The record, 21 janvier 2004, Supplément 1

Brome County - li—f — -fr- ——nia ¦ ¦.i NEW Wednesday, January 21, 2004 ÊKO PENSE À TOI m Vf# IS THINKING OF YOU Turn your groceries.into rewards For your reward miles choose /Æ7 all the way Quaffly is our main ingredient.231 Sherbrooke St., Magog 819-868-1122 472 Knowlton Rd., Knowlton 450-243-6692 The Largest Circulation Weekly in Brome-Missjsquoi Hubert Fréchette gets the sound just right By Wendy Denman Record Correspondent Ten years ago, Hubert Frechette, a dedicated amateur musician, wanted to own a very good guitar, but not having the money to buy one, he decided — ‘why not make one?’ So he did.It was the first of 17 he has made over the years, turning a single project into a lifelong career as a luthier.“1 couldn’t afford a good guitar.I just wasn’t rich enough to pay out $2,000 for an instrument,” Frechette explained.“At the time, I was doing odd jobs in Montreal, anything I could get my hands on.1 kept up with the guitar and music magazines and I knew you could make instruments.So I started researching in the library.I read a lot of books, learned the basics, bought some wood and had access to equipment." Born in Waterloo, Fréchette returned there with his family in the summer of 2002 and set up shop in his home.He started to earn a living as a luthier — a maker and repairer of stringed instruments — about a year ago.“I found the work very time consuming, it needs a lot of precision, a lot a patience.1 would never consider myself a woodworker, 1 would never have set about making furniture, but I found making instruments was very rewarding,” he continued.“I have never been a professional musician.I have played an occasional club, but nothing more than that.But I love to play and I love music, and best of all, I love to work with instruments.” Although he won’t get rich doing the work, Frechette is pleased with his decision to try it.“Making a guitar is so time consuming, that you can’t really charge by the hour.It probably takes 100 hours to construct a guitar.The finishing takes the most time, you varnish, you wait, you sand, you varnish — coat after coat," he continued.“If I did nothing else, I could maybe make 15 instruments a year, but I couldn’t afford to do that.As it is, I work on consignment, working part time on the project while doing repairs full time.A handmade guitar is expensive, it would be very difficult to make one for less that $1,500 and still make any money.Although there are ways to keep the price down — a more simple finish, no decorations, less expensive wood.” After trying various suppliers over the years, Fréchette now buys most of his materials from two American companies — Luthier Mercantile for wood and Stewart MacDonald for hardware — keys, tuners, hooks and the like.Through experimentation, he has learned which are the best woods for various parts of the instrument, each wood having certain properties that are compatible with function.See Guitar Man, Page 5 WENDY DENMAN/CORRESPONDENT Making guitars is a labour of love for luthier Hubert Fréchette of Waterloo.Butler Elementary chosen for music project By Barbara Bellingham Record Correspondent Bedford In an attempt to actively support recent studies that indicate music instruction enhances academic achievement, Yamaha Canada has chosen Butler Elementary School in Bedford for a pilot project.Twenty-four Yamaha electronic musical keyboards, valued at over $20,000, have been set up in the school to see how the Yamaha system of learning music could be integrated into elementary schools.“I was looking for something to replace the recorders,” explains Marie Pier Cabana, French teacher and musical direc- tor at Butler.“I called the Yamaha Music School in Granby where I used to teach, and they contacted the main office in Toronto.Within two weeks I had an answer.” Their answer was that Yamaha had contacted a music store in Sherbrooke, Musique Jean Julien, whose owner believed in the Yamaha system so intently that he came to the school and learned of its past experience with music instruction.Julien provided enough keyboards to initiate the program and Yamaha followed support by providing a 10-day training period in Toronto for Butler’s first cycle French teacher, Rolande Laduke.See Music, Page 9 flflM K.MMhtfY Dont get burned.Tan before you travel.Base tan special ISO minutes tor SSS.First session tree with purchase.Set one tan tree when you purchase a manicure or ear piercing.Ear piercing and Nail technician.Open Mon-Sat 8 am-8 pm Certifié par SAE 58 Principale N, Sutton 538-5858 SALON LUC • HAIR SALON • ESTHEBELLA • ESTHETICS Contractor ucc«rt»oM!»u-u • Machinery work • Hydraulic hammer (rock breaker) • Private roads • Land shaping • Drainage • Artificial lakes/ponds • Septic systems • Demolition - Foundation « « • Topsoil - Aggregate rVALLIÈRES ,k\‘ s^; 0ravel • Fieldstone DUWTmM ROCH (450) 242-2544 11, ch.Glen, Bolton-Ouest fjjQb 8§ü ——— 'sgi&'r;.- lei 06.1 Win ©1] a(ç)©© in gift certificates at the Carrefour de l’Estrie and U [p&