Music Cabinets - Heirlooms If Made With Enough Care
I recently had the privilege of traveling to spend an afternoon at the shop of the craftsman who make the higher end music cabinets, guitar stands and instrument display cases that our company represents. I was excited with what I witnessed when I walked through the shop. I had never really thought through what high quality meant in these pieces of furniture until I walked through the shop and listened to the craftsmen discuss how each piece is made. At a certain point in the dialogue I stopped and asked what the word quality meant to the group. I loved the answers I received.
Finish. One craftsman told me that the way to view whether a piece of furniture is high quality is to look at the finish. He told me that a piece of furniture that has any visible drops, pock marks, minor scratches, runs, or lacks consistency is one of the first signals to him that a piece of work was made by an assembly line and not by a craftsman. He went on to say that any piece that a person actually has made, from beginning to end, will have a terrific looking finish. He said that the finish is the first thing a person notices about a piece and an individual putting their name on it will not sacrifice anything when it comes to the finish – it is just not worth it to your reputation.
Wood. Another craftsman told me that the choice of the type of wood is very important to the quality of the sheet music cabinet, not just for the time frame immediately following when it is completed, but for the piece to hold up for long periods of time. He told me that many types of wood will expand and shrink with seasonal temperature changes, some types of wood will change quite a bit during the course of a hot day and cool night. That expansion followed by rapid shrinking is what will cause pieces of furniture to become loose in the hinges and begin to wobble. The person or company making the wood simply did not use the right wood to allow the piece to hold up over time.
Fit. A Third craftsman informed me that before the finish is applied he will take his pieces and test to see how stable the piece is by shaking it, pulling it, moving it by pushing on it from different angles and giving it a regular workout like it would have during the moving process as if a gorilla was handling it (remember the old American Tourister ad with the monkey?). His rationale is that if the piece can survive that movement then it will be able to get to a destination safely and then will last a lifetime, if not longer. He also told me that the other item he is looking for is simply to be sure everything is smooth to the touch. He wants to be sure that joints fit tightly, dowels are snug and smooth to an open hand and that no corner should be left to have the feel of the cutting blade.
Function. The final craftsman I spoke with told me that a heirloom quality piece of furniture will serve the purpose intended during the design process. Making each piece by hand allows the craftsman to experiment with ways to make a piece better. They learn what works and what does not with every piece completed and their methods are refined with every iteration.
Quality is a beautiful thing. Selecting music cabinets of exceptional quality will allow the piece to become an heirloom for your family, passing from generation to generation.
