I'm hoping to get a place on a fiddle making course in October. In the meantime, I've been doing as much reading as I can. I figured it would stand to my benefit if I did some fiddle setups as practice during the summer.
So I called to my parents house in Ennis to scrounge in the space under the stairs which serves as the fiddle graveyard. There was a bunch of fiddles there in various states of disrepair, but in the process, I found my very first fiddle. A 3/4 size chinese Skylark, which actually sounded better than it had any right to. This was the fiddle I started learning my first scale on more than 20 years ago, and I haven't seen it since.
It was out of its case, with a banjo (in case!) thrown in on top of it. It must have been a miracle there was no damage to the fiddle. The fiddle is without strings, bridge, tailpiece or chinrest, but otherwise structurally sound.
So anyway, I reckon my first setup job should be to get this fiddle playable again. It's not worth a damn, but it has sentimental value as my very first fiddle.
So I just thought some of you guys might like to tell us about instruments that might not be worth much, but mean a lot to you.
My best friend bought a mandolin a few years ago after hearing one on the radio, but never got around to playing it. After seeing a few things on tv, I kind of wanted to give it a try so I figured I'd ask to borrow it for a bit. A few days later though he's talking about selling it , and I tell him I'd buy it but instead he ends up giving it to me for free! I can't find a model number anywhere on it and the company name is Montana(the state I live in). I think he got it for about 250, but I've got a 500 dollar Morgan Monroe (mm-2?) and old bowlback 12 string mando that I bought in France, but that generic little Astyle mando is by far my favorite and definately sounds the sweetest to me.
We don't talk much anymore, but it still means somethin to me.
.
...I have a mandocaster too ...
I bought a well-secondhand 5-string banjo in 1965, the first year I went back home after being away in London working, for about £5, I think, from a bus-driver who played in a band of bus-drivers known as the Dizzy Diesels. I soon took off the resonator back, as it was too loud to sing over, and played it a little over the years, but gradually dismissed it as that old untuneable ( it's particular sin ) banjo.
Then SO got interested in playing the banjo. I put geared tuners on to replace the awkward friction ones, had the neck off thinking I might change it then put it back on, replaced the skin, which had started to tear.
A few weeks ago a similar one turned up on ebay, unrefurbished, and to my great surprise sold for £157. But I wouldn't sell mine. Oh, and SO has already played it, after two terms of lessons, as much In public as I ever did in 45 years.
After my sister passed away we found an old fiddle with her belongings. She didn't play and we never found out where she got it. I brought it home and hung it on the wall for decoration. Twenty years later I decided to learn to play it. It was love at first note. I feel like it was found with her things just for me. I really miss her but feel that she's still here with me every time I play it.
I had a banjo for a while with a sticker on the back that said "blastoleen-Crude McFly" ... if anyone knows where this banjo is now I'd love to know....
I have my Grandfather's fiddle, which means a lot to me.
Sadly he died when I was very small and I never heard him play it.
My father told me that his father was quite a musician and could play fiddle, banjo (5 string and tenor), mandolin, guitar, and piano with equal facility. But all I have is that fiddle.
One day I was looking at that fiddle and I noticed that inside was a rattle from a rattlesnake, tied to the soundpost with a thread.
I asked my Grandmother about it and she replied "Why, don't you know that ALL fiddles have rattles in them?!"
But about my own instruments I am completely unsentimental. My first set of pipes were sh!te and I would have no inclination to aquire those pipes, wherever they may be.
For around ten years I played a great old set of pipes probably made between 1840 and 1860. They were somewhat beat-up but I loved playing such an old set. But when somebody offered me three times what I paid for them, off they went.
Not an ITM instrument-although I did see Felix Dolan or someone playing one on an old video-I recently dug my old Yamaha DX7 synthesizer (purchased new in 1984 - my first "Professional" keyboard - it paid for itself several times over) out of storage to loan to a friend. I'd forgotten how much sheer fun they are to play.
...wish I'd kept my mid-60's Harmony Soverign (sp?) that I bought used for 100 bucks or so from a friend. It had a bright, snappy tone without too much boomy bass and was great for rhythm work.
tomw,
your post reminded me of the most bizarre thing that I ever saw (musically speaking).
Back in the 80s when the DX7 hit the market, everyone wanted one, even the old man who played piano in my wedding band. He brought his new one to a wedding, showed us the many sound effects, and said during the toast he'd hit this button and out came gentle glass clinking and applause.
Trouble was, he didn't really understand it- got the sound cards mixed up- and at the moment of the toast, he hit the button and out of the PA speakers came machine gun fire and explosions.
Greg-that's a great story! Yep, you had to tame the beast. If you were fishing around in the dark (the original ones didn't have a lighted LCD display) and somehow got into edit mode and turned on the Portamento...well... And that cutesy sound effect stuff got old REAL fast...
People cry at both weddings and funerals - the difference is, with a funeral, the crying will eventually end...
My current fiddle was made by my fiddle teacher (who's also a luthier) using the neck and back from an older (late 19th/early 20th C) instrument and a new top and sides.
I count myself as a lucky one in this department. I had a grandfather and a great uncle who both played violin. Being the only one in the family to take up playng after they stopped playing, I was given the violins. I took a few years off from playing, but I am now back and fiddling. The two from my grandfather are of a much higher quality, though the one from my great uncle is the one I learned on a child.
Seems like there is not much that can compare to playing traditional music on handed down family instruments!
Instruments with sentimental value
Instruments with sentimental value
I'm hoping to get a place on a fiddle making course in October. In the meantime, I've been doing as much reading as I can. I figured it would stand to my benefit if I did some fiddle setups as practice during the summer.
So I called to my parents house in Ennis to scrounge in the space under the stairs which serves as the fiddle graveyard. There was a bunch of fiddles there in various states of disrepair, but in the process, I found my very first fiddle. A 3/4 size chinese Skylark, which actually sounded better than it had any right to. This was the fiddle I started learning my first scale on more than 20 years ago, and I haven't seen it since.
It was out of its case, with a banjo (in case!) thrown in on top of it. It must have been a miracle there was no damage to the fiddle. The fiddle is without strings, bridge, tailpiece or chinrest, but otherwise structurally sound.
So anyway, I reckon my first setup job should be to get this fiddle playable again. It's not worth a damn, but it has sentimental value as my very first fiddle.
So I just thought some of you guys might like to tell us about instruments that might not be worth much, but mean a lot to you.
# Posted on April 10th 2009 by tradshark
Re: Instruments with sentimental value
My best friend bought a mandolin a few years ago after hearing one on the radio, but never got around to playing it. After seeing a few things on tv, I kind of wanted to give it a try so I figured I'd ask to borrow it for a bit. A few days later though he's talking about selling it , and I tell him I'd buy it but instead he ends up giving it to me for free! I can't find a model number anywhere on it and the company name is Montana(the state I live in). I think he got it for about 250, but I've got a 500 dollar Morgan Monroe (mm-2?) and old bowlback 12 string mando that I bought in France, but that generic little Astyle mando is by far my favorite and definately sounds the sweetest to me.
...
We don't talk much anymore, but it still means somethin to me.
.
...I have a mandocaster too
# Posted on April 10th 2009 by steve...r
Re: Instruments with sentimental value
but then again I haven't been playing that long
# Posted on April 10th 2009 by steve...r
Re: Instruments with sentimental value
I bought a well-secondhand 5-string banjo in 1965, the first year I went back home after being away in London working, for about £5, I think, from a bus-driver who played in a band of bus-drivers known as the Dizzy Diesels. I soon took off the resonator back, as it was too loud to sing over, and played it a little over the years, but gradually dismissed it as that old untuneable ( it's particular sin ) banjo.
Then SO got interested in playing the banjo. I put geared tuners on to replace the awkward friction ones, had the neck off thinking I might change it then put it back on, replaced the skin, which had started to tear.
A few weeks ago a similar one turned up on ebay, unrefurbished, and to my great surprise sold for £157. But I wouldn't sell mine. Oh, and SO has already played it, after two terms of lessons, as much In public as I ever did in 45 years.
# Posted on April 11th 2009 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Instruments with sentimental value
After my sister passed away we found an old fiddle with her belongings. She didn't play and we never found out where she got it. I brought it home and hung it on the wall for decoration. Twenty years later I decided to learn to play it. It was love at first note. I feel like it was found with her things just for me. I really miss her but feel that she's still here with me every time I play it.
Mary
# Posted on April 11th 2009 by Antikhntr
Re: Instruments with sentimental value
I had a banjo for a while with a sticker on the back that said "blastoleen-Crude McFly" ... if anyone knows where this banjo is now I'd love to know....
# Posted on April 11th 2009 by fedorastain
Re: Instruments with sentimental value
First tin whistle-a clark with the wooden plug. I've played it so much that those horrid goldish orange diamonds are almost gone!
# Posted on April 11th 2009 by shanty
Re: Instruments with sentimental value
I have my Grandfather's fiddle, which means a lot to me.
Sadly he died when I was very small and I never heard him play it.
My father told me that his father was quite a musician and could play fiddle, banjo (5 string and tenor), mandolin, guitar, and piano with equal facility. But all I have is that fiddle.
One day I was looking at that fiddle and I noticed that inside was a rattle from a rattlesnake, tied to the soundpost with a thread.
I asked my Grandmother about it and she replied "Why, don't you know that ALL fiddles have rattles in them?!"
But about my own instruments I am completely unsentimental. My first set of pipes were sh!te and I would have no inclination to aquire those pipes, wherever they may be.
For around ten years I played a great old set of pipes probably made between 1840 and 1860. They were somewhat beat-up but I loved playing such an old set. But when somebody offered me three times what I paid for them, off they went.
# Posted on April 11th 2009 by Richard D Cook
Re: Instruments with sentimental value
I, like Richard D Cook, have my Grandfather's fiddle, which has been restored and I play it in our session.
# Posted on April 11th 2009 by Greg the Piano Tuner
Re: Instruments with sentimental value
I built a baroque trumpet from sheets of brass at a workshop in Bloomington, Indiana a few years ago. It actually plays incredibly well.
# Posted on April 11th 2009 by plunk111
Re: Instruments with sentimental value
Not an ITM instrument-although I did see Felix Dolan or someone playing one on an old video-I recently dug my old Yamaha DX7 synthesizer (purchased new in 1984 - my first "Professional" keyboard - it paid for itself several times over) out of storage to loan to a friend. I'd forgotten how much sheer fun they are to play.
...wish I'd kept my mid-60's Harmony Soverign (sp?) that I bought used for 100 bucks or so from a friend. It had a bright, snappy tone without too much boomy bass and was great for rhythm work.
# Posted on April 11th 2009 by tomw
Re: Instruments with sentimental value
tomw,
your post reminded me of the most bizarre thing that I ever saw (musically speaking).
Back in the 80s when the DX7 hit the market, everyone wanted one, even the old man who played piano in my wedding band. He brought his new one to a wedding, showed us the many sound effects, and said during the toast he'd hit this button and out came gentle glass clinking and applause.
Trouble was, he didn't really understand it- got the sound cards mixed up- and at the moment of the toast, he hit the button and out of the PA speakers came machine gun fire and explosions.
The electronics will getcha every time.
# Posted on April 11th 2009 by Greg the Piano Tuner
Re: Instruments with sentimental value
Greg-that's a great story! Yep, you had to tame the beast. If you were fishing around in the dark (the original ones didn't have a lighted LCD display) and somehow got into edit mode and turned on the Portamento...well... And that cutesy sound effect stuff got old REAL fast...
People cry at both weddings and funerals - the difference is, with a funeral, the crying will eventually end...
# Posted on April 12th 2009 by tomw
Re: Instruments with sentimental value
I have a new one!!
I bought my first tenor banjo today from willh!!!!!
I'm pretty ecxited about it....
# Posted on April 12th 2009 by steve...r
Re: Instruments with sentimental value
Will CPT, not willh ;)
# Posted on April 12th 2009 by steve...r
Re: Instruments with sentimental value
My 77 year old father and I just built an Octave Mandolin at Don Kawalek's 4-day workshop in Virginia. I will always treasure it.
# Posted on April 13th 2009 by KY-Bill
Re: Instruments with sentimental value
My current fiddle was made by my fiddle teacher (who's also a luthier) using the neck and back from an older (late 19th/early 20th C) instrument and a new top and sides.
# Posted on April 14th 2009 by rdi
Re: Instruments with sentimental value
The stories about the Yamaha DX7's made me that I didn't give in to the temptation to buy one and bought a Roland EP-9 Digital Piano instead.
# Posted on April 14th 2009 by fauxcelt
Re: Instruments with sentimental value
I count myself as a lucky one in this department. I had a grandfather and a great uncle who both played violin. Being the only one in the family to take up playng after they stopped playing, I was given the violins. I took a few years off from playing, but I am now back and fiddling. The two from my grandfather are of a much higher quality, though the one from my great uncle is the one I learned on a child.
Seems like there is not much that can compare to playing traditional music on handed down family instruments!
# Posted on April 18th 2009 by h-town homebrewer