In Chinese Turkestan, there is a little hot spot called Urumqi. Situated between the Tian-Shan (Celestial Mountains) on the north and the Takalamakan Desert on the south, it is arguably the most remote city on earth. It is measurably the world’s most landlocked city, being further from an ocean than any other. Urumqi is a city of many nationalities. Besides Han Chinese, there are Uyghurs, Mongols, Sibos Tatars, Kazakhs and even a few Russians. This is the region where Europe and Asia have met for centuries-culturally, musically and of course, militarily. On my latest trip to Urumqi, I was able to negotiate the purchase of a large quantity of superb quality bow hair. The hair is available in our catalog by the pound-in double drawn bundles –or by the hank. The hanks are processed here at Saga and we have hundreds of satisfied customers. In the past few years, Saga has been responsible for a price roll-back in violin bow hair of as much as 75%. How have we done it? Take a look at the photo: absent from picture are the beloved Hong Kong and German middlemen who formerly were in the picture. And that’s straight from the horse’s mouth!
Richard Keldsen
San Francisco
June 1994