Does anyone know what this instrument would be called:
1.Its about half way in size between a mandola and a mandolin.
2. It has 4 single strings
3.It has a flat back
4.It has a very melodic, soft tone.
5.IT DOES EXIST!!!!!!! Im not making it up.
1. When you say "halfway in size between a mandola and a mandolin", do you mean a *mandola* (tuned CGDA) or an *ocatve mandolin* (tuned GDAE, an octave beloiw the mandolin)?
2. What is the shape of the body outline? Is pear-shaped, like a mandolin? Is it shaped like a small guitar?
3. (as Guernsey Pete asks) Are the strings steel or gut/nylon?
4. Is it an 8-string instrument strung with 4 strings, or is it designed to take only 4 strings?
5. Does it have a label saying where it was made or by whom?
6. Where did you get it from?
If it is guitar-shaped and gut- or nylon-strung, it could be a ukulele or a venezuelan quatro. If it is guitar shaped and steel strug, it could be a cavaquinho (either Portuguese or Brazilian, the latter being more robustly built more heavily strung).
If it is mandolin-shaped, then I can't think of and standard instrument designs that fit the description. Perhaps it is a one-off instrument - a 4-string mandolin or mandola, maybe.
Appropos of nothing, I was wandering around the hinternet this evening, and came across the "Show me your homemade instruments" section on Youtube.....
Somewhere in there was a guy boasting "When I say my instruments are as good as anything Gibson or Martin made, I mean Mel Gibson and Dean Martin."
Is anyone here on the session playing their own homemade instruments ?
I made a couple of pvc flutes for my Other Half, and all she said was "Why didn't you paint the french windows ?".
Anyway, what kind of name is Magnetic Cheesecake?
I rather like it actually, I have this vision of a cheesecake with iron filings on top of it all lined up in waves like the physics experiments we used to do at school...or is it to do with your magnetic personality, maybe sweet though a bit cheesy?
Il stick with banjola.And in reply to Thistle Day,The name ''Magnetic Cheesecake''has nothing to do with my personality or a crazy after-dinner experiment,im just mad.
bouzouki or banjo could still hold, when made with a small flat back body they are not in your face. The old cigar box banjos are soft, and the few wood bodied banjos I've come across were sweet, not in your face. If I remember right, "Fine Woodworking" has a lovely 'how to build your own banjo' in one of their earlier issues. I haven't my collection on hand or I'd be able to give you a specific date. If interested, and it's a beauty, contact "Taunton Press" / "Fine Woodworking" ~ http://www.taunton.com/ http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/
Gourd bodied banjos are equally soft. Don't judge everything by the few bad experiences, or the whole family by the loudest modern version... I will admit, having a few good experiences I tend to think on them, and I've had some great musical and dance experiences with banjo and bouzouki players ~ Irish, Greek and other music... So I have an appreciation, if made wary by the bad experiences.
google atlas of plucked instruments. www.atlasofpluckedinstruments.com -- great website.
good for sleuthing mysterious intruments like
european style-banjoleles.
Confused
Confused
Does anyone know what this instrument would be called:
1.Its about half way in size between a mandola and a mandolin.
2. It has 4 single strings
3.It has a flat back
4.It has a very melodic, soft tone.
5.IT DOES EXIST!!!!!!! Im not making it up.
Suggestions?
# Posted on April 17th 2009 by onions mcginty
Re: Confused
A small tenor guitar? Or perhaps a mandola or small bouzouki that has only been strung with 4 strings?
# Posted on April 17th 2009 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Confused
could be tenor guitar or a big uke or single course mandolin/mandola
# Posted on April 17th 2009 by CDNMoose
Re: Confused
sounds like some sort of flat-backed banjo to me
you just can't go wrong with a banjo, you know
# Posted on April 17th 2009 by Nate Ryan
Re: Confused
"4.It has a very melodic, soft tone."
Can't be a banjo then!
# Posted on April 17th 2009 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Confused
Someone suggested a'Banjola'.Anyone know?
# Posted on April 17th 2009 by onions mcginty
Re: Confused
A mandolito?
# Posted on April 17th 2009 by AlBrown
Re: Confused
Does it look like one of these yokes?
http://www.banjolas.com/history.html
# Posted on April 17th 2009 by Hammurabi Breathnach
Re: Confused
It's a four-stringed flat-backed melodic mandolina.
# Posted on April 17th 2009 by gam
Re: Confused
Metal strings or gut strings ? Scale length ?
I reckon it's a ukulele.
# Posted on April 17th 2009 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Confused
"bouzouki" and "very melodic soft tone" are mutually alien concepts.
This is certainly true when it comes to the Greek bouzouki, and I dare say it applies with those Irish bed-warmer things as well.
# Posted on April 17th 2009 by nicholas
Re: Confused
1. When you say "halfway in size between a mandola and a mandolin", do you mean a *mandola* (tuned CGDA) or an *ocatve mandolin* (tuned GDAE, an octave beloiw the mandolin)?
2. What is the shape of the body outline? Is pear-shaped, like a mandolin? Is it shaped like a small guitar?
3. (as Guernsey Pete asks) Are the strings steel or gut/nylon?
4. Is it an 8-string instrument strung with 4 strings, or is it designed to take only 4 strings?
5. Does it have a label saying where it was made or by whom?
6. Where did you get it from?
If it is guitar-shaped and gut- or nylon-strung, it could be a ukulele or a venezuelan quatro. If it is guitar shaped and steel strug, it could be a cavaquinho (either Portuguese or Brazilian, the latter being more robustly built more heavily strung).
If it is mandolin-shaped, then I can't think of and standard instrument designs that fit the description. Perhaps it is a one-off instrument - a 4-string mandolin or mandola, maybe.
# Posted on April 17th 2009 by CreadurMawnOrganig
Re: Confused
Was it Ciaran Curran who invented something in between a bouzouki and a guitar - which he called a bouzar? Not joking.
# Posted on April 17th 2009 by Rudall the time
Re: Confused
Appropos of nothing, I was wandering around the hinternet this evening, and came across the "Show me your homemade instruments" section on Youtube.....
Somewhere in there was a guy boasting "When I say my instruments are as good as anything Gibson or Martin made, I mean Mel Gibson and Dean Martin."
Is anyone here on the session playing their own homemade instruments ?
I made a couple of pvc flutes for my Other Half, and all she said was "Why didn't you paint the french windows ?".
# Posted on April 17th 2009 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Confused
And you told her of course that you were too busy doing far more important things like making flutes, I hope.
# Posted on April 17th 2009 by Rudall the time
Re: Confused
Anyway, what kind of name is Magnetic Cheesecake?
I rather like it actually, I have this vision of a cheesecake with iron filings on top of it all lined up in waves like the physics experiments we used to do at school...or is it to do with your magnetic personality, maybe sweet though a bit cheesy?
# Posted on April 17th 2009 by Rudall the time
Re: Confused
A Baritone Ukulele ???
# Posted on April 18th 2009 by zoukboy
Re: Confused
ragaman you forgot
7. Can I have it?
# Posted on April 18th 2009 by steve...r
Re: Confused
A banjo with no resonator?
# Posted on April 18th 2009 by fedorastain
Re: Confused
Il stick with banjola.And in reply to Thistle Day,The name ''Magnetic Cheesecake''has nothing to do with my personality or a crazy after-dinner experiment,im just mad.
# Posted on April 18th 2009 by onions mcginty
Re: Confused
bouzouki or banjo could still hold, when made with a small flat back body they are not in your face. The old cigar box banjos are soft, and the few wood bodied banjos I've come across were sweet, not in your face. If I remember right, "Fine Woodworking" has a lovely 'how to build your own banjo' in one of their earlier issues. I haven't my collection on hand or I'd be able to give you a specific date. If interested, and it's a beauty, contact "Taunton Press" / "Fine Woodworking" ~
http://www.taunton.com/
http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/
# Posted on April 18th 2009 by ceolachan
Gourd bodied banjos are equally soft. Don't judge everything by the few bad experiences, or the whole family by the loudest modern version... I will admit, having a few good experiences I tend to think on them, and I've had some great musical and dance experiences with banjo and bouzouki players ~ Irish, Greek and other music... So I have an appreciation, if made wary by the bad experiences.
# Posted on April 18th 2009 by ceolachan
Re: Confused
Do you have one of these instruments ?
And could you post a picture ?
# Posted on April 19th 2009 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Confused
Yes, a picture would be nice...but fantasy has its place too...
# Posted on April 20th 2009 by ceolachan
Re: Confused
google atlas of plucked instruments. www.atlasofpluckedinstruments.com -- great website.
good for sleuthing mysterious intruments like
european style-banjoleles.
# Posted on April 23rd 2009 by Low_C