So I've heard of the tradition of putting rattlesnake rattles inside stringed instruments, but has anyone heard of doing the same with little bundles of hay? I was digging around through my grandpa's attic the other day and found my great grandpa's old mandolin. It was all broken and unplayable, but I noticed that there was this little bundle of hay tied together stuck inside of it. Has anyone heard of people doing this before? Is it an old-time superstition type thing?
I once encountered a tea-chest bass player at an anti-nuclear camp (on the site of a proposed power station) whose innovative contribution to alternative energy was to turn his bass upside down when he wasn't playing it and use it as a haybox cooker. Worked pretty well. Anything you could cook inside a mandolin would have to be pretty small, though.
It is possible that the hay was used for some sort of magical binding spell. DON'T MESS WITH IT or the mandolin will turn back into a banjo.
If the hay was tied together with a knot, I would say a person did it. But if the hay was just stuck together I would say it sounds like a mouse nest. They love snug little spots.
I think this is a wisp of straw, which has connotations of witchcraft. Your great grandpa wasn't a warlock or something was he? Remove it at your peril! In Brewer's Dictionary a wisp of straw is a sign of danger dating back to Roman times. Witches used wisps of straw to travel to meetings, referring to them as their horses, as confessed by Isobel Gowdie, a Scottish woman who was tried for witchcraft in 1662. Maybe this mandolin can travel down to the session on its own. Don't present the bundle of straw to any of the women in your life. According to some notes on Shakespeare Wisp.—This was a punishment for a scold. 2 It appears that "a wisp, or small twist of straw or hay, was often applied as a mark of opprobrium to an immodest woman, a scold, or similar offender; even, therefore, the showing it to a woman, was considered a grievous affront." Quote taken from here: http://www.sacred-texts.com/sks/flos/flos20.htm where there are some more examples.
I wonder if the hay might actually be dried up bundles of garlic leaves (or some other similar herb) put in the instrument to protect it when it went into storage. Garlic leaves are an excellent midge repellant, and I wouldn't be surprised if they had the same effect on woodworm.
If I were a Viking god I would play a giant mandolin strung with fully-grown Burmese pythons.
I would probably be expected to have it strung / festooned / nutted with more conventional paraphernalia like human entrails and heads, but I'm not really into these.
I haven't worked out yet what plectrum I'd choose. The Duke of Edinburgh might make quite a good one.
I wish I'd known about wild garlic being a midge repellent years and years ago, when I went trout fishing a lot! I used to dose myself with bought anti-midge slosh that was expensive, probably bad for you and barely worked anyway. Not nice when it ran into your eyes, either.
Putting hay in mandolin?
Putting hay in mandolin?
So I've heard of the tradition of putting rattlesnake rattles inside stringed instruments, but has anyone heard of doing the same with little bundles of hay? I was digging around through my grandpa's attic the other day and found my great grandpa's old mandolin. It was all broken and unplayable, but I noticed that there was this little bundle of hay tied together stuck inside of it. Has anyone heard of people doing this before? Is it an old-time superstition type thing?
# Posted on November 21st 2011 by PseudoKrazy
Re: Putting hay in mandolin?
I once encountered a tea-chest bass player at an anti-nuclear camp (on the site of a proposed power station) whose innovative contribution to alternative energy was to turn his bass upside down when he wasn't playing it and use it as a haybox cooker. Worked pretty well. Anything you could cook inside a mandolin would have to be pretty small, though.
It is possible that the hay was used for some sort of magical binding spell. DON'T MESS WITH IT or the mandolin will turn back into a banjo.
# Posted on November 21st 2011 by Jack Campin
Re: Putting hay in mandolin?
If the hay was tied together with a knot, I would say a person did it. But if the hay was just stuck together I would say it sounds like a mouse nest. They love snug little spots.
# Posted on November 21st 2011 by AlBrown
Re: Putting hay in mandolin?
sure it wasn't grandpa's stash??
# Posted on November 21st 2011 by banjoloon
Re: Putting hay in mandolin?
These responses have me crackin' up! It was indeed tied with a knot- not a rats nest. ...*moves stash into mandolin*. heh heh heh.
# Posted on November 21st 2011 by PseudoKrazy
Re: Putting hay in mandolin?
Humidifier?
# Posted on November 21st 2011 by Hup
Re: Putting hay in mandolin?
The little bundle of hay is a primitive graphic equalizer. You tune it to the instrument with bale shears
# Posted on November 21st 2011 by Dave McGrath
Re: Putting hay in mandolin?
I'm going with Al Browns mouse nest ..... or could it be the mouses' stash ?
# Posted on November 21st 2011 by zoukboy
Re: Putting hay in mandolin?
Maybe it makes it easier to play bluegrass music.
# Posted on November 21st 2011 by Weejie
Re: Putting hay in mandolin?
As it moves round it dusts the inside. Very clean and tidy!
# Posted on November 21st 2011 by c.g.
Re: Putting hay in mandolin?
maybe it was for Beatles songs like Hay Jude....
# Posted on November 21st 2011 by Footerin'About
Re: Putting hay in mandolin?
i've never heard of this, though i could imagine that it might effect the sound a little. but not sure of its purpose.
# Posted on November 21st 2011 by palethinboy
Re: Putting hay in mandolin?
Not a humidifier -- a de-humidifier.
Or a fairy besom.
# Posted on November 21st 2011 by gam
Re: Putting hay in mandolin?
The Other Person in the House has suggested it's a charm. Or a (de-)humidifier.
# Posted on November 21st 2011 by c.g.
Re: Putting hay in mandolin?
Makes it easier to The Little Stack of Barley
# Posted on November 21st 2011 by domhnall.
Re: Putting hay in mandolin?
...play...
# Posted on November 21st 2011 by domhnall.
Re: Putting hay in mandolin?
Probably made by that fiddle player who also manufactures hay, I can't remember his name. Oh yes, Martin Hays.
# Posted on November 22nd 2011 by Tony O'Rourke
Re: Putting hay in mandolin?
I think this is a wisp of straw, which has connotations of witchcraft. Your great grandpa wasn't a warlock or something was he? Remove it at your peril! In Brewer's Dictionary a wisp of straw is a sign of danger dating back to Roman times. Witches used wisps of straw to travel to meetings, referring to them as their horses, as confessed by Isobel Gowdie, a Scottish woman who was tried for witchcraft in 1662. Maybe this mandolin can travel down to the session on its own. Don't present the bundle of straw to any of the women in your life. According to some notes on Shakespeare Wisp.—This was a punishment for a scold. 2 It appears that "a wisp, or small twist of straw or hay, was often applied as a mark of opprobrium to an immodest woman, a scold, or similar offender; even, therefore, the showing it to a woman, was considered a grievous affront." Quote taken from here: http://www.sacred-texts.com/sks/flos/flos20.htm where there are some more examples.
# Posted on November 22nd 2011 by RichardB
Re: Putting hay in mandolin?
hay now thats a good idea
# Posted on November 22nd 2011 by gaelic83
Hay or garlic leaves?
I wonder if the hay might actually be dried up bundles of garlic leaves (or some other similar herb) put in the instrument to protect it when it went into storage. Garlic leaves are an excellent midge repellant, and I wouldn't be surprised if they had the same effect on woodworm.
# Posted on November 22nd 2011 by skreech
Re: Putting hay in mandolin?
Ah, you mean a vampire repellant! It gets more sinister!
# Posted on November 22nd 2011 by RichardB
Re: Putting hay in mandolin?
If I were a Viking god I would play a giant mandolin strung with fully-grown Burmese pythons.
I would probably be expected to have it strung / festooned / nutted with more conventional paraphernalia like human entrails and heads, but I'm not really into these.
I haven't worked out yet what plectrum I'd choose. The Duke of Edinburgh might make quite a good one.
# Posted on November 22nd 2011 by nicholas
Re: Putting hay in mandolin?
@skreech:
I wish I'd known about wild garlic being a midge repellent years and years ago, when I went trout fishing a lot! I used to dose myself with bought anti-midge slosh that was expensive, probably bad for you and barely worked anyway. Not nice when it ran into your eyes, either.
# Posted on November 22nd 2011 by nicholas
Re: Putting hay in mandolin?
@ skreech and nicholas - me too!
# Posted on November 22nd 2011 by c.g.