Open-ended string instrument question.

[missy]

If it weren't for the volume issue, I would suggest a mountain dulcimer. Very easy to pick up and start playing...

and if volume IS an issue, get one of harpmaker's resonator dulcimers!!!

Seriously, the mountain dulcimer can be as easy or as difficult as you want to make it. You can get started in 5 minutes and make "recognizable" music. You can spend a lifetime afterwards working on all types of sounds.
You can get started for just a little over $100 with one of harp's student models - go to our website (we host Dave's site) and click on the Sweet Woods Instruments link on the left.

[Caj]

Thanks for the input,

I should add that there is no mountain dulcimer player out here. Part of my decision will be based on the fact that there are some really great trad players up north in Ithaca, and I can ask them for advice and guidance.

Also, one of my major influences was Dennis Kronemeyer, a bouzouki player from NJ, who unfortunately passed away unexpectedly just a while ago. To some extent I try to imitate his style when I played the box. This is hard because his playing was so effortless and laid back, even as it chugged along with great energy. Basically if he played in a house session, the rest of us would look like self-conscious spazzes next to this zen master.

His style had lots of low drones and chords---in fact, I think he had 5 courses rather than 4. It lacked the brash quality I've heard in some other octave mandolins, and lended a rock-solid support to everyone else.

Here's a question: if I wanted to take up the octave mandolin/bouzouki/cittern/whatever, would people recommend starting with a regular mandolin and later switching, or does it matter?

Caj

[Lorenzo]

Here's a question: if I wanted to take up the octave mandolin/bouzouki/cittern/whatever, would people recommend starting with a regular mandolin and later switching, or does it matter?

The mandolin will be easier to play lead on the ITrad tunes and will be the same pitch as your concertina. I like the octave mandolin because of its rich baritones...and it can be played either as a melody or chording instrument. If you learn to love the mandos, you may eventually want to have both.

PS: be sure to find a wide neck mandolin with the oval sound hole. I personally have trouble with the narrow ones even though my fingers are not that fat.

[awildman]

i'll be contrary and throw in a vote for fiddle. what's Irish music without fiddle? Plus, you can always get a 3/4 size or 7/8 if your hands are that small. no worries there.

[TheSpoonMan]

I'll put one in for mandolin. Easy to carry, not terribly expensive. Frickin' easy to learn; the tuning's virtually designed for D/G melody playing. (but then I don't play octave mandolin; plan on saving up for one this summer tho)

[anniemcu]

He bought a Mid-Missouri before they were put under.

Mid-mo is gone, but Michael Dulak is apparently back building mandolins under another brand name -- the new handle is Big Muddy Mandolins.

Mid-Mo's gone?!?!? What happened??

[rh]

Mid-Mo's gone?!?!? What happened??

Sued out of business, basically. From what i understand, some equipment at Mid-Mo caught fire and the damage extended to an adjacent business. The other business had insurance and Mid-Mo did not; so when the bill for damages came, Mid-Mo lost its assets and went under.

There was an extensive thread on this at the Mandolin Cafe boards some time back.

[rh]

it's funny, i'm looking at a page with a lefty F5 style mandolinand it just looks so weird to me...



A lefty A style wouldn't look too much different from a righty but having the scroll and points on the opposite side induces some real cognitive dissonance in me ...

[Caj]

it's funny, i'm looking at a page with a lefty F5 style mandolinand it just looks so weird to me...

I've read up somewhat on left-handed fiddling, and learned that some violin players are genuinely freaked out by the sight of a violin being played in mirror image.

I should totally get a left-handed violin, and play tunes in reverse. With no attack and abrupt release on each note. Wearing devil horns.

Caj

[Nanohedron]

I've read up somewhat on left-handed fiddling, and learned that some violin players are genuinely freaked out by the sight of a violin being played in mirror image.

If it'll freak out the fiddlers, then by all means you should do it.

[hyldemoer]

I've read up somewhat on left-handed fiddling, and learned that some violin players are genuinely freaked out by the sight of a violin being played in mirror image.

I should totally get a left-handed violin, and play tunes in reverse. With no attack and abrupt release on each note. Wearing devil horns.

Caj

If its fiddle you're thinking of perhaps you want to continue your research with a subscription to Fiddle-L. Here's the address for their archives
http://listserv.brown.edu/archives/fiddle-l.html

I seem to recall a discussion there a few years back about lefties playing the fiddle. That doesn't mean you can't ask it again.

Have you looked into where you'd get a left handed fiddle and how much you might expect to pay for an entry level one? You can't just restring a right handed violin.

Oh gosh, if my memory serves me right, I recall over on Fiddle-L them mentioning left handed fiddlers who played right handed fiddles with no left handed accomodation other than it being played on the right side of their body.
If you plan to lay it on your chest instead of tucking it under your chin the chin rest would be a non issue (though there are large center placed chin rests that would work for you).
I suppose it all depends what kind of a sound you're aiming for.
How much potential for refinement of sound would you be willing to sacrifice.

[Caj]

Have you looked into where you'd get a left handed fiddle and how much you might expect to pay for an entry level one? You can't just restring a right handed violin.

My research tells me that left-handed fiddles are not much more expensive per se, but are just not as common, so the lack of choice means you'll have fewer price options.

There is a book about playing the violin left-handed, written by a fellow who ironically wasn't a lefty but who had a condition in his right shoulder. He remarks on some people playing a righty violin left-handed, but argues that there is little point now that lefty violins are so available---not common, but more common than ever before.

Caj

[Doug_Tipple]

I've read up somewhat on left-handed fiddling, and learned that some violin players are genuinely freaked out by the sight of a violin being played in mirror image.

If it'll freak out the fiddlers, then by all means you should do it.

When I lived in Arizona I had a landlord whose claim to fame was that he played the fiddle left-handed. He even had a personal license plate on his car that said "Left handed fiddler". I heard him play several times at the old time fiddler's association, and I have to say that I didn't care for his scratching on the fiddle. I don't think that he ever thought of cleaning the rosin from the top of the fiddle either, as the top was nearly all white. He thought that he needed to rosin the bow between every piece, whereas a block of good rosin would last a better player 100 years or more.

The normal right-handed violin has an internal bass bar that runs underneath the foot of the bridge on the base side, and the sound post is nearly under the foot on the treble side. Simply reversing the strings in order to play left-handed would put an inordinate amount of tension on the top, and it probably would soon crack. The instrument wouldn't sound right either. However, the old-time lefty that I mention here played a standard right-handed fiddle without internal modification. Maybe he just put a little superglue on the top cracks and kept on playing. There was so much rosin dust on the top that you couldn't see the cracks anyway.

[awildman]

best to purchase a lefty fiddle as such. modifying a fiddle correctly from a righty to a lefty will probably cost as much as a new lefty model.

a few good fiddlers have been leftys playing righty fiddles. Finnbar Dwyer, for one(I think). You could probably just replane the fingerboard and bridge to slope to the left instead of right, and keep the righty tuning. That would probably throw us fiddlers off more than a 'normal' lefty(if there is such a thing). don't think that would adversely affect the fiddle's tone, either and it wouldn't require invasive surgery.

[alespa]

I'll throw my two cents in for the mandolin. I did have a Mid-Mo, but sold it to towards getting my Clark 2-point with f-holes. Two completely different sounding mandolins. The Mid-Mo is nice IMHO for when you don't need great volume, but want brighter sustaining tones for blending.

The nice thing about the 2-point design, is it's just like an a-body, in that a lefty will look the same.

As for volume, the f-holes on the 2-point help quite a bit, and when I played mine, at church back at Christmas, with two electric guitars, and no mic, I had people who sat in the back telling me the mandolin sounded real nice. I take lessons in a small room, and when my instructor plays on it and he's facing me, it's almost too loud, so in a session, I'll bet it would sound right nice.

Here's a couple of pics, though I still need to get better shots soon: