An almost historic feeling as I’ve set up shop, albeit barebones, guitars in another location, while I work out of a quick set up of an office 5 miles away.

The biggest challenge was being able to focus, as I was pulled in so many directions over the last 9 days, between cleanup, organization, packing and moving, throwing things away, cleanup crews, adjusters, and so on.  The list seems endless.

After the various distractions, it was simply being able to set up shop.  That took 4 days by itself.

Then trying to find all the stuff I packed, for instance, guitar set up equipment, tools, polishes, paper, and just about anything else I use at my desk and my workshop.  It took me almost a day alone to find everything and put it all away in a fairly accessible and organized fashion.  Finally, at around 3PM today, I felt ready to go.  A guitar was prepped and sent to Hawaii, an order that was received just before the hurricane.

Patrick, the buyer, was a saint for his patience and understanding, as are all of my customers waiting for their guitars, or tuning machines, books, accessories, etc.  I am overwhelmed with good feeling towards my customers and my business in general.  I’ve always felt blessed to deal with the greatest people in this gratifying business of finding classical guitars for guitarists, whether aspiring artists or the established virtuoso.  I now know for a fact beyond doubt that classical guitarists and musicians as a whole are among the best people on the planet.

More orders that were waiting will go out tomorrow.  I am doing nothing else except getting back up to speed tomorrow.

Special thanks to Dan Bouza, Chris Gotzen-Berg, my dear friend Doc Citro and his lovely wife, Linda, my Mom, Jamie out of PA, my good friend Rich Fernandez and all of my colleagues in the business, such as Matanya Ophee, Kenny Hill, Manuel Rodriguez, Mikhail Robert, Gerry Saulter and my many consignment customers who have given of their time, their homes, their advice, and or their patience.  My deepest and heartfelt thanks and gratitude to everyone for their good thoughts, well wishes, and understanding in this most trying of times.  Richard F. Sayage

Apparently, a Nor’Easter is hitting us with the same kind of winds, though lesser intensity today thru tonight!  Are you kidding me?  LOL

Power is going down again, as I write.  Blinking on and off already.  I don’t think we’ll make it past the next hour.  Ice and sleet, winds and rain, with the tide rising at my home again.  The power being down is a problem that should be a bit quicker to resolve.   The water rising again?  <shaking my head in frustration>  My backyard is flooding again.  Fortunately, it shouldn’t be anywhere near what it was last Monday, but really man, this has to be a bad joke.

Gas is still not happening in our area.  Seriously?  Incompetence is the word of the week.  That’s all I have to say on it at this point.

I have 3 different adjusters showing up.  I already met my business insurance adjuster this morning.  What a nice man.  Really, everyone has been so good, so patient, and so very understanding.   I have 2 more starting at 3PM.   Once I finish cataloging lists, photos and paperwork, I might be able to relax a bit and focus on my customers.

I am overwhelmed with how cool everyone is being with me.  There is no way to relay how good I feel about what I do, and the people I do business with on a daily basis.

One more day and I might be able to focus on satisfying orders, finally.   Thank you again to everyone for your good thoughts and your patience with me.  I am eternally grateful.  Rich

Seriously?  There are zero supply issues at this point.  Harbors are open.  Truckers are waiting to deliver.  Highways are open.  Power is on most everywhere.  What’s the excuse?

Our government administrators, from the top down to our local representatives are worthless, self-centered, and self-serving.  Six million people represented on Long Island, yet people have to scrounge for a station, and then wait on lines, and then be told, sorry, we ran out and do it again.  A friend of mine waited 12 hours on line!  Are you kidding me?   Never mind the price gouging, hoarding, and general bad behavior exhibited by people when they think no one is looking, etc.

This is a serious statement regarding our ability to cope, to act civilized when times are tough, and for our representative government leaders to show their true colors.  Personally, I do not care for what I see.  It is embarrassing on so many levels.

We have issues here, and there need to be hard people making cold decisions regarding suppliers, routing, and prioritizing a critical need that is costing tens of thousands of people time and productivity, these being 2 very high priority resources better used to serve the community that is , in many places, ravaged by this past superstorm.   We need help and this gas issue is deeply cutting an already open and bleeding wound.

Hi Everyone,

A quick update:

My home is being rennovated

I had to move my family and my business.  Family was easier.  Business not so much.

I am setting up a new place to operate today.  It is barebones, but will suffice for the time being.  I don’t need fancy, I need phone lines, workbenches, and  a place to sit and work  🙂  That has been accomplished.

Now I’m in the process of moving my necessary equipment.  I will need today and tomorrow to setup properly, so at least I know where everything is at a moment’s notice, and then testing everything for 100% operational status.

Saying that, I will be able to process those orders that have been waiting starting maybe tomorrow, certainly Wednesday.

I can’t say it enough, thank you to everyone for your patience, your understanding and your well wishes.  I am most grateful.  Best…Rich

The sum total of this debacle of a storm and flood is that my house is almost totaled.  I had a water reclamation team in today, nice people, who tore out my first floor walls and floors.  Mind you, I just redid all these floors last year and this past year.  Now the heating and drying systems go in and then we can start to rebuild.

The business is affected only because I have nowhere to operate.  I’m working hard on finding a space.  I will keep all pending orders informed.

It is 8:45PM and I am exhausted.  Moving stuff, cataloging losses, photography of each item, throw it away.  The piles of garbage in front of my home and driveway can boggle the mind.  As I was leaving my home around 7:30PM, the power came back on….good thing I was there, I was able to unplug and turn off the fridge (which is hosed), and other stuff that might have sparked a fire.

And yet, when it’s all said and done, it’s just stuff.  Family is safe, I’m still wanting to do business my normal way, most guitars are fine, and well…the losses are just money and stuff.  I can handle it.  I’ll start getting guitars out tomorrow and other orders.

My deepest thanks and gratitude to all for their warm wishes and the patience of my customers and clients.  Again, my heart goes out to all the other victims of the storm and those that lost a lot more than just stuff.  Best as always…Rich

Well, Frankenstorm is almost upon us here in the NorthEast, and specifically, Southern Long Island is getting hammered already.  The majority of the storm is not here, yet, I have water in my garage, my entire property is covered with a foot of water, and the wind is gradually picking up speed.  It’s not a great time to be here.  Must be punishment for all the good weather we’ve had the past month?  🙂  Dang, and my swing was just coming together real nice.  LOL

In the meantime, everything is shut down.  Schools, banks, post office, etc.  No deliveries are going out today and maybe even tomorrow.  My apologies.

A Felix Manzanero is here.  Also, a standard classical by Alan Chapman, which is really nice.  Also a Menkevich is in the studio.   They all came this weekend.  I have a few more coming, such as a Larry Breslin from Deerhead Guitars, and a few others I can’t recall at the moment.

Phones are still up if you need to speak with me.  631-335-5447  Best and talk soon….I hope?  Rich

Update as of 11:30 AM 10-29-2012

I wrote the below to a client and figured I should update my personal blog….

I have a bit of an emergency here, as you might imagine if you watch the news.
We are shut down here in the NE and Long Island. I am forced to evacuate my family as I am flooding and the water is still rising. I live on the waters of the South Shore, so it’s worse than you might imagine. I may be gone until Tuesday evening, depending upon the severity of the storm’s hit on us overnight and the overall water level.
Everything is safe, put on higher ground. Additionally, I am fully insured on many levels, including business value of over $2.5 million, so no worries. Everything is being handled. Phone is on, as is email.  I am bringing my notebook with me, and anything else I need.

Best and call with anything if the need arises, like the water in my backyard, frontyard and heck, now my garage….gotdammit. Rich

Hi All,

A busy week has seen quite a few guitars come in, while many are fleeing the studio even more quickly.  I now have a few slots open in the studio, which almost never happens?  LOL

BAM Cases are on the way, so I’ll have a few for you to choose from, as well as Savarez Strings, Oasis Humidifiers and Arm Sleeves, D’Addario strings, and oh yes, Oasis Nail Shapers, which I really like.  300 grit to 1200 I’m able to get a nice polished feel to my nails giving me a superior sound and silky feel to my strings.

Even more importantly, after putting so much time into the studio and web site over the summer, I’ve neglected my own personal enjoyment and my golf game is a big part of this.  A client of mine, John Clary, a gentle bear of a man who, in some small way, made me see the error of my ways in neglecting myself, has forced me to look harder at myself and my game, rekindling an interest that has me striving to be the best golfer I can be given limited time and resources.  I liked John immediately, and my fondness for him has only increased with his absence.  I look forward to seeing him again soon.

The point is that I am trying to play and practice in the mornings, being available to all after 2PM, taking advantage of the rather pleasant weather that has graced us in NY of late.  Best to all and always take care of yourselves.  Time is short. Rich

The rain has come, meaning no golf for Rich today.  After a long weekend and hard work over the last 4 days, I hoped for a 5 hour respite this morning to go play.  Sigh…..I suppose I will do more work and hope for better weather tomorrow.

Talking of work, my offering of instruments and luthiers is getting rather voluminous, no?  🙂  A custom order was taken from a customer who desires a Kenny Hill Torres with Spruce and Maple, a larger Torres body (FE5) with a 632mm scale length.  Another custom order from Manuel Rodriguez was taken for a Manuel Rodriguez Jr. Cedar with Madagascar RW.   Then there is contact and agreement with various luthiers around the world, including the Hauser Family, including Kathrin Hauser, who is a dear lady and quite talented.  There are others on the table from the great country of Spain that I will speak about in a later post, when they are real.

A new RE Bruné 2012 is in the studio

Numerous Hippners are here

Mikhail Robert sent me one of his rare Anniversary Guitars

Douglass Scott sent me one of his beauties as well.

Robert Vincent is working on a gorgeous guitar that should be here by November

Larry Breslin of Deerhead Guitars is finishing up 2 Double Tops – these look awesomely good

Kenny Hill has sent me his latest Cedar Signature #3379

Alhambra 9P in Cedar and Spruce Soundboards are here

There are many more as you can see in the dropdown menus.  I am running out of room, working in less than 1000 square feet.  The search for a new home that can accommodate my family, and my business needs is in full progress.   It’s not as easy as one might think.  What’s good for the family is not always good for the business and vice versa.

Then there’s musical development, books, and my own written music.  I have the 2 WTC books to finish, with their TAB versions.  These 2 books would complete the Well Tempered Clavier Book 1 of 24 Preludes and 24 Fugues.  The books are fleshed out, transcribed and such.  It is the marking and guitar fingering that need to be done.  Very dense music, again, it is not an easy task.

I also have some of my acoustic music that I would like to write down.  There are also 2 new classical pieces that need to be officially written.  Yes, they are in my head, and I play them, but they need to be hard copied to paper, as it were.

Much to my chagrin, there is much to do.  Video work, audio, photography, and regular site work, including measurements of guitars, and then cleaning up and fleshing out some of the “other” pages that have scant information, mainly accessory pages.

So, the rain means I do a little more catching up.  That’s a good thing, right?  How come it doesn’t feel like it, at least today  LOL  Rich

Does it work?  That’s my first question.  The updates had to do with Catalog Entries (products), Option Dialogs, such as Spruce or Cedar (the age old question),  my own Back End Support, and importantly, the Checkout Page for my customers.  We’ve been working on the 2nd Edition of the new site, in the background, for about a month and a half.  I’ve been a nightmare thru most of it, and Dan has had to deal with it.  The last 2 weeks were really bad for him.  Send him notes of condolences, fruit baskets, even money, as I almost killed him 3 times I can remember.

Truthfully, we’re still tweaking the Checkout Page, specifically the Shipping Choices and then the followups to finalizing your choices.  From there, I would rather it was a one or two page process, where it is comfortable and easy to see for you, the customer.  We are really close on all of this.

As it is, the site is working nicely, all secure via our https://savageclassical.com address, hopefully aiding in your comfort, and giving you some peace of mind when purchasing anything thru my site.  Much obliged to all my customers who have trusted me with their business.  I am very grateful.  Best…Rich