Those who own a Carl Buell violin, viola or cello know their hands surround a one-of-a-kind instrument carefully carved from blocks of wood. Perhaps they don’t know that Buell developed the varnish that gives their instruments such a warm glow.
Carl Buell, 98, died Nov. 4 at a care facility in Snohomish. His musical legacy will play on through the instruments he sold at Buell Music Company in downtown Everett.
He used to put his name and the date inside each piece. For those who own a Buell, his name makes the remaining instruments all the more precious.
The youngest of eight children, Buell left school in the eighth grade to help support the family. He worked in a lumber mill, sold cars and did construction. He found his niche after learning how to make stringed instruments from an elderly European gentleman.
Buell Music Co. opened in the early 1940s. Not only did Buell sell his creations, he traveled throughout the region tuning and repairing instruments for school bands and orchestras. He partially retired in 1967 but worked from his basement on Cavalero Hill.
His shop was his castle.
He didn’t like anyone moving his handmade tools. His granddaughter, Gloria Gay, 53, of Everett, said her grandfather was a very precise gentleman.
“If you picked up a pencil he would reposition it on his pipe stand” Gay said. “He was very much that way. Everything was perfect.”
Her grandfather worked out at 5 a.m. every morning. In his late 80s, Buell still had a tummy of steel, Gay said.
He loved Sunday drives and the family would sometimes end up in Ellensburg for lunch, Gay said. His daughter, Margie Kellerman, 71, said their home was always filled with music.
Buell could stretch a penny. Though he loved music, he wouldn’t attend a symphony performance because it cost money. Kellerman said her mother had to account for every dime. Buell checked her grocery receipts whenever she went shopping.
“That poor little woman saved $500,” Kellerman said. “I don’t know how in the world she did it, a nickel here, he wanted to know how much everything was.”
In his spare time, Buell designed and built a 38-foot wooden sailboat, launched in Edmonds in 1942, which he named the Marjune, after his two daughters, Marjorie and June. Kellerman said the Marjune is still seaworthy somewhere in Seattle.
The Depression cheated Buell of his education. There is no telling where he would have gone if he hadn’t left school, Kellerman said.
Depression lessons lingered. If two doughnuts were on a plate, Buell would only take one, said his granddaughter, Colleen Horne, 44, who lives in Williamsburg, Va.
“He denied himself a lot of things,” Horne said. “He was very frugal, a pragmatic person. Every penny counted in his life.”
Born in Idaho, the family moved to Everett in the 1920s. Buell settled in Everett because everything he loved, from the mountains to the sea, was there.
In 1928 he married Maxine DeGeus, who died in 1970. They had two daughters, Marjorie Kellerman and June Buell, who lives in Vancouver. He also leaves granddaughters Gloria Gay, Colleen Horne and several great grandchildren.
Former Buell Music Company customer Teresa Schmierer, 85, who lives in Everett, said Buell violins are still making music in orchestras around the world, but Buell kept his success to himself.
“You would never know he had that spectacular talent,” Schmierer said. “He was a reserved man. There was no chatting when you walked into the store.”
Horne said her grandfather gave up building violins when his eyesight got bad in his 80s.
When he couldn’t make a perfect instrument, he stopped.
Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com.
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