeks SuperstormPants, orders are being fulfilled in a timely manner finally, and so on.  There are a few minor details to be figured, but for the most part, I am good to go.   Now, it’s time for an explanation of what actually happened during the storm and the resultant tidal surge:

I wish to make it clear:

I live on the waters that are connected to the Great South Bay of Long Island.  I have a tidal pond in my back yard that is connected to a tributary fed by Awixa River on my East and Penataquit Creek on my West.  These both run into the Bay, 1000 feet or so South of my home’s position.

My water table  is less than 2′ below the surface of my average ground height.  I dry fill holes for footings when I build structures here, to give you an idea.

The vast majority of water that came into the main home, came from the ground or water table rising.  Once the power failed, my pumps were obviously not working.  That was it.  Very little came into my home as a result of rushing water.

OK, now the actual damage and efforts to save everything….

There was damage to certain guitars, many that I owned, some consigned.  The tally is 33 guitars with irrecoverable damage.  They will be taken off the site, first chance I have to update properly.

Very important is that I tried everything possible to save everything.  Everything was taken out of my studio at a height of 4′ or higher.  I had tables in my main floor, which is another 4′ above sea level.  I stacked guitars on them, well away from the possibility of water damage.  Those tables were another 3′ above that, so 7′ of elevation!  Good enough, right?

How about, NO!  Tables floated and flipped during the Monday night of the flooding.  I couldn’t get back into the house until the next late morning, and mind you all, I had to wade thru knee-high waters to get to my house.  The damage to my home was immediately apparent.  The studio was hosed, the workshop worse.  All my tables floated and flipped everything to the middle of the floors, where they floated for at least 18 hours.  Workshop, studio/gallery/Dining Room/Living Room.

A further note is that Monday morning, when I noticed water bubbling up from my workshop floor, I knew there was real trouble brewing.  The tidal surge was coming in fast and furious.  By about 1PM on Monday, after moving stuff upstairs to my 2nd floor, or at least in the process of doing so, given how bad I thought it might become, I saw a neighbors outdoor furniture floating UP the street at an alarming rate of speed.  My Nissan Rogue’s tires were half submerged.  We had to go at that moment, otherwise we could have been on the roof of my 2 story home overnight.  Not fun, not happening, we had to leave.

Again, bear in mind that I had over 250 instruments that I tried to get upstairs.  Those left behind on the first floor were ALL up on tables, off the floors, etc.  They tumbled into the water as the levels rose.  The point is….I tried and I did so with as much speed and efficiency as I could manage.  Somewhat so, to no avail, as I subsequently learned.  I honestly thought we were good to go, though I would have preferred to get everything upstairs to the 2nd floor.  I was floored by the damage and the height of the rising water.  In my 18 years here, through various storms and converging tides and full moons, I’ve never seen anything like this.

So let me state this clearly….

All damage is covered for full retail value given my business insurance coverage and full flood riders put on the policy.

The paperwork is all filed, at least preliminary reports, where I am close to a final determination of the scope of the damage.  Once finals are filed with my insurance people, settlement should come somewhat quickly, I hope.  I had a smallish claim last year and my people were very good about settling it and quickly, within 2 weeks.

Of course, the scope of this latest debacle is much larger and complex.  It will take time and patience, but I personally guarantee everyone’s value for their property to within 10% of retail value.  I will explain further below.

A bit of perspective on the scope of the damage, to my home, personal property and to the business:

– My first floor, from the garage/workshop, studio/gallery, kitchen, living room, dining room, baths, closets and pantry had to be dismantled, including walls, insulation in the walls and crawl space underneath, moldings (which were extensive), floors, and electric.  The amount of debris from this alone was enormous.

– All appliances except my microwave (which was well above the stove) are gone, including outside freezer, washer dryer, oil burner for heat and hot water heater.  I just had a fridge delivered.  Nice to have ice and water and freakin’ half and half for my coffee!

– All of my power tools and many of my hand tools were destroyed.  From framing and finish guns, staplers, drills, jigs, routers, hammer drills, dremels, you name it…gone.

–  Almost of all my accessories are destroyed, from various strings, tuning machines, tuners, humidifiers, again, you name it, it got its butt kicked.

– Printers, paper, lots of paper and all kinds, all my furniture from the studio to the living room, destroyed.  Watching this stuff go into the maw of the garbage trucks and disposal units in my driveway really drove the disaster home for me.

– All kitchen stuff is destroyed.  Books, heck you name it.  If you generally keep something on your first floor of your home, well I do as well.  It is destroyed.  I can’t write about this anymore……

OK, so on to the other stuff I need to talk about..

Basically, the insurance company is buying all my guitars, equipment, tools, and accessories that were lost or damaged in the flood.  I was insured for full business value, meaning retail price of everything, including guitars and accessories.  As an example, the Randy Angella I had here was damaged.  I had her On Sale for $4995.  That value should be covered by the insurance company.  They might, and I reiterate, might negotiate, much like a client would if they were buying it, at a value of $4500 or somewhere within 10% of asking price.  So, if they offer me $4500 for it, I’ll likely agree and move on the next instrument.  They might not negotiate?  I don’t honestly know, as I’ve never had to do this before.  But, for argument’s sake, let’s say they do.  We’ll basically look at it as if I sold the guitar for $4500.  The guitar will then be salvaged by the insurance company or affiliated firm, and taken possession of to do with as they please.  I will not have the guitar.

Funds will be disbursed to my clients based on said value, minus our normal agreement of consignment.  There won’t be any additional expenses, such as credit card processing or shipping.  The client, who owns the Angella, will received 80% of the value I receive for the guitar (20% consignment rate).

I will be sending a letter or email to all of my clients that have guitars consigned with me, private sellers and luthiers alike, detailing the above.  I will do this in the next few days, once I speak to my insurance adjusters and company, getting further details on the whole process and their payout numbers.

Additionally, here is what I am doing to prevent this from ever happening again.

1.  I am moving North to a temporary 3 BR Townhouse with a full basement, where I will live and operate my business.  This will be in mid to end of December of this year.  Papers are already moving forward in this direction.  I am well away from the water.

2. I am then moving farther North to Fort Salonga, sometime next year, mid-summer, where my elevations will be 40-60′ above sea level.  Heavily wooded, protected from wind and storm damage, we would have to have a planetary ending event to flood my new base of operations.  So you’re aware, I’d been looking for a home in this area for over 2 months already, well before this latest storm.

3.  Insurance will be more than adequate, covering my business and all of my clients for any and all eventualities, fire, theft, earthquake, flood, the foot of God stomping on me, etc.  No worries now and certainly none moving forward.

4.  Security measures will be taken in full, including full-time surveillance, video, and full-time staff on hand, home and business wise.

This is not my final say on any of this, as I’m sure there will be updates going forward.  I will say that I am deeply sorry for any consternation or distress that I caused any one doing business with me.  I take solace in the fact that I prepared for this, did everything I could to save everything, and that I insured the crap out of my self and the business.  Know that I will be working very hard and have been, on recovering full monetary value for everything and for anyone that honored me by doing business with me.  I’ve always taken this seriously, and never more so than now.

Everything has been inspected.  The listed inventory on my site was never near the water.  There is no humidity worries, or otherwise.  They are situation normal.  Looking around my property, especially after the clean up I just finished outside on Thursday, you would swear that nothing happened.   50 large bags of debris are on my curb.  It was literally as if the Bay deposited everything into my backyard!

It is safe to send me further inventory, as Dan and I, among other good friends and family have helped me recover.  I am most grateful to everyone, clients and friends/family that have displayed immeasurable patience and kindness to me and my family in this most difficult time.  Thank you.  Richard F. Sayage  November 15 ,2012

*Updates had to do with listing some damage, some grammatical errors, etc.  It was cold (it still is cold in here) when I typed it yesterday.  🙂

Last week, I moved everything to a different location.  Took 2 days before I could find everything and set things up where I could satisfy orders, do paperwork, print, etc.

Well, that didn’t work out, so I packed everything back up on Saturday morning, and with the help of Dan, Chris and my brother Ray, I took everything back to my home.  War Zone.

By Sunday night, another 2 day turnaround (like I can afford to lose 4 days at this time), I’m set up in my old workshop and doing admin stuff in my Dining Room.  Barring another disaster, I’ll be here for a while.  The point is, I can now focus on work, with zero distraction….well, except for the hundreds of man hours required to fix my home?

Anyway, I’m back, all guitars are good to go, workshop is good to go, I’m good to go.  It ain’t fancy, but it’ll work.  Signing off…Rich

Hi All,

Well, the house is gutted, floors are up, insulation removed, all debris removed, etc.  The house looks like a war zone.

Now the heaters and fans are working, have been for 3 days.  The place is just about dry.  FEMA has been to the house.  They were kind of matter of fact about it all.  My business adjuster was at the site.  He’s a cool guy, good golfer, we were able to relate.  I liked him.  So….I’m ready to get to work, right?

How about no.  There are still some issues to attend to, as in the Flood Adjuster coming in on Monday around 2PM.  Not a big deal, and it’s important he sees the totality of the damage.  But that’s not the problem….

Home Depot, Lowes, and other lumber yards are starting to price gouge in our local area.  Lumber went up over 25% overnight as a for instance.

This is a sad commentary on our condition.  See gas futures for instance.  Price trading at 2.69/gallon.  With tax in NY and Long Island, it should be $3.49.   I paid $4.299 a gallon 2 days ago.  Apparently Gov. Cuomo is shooting blanks from Albany for all his threatening.  These pricks are doing what they want and charging what they want.  Listen, I’m all for fair and equitable business practice, heck, I’m a die-hard capitalist, but this is just wrong.

On the heating equipment and hot water heater side of things, supplies have dried up.  Guess that’s going up too.

I need contractors to come in and give estimates.  Hard to find.  Fortunately, I can do just about anything myself in the house.  I rebuilt the whole damned thing with my wife, I can do it again.  Never mind that I don’t want to, but if they’re going to force my hand, then strap on the tool belt and let’s get it on.  Anyway, it sucks, but that’s the way it is and must be accepted for the time being.

On the good news side, I am getting all back orders out today and tomorrow.   A nice delivery was picked up by the Post Office today, making me smile.  Almost back to normal and that’s a great thing.  Then a problem crept up with the place I’m working out of now, and I have to pack it all up and move tomorrow.  But, not so bad except for the time to pack and move and set up everything again!!!  I’m moving back to my home, where I will work out of my upstairs home office, and I can be there as well for the majority of the repair work and GC the whole thing while I work guitars.  Nice.  🙂

Phones are on, cell phone and business phone and fax are all working,  business as usual, I’ll be seriously good to go by Monday.  Thanks to all and be safe and warm and most importantly…stay dry!  LOL  Richard F. Sayage