A Few Emails and Cards From Purchasers of Kanteles Made by Gerry Henkel
Date: August 21, 2007
Date: March 18, 2007 3:51:48 PM CDT
To: "Gerry Henkel"
Hello Gerry,
I just got back from vacation, and the Kantele and bag were both
waiting for me. The very night I got it, I brought it to a friend's
party and played Happy Birthday on it for her! Thank you so much for
your "Guide for 5 and 10 String Kanteles" on your web site. That is
very helpful for getting started. Now that I've started experimenting
with chording, I am pleasantly shocked at how intuitive this instrument
is. I have a music degree, but find right away there is little need for
it - your fingers just kind of find the sound you want to hear. I had
thought the 10-string would be a "baby" instrument until I could get a
"real" large one, but I see the 10-string is perfectly adequate for a
tremendous amount of music!
Thank you,
M.F.
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Date: October 31, 2006 9:21:35 PM CST
To: gerry@...
Gerry,
Thank you for the beautiful instrument! It has such a wonderful, full
sound...such resonance! Being a bit of a woodworker myself, I truly
appreciate the fine craftsmanship. I will treasure this kantele, and am
glad that I was able to order it from you.
Warm regards,
L Pike
Date: October 28, 2006 10:09:42 AM CDT
To: gerry@....
Hello Gerry,
I receive a pleasant surprise on Thursday night when I got home. The
kantele arrived safe and sound. Thank you for building the instrument
for me. I have already tuned and started to explore its uniqueness. Not
only does it have a pleasing sound (and pleasing is not the right
word), it is attractive to look at. I am pleased with your workmanship.
Thanks again for your part in promoting this instrument.
D. F.
Date: October 24, 2006 6:43:47 AM CDT
To: "Gerry Henkel" <gerryhenkel@....
Subject: Kantele Order
Good Morning, Gerry –
I just wanted to follow-up with you tell let you know that the kantele
you made for me arrived yesterday in fine shape. Thank you for
packaging it so well.
I looked it all over last evening and even plucked out a few tunes on
it before giving it a well deserved rest from its long journey. It’s a
very nice instrument.
Thank you, very much, for creating such a fine instrument for me to
hone my playing skills on.
I’m hoping to go to Finland in January to visit Timo
Väänänen and to hear his Doctoral concert at the
Sibelius Music Academy. He is such a wonderful kantele player. I’m
hoping to pick up a few tips from him as well.
Take care, Gerry, and thanks, again, for your fine work on this kantele.
D. P.
Date: September 9, 2006 5:26:31 PM CDT
To: Gerry Henkel <gerryhenkel@...
Subject: Kantele Arrived
Hi Gerry,
Just to let you know that the kantele arrived, safe and (pun intended)
sound. I like it a lot! It looks great, feels real good under the
fingers, and sounds very nice indeed.
J.N.
Open bottom ten string kantele made for Dan Switala
Date: May 14, 2006 12:16:10 PM CDT
To: "Gerry Henkel" <gerry@....
Subject: Re: new kantele
Dear Gerry,
I just wanted to take a few moments to share with you how happy I am
with the new kantele. Now that it has been played for a few
weeks, it's sound is becoming richer and deeper. It is developing
a warm, mellow sound with a lingering resonance. Every time I play it,
I marvel at your workmanship. It is truly an instrument that is both
beautiful to see and to play. I especially like the way you made
the end piece with the hole look like a bird's head. I have had
to reposition two strings because of a buzzing when they were played as
per your instruction booklet, which I downloaded some time ago, and I
added 3 little plastic button "feet" to the bottom so that I can play
the kantele on a table with some space below the instrument for the
sound to ring out. I hope you took a picture of this kantele to
add to those on your website. It is a perfect example of how good a
bottomless kantele can both look and sound. Thanks again for
making it for me.
Sincerely,
Dan Switala
From: Bill M.
Date: Saturday, 27 March 2004
To: Gerry Henkel
Subject: Re: Kantele arrives
Gerry,
Received the kantele today. Thanks to your excellent packaging, it
arrived in fine shape.I have only had a little time to play with it but
I do believe I am going to really like it.
Just a little background - First off , I do not read music so your "
tab " will prove very helpful.I do play with an informal group of
mountain dulcimer folks. After hearing the kantele played by the
Karelian Folk Ensemble at their last two concerts here locally, I felt
the kantele would go nicely with the dulcimer.Most of the tunes our
dulcimer group play are in a " D" tuning, so to start with I
will mostly be just chording.
I think the kantele and the dulcimer are somewhat akin in their ability
to provide "ethereal or soul " music. Music that starts nowhere and
goes nowhere but affords a very pleasant trip. Well, enough
philosophizing for today.
It is a very nice instrument, one to be proud of. Now it is up to me to
blend it with the dulcimers. That will not be the only time it gets
played though. Very informative book also.
Thank You,
Bill M.
From: N. Tanabe
Date: Wed Apr 21, 2004 8:21:29 PM US/Central
To: Gerry Henkel
Hello Mr. Henkel,
My kantele made a successful landing and arrived all right. It is very
good and I like its lovely sound. I am very happy! Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
N. Tanabe, Japan
From: C. H.
Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2003
To: Gerry Henkel
Dear Gerry,
My kantele arrived this morning and it's wonderful! It sounds
wonderful, it looks wonderful, it feels wonderful, it even smells
wonderful! I'm having a little trouble getting used to using the
tuning key; it takes a very steady hand, doesn't it? But the
kantele was pretty much in tune when it arrived, except for the
drone strings, and I think I'm getting the hang of it. I took the
shortest string up a tone to the second, and I have the drone strings
tuned to the fourth, the fifth, the fifth, and the tonic (starting from
the longest). I can see there's plenty of exploring to do in the
"plain old" major scale; so far I haven't found a combination of
strings I didn't like! Being able to play several notes only a
tone or even a semi-tone apart at the same time is a luxury
you don't get with a guitar! And the quality of the sound is
totally magical; it comes from the world I'm trying to find my way
(back?) to.
Your book is also excellent: it looks like all the information I'm
going to need is in there. I like the calm, positive tone of your
writing; the resources look about as close to being exhaustive as
you can get without being exhaustive (I like your "short list" of
recordings!) and the choice of songs is beyond my expectations!
("Kesäilta" was one of my favourites on a record we had when I was
a child, and I got a chuckle out of seeing "This Train".)
If I make a leather case for my kantele, will it protect it
sufficiently against drying out? It's not so bad now that the
weather's warmed up, but I heat with wood and it tends to get a bit dry
in the house in the winter.
Thanks again, and I'll be playing Thursday evening (and most of
the time between now and then, most likely . . . it's going to be
hard to get any work done!)
With joy,
Carol
From: Deborah W.
Date: Fri Aug 29, 2003 3:42:17 PM US/Central
To: Gerry Henkel
Subject: It came!
Hi Gerry,
I wanted to let you know that the kantele arrived yesterday, and it's
absolutely beautiful. I love the bear-claw shaped bridge. It's lovely.
I'm very happy with the instrument, and I'm looking forward to playing
it. Thanks again for the wonderful instrument!
Deborah
Distant Oaks
Celtic & Early Music
http://www.distantoaks.com
Date: Sat Sep 6, 2003 7:51:33 AM
To: Gerry Henkel
Subject: The kantele arrived safely.
Dear Mr. Gerry Henkel,
I just wanted to let you know that the 10-string kantele I ordered the
other day arrived safely. I'm really pleased with the product. Thanks a
lot. I feel happy and serene when I play the kantele. It has really
beautiful sound. Thank you for making such a wonderful musical
instrument for me! I take good care of my kantele. It's truly lovely
and I thank you for it!
Very sincerely yours,
J. Ueda, Japan