The following article was published in the October 7, 2010 edition of the Greenwich (CT) Post.
Musical instrument rental operation offers Greenwich Strings
Chris Davis, Assistant editor
There's a new musical instrument rental shop in town, with a twist. It rents everything from violins and cellos to tubas and oboes to students and schools from Westport to New York. "We are the first music school that designed its own instruments," said Greenwich Instrument founder Ken Kuo, who is an accomplished cellist in his own right. "Growing up in New York, going to Manhattan School of Music then Juilliard, I was able to play on million-dollar instruments."
He still does. The cello he records on now, an 18th Century Italian instrument, values in seven figures.
He made it part of his education to try and understand the instrument itself. As a youth he used to hang out at famous violin shops in the city, like the shop of Rene Morel, one of the greatest living violin makers and the only person who is allowed to adjust Yo Yo Mas cello, or the shop of Carlos Arcieri, another one of the greatest violin makers of the 20th and 21st centuries, who has repaired Mr. Kuos instruments for years.
He learned to differentiate the good from the bad and established a taste for fine instruments. He has played on Stradivarius, instruments that according to their reputation hold a quality of sound that is impossible to reproduce.
"I really do know my stuff," he said.
His school, which he founded in 2000, was the first to design, customize and build its own instruments of different levels of quality, from beginner through intermediate to advanced. This past August it was ready to establish its highest grade of quality, what it calls The Black Label instrument, which Mr. Kuo named Davidoff, after Karl Davidoff, the 19th Century Russian composer who was nicknamed the "Tsar of the Cello."
When Mr. Kuo says they designed their own instruments, he explains, what he really means is that they modeled them after Stradivarius and Guarneri, both legends.
They also use different compound, an oil based hand-rubbed varnish that gives an orange glow to the instrument.
The backs are made of flamed maple and 50-year-old aged spruce on the top. All fittings on the scrolls and fingerboard are in ebony.
"These are perhaps the best quality rental instrument you can find," Mr. Kuo said.
"Basically we have an instrument created right here for the Town of Greenwich.
Its on the label inside the violin. These are things that were very proud of, you know."
There are tens of thousands of different kinds of instruments out there. "Violins are violins just like cars are cars. Every instrument is hand made, no machines at all. At least ours are," he said. They are made in Beijing in collaboration with a factory. Mr. Kuo personally picks out the wood and varnish and strings.
Mr. Kuo said they had just purchased a collection of "brand new" 40-year-old instruments untouched from Germany and Romania. "They were stored in a warehouse for the last 30 to 40 years. These are available for rental. Can you believe that?"
To get kids these days interested in "long hair" instruments like the violin, Mr. Kuo said, "first of all, I applaud our educational system here in Greenwich. We have perhaps the finest string program - or music program - in the whole United States. Because we have such a high level of education here in Greenwich public school system, lots of kids are drawn into playing instruments.
"I find it incredibly necessary that when the level of education is so high, you need to have good instruments to match that," Mr. Kuo said. "These kids and these teachers, they are unlike other towns.
These are performing professionals that expect nothing but the best. We need to give them very good instruments for them to teach on as well."
His company, rentalinstrument.com, is not just a string instrument operation.
They offer brass as well. They promote only brand new instruments and seek advice from local music teachers on how they can improve their offerings.
The range for rentals starts at $10 a month for a specially priced beginner instrument. One thing they do that no other operation offers: With all of their band instruments they have a policy called "Rent Three Years: Keep for Life."
"That means after three years, its yours," Mr. Kuo said. "We don't want it any more. It has your saliva in there. You keep it. Other companies want to wash it, I say no, I don't want that. The maximum you can rent a band instrument with us is three years. After that, its your to keep."
Mr. Kuo said that his shop has also started repairing violins and cellos for the school. So he also wants the word out: There's a new musical instrument repair shop in town now, too.
Above, Tom Hyde, professional "luthier," puts the finishing touches on one of the custom made stringed instruments available at rentalinstrument.com, a new business on the third floor of the Senior Center in downtown Greenwich.
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