Metamorphosism

On buying a truss

You ever get tired of your self? Tired of your fears, your hopes, especially your sense of humor and the look of your face in the mirror in the morning and the sound of your voice?

What's it like?

In case any of you are getting tired of hearing about my truss quest and my information-gathering process (formerly known as "dithering"), I have decided to give you a break and in this post substitute the word "truss" for "truss". If you're not tired of hearing the word "truss" yet, you can still mentally re-substitute "truss" for the other word, "truss", wherever it appears.

I went to a truss dealer this morning before work. My truss teacher recommended the place, and even met me there. I had with me another truss he had borrowed previously for me to try out. It was slightly more expensive than I was looking for, and I wasn't crazy about the way it looked. The sound was good, but it was just too precious. Since sound is the most important thing for me in a truss, and looks are way down low on my list of priorities, I figured the money would be better invested in a different truss where I would be paying for the sound quality alone, and let someone else who placed higher value on appearance buy this truss, because it was pretty, if not in a way that I especially valued.

Anyway. He was a few minutes late and so I was there in the truss shop by myself, trying out three other trusses the trussmaker unpacked for me. One was roughly the same as the one I had returned, quite pretty. Nice tone, though. Another was €500 more expensive, not nearly as pretty, in fact a bit weathered-looking, but had a good sound. The third was a truss, cheaper than the others, but a centimeter or so longer and wider in the body, with the result that it wouldn't fit into a normal truss case. So in the end, the money I would save on this one would go towards a more expensive special case, with the result that the final sum I paid would roughly equal the other one.

So I had two trusses here. Before I go any further, I must point out to those who have never shopped for a truss that if you are a bit shy or self-conscious and not too expert at playing them, or to be honest rather inept without notes, it can be a very uncomfortable experience, sitting down and trying out a truss in front of a group of strangers.

Luckily my teacher showed up and put an end to my suffering, taking the truss from me and playing away. The oversized one sounded louder close up, the other one had a nice smooth, even tone that he suspected would carry further, which would be good in an orchestral situation in a large hall, but otherwise, for my needs, the first one was actually better. And to be honest, the slightly freakish aspect of it being a centimeter longer than normal appealed to me.

Did you know that some of the trusses made by Stradivarius were up to four centimeters longer than normal (in the body)? That trusses were not even standardized until his time? And worst of all, that most of his outsized trusses were cut back by their owners later on to fit the standard size?

The trussmaker told that story to us, and he and my teacher grimaced. It is a painful thought. What a sacrilege! Imagine.

Like changing the smile on the Mona Lisa, the trussmaker said.

I borrowed the one truss, the oversized one, and will play it at home in the upcoming week, trying it out. I have it here with me in the office right now. Everyone is asking me what it is. Meanwhile I'm desperately looking for a way to hear and if possible see one of the carbon fiber trusses I find so intriguing. Cause if they really sound better than wooden trusses costing twice as much, they must sound damn good.

I never knew buying a truss would be such an emotionally exhausting process.