I saw this on the Celtic Guitar Talk forum.
Here's Joseph Sobol demonstrating a jig
(Willie Coleman's) and a reel (Over the
Moor to Maggie), fingerpicked on a Sobol
10-string cittern. Very cool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0hHBGbRajw

Then he slows things down and shows
some of his techniques for the jig:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBWYYq7mBCQ


I think I'm going to have to try tuning
my tenor banjo down to GDgd to see
if I can emulate this a bit.

I've had the pleasure of playing with Joseph a couple of times (house sessions). A nice fellow, and his fingerstyle technique is very, very impressive. I guess no one ever told him you're not supposed to be able to do that!

Just saw this... simply wonderful! fantastic!

Fearfaoin, that's Joseph Sobol ("SO-boll") on a Sobell ("so-BELL") cittern. A common mistake.

Oh, interesting. I thought it was the maker
playing his own instrument. Thanks for that.
Weird coincidence.

... and it's in the youtube info, too. D'oh.

Joseph Sobol hails from Tennessee, USA, and Stefan Sobell lives in Northumberland, England.

Sobell may be the first luthier (there is some mists-of-time disagreement on this) to put together the modern 10-stringed five course cittern, so-called alongside the historic instruments of the same name, but in any case he is generally credited with being the first to apply the name "cittern" to the beast. A seasoned modern-cittern fancier ought to know a Sobell on sight; the design is distinctive and signature.

Sobol is of course an accomplished musician, and a folklorist and scholar. He's sat in at local sessions every seldom now and again, and once I had the opportunity to chat with him as I gave him a lift to his hotel. As I recall we were talking shop. Or, at least, I was. He may have been humoring me.

Are they Homophones?

See my inital post in this thread.

I recall that Joseph Sobol pronounced his surname "SO-boll".

Although I haven't had the opportunity to ask Stefan Sobell how he pronounces his surname, everyone I've heard pronounce it has done so as "so-BELL", and so I do too. Looks like he's a pretty good photographer, to boot: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefansobell/

Yes, Gerald Trimble, who had his instrument directly from the maker, said so-BELL, IIRC.

But here's a bit of further serendipity: Googling around, it appears that "Sobol" and "Sobell" are in fact pretty much the same name, in a kind-of-like-ish sort of way: Sobol itself is Polish for a type of marten (the English word "sable" is derived from it), and names such as Sobel and Sobell are variants of it. Well, whaddaya know.

Oops, brushed right over your pronunciation guide. Sorry.

No problemo.

You otherwise usually don't miss much, though, so I'll reveal that "bemusement" was a word that fit my case.

This is impressive right hand technique. It's a bit like the technique for playing the Portuguese guitar except that they use only the thumb and index finger. They use elastic tape to adhere picks to the thumb and index finger and pick both up and down with both. The good players can get a very nice mandolin-type tremolo with just the index finger!