Letters
Hi Rick: to create finished guitar strings that pro-
Our company belongs to another association vide the playability and performance to
called the National Association of Manu- satisfy the most demanding musicians.
facturers and I am always receiving e-mails Best regards,
about what is going on up on Capital Hill, as Timothy McNair
well as surveys about different things, the lat- C. F. Martin & Co., Inc.
est of which covered the effect of the current Director of Sales & Marketing,
economy on business banking. I was calling a String Division
dealer trying to collect on a past due account
and we wound up talking in some depth Dear Christian:
about our respective situations. It is very In your recent November issue there is an
surprising that, even as a small manufacturer interview with Andy Wilson of Mapes Piano
and a small dealer, the two of us are both in String Company on pages 64 and 65. There
the same boat, as far as credit lines being low- is a serious inaccuracy in this story which is
ered or cut off – and these are from banks we probably a misquote or a misunderstand-
have been dealing with for years. ing and I would appreciate if you can print a
He was saying that NAMM should be up correction or this letter in your next issue.
there on the Hill finding out what they can The article states:
do for their members as far as getting them “Not only does Mapes produce piano
credit assistance with lenders and help with strings and piano wire, but it’s also one
health care. As a manufacturer, I have felt of the major manufacturers of guitar
somewhat like a bank having to extend lon- strings. Mapes sources such major brands
ger credit terms, et cetera, and I really can’t as Martin, Ernie Ball, DR, D’Addario,
afford to do that, but it is nice to let dealers and D’Aquisto, to name a few.”
around the states see and feel that we are all While D’Addario does purchase some
in the same boat and that a lot of us have raw materials from Mapes, we have
pulled together to work through things. never sourced a guitar string from an-
I would like to know if NAMM knows other company. We make all our strings
about this type of thing and if there is any- at our Farmingdale facility, right in the
thing they can do about it up on Capital