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Digger: Can you please tell us
about your background David?
David: I have a background in electronics and electronic and
electrical
repairs. Radio and television.
Digger: Oh so you were a TV
repair man?
David: Yes, when you had to repair them properly
rather than just swap a part.
Digger: That was exciting back
then - when the telly
would go wrong every few months and the TV repair man would
come round to fix it.
David: These great big hunks of
television that weighed a ton and we did proper repairs.
Digger: This was in the days of
black and
white?
David: Yes.
Digger: I can remember the move to colour
and from 405 lines to 625, where we had a little button and it
was high-tech “Wow, we’re going into the 625 lines and
colour.” We were one of the first households with colour,
because I was such a nag for my poor old mum.
David: I hope you paid her back for
it. It was BBC only, 9” televisions and just a few hours of
transmission an evening back in those days.
Digger: How did you get into the music side
of things?
David: It was funny. I had been
working at a factory in Hackney, which made Hi-Fi in the days
when you had a turntable in a plinth with a smoked plastic
cover. This was at English Audio, and these people saw all the television
people making this audio and thought it was easy. So they made
it. They had a wood mill, because that area was the epicentre of
the lower end of the woodworking and cabinet making.
Islington was the centre for piano makers and acoustics, so
they were making this stuff and I got a job there.
Digger: You were always good at that sort
of thing?
David: Yes, always picking up a
soldering iron and playing with bits of wire.
Digger: Cat’s whisker radios and that sort
of thing?
David: Yes. But they went to the wall
eventually because they wouldn’t do anything properly or spend
money. They didn’t know anything about electrics and
electronics, but they thought they knew the world. Cabinet
making was their background. They were good at that.
Digger: And the two
complemented each other
well.
David: Yes, today it’s all plastic, but
in those days it was all wood. They were making cabinets
for one-man-band audio companies. So they set-up a couple of
rooms to make these cabinets and they went out and bought a
competitors' unit. But the problem was they bought a duff one
and it was dead in the water, they failed and it cost them a
lot of money. They had a ten watt amplifier but, a bit like the
Sinclair stuff, it had tiny little transistors and it could
only give you ten watts of smoke when it went pop! They limped
along and then went bust and then I was looking around for a
job. I went to the labour exchange, as it was called then, and
they pointed me at this guy who had a shop in Woodford who
wanted a repairer. He sold radio and TV and he did some trade
work for people and the local council. The shop sold musical
instruments and that’s how I got into the music.
Digger: You’re very adaptable.
David: Well, it’s all electronics so
it doesn’t matter if you’re making a fluorescent lamp or a
microwave oven or computer. It’s all electronics. So it’s
moved on from there to where I am now.
Digger: A few years ago they were
saying
“Vinyl’s dead” but people hang on to this stuff and vinyl's
come back with a vengeance.
David: Yes it has. I fixed a Rhodes last
week for a guy and the other day someone in Sheffield had two
Fender Rhodes and he was going to bring them down to me.
Digger: You must have covered most of the
country a few times?
David: No, only the London area and
surrounding areas. A lot of people come to me. I have been
abroad and even up to Aviemore to do repairs taking the Caledonian
Sleeper train.
Digger: Where are customers finding you?
David: It's often repeat business or
referrals.
Digger: What sort of feedback are you
getting from customers? I suppose the best kind you can hope
for is repeat
business?
David: Yes, yes. And locally I have
found it to be very, good to be honest. I’ve got a lady who
comes to me every so often from Rugby – she runs a band, she
phones up and says “David, I’ve got something for you.” I’ve got a
couple of units in the garage for her now ready and waiting.
Digger: Do you get many youngsters?
David: Yes, a couple this morning were
young. 24 or 25, and they’ve been shopping around for somebody
to fix his piano. They had contacted a piano seller
locally.
Digger: Have you put your name about with
all the local people who might be able to point customers your
way?
David: Yes, all the local music shops.
It’s surprising actually because up here music is big. Whereas
in London it's almost non-existent because the authorities
virtually killed it off with the “Two in a bar” rule. That's where,
anything more than two people, you need stringent licensing although
the coalition seems to want to revoke that.
Digger: Are you travelling far to repair
machines David?
David: I tend to prefer people to
deliver them here where possible. It is usually a lot better
to repair here rather than on site because I have all the
tools and materials here. And because you can spend a whole
day driving there and driving back which is a waste of time as
well as a cost I’d need to pass on to the customer. Most jobs
can be done better here.
Digger: You’re now in a position
where you
can say that and sort of dictate terms.
David: Yes.
Digger: So the parts - are they getting
more difficult to source? Do you have to make or manufacture
some?
David: Some of them. Ironically it’s the
new parts that are difficult to get a hold of. It’s microchips
and things.
Digger: So the newer parts are
more problematic?
David: Yes, and once they've gone,
they’ve gone. Old stuff like the valves you can buy. No
problem with valves and bits and pieces for Hammonds – they’re
around. There’s lots of Hammonds that have been cannibalised.
But it’s the modern stuff - five years old and the manufacturer
doesn't have any chips for it.
Digger: Why would they have?
David: This is the trouble.
Digger: So what do you do in
that case?
David: Well, the other problem is how much
is somebody going to spend on this thing before they decide
it's not worth it? I had one last week and it has four
notes on piano only which has got some distortion on them. You play it and it’s alright and then you play it again
and it distorts. Or sometimes you play it twice and it doesn’t
sound. I’ve spoken to the manufacturer – I ordered a wave
memory chip and put that in and it didn't make any difference.
After that where do you go? You just tell the customer “Sorry,
you have a dead one.” What can you do? It’s not worth
anything. It’s alright if you don’t want to play the piano. Or
if you can suffer those notes as they are. Or you can get a
workaround, and there are often workarounds. You can get a
midi box and put that in there and then play the sound on that for
piano rather than the piano itself, plus you’re going to get a better
sound because you’ve got a modern sample.
Digger: Some people would be happy with the
old-fashioned shell and the modern innards?
David: Not only that, but you’ll get a lot more sounds out of it because the midi expander will give
you lots of sounds and you’ll probably get better results than
the original piano would have given you. Which is, what,
twelve or fifteen years old? It’s very unusual when something
is completely dead and fallen over and not capable of being
resurrected. The old stuff like the Hammonds and the
Wurlitzers – I can get bits for them.
Digger: Were they made better in those
days?
David: Sometimes they were made
better. Some of the parts weren’t better.
Digger: The tolerances on them weren’t
that great.
David: The tolerances on these old resistors were 1% and if you wanted 1%
resistors fifteen years
ago you were talking about a lot of money. Now it’s common or
garden and they’re tiny. 10% was expensive - 5% and you were
getting special. Nowadays 1% is the norm. And they’re dirt cheap
really.
Digger: A lot of youngsters are going for
these vintage and analogue pieces of musical equipment. Why
do you think that is?
David: "I’ve got this guitar like Eric
Clapton had and I can play like Eric Clapton."
Digger: So it’s emulating and imitating
their heroes?
David: Yes, but I don’t knock it.
Digger: Is it also that they’re saying
“This is the proper, authentic sound and I want that.”
David: Yes, people do want that
analogue sound and to a certain extent I would agree – with a
Hammond you can’t mimic it or the Rhodes – they’ve both got a
distinct sound of their own. Your Rhodes doesn’t even sound
like your friends Rhodes. They’re all individual and all
different. And the same with the early Strats, jazz basses or
those nice old Gibsons. That’s why they can be sold for silly
money. You can’t buy one new and whether it’s worth the money
they charge for them I’m not here to argue – I’m here to make
sure they work. The man goes out of the door after I’ve
repaired it and he’s on cloud nine. And I really value my
customers because a customer in your hand is worth ten out
there.
Digger: Yes, it’s so much more difficult to
get a customer than to keep hold of them. You’re lucky because
you’ve got a USP.
David: Yes, I’ve got a niche service.
Digger: And you’re loving what you’re doing
and have got a passion for it.
David: Yes, definitely. Exactly, it’s
like somebody who enjoys painting.
Digger: You’re an expert and people come to you – it’s a good position to be Isn’t it?
David: Yes, but of course, you don’t
make money out of it. You're not going to be a millionaire or
buy a palace. You’re not going to be able to buy a Roller. But
you pay your mortgage and you have a reasonable living and
really enjoy what you’re doing.
Digger: It’s a 24-hour business with The
Internet, isn't it?
David: People email me on a Sunday and phone the next morning
to see what’s happening!
Digger: And they say "Why haven’t you
answered my email?" What about the future David?
David: Another few years maybe. Who
knows? It depends on how things go.
Digger: You’re looking at a ‘proper’
retirement at some stage?
David: Eventually. You get to a point
where you can’t work or don't want to work anymore. We might
up sticks and move somewhere else but for the moment this is
working well.
Digger:
The best of luck with the business David. It's great doing
something you're passionate about for a living, isn't it?
David: Yes, I'm very fortunate.
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