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mofolotopo posted:My new ukulele and bowed psaltery: Distinctive! The uke part sounds great, you clearly have the guitar chops. Psaltery takes some time to get used to; are you using rosin on the bow or no? The right balance of rosin (I think) and refining the bowing technique will help to smooth out the sound. I believe ww.everythingdulcimer.com is the closest website to having a Bowed Psaltery messageboard. If you ask in either "Bowed Dulcimer" or in "Hammered Dulcimer", there should be crossover folks who also play bowed psaltery. Free forum, friendly folks, and about the only place to find multiple BP players. Definitely an unusual entry in this thread!
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Sep 30, 2007 23:18
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| # ¿ May 8, 2024 04:50 |
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 I had a little Gold Tone Plucky mini-banjo, but the tuners were iffy, intonation was a little weird, and I don't like frets on a banjo. I do like the size though, 19" scale tuned to C (a 4th higher than the standard G banjo). I emailed Eric Prust and asked if he could work up an travel-sized oldskool fretless banjo for me. Maybe four days later he emails me and says "here ya go". He cut me an amazing deal on, since the rim/head are off a scrapped banjo-mandolin, so his material costs were really low. To hint: his basic all-handmade primitive banjos start at $200, and this one was notably less. I'm really stoked, though I won't be able to play it until I get back from Afghanistan in Fall '08. Fortunately, Eric really likes this one, and has no problem hanging on to it for the next year or so. Not the usual entry for this thread, but I thought some contrast would be good. Oh, and I'm not old, I'm in my 20s. I just like oldskool poo poo.
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Oct 13, 2007 19:52
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mofolotopo posted:
Seriously, we need to form the TTFA & Mofolotopo Mutual Admiration Society. We're pretty much the only people that reply to each other's threads. You're in Panama until January or whenever, anyway. PM me in January, maybe we can work something out.
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Oct 14, 2007 05:53
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mofolotopo posted:
Here's a cool one with "minstrel" banjo, which is often tuned even lower than the standard G banjo. Some guys got huge 14" rims on their minstrels. If you want to get a feel for banjo without having to put up cash, just play some clawhammer on your ukulele. Here's Aaron Keim, master of the clawhammer uke: http://youtube.com/watch?v=GCrnR9Yuqp4 This clip changed my life, I'm really trying hard on clawhammer uke now, and it comes along quick. You can do clawhammer on a standard-tuned uke, or you can drop the high string down on a step to get an Open C tuning. If you drop the second string down 1/2 step, you get Open C minor tuning. I'll go make some YouTube clips once I get the stroke down better. Aaron has a two-part tutorial on clawhammer ukulele up on YouTube. I should just go post a new NMD:ML thread just for that, because it's awesome.
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Oct 14, 2007 21:51
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Pukin' Babe 88 posted:I have this on layaway right now. Hot drat, there are plenty of non-vintage reso guitars selling for more than that. Wish you had the backstory behind that "Nighthawk" engraving, but probably everyone who knows the story is dead by now. I'm saving up for a resonator ukulele myself, but yours is probably a lot more versatile.
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Oct 22, 2007 01:19
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Forgive lovely pic, but was out of natural daylight, and don't have any directional lamps unpacked since I moved in: Apparently, it's an Epiphone/Gibson Flying V, and it's a really short-scale version (about 19"). Great cosmetic shape overall, pickup seems to work just fine, etc. Got a small chip off the nut, but doesn't seem to be effecting the E-string. Only problem is that the intonation is off (goes sharp when I go from octave harmonic to pressing the octave fret). The strings aren't individually compensated, but the bridge itself is comped, and overall adjustable, so I might try screwing the screws in to push the bridge back a nudge. I really wanted a short scale for playing Open D, since it's a big reach across the fifths on a full-scale. This was $125 at a local pawnshop, and I have 5 days to return it. What say you? Keep and use for Open D droning, jigs and reels, etc., or take back to the pawnbroker and put that $125 to a better short-scale guitar?
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Aug 19, 2008 01:32
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Chows posted:That's called a Vee Wee, if you want to do some googling for more information. They're supposedly not complete junk, though definitely a bit cheesy... No harm done, I have 5 days to try it out. I'll take it back to the shop then. Followed the link for the Brian May, but if I'm going to spend $200 on new, I might as well find a decent short-scale used for $400ish. I know there was a huge thread on short-scale guitars about a year ago. Anyone got a rough, rough summary? Looking for something with short scale so I can do open tunings without having to stretch my hand hugely from D to A. And decent options, used in the $400ish range or less? Hopefully by that price there'll be a few options that are semi-decent.
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Aug 19, 2008 02:47
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Zakalwe posted:Duct tape the shotgun to the guitar. Also shoot the guitar. I actually once did that with a really lovely 1950s Japan-made classical guitar. Horrendous junk, a good 3/4 step off at the octave. Got it at a yard sale for $5 before I knew any better. Tried ripping the frets out and going fretless, got to be more hassle than it was worth, so my buddy and I took it out into the California hills and shot it with an SKS. It's a pretty bitchin' way to get rid of junk gear. 
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Aug 19, 2008 06:54
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Just a few more dulcimers I picked up for teaching classes and selling cheap to noobs. All of these were around $45-70 on eBay each, which is my usual range for buying basic student gear. Dulcimers: fun, varied, and cheap. 
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Sep 29, 2008 23:10
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Los Padre posted:Wow, I didn't know those were so cheap. There might be one of those in my near future. Any recommendations? If you really want a good one, but a recognized make/name. Best place to read reviews is https://www.everythingdulcimer.com forums. McSpadden is like the Toyota of dulcimers, not quite amazing but always very good, but even used those are like $200. PROTIP: McSpadden also made dulcimers and kits as "Dulcimer Shoppe" which are also great but often under $100. Names to avoid: Apple Creek, First Act (cheap imports sold by big boxes). If you can't find any info on a given maker, you pretty much have to eyeball it. I have a pretty good eye thus far, only gotten burned a few times. A couple times I've bought dulcimers missing the bridge, but you can rig one up out of a bit of dowel, or even the clip off a sharpie pen in many cases. High action is a common problem, but easily solved with files or a hacksaw blade. When I need dulcimers, I just go to eBay and search under "dulcimer -hammer*" to get rid of the hammered dulcimers, and then I just eyeball them. Here are a few good deals that will probably get low bids, seem decent overall, and have low shipping. Definitely check shipping carefully, as I've seen everything from $12 to $60 on dulcimers.  You see a lot of random unlabeled ones like these. It's $50 shipped opening, BiN for $60. If no goon wants it I might take a stab at it.  Another random independent at $40 shipped. This very distinctive shape is a Hughes also known by a few other names. They're not terrible but not great, I'd pay max $45 shipped, and this one is still under that. Standing SA offer: if anyone ever wants a cheap dulcimer, feel free to PM me with eBay listings and ask "is this an okay deal?". I've done that with three or four goons and it's worked out well. TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 00:35 on Oct 1, 2008 |
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Oct 1, 2008 00:27
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Costello Jello posted:Those goofy heart sound holes are killing me. That's pretty traditional, although there are a huge variety of soundhole shapes use these days, probably more so than on any other instrument I've seen. I prefer the weeping/trailing heart, but the old symmetrical heart is still in use. I'm having a custom dulcimer made and was almost thinking that spades (from a card deck) would be cool, but might impact the resale and all. I'm having a basic baritone dulcimer made ($400), and if I like it might have an upgraded model made and sell the basic. Here's a guy playing a Ewing baritone, same as I'm buying: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU2uU5KahP4 
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Oct 1, 2008 17:49
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Coca Koala posted:You're amazing. Is it just your purpose in life to spread less common instruments around the world? It occurs to me that the reason I'm playing guitar and having so much fun with it is because I bought a ukulele and had so much fun with that, and the reason I bought a ukulele on a total whim was because of you making the thread in A/T about it. Most glad you're enjoying it. I've mostly done it on a much more informal basis, but then when I was dicking around unemployed in Newfoundland I realized that nobody had heard of dulcimers. I checked on eBay, found a cheap one and bought it. Then realized I might as well buy a couple extras for $50 since people were bound to want one after I brought it to jams and such. Then it kind of expanded from there over two months, wound up importing over a dozen, teaching workshops, ended up on CBC Radio and provincial television programs, etc. Then when I left NL I started the uke thread, just since I figured a lot of folks vaguely want to play guitar, and offering an easier and more exotic option would push more people over the edge into trying music. quote:I'm honestly amazed at how much work you do to spread music. Is it just a hobby of yours, or is there something else? I have deep-seated psychological issues from multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Oct 1, 2008 22:11
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Hit up two junk shops looking for vintage cufflinks. Asked about music gear, get told "there might be a guitar or an accordion or something in here somewhere." In each shop I dig around and find a dulcimer. Oddly enough, both dulcimers (in two different shops) were $55ish each, and of the uncommon alto scale length. For those who haven't seen my dulcimer posts before, it's a drone zither used in the Appalachian mountains. Notice the odd fret spacing; it's "diatonic" like having only the white keys on a piano. Makes it really easy to play. Here's what traditional dulcimer sounds like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvABZfZVoFA
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Mar 1, 2009 01:51
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I don't have it yet, since it's being mailed to my cousin's house Stateside, and I'm still stuck in Afghanistan, but here's a stock photo of my new purchase: Geuns hybrid bandoneon, C-system chromatic fingering.  A bandoneon is basically a big square concertina, originally made in Germany in the mid-1800s for backing up hymns in churches too small/poor to have an organ. But then they ended up in the hands of Italian and German migrants and sailors who wound up down in Argentina. Thus the bandoneon drifted into the brothels of Buenos Aires, where there was a need for dark-n-sexy mood music, and thus was tango born. This is a bit of an odd evolution of the bandoneon, which usually has the buttons on the flat sides, and has different notes on the push and pull, kind of like a harmonica with bellows. This variant moves the buttons to the corner so the fingers can slide up and down the scale easier, and has the same note on the push and pull, making all note combinations possible, whereas the in-out systems are easier to make conventional chords on, but harder to get all the weird jazzy chords on. Here's the fingering system, which appears to be a reasonably logical system of moving up half-step by half-step diagonally and then over, so the relationships between given note are relatively consistent.  Here's a bandoneon being used for its original religious/classical intended purpose: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k63wzFX8fAQ&feature=related (I think this is a chromatic/unisonoric bandoneon too, since he doesn't need to change bellows direction but just exhausts his air each way) Here's a bisonoric bandoneon, note how she was to change bellows direction on chord changes, and/or hit the air button to free up bellow space to keep pulling outwards. A lot of tango is played on the pull because of the keys/modes they play in. Also notice how she, like a lot of bandeon players, uses her legs to open and close the bellows rather than yank with the hands: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XoTsXkIrk8&feature=related
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Jun 21, 2010 12:22
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| # ¿ May 8, 2024 04:50 |
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 Just picked up a 10-string guitar, a Tenayo Orfea. It's not as nice as a Bartolex, but I got it used at about half the price. Fit and finish are a little rough, and there's some slight raising by the saddle that I probably need to have looked at, but that aside it's been pretty cool overall.
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Feb 9, 2012 22:42
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