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Saw the ad for this, twenty minutes later and some dudes just made a couple bucks after I bought a tinwhistle. This'll be fun, thanks thread!
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Mar 21, 2015 13:30
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What's the general thread agreement for acquiring a shamisen for a beginner? A friend of mine is quite interested in the instrument thanks to studying bunraku theatre, and I'd like to help her find a decent instrument from a reputable dealer that can ship to the states.
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Mar 22, 2015 00:10
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Hedningen posted:What's the general thread agreement for acquiring a shamisen for a beginner? A friend of mine is quite interested in the instrument thanks to studying bunraku theatre, and I'd like to help her find a decent instrument from a reputable dealer that can ship to the states. An actual serious starter instrument for studying Japanese music, or something to muck around with? If the former, I'd go with these guys: http://bachido.com/store/beginner-shamisen They're American shamisen enthusiasts and seem genuinely into promoting the instrument. One of them also did the laborious work of translating some famous Japanese instruction book into English. Their cheapest one is $300, and then another $100 or so for all the accessories and bits. If she wants something cheaper and more basic, if you glance around the thread or around google you can find someone reasonably reputable who carries any of the following relatives: - Okinawan sanshin (and these tend to come with synthetic heads by default, which is durable), I think in the past you could find those around $150. It's not really the same instrument, but it's close-ish. Maybe like the difference between a tenor banjo and a five-string, in terms of very similar body but different concepts of playing? - Gottan, a wooden-bodied shamisen. Bachido has these as low as $125 - the "kankara" is an Okinawan sanshin made using a repurposed metal food tin. It's a legit instrument, in the same way a cigar-box guitar is. You can get an "assemble yourself" kankara kit for as low as $50 or so, but then another $30 for shipping. 
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Mar 22, 2015 00:36
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If you want to check out the sanshin, Asoviva also sells a wooden model, for $115 plus shipping from Japan.
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Mar 22, 2015 09:16
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Anyone in Vancouver in a guzheng mood? At least I think this is a guzheng. http://vancouver.craigslist.ca/van/msg/4916416318.html 50$, which is a steal compared with local prices. Seems in a rough condition, but for the price... I have talked to the seller a bit, he seems a bit bull-headed. He thinks he has the right spelling and won't change it. With his current spelling no one will find this, unless they look for kotos. In which case they won't buy it anyway because it is a guzheng, not a koto. So much for me trying to be helpful. Sigh. I'd get this thing myself, but I cannot justify a day trip just to see what exact "rough" condition it is in. (And the seller has no more pictures due to a "busted camera".) From what I extracted, this seems a full-size thing and needs bridges. Bridges are a non-issue, you can get those decently cheap. No idea what else is missing, if anything. EDIT: The picture seems to have at least one string missing too. Just posting here because in the past we had a person here who was broke and wanted one. Craigslist sometimes gets you cheap stuff, apparently. I'd kill to know where he got the thing for 100$. Probably a long time ago or something... I'm looking at getting mine from China via a taobao agent. 100$ for one. 150$ shipping. Sigh...
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Mar 24, 2015 10:13
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No Gravitas posted:Anyone in Vancouver in a guzheng mood? My guess is that it's 99% unplayable. The combo of one bridge in the pic with others "missing", the lack of clear pictures, and complete lack of description makes me think this is either a homemade job that is unfinished or something he picked up in the condition it's already in/fished out of a trash bin and is trying to make a buck on. I see this kind of crap on CL locally all of the time. My favorite is the guy who picked up a horribly broken Teisco Del Rey at a local Goodwill and tried reselling it as a "vintage collectible" for several hundred more than he paid for it. I know it was a Goodwill guitar because I had passed it over two days prior. The electronics didn't work, the neck was warped, and the chrome was pitted and rusting.
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Mar 24, 2015 15:30
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No Gravitas posted:Anyone in Vancouver in a guzheng mood? Agreed, I wouldn't touch that thing, it only shows 2 bridges.. $150 is actually not a terrible deal for an instrument that will actually function and be tunable. Keep an eye out for "student" versions if you are just dipping your toes into the instrument (they are missing 2 octaves I believe). I think I got mine for $89 a few years back (ebay) and it serves it's purpose as a free tunable string instrument (with bends) quite well. Also if you are the explorational type a double-bass bow is amazing on a guzheng.
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Mar 25, 2015 21:56
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My wife is Indian, which means of course there's a harmonium tucked in a corner of her parents' garage. At least, there was a few years ago. Next time we go over we're planning to grab it since no-one else is using it. poo poo yeah, harmoniums! They're like half of an accordion!  Edit: Also, my wife says she wants to try tabla... anyone here bought a set online? I'm wondering if I should go ebay or amazon. Pham Nuwen fucked around with this message at 00:40 on Mar 26, 2015 |
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Mar 25, 2015 22:18
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Pham Nuwen posted:My wife is Indian, which means of course there's a harmonium tucked in a corner of her parents' garage. At least, there was a few years ago. Next time we go over we're planning to grab it since no-one else is using it. Harmoniums are awesome, though I satisfied my desire for one by getting a concertina instead, which sort of meets the same need. If we can ask, what culture in India are your wife's parents from? Given they have a harmonium but don't play it, my gut guess would be Sikh. Speaking of which, anyone who likes harmonium, go listen to some stuff by Brooklynite indie-blues singer Shilpa Ray: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ3ZMka23-A quote:Edit: Also, my wife says she wants to try tabla... anyone here bought a set online? I'm wondering if I should go ebay or amazon. Ho boy, we had a discussion about exactly this issue back on page 41: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3415486&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=41 Take a glance at that back-forth and let me know what you think. For the rest of y'all, the issues I raised with the other goon is that tabla is not really something you just pick up and muck around with. It's not really just a drum, it's pitched percussion, you can't just whack on it rhythmically and expect to sound remotely like a player. It's a drum you actually have to routinely tune, even adjusting it between sets. If you seriously want to do tabla, you probably need to go to a tabla teacher. Worth reading is Pete Lockett's e-book on learning tabla basics: http://www.petelockett.com/lessons/essential%20tabla%20guide/ESSENTIAL%20FREE%20GUIDE%20TO%20TABLA.pdf I'd suggest to watching some YouTube videos about introductory tabla, to get an idea of the intricacies of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1mfZyeP05A  If you're determined to get a set, I'd really stick to serious musical instrument dealers, since guys on Amazon or eBay likely know zero about drums and are just opening a huge shipping crate from a random factory in Pakistan and chucking it in a box for you. An actual musical store like the Ali Akbar College of Music shop in Berkely has stuff as low as $200 some, and that way you'd be much more confident in getting a working drum, properly QCed with all the proper gear. I'm all for finding bargains in music gear, but if you're brand new to an instrument and want to play more than make it a rebuild project, especially when the price isn't that high, choose a trustworthy dealer: http://www.musiciansmallusa.com/tabla-sets/ But like I mention in my reply to the earlier goon, there are a lot of other percussion instruments that can scratch the general tabla itch but are less complex to play and less finnicky to maintain. You can buy a solid synthetic-head Remo kanjira for $80 (I have one, it's cool), udu drums can do a great job imitating tabla-type sounds, and if she likes udu but wants something more explicitly India, the ghatam is a similar clay-pot drum but from India: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVwufFba1l8 And if she just wants an Indian drum of the sort that anyone who has basic rhythm can just whack on and make some rhythmic sounds and enjoy, there are a goodly scattering of options for those in the folk branches of the tradition. Indian classical drums are just pretty intricate stuff.
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Mar 27, 2015 04:00
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No Gravitas posted:Anyone in Vancouver in a guzheng mood? If you want to avoid China shipping, and aren't too picky about having exactly the Chinese style, the Vietnamese "dan tranh" pops up a lot on US eBay, including used ones. I'm not clear on the exact differences (if any), but another option to consider. This one would look like a really good deal, but it's from a seller with zero feedback, which is too much risk for me: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dan-Tranh-C...=item27fbd08b84 But if you wanted you could get a hold of the seller, see if he'll show you it on Skype or anything similarly verifying. Or just wait for the next good deal on a used Vietnamese one.
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Mar 27, 2015 04:49
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:If you want to avoid China shipping, and aren't too picky about having exactly the Chinese style, the Vietnamese "dan tranh" pops up a lot on US eBay, including used ones. I'm not clear on the exact differences (if any), but another option to consider. Thanks! Sadly, anything from the USA will be a no-go as shipping to Canada is killer. I figured the shipping out, actually. I will pay 75$ on shipping, instead of 225$. (And will share the method if it at all works out, because this is a steal for any shopping in China) I'm going with this one, although not bought at this vendor: http://www.easonmusicstore.com/products/Hua-Li-Wood-21--Guzheng-%28Carp-Design%29-by-Shanghai-Dunhuang-Yun-Brand/342 Except, you know, cheaper to buy. Try 107$+shipping+20$ of fees/comission. Two+ month wait, but I can afford the time and I feel like taking a chance on shipping containers. I should seriously start running a guzheng import arbitrage business or something. The price difference could easily allow for 100$ profit per guzheng while undercutting the competition by same. 
No Gravitas fucked around with this message at 06:07 on Mar 27, 2015 |
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Mar 27, 2015 06:03
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I was gonna say "wow, your wife is pretty tolerant of you filling the house with a huge instrument" but then I remembered that I made my friend in Austin drive to Houston for me, pick up a clavichord, and store it her bed in a house she's renting from me.
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Mar 27, 2015 06:08
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:I was gonna say "wow, your wife is pretty tolerant of you filling the house with a huge instrument" but then I remembered that I made my friend in Austin drive to Houston for me, pick up a clavichord, and store it her bed in a house she's renting from me. I have space under the bed.  The problem will be the volume. Guzhengs are loud... EDIT: Here is a lovely (I think) quiet guzheng. It's electric. I haven't been able to get one from China or I would have gotten it instead. http://www.ebay.com/itm/MDZ1008-Electric-Guzheng-Chinese-Instrument-Warranty-for-ever-/261006962492 No Gravitas fucked around with this message at 06:26 on Mar 27, 2015 |
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Mar 27, 2015 06:23
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I think this migh be relevant to this thread's interests: Folklorist Alan Lomax's massive collection of folk music from all over the world goes online.
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Mar 30, 2015 12:21
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Harmoniums are awesome, though I satisfied my desire for one by getting a concertina instead, which sort of meets the same need. If we can ask, what culture in India are your wife's parents from? Given they have a harmonium but don't play it, my gut guess would be Sikh. Sindhi, actually. The harmonium is home now and I spent some time playing with it Saturday and Sunday. Seems to be in pretty good shape and plays fine. Three octave range, two drones, three stops, and tremolo. I mostly bashed out poo poo like A Whiter Shade of Pale and Greensleeves because I had the sheet music handy. TapTheForwardAssist posted:Ho boy, we had a discussion about exactly this issue back on page 41: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3415486&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=41 I looked at the back and forth... I'm going to try and convince her to go try an introductory class at the local Gurdwara or something, just to get some time at the drums, then if she likes it we'll try to buy a pair from Ali Akbar College. It sounds like she wants tabla specifically, so I'm going to focus on that for now.
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Mar 30, 2015 17:05
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Pham Nuwen posted:Sindhi, actually. The harmonium is home now and I spent some time playing with it Saturday and Sunday. Seems to be in pretty good shape and plays fine. Three octave range, two drones, three stops, and tremolo. I mostly bashed out poo poo like A Whiter Shade of Pale and Greensleeves because I had the sheet music handy. I've been saying forever that I need to learn more Indian harmonium licks on concertina, and then I don't get around to it. And at the moment I can't because I'm vagabonding about the South and don't want to carry a $4k concertina with me. But if my money/common-sense ratio increases, I have a vague vision of someday going with my concertina to a real harmonium instructor and telling him "teach me to do on my thing what you do on your thing". Do you perform much, or mostly play at home for fun? Harmonium is unusual enough that I can see it adding some zazz on stage. quote:I looked at the back and forth... I'm going to try and convince her to go try an introductory class at the local Gurdwara or something, just to get some time at the drums, then if she likes it we'll try to buy a pair from Ali Akbar College. It sounds like she wants tabla specifically, so I'm going to focus on that for now. If she's aware of how tabla works and the role it plays, and still wants in, by all means give it a shot. But I would definitely start out with some formal instruction first. Probably want to find a teacher prior to buying the set, that way you can get some shopping advice from the teacher, and have someone to help you inspect them as soon as they arrive in case there are any flaws. Tabla is a really amazing instrument, it's just that whenever I hear anyone say "I want to play tabla" my reflex is to ensure that they aren't thinking of tabla as just something you can smack on rhythmically.
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Mar 30, 2015 17:50
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:I've been saying forever that I need to learn more Indian harmonium licks on concertina, and then I don't get around to it. And at the moment I can't because I'm vagabonding about the South and don't want to carry a $4k concertina with me. But if my money/common-sense ratio increases, I have a vague vision of someday going with my concertina to a real harmonium instructor and telling him "teach me to do on my thing what you do on your thing". The harmonium is pretty drat cool, even though I think this was a cheap one... one of her relatives left it at the house years ago and never came back for it, so I assume it wasn't anything too fancy. I don't perform, not since high school band. I did clarinet, bassoon, and bass drum (marching band) back then. I love playing but I'm not much good if I don't have sheet music to read from... this may be part of why I still suck at jouhikko so much. Right now I have the jouhikko, a clarinet, the harmonium, my wife's kantele, and my home-made diddley-bow... but I'm not practiced enough at any of them to perform for other people. I could probably play the clarinet for other people if I spent some more time practicing. She's very aware of how tabla plays in Indian music, although she's never tried playing one. We'll see about finding her a teacher, although we're probably moving in the summer which means 1) the next few months will be busy, and 2) we probably won't be able to find a teacher in the new place. Like I said, I think the Gurdwara has free lessons, which could be a convenient way for her to get some basic instruction. Then we have until our move date to get up to AACM and check out tabla sets.
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Mar 30, 2015 19:12
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Pham Nuwen posted:She's very aware of how tabla plays in Indian music, although she's never tried playing one. We'll see about finding her a teacher, although we're probably moving in the summer which means 1) the next few months will be busy, and 2) we probably won't be able to find a teacher in the new place. Like I said, I think the Gurdwara has free lessons, which could be a convenient way for her to get some basic instruction. Then we have until our move date to get up to AACM and check out tabla sets. If you move somewhere sparse on Indians, don't give up on instruction entirely. Though I haven't tried it myself, some people have really gotten in to taking lessons on Skype, particularly for things that would be impossible to find locally, like if you're in Tokyo and need a bandoneon teacher, or in Austin and need a nyckelharpa teacher. That could be worth a shot, plus you might get some advantage on price there since India has a lot of a) tabla players b) English speakers c) internet connectivity, there have to be a good scattering of folks who combine those three factors and can teach.
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Mar 31, 2015 03:37
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Been meaning to for years, but now that I'm chilling in Savannah for a month I figured I might as well take voice lessons, so doing that twice a week now. Feeling a lot better about getting diaphragm breathing into play, and it's getting me a ton more sustain. As another example of "finally", after probably decades of occasionally picking up a fife, trying to blow it, and not getting a proper tone, I pulled up an article on it: http://www.firstflutes.co.za/BlowFlute.html With about 10 minutes of trying the things it suggested, I could actually get a decent flute sound. Good enough that it's something I can build on at least. I have the plastic "Professional" fife by Sweetheart; ran $120 and seems a really nice piece of gear. So yeah, if you're trying a new kind of instrument and not having success, might want to read up a little. Don't be like me, who just assumed that pursing your lips like you're blowing a pop bottle works. Apparently instead the embouchure you need is more like what your lips do if you make a long "ffffffff" sound, lips wide and tight. When shopping on fifes, bear in mind there's some major variance in the family, so make sure you get the kind that matches the music you play. The common cheapies are the ~$15 wooden fifes, replicas of Civil War era fife-and-drum pieces. While the uber-cheapies might not be worth messing with, there are a couple companies that make decent military fifes that are pretty cheap. http://www.beafifer.com/ has their Model F for $120 that some reenactors favor, and they have a $10 cheapie that supposedly a decent starter for the money. Those "military fifes" are really different from what I'm messing with. The military ones are in keys that play well with brass instruments, like Bb, and most importantly are made with the intent that you play them in their shrill highest registers. The stuff I'm interested in is instrument pitched like tinwhistles, like D and so on, and are set up to play well in their lower registers, same as tinwhistles.. Sweetheart is known for making good ones at reasonable price, and Jem Hammond makes simple plastic ones that are just £19 and have a good rep on Chiff and Fipple. Fifes/small flutes made to play well in tinwistle registers also get called "band flutes" and "piccolos". In terms of the last, different from modern piccolos in the same sense that the modern silver flute is different from the older wooden flute now associated with Irish music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk8-X6A81z8  In the weirdly circular world of folk music, some of the Irish flute players are buying older classical piccolos from before the instrument evolved into the modern piccolo, and playing Irish flute stuff on them, an octave above the big flute. You can find some pretty cool stuff if you Google up "Irish piccolo", and basically all the fingering from Irish flute or tinwhistle crosses over.
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Apr 2, 2015 18:11
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What sort of temperament are harmoniums in? I'd love to play non-western free reed music on my concertina
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Apr 2, 2015 19:17
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thousandcranes posted:What sort of temperament are harmoniums in? I'd love to play non-western free reed music on my concertina The default is equal temperament, because it's an adoption from the West, and because off-the-shelf it has to be set up to play within any given key. That temperament (and in general its ability to adjust temperaments or bend pitches) is part of the reason the harmonium is derided by a lot of purists, and so the story goes it was banned from All India Radio (their NPR?) for decades. However, I have heard that some musicians who include a harmonium in their crew (such as a singer who has a harmonium accompanist) will have their harmonium custom-tuned to be tempered around the scales that artist tends to use. That makes it pretty un-useful for playing outside those scales, but does allow the instrument to sound really good in a few select scales. If you're looking to learn some harmonium riffs, I'd expect most demos/lessons online will be ET models. However, a lot of them are pitched somewhere slightly off of a=440. Not as terrible as Baroque A=415 or anything, but IIRC things like A=446 or A=432, so if your concertina is at concert pitch, it might sound a little warbly playing along (unless you get fancy and put the track though a DAW to tweak the frequency slightly). One of the better reasons I've heard for this lack of precision is basically "*shrug* you don't usually have more than one harmonium in a band, and everyone else is tuneable, so they just tune to whatever the harmonium is doing".  Can't recall if I mentioned in this thread before (it's 40+ pages anyway), but a few years back when I was in Afghanistan, I was walking through a small military FOB, and heard someone singing inside a tent. Poked by head in, and one of the translators was sitting there in his camo outfit, sitting cross-legged on his bunk with his laptop open to a scrolling display of sheet music, while he was playing harmonium and singing along. I really wish I'd gotten video of that, since it was such an interesting confluence of culture and technology.
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Apr 5, 2015 00:38
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Guzheng purchased. Christ, this way of shopping is not for the faint of heart. Also I had to make some concessions to the size, settling on a 135cm guzheng. If you guys want to know all about international logistics now, I'm happy to explain all about it and how the sizes of travel guzhengs originated. Apparently the international postal system shapes culture. Heh. Ended up being 230USD, 135USD for the instrument, 86USD shipping and the rest on fees. Not bad. Could have gone as low as 75$ for the guzheng, but it sounds not so good... Shipping isn't fixed yet, the shipper has to weigh the thing once it arrives in the forwarding warehouse. Might be less, might be more, but not by much. Slow shipping, so it will take a couple of months to arrive. I will keep you guys posted and if it works out will post the details on how to do this. Or if I got scammed or something. I hope this works, it may be a neat way to get instruments. EDIT: All this only to have my order cancelled for size reasons. Oh, come on! I checked with them twice if they can handle a small guzheng. Ah, well. At least I get my money back. No Gravitas fucked around with this message at 09:04 on Apr 7, 2015 |
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Apr 6, 2015 10:19
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No Gravitas posted:EDIT: All this only to have my order cancelled for size reasons. Oh, come on! I checked with them twice if they can handle a small guzheng. Ah, well. At least I get my money back. You have really gotten adventurous with this AliBaba stuff and whatnot. Curious to see how it works out big-picture. I can't figure out if my eschewing them is a wise cost-benefit analysis or just pure nationalist bias. Are your native woodwind pieces from China working out well? Been taking voice lessons while living in Savannah, and while it's helping with range and sustain (breathing exercises and all that), it's having a huge impact on confidence. I'm using some Tim Eriksen tracks as my training pieces, and while obviously I don't have his nuance or power, I've been really pleased to find that with a warmup I can hit ranges and sustain beyond what I thought, and pretty decently mirror his tracks on an amateur level. Also went to a Shape Note sing out in the islands off of Savannah. I can do a refresher Shape Note post later, but for anyone that likes vaguely medieval-y/primitive/organ-like acapella music, it's an amazing genre and relatively easy to find community groups singing in the US (and dashes of Europe). Quick question for the group: I've got that $89 Puerto Rican cuatro, made in China, as my main string instrument for my 2-3 month sojourn in Savannah. Plays decently except one course has bad intonation, so I have needle files here and $5 set of feeler-gauges on the way so will lower the action to the right level, and then try to compensate the saddle to lengthen that off course slightly. Pretty basic hand-tool butchery, but I'm optimistic. Plus drill a hole for a strap button and put on a $5 Amazon rainbow-patterned strap. Thing is, I hope to be leaving here for Africa sometime in May, so plan to ditch this instrument here. As much as the crust punks flopped all over Savannah can be annoying/silly/smelly, I'm thinking that if I give it to a musician amongst them, that'd be one of the best ways to keep it out playing in public, since these folks are almost sure to busk with any instrument they own. Like it's not going to just sit in someone's closet because they have no closet. My only issue is that I want to keep it on the street performing, so I figure I should deface it so that no pawnshop will want want it, so that even if they trade/sell it it'd only be another crusty/hippie type who'd take it. Any suggestions on cosmetically loving up a string instrument to reduce its marketability outside the crusty community? Maybe just take a knife to carve a bunch of notches in the thick parts of the headstock, and gently put a bunch of scratches in just the surface layer of the finish? Or see if I can wrangle a few seconds to dip a piece of newspaper into some wall paint while they're repairing the flop-house I'm living in, and flick paint flecks all over it? I figure the next owner can always paint/sticker over it with their own pattern, but I just want to get it to a funky-enough level that it will never re-enter the straight world. Does sharpie stick to guitar finish well? Can I just hand a different crusty a tallboy and a sharpie and have them vandalize the surface for me, and then give it away?
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Apr 12, 2015 17:54
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:You have really gotten adventurous with this AliBaba stuff and whatnot. Curious to see how it works out big-picture. I can't figure out if my eschewing them is a wise cost-benefit analysis or just pure nationalist bias. Are your native woodwind pieces from China working out well? Well, guzhengs can be gotten for cheap, if you can ship them. If you want something diatonic there exist sets of strings which convert your guzheng effectively into a 21-string harp and you can play it chromatically with those notes too, by pressing on the strings in the right way. Big, heavy and bulky, but pretty able. Honestly, if you can ship them out then it might be a contender for the kantele as a cheap string instrument. (Kantele has gone up since the OP and you need to ship it too, a guzheng still might be able to fit under 150$. Just.) Here is the rub. The cheapest shipping is surface shipping, nothing else is even remotely affordable. If you can get your stuff shipped surface, you will pay at most 100$ shipping. China post surface shipping has a limit of 1.5m package size and length+(width+height)*2 <= 3m. This excludes full-size guzhengs of 163cm, but that is fine. There is plenty of decorative space that does not actually gets used for sound production. If you go with a smaller guzheng then you lose some resonating air volume, but you can preserve most of the nicety of the sound. Without the decorations you can get the full length of the strings at 145cm of an instrument. Cut down below 145cm and you are starting to make sacrifices. Here is a a decent guzheng: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.265.JHJVfA&id=43095920955&ns=1&abbucket=9#detail It is 135cm, which has the package dimensions just a touch shy of either of the two limits, but above 1.4m. They still did away with all decorations and wasted space, so it does not sacrifice too much in sound quality. This is the one I would want. 135$ + shipping, all marks of authenticity, etc... And here it begins. Most shippers won't ship suface at all. Most people want to buy clothing in China, so stuff is light and compact. Guzhengs aren't. Of the handful that does ship surface, most will balk at anything over 1m in any dimension. And the last guy that is left over won't ship over 1.4m to have some wiggle room for himself, just in case. This is pretty infuriating, considering I'm quite sure the 135cm guzheng exists pretty much solely for the purpose of remaining shippable through international mail. You can try for 125cm guzheng, but those tend to retain the decorations (You don't want anything with the distinctive S curve under 163cm. Nothing wrong with the curve, but it just wastes space) and as a result they tend to sound worse on the extremes of the range. Also, you can get a narrow guzheng, with string spacing similar to that of the guitar. This sucks for me and my small but very clumsy fingers. I'm tempted to throw this to SA-mart, give someone from China 50$ or something to buy it for me and ship it to me. Still cheaper than paying courier rates, if I don't get scammed. For reference, all seem to be the same piece of music (or at least similar): 90cm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1TjZFNuMB4 (sounds like rear end, plinky as hell) 125cm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13Tmc1eYtTQ (not great on the bass, but better. This guzheng often goes for 80$+shipping and I consider it the minimum acceptable instrument.) 135cm, no decorations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt-ceGl4cdI (almost same to the one I'm angling for, good stuff) presumably 163cm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbCjceRPXyw (best, but also played by a pro in a concert hall. Not that different from the 135cm, really.) On the other hand you could probably get a taishogoto (90cm) for 30$/50$/100$ for a cheapie/nice looking/electric + shipping. A guqin is about 120cm, and runs about 120$. I guess a good instrument is 1$/cm of length? You cannot believe how much time I spent on this so far. :/ Woodwinds: Dirt cheap and "not terrible" quality, but amusing enough. A big issue is finger hole spacing though, too big for my hands! Another issue is control: Good luck playing quietly or stopping a note without getting a "honk" at the end. Bends notes like a dream though. Fun for a 10$ shipped experiment. I do have a shipper I dealt with before that can handle those tiny things, so I can share it. Probably a tin whistle is still the best thing to buy in this price range though. Toys more than instruments: Good to play with for some quick amusement and an exotic sound. No Gravitas fucked around with this message at 02:55 on Apr 13, 2015 |
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Apr 13, 2015 01:59
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I just put a deposit down on one of these. Welp
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Apr 16, 2015 01:34
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That is awesome! Too bad about the wait
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Apr 16, 2015 01:47
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Eh! It's just 3.5 years. . . . just
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Apr 16, 2015 01:55
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That is a pretty sweet instrument right there. Good luck on waiting - it's the anticipation that tends to be somewhat killer. On that note, I've discovered that the guy who was supposed to make my talharpa - and apparently finished it, but never mailed it - is still selling via an eBay store. So it turns out my previous assumption of him leaving the game was entirely inaccurate. So, after e-mailing him through there and eBay, I'm going to wait a week, and then start raising a bit more hell, because I paid the guy nearly two years ago, and never really got anything for my drat time. Any suggestions for steps to make sure I get some form of response?
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Apr 16, 2015 05:02
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If he's still up and doing business, I'd recommend trying to get a hold of him through the music community. Is he selling mainly dulcimers? If so, I'd post on everything dulcimer, some title that clearly lays out the problem "Anyone in touch with Smith? Not responding on paid for commission" or whatever. That way at least other folks in the community are made aware, which gives him incentive too if he actually is dodging you. And there's a decent chance that there's someone on the forum who's a colleague and can help give him a push. Occam's Razor, but if he's still around and making instruments, it's probably less that he's totally deliberately trying to rip you off, and more that he's caught up in things and not dealing with obligations because he's flustered. It's unprofessional and no excuse, but that's overall more likely than scheming to take small commissions and not deliver while still building. Speaking of which, I'll ping the alboka maker again about our order. Like discussed in TFR threads, hobby "businesses" like instruments, guns, etc tend to attract people into the hobby and not great about business, or who are running a business that takes away from their real work, making them pretty lackadaisical, which can suck when you're trying to be a normal paying customer.
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Apr 22, 2015 23:05
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Well, I'll resolve my talharpa issues in time - hopefully. I have an address, so I'm sending a physical letter to the guy, in the hopes that it will somehow work for getting my drat talharpa. Rather than bitching, I figure I'll be useful for the thread and write up one of the instruments I've picked up lately - the wonderful härjedalspipa, a six-hole fipple flute from - you guessed it - Härjedalen, Sweden.  Here's some whistles There's a long tradition of fipple flutes in Sweden, with most of them falling into the spilåpipa tradition from Älvdalen thanks to good amounts of preservation there. While historical fipple flutes in Sweden tended to vary the number of available holes and tunings, as time went on, established traditions sprung up. While the instrument sprung up in the Norrland regions, it's been most well-preserved in Svealand areas, primarily Dalarna, with Älvdalen traditions leading to the modern 8-hole spilåpipa. Beyond that, however, is the Härjedalen tradition, evolving around several key musicians. Ol'Jansa - whose real name was Olof Jönsson - is the main figure in härjedalspipa lore, with his playing tradition being the most well-preserved thanks to how friendly he was. Interestingly, the modern härjedalspipa tradition could be considered closer to the "original" spilåpipa traditions, thanks to its geographic location, but what is and isn't a "proper" tradition is something I'll leave to the Zorn juries. Thanks to Ol'Jansa, the tradition survived well into the 20th century, but there's another reason that the härjedalspipa still exists - the crafting tradition is still kept alive and well. The current master of the craft is Gunnar Stenmark, who was taught the tradition by Oskar Olofsson. Gunnar has a fantastic web presence, is remarkably easy to work with, and - I believe - speaks English quite well; I wouldn't know, as all of my communication with him was in Swedish, but his website and willingness to ship to the US suggests he's more than familiar with it. He's also an innovator in the field - making flutes in both the traditional tunings, as well as in modern intonation, different keys, and offering a wide variety of flutes made in the tradition. His prices are very reasonable, he ships quickly, and is a joy to work with - consulting on every aspect of the instrument.  A Cool Instrument-Maker The tradition is alive and well today, and is particularly notable in that there is actually a book published on it - Ol'Jansas Låtbok, a collection of tunes in the tradition of Ol'Jansa. It's only available in Swedish, but thanks to the wonders of ILL, I have a copy available and am slowly translating it as a side project for interested students and am working with the publishers to see it printed in English for future students. While one could argue that you need to speak Swedish to really get into Swedish folk traditions, I'm opposed to the idea, as the idea of folk culture is that it can be explored by anyone with a willingness to learn, and there's a lot of Scandinavian-Americans who'd love an instrument like this to play around with. I don't know if anyone's covered the Swedish folk music scene, but thanks to the preservation efforts of early folk societies, a sufficiently-skilled musician can achieve the title of Riksspelman, or "Musician of the Realm", by performing before a jury at the annual Zorn trials. It shows that the performer is sufficiently skilled in a single instrument's regional tradition and can display their skill in a way that exemplifies preserving the folk culture of Sweden. While it's hit some contraversy lately, thanks to issues of what is an "approved" instrument (The diatonic button accordion, which is perhaps one of the most "Swedish" instruments I can think of, wasn't accepted until 1979), it's still a respected title. The härjedalspipa is notable due in part to the fact that the only American riksspelman, David Kaminsky, happens to have won his Zorn badge by performing on the härjedalspipa. He's a really nice guy, and I've been devouring his research into the role of nationalism and national identity in Swedish folk music today. Hoping to see him at a conference in the future, as he does a lot of work in areas that are adjacent to my field, but I got to catch a performance a few years after he won his Zorn badge. So, for playing - it's basically a recorder, with a very soft, breathy and warm tone. The traditional tuning isn't quite in line with modern settings, but it has a lot of character. It's an easy enough instrument to get started on, and there's a good number of people who play outside of Sweden, thanks in part to Gunnar Stenmark's wonderful whistles. As is traditional, here's a few links to sounds: Here is Gunnar Stenmark's website. A waltz and a polska on the härjedalspipa. Härjedalspipa played along with accordion and cello Steklåt efter Tjäder Hans, played on härjedalspipa Hope someone finds this interesting. I've certainly been having a lot of fun with mine.
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May 2, 2015 06:35
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Weird instrument update: Now on month 6 of GHB instruction. Spent a month with my instructor dialing in my Naill DN0's and learning small bits about the dark arts of tuning GHB chanters/reeds. If you ever want to gather a crowd while practicing, strike in a set of GHB in a public park. I want to get better at this, but drat is it hard to practice when you draw onlookers every time you fire up the pipes. On the other hand, being applauded for playing a few measures of a basic pointed jig is loving amazing.
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May 6, 2015 04:53
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Anywhere I can go to learn about banjo maintenance? I have a Jida (some kind of Korean make; got it after my grandfather died) 5-string banjo, lots of time, but a tiny amount of free cash. I've posted in this thread a few times (most recently about using a diddley bow for a play; the director nixed that in favor of more traditional scoring at the last minute  ), but it seems every time I talk about music stuff I get side-tracked by school or work and forget. Right now I've got a month-long gig lined up and I graduate in a few days, so now might very well be the time.The thing is, I've had this thing for years. Re-strung it a couple times but it needs some screws replaced and the head tightened (it's been lying around for a decade or so) . If I have the time, maybe I'd like to install a geared tuner for the fifth string - the current one is held on by a single screw, and it gets loose. I have access to a pretty good set of hand tools and know how to use them (and with a little cajoling could probably find my way to a full wood-shop or luthier's workshop (I've got some amateur luthier acquaintances) so my main concern is finding documentation on how to do these things. edit: yeah, I could just google this. But how should I know if the first few hits are worth a drat or not? Grand Prize Winner fucked around with this message at 05:44 on May 7, 2015 |
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May 7, 2015 03:56
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Check out the Banjo Hangout. They have a section specifically dedicated to asking and answering questions about setup, maintenance, and repair. I'd recommend posting pictures with your questions, as they can probably help you pick out appropriate hardware/replacement parts, as well.
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May 7, 2015 17:20
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I've been following this thread for years and I think this might be the right summer for me to learn a weird instrument. I have some history playing recorder as a kid and trombone as an older kid, but I was never terribly good at either. I own a guitar and banjo that I'd like to learn, but I figured before I start trying to vet instructors I'd check here to see if there's something that fits my situation well: I have a commute; I know people deal with worse, but it sucks for me. I spend about an hour in the car every day commuting and I live less than ten miles from the office. Needless to say a fair portion of my day is spent listening to lovely music on the radio and waiting for cars to move so I can move forward a few inches more. What's something fun and cool I could practice in the car? Price isn't a huge concern for the right instrument, but it would need to be small enough to play in the car. I understand I could practice guitar or trombone behind the wheel, but I'm looking for something that wouldn't be unwieldy. I'm down with ocarinas and tin whistles, but I figured I'd ask in case there's some other recent thread darling. I'd try nose whistles like this Vietnamese guy, but I don't have the sinuses for it and it GUARANTEES I'd get in an accident where my airbag would deploy and give me a lobotomy.
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May 12, 2015 04:44
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Meldonox posted:I've been following this thread for years and I think this might be the right summer for me to learn a weird instrument. I have some history playing recorder as a kid and trombone as an older kid, but I was never terribly good at either. I own a guitar and banjo that I'd like to learn, but I figured before I start trying to vet instructors I'd check here to see if there's something that fits my situation well: Five-string kantele?
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May 12, 2015 04:55
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Since I'm getting a sudden brief break from life insanity and a friend of mine has a really well-equipped machine/wood shop, I'll be spending much of next week building instruments out of junk. Aside from cigar box guitars and the various homemade PVC flutes I've already done, any good instruments that have that "junkyard" aesthetic for inspiration? We're both involved in a post-apocalyptic LARP (Terminal nerd velocity, but hey, these kinda games are a good excuse to wear weird costumes and bust out the more obscure instruments because enough mead/cheap beer makes people want to hear weird folk music), so the first couple days are gonna be devoted to building about a dozen CBGs to sell at the next event, but I'm looking to stretch out a little bit and see what else we can hack together. I might try and make a few PVC härjedalspipor and send 'em to any goons who wanna try their hand at at it.
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May 15, 2015 07:22
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Hedningen posted:I might try and make a few PVC härjedalspipor and send 'em to any goons who wanna try their hand at at it. I need some motivation to make a few more flutes. How about a trade? I should have some spare time to churn out a couple of howling demon flutes in the next month and then we could trade. (I'm in Canada, so I have no idea how that looks for shipping.) My instrument is end-blown, so not that easy to play, but it is pentatonic and very unusual.
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May 15, 2015 08:01
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Hedningen posted:Since I'm getting a sudden brief break from life insanity and a friend of mine has a really well-equipped machine/wood shop, I'll be spending much of next week building instruments out of junk.
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May 15, 2015 09:25
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Meldonox posted:I've been following this thread for years and I think this might be the right summer for me to learn a weird instrument. I have some history playing recorder as a kid and trombone as an older kid, but I was never terribly good at either. I own a guitar and banjo that I'd like to learn, but I figured before I start trying to vet instructors I'd check here to see if there's something that fits my situation well: My gut reaction is that trying to play instruments while driving is a terrible idea. Granted, I've done it sometimes myself, but it probably wasn't smart. The dominant pre-internet world instruments catalog, Lark in the Morning, was owned by Mickie Zekley, who wrote about playing the tinwhistle while driving, manning the wheel with his elbows. Sometime in the mid-90s he got into a major car crash, so by the time I cut some deals with him at his Seattle shop he was getting around permanently on crutches. So, that kinda put a damper on that for me. That said, if you pick an instrument that is hands-free and doesn't take your eyes away from the road, I figure it's not any worse than talking on a hands-free cell, probably less bad. The obvious choice would be singing: at one phase I used a commute to teach myself the basics of Tuvan throat singing, and at another point got an instructional tape from the library on blues yodeling (less success there). Cars are great for singing too since they have good sound insulation, so you don't feel as self-conscious. The other option would be a harmonica with a neck-yoke. You can't play all styles hands free since you can't cup, but you can definitely work up some good music. Also a good harmonica and yoke are pretty affordable. Kinda gadgety, but Bob Dylan and a bunch of other serious musicians used them all the time to be able to play harmonica while playing guitar:  Here's a dude with a one-side neck holder playing harmonica along with the radio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9THe1t54tTg
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May 18, 2015 11:40
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Verloc posted:Weird instrument update: Now on month 6 of GHB instruction. Spent a month with my instructor dialing in my Naill DN0's and learning small bits about the dark arts of tuning GHB chanters/reeds. If you ever want to gather a crowd while practicing, strike in a set of GHB in a public park. I want to get better at this, but drat is it hard to practice when you draw onlookers every time you fire up the pipes. On the other hand, being applauded for playing a few measures of a basic pointed jig is loving amazing. Exciting times! I sympathize with the attraction of bagpipes, because I've had people gather in front of me while I'm sitting on a park bench literally just *tuning* a Swedish bagpipe. People just find bagpipes interesting, so double-edged sword there. I guess all you can do is just appreciate their appreciation. quote:Aside from cigar box guitars and the various homemade PVC flutes I've already done, any good instruments that have that "junkyard" aesthetic for inspiration? We're both involved in a post-apocalyptic LARP (Terminal nerd velocity, but hey, these kinda games are a good excuse to wear weird costumes and bust out the more obscure instruments because enough mead/cheap beer makes people want to hear weird folk music), so the first couple days are gonna be devoted to building about a dozen CBGs to sell at the next event, but I'm looking to stretch out a little bit and see what else we can hack together. I might try and make a few PVC härjedalspipor and send 'em to any goons who wanna try their hand at at it. Voting for making some crude lyres (plucked or bowed) out of 2x4s? Just take the overall board and cut out two big square holes for the body and for the open area, then lay a soundboard and back on the body part. Also, tonkoris are pretty uncommon and they're almost exactly the right size of 2x4s. So you could make a pretty large metre-long+ tonkori from one board without too much hassle. I've been living in Berlin for 10 days now, and within my first week I went to a flea market and got a 3-row GCF diatonic accordion €40, got signed up for clavichord lessons, and sang in a local Shape Note sing. The only things I prioritized over music stuff was getting a bicycle (day 2) and getting a Euro SIM card for my smartphone (day 3).
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May 20, 2015 11:27
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