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So about two years ago I got a mandolin cheap off craigslist. I've fooled around a bit with the mandolincafe tabs, but I've never really known where to start properly. Can anyone point me at some appropriate things for beginners to play around with?
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Aug 15, 2012 07:58
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Oh hey somebody bought me a title, guess I should probably buy that chordbook.
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Sep 20, 2012 05:24
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I'm in the midst of 3d-printing a flute, specifically http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:31610 It's printed the first section so far, but when I tried to print the second section it got about 40mm in, pulled a stray strand off, and then managed to catch the strand on the way back around, knocking over the in-progress print. Luckily the plastic is cheap and there's nothing lost but about 40 minutes of letting the machine run, so I'll try again tomorrow. We'll see how it sounds when it's all put together. I can get a high-pitched toot out of the first segment right now, and the partial second segment fits reasonably well onto the first segment.
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Nov 1, 2012 06:36
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Whoa, printing a flute... That is drat trippy. Eager to see how that works out once you finish. Any good clips of people playing their 3D-printed flutes? I finished printing it today. I'm not a very good flautist, I basically just dicked around with one back in high school band. I can get what sounds like a decent note with all finger holes open, but as soon as I cover the first one the sound instantly drops to just noisy air. Might be my playing, might be the materials (PLA plastic), might be the design. Haven't found any videos of similar flutes, just one of a full concert flute printed with a much fancier machine at MIT. Edit: After playing with it for a while, I attained *two* notes--I can also get sound with the first hole covered. Pham Nuwen fucked around with this message at 08:14 on Nov 2, 2012 |
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Nov 2, 2012 06:32
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I didn't have anything to do this afternoon, so I whipped up a quick diddley bow with a plank of poplar, an empty beer bottle, and an old metal tin I had laying around. I glued a steel nut to the tin to act as a bridge. Here are a few pictures:    It sounds decent, but my microphone is crappy. Here's a terrible recording: http://soundcloud.com/phamnuwen/diddley-bow
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Nov 26, 2012 04:20
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So I bought a tin whistle, a Clarke in D. It's cool, but drat I feel like I have to barely breathe into it on the lowest note or else it'll just pop into the second octave. Is this just a practice thing, or am I sucking at technique?
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Nov 30, 2012 06:32
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Somebody linked this on Facebook today, haven't seen it in the thread yet. It's "Voodoo Chile" on gayageum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfOHjeI-Bns
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Mar 28, 2013 02:01
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I Greyhound posted:On a similarly silly, but very different musical note, I found the triolin while looking for some half-remembered crazy multi-stringed zig-zag thing, which ended up being the 42-stringed guitar. Every note sounds out of tune. Maybe that's to be expected with a 42-string guitar.
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Jul 3, 2013 03:59
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:I built a really crude talharpa out of a 2x4 and piece of thin veneer wood and other scrap parts when I was a teen, took just a few hours. So that's worth a shot if you want to mess around with a little 2-string. There are at least two goons from this winter who were looking into or starting making their own jouhikko, but I haven't heard back as to whether those worked out. If you're looking for someone who makes/sells them, one of the few I know is Chris Nogy (not to be confused with the politician). Chris is a really cool guy and enjoys talking about music, so worth shooting him a line. Here's his jouhikko page: http://instrumentsofantiquity.com/jouhikko.html Here's some talharpa plans I found online, they look detailed enough to go with: http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/19165122/1278225074/name/Jouhikko+Plans.pdf I haven't gotten around to building one; I had contacted Chris who is indeed a super knowledgeable guy and loves talking about jouhikko/talharpa. He said he'd put together a page with some concept sketches for a custom jouhikko for me, but I haven't heard anything from him since April. I pinged him recently but had no reply; perhaps he's taking a break or has personal things keeping him busy, I don't know. Maybe if I can find a shop nearby that carries horsehair, I'll give it a shot. Today I came up with an idea for a sweet bedside table with wireless cellphone charging and bluetooth music playing through speakers built in the bottom, I could probably use the same set of woodworking tools for both projects...
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Jul 10, 2013 05:10
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It's not weird but I just got a secondhand Buffet Crampon clarinet for $75. I played 5th through 8th grade, then switched to bassoon but kept playing the clarinet in marching band for an additional 2 years. Kind of like riding a bike, you don't really forget how to do it... although I'm tending to get saliva fizzing on the left side of my mouthpiece, might need some work on embouchure.
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Oct 15, 2013 23:36
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I've decided to sell my mandolin. I've been looking to reduce the number of instruments around the house in preparation for getting a jouhikko and this fell at the bottom of my list. Also, I stabbed myself yet again on the end of a string which pissed me off enough to post the CL ad. It's listed on craigslist already, and I don't want to deal with shipping, but if any goons in the Bay Area want to come pick it up, I'll give a Goon Deal. I'll include my copy of Niles Hokkanen's Guide to Mandolin Chords (see my title for testimonial) if you want. Anyone interested, PM me and we can figure out somewhere to meet.  Edit: If this is Not Allowed, tell me and I'll clear the post.
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Nov 9, 2013 21:06
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:You try new things, and some stick and some don't, but hopefully messing with mando was a good learning experience. What's your main instrument these days, or is jouhikko planned to be your primary piece? Who are you getting yours from? I've had fun playing around with the mandolin, definitely. These days I've mostly been playing around with the clarinet I picked up ($80, it's in drat good shape and this model costs almost $700 new) and, lately, a classical guitar. For some reason, strumming chords finally started to click on Friday and I've been transitioning from chord to chord pretty well. Mostly working on Wish You Were Here, since I know the words and can sort of sing along as I play. I'm thinking of getting Chris Nogy to build a jouhikko for me. We had a nice chat a few months back, and Hedningen seems to have been impressed by some of his other instruments, so if I can get this mandolin sold I think I'll ask him to start on the design. I prefer the look of the more open 4-string instruments, as opposed to those with smaller openings like the pic you posted. If I dig the jouhikko, I think it would be a great primary instrument, probably backed up by fooling around on the clarinet and guitar. I really dig the sound of the jouhikko.
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Nov 11, 2013 05:42
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Hedningen posted:Well, just got my wife a kantele. She's been remarkably supportive of my musical instrument purchases over the years, but hadn't quite found one that she felt like playing - she came from a musical family, played cello for years, but never really got interested in taking it further due to her nervousness about her abilities. So, I decided to surprise her by picking up a ten-string kantele kit from Musicmakers, building it over Christmas, and gave it to her around the New Year. I was just about to hassle you about your lack of a talharpa effortpost. Who's building it for you? I decided to pull the trigger and have a jouhikko commissioned. I think we've just confirmed the design, so at this point it should be largely a matter of waiting for the luthier to get enough time to build it. Edit: yesss we've finalized everything and it's on the build list. 3-string jouhikko, lime wood body and spruce top (all with a dark red-brown finish), piezo pickups, and some custom carving on the "neck". Expect a big post when it arrives. Watching this and getting excited: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2Q17A01SzA Pham Nuwen fucked around with this message at 06:36 on Jan 9, 2014 |
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Jan 8, 2014 06:48
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Here's something interesting I spotted in the SFO terminal a few months back: Sorry the picture is a little blurred, I was shooting through a pane of glass, but it looks like basically a ukulele autoharp. Press button, strum, get chord.
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Jan 11, 2014 21:45
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SuBeCo posted:Could I get some advice on instruments that can be played mostly with one hand? I have a bad case of RSI in my right shoulder. To give some examples of what I can and can't do, I played piano from age 7-17, and my fingers are no longer dextrous enough on the right hand for anything particularly accomplished, I also get very tired in that shoulder after about 10 minutes of playing. The arm is also weak, and I can't really use the bow on my double bass for more than 15 minutes. Plucking guitar/bass strings is also right out. Thanks in advance. Harmonica?
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Jan 16, 2014 17:44
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Hedningen posted:Well, just got my wife a kantele. She's been remarkably supportive of my musical instrument purchases over the years, but hadn't quite found one that she felt like playing - she came from a musical family, played cello for years, but never really got interested in taking it further due to her nervousness about her abilities. So, I decided to surprise her by picking up a ten-string kantele kit from Musicmakers, building it over Christmas, and gave it to her around the New Year. Hey. Hey you. You goon. Has your talharpa arrived yet? I'm waiting for my jouhikko to get built, and after working with the luthier to customize it, I am practically drooling over the thought of seeing the real thing. Do you have pictures of the kantele and/or the lyre? I'm thinking about a kantele for my girlfriend; she likes to write songs and sometimes plays acoustic guitar, so I think the kantele would be a pretty easy step.
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Jan 27, 2014 00:59
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This might be of interest to some in this thread. I found an old book, "Folksongs of Alabama", for $0.50 at a university library. It's a collection of traditional folk songs from Alabama as collected by a college professor back in the 30s and 40s. It's especially cool because it doesn't just record the words, it also includes the melody: I took a bunch of pictures of the first section, which you can check out here: http://imgur.com/a/4PBLw
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Feb 2, 2014 07:57
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Hawaii_Lame-O posted:I rediscovered this thread a couple of days ago and, quite honestly, I find myself slightly obsessed. I've often had thoughts about doing a solo experimental metal project with unusual instruments, and this thread has rekindled that interest. I think the one I've focused on the most is the autoharp, though the dulcimer, diddley bow, shamisen, the korg monotron and/or that stylophone, and a few others have caught my interest as well. I hope to get into this stuff whenever I have the spare money to make a purchase (or whenever I gather some materials and make myself a diddley bow to dick around on). Diddley bows are awesome because you can whip one together in 20 minutes. I ran to the hardware store and grabbed a 3 foot plank, then grabbed one of my spare mandolin strings, a beer bottle, and an old tobacco tin. A couple nails and a little block of wood to hold the bottle still and it was working great. I ended up gluing a steel nut on top of the tobacco tin to help it resonate better.  Also, it's not on your list but the sound of the jouhikko might interest you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjfgohDem-M Pekko Käppi has a lot of great songs on Youtube.
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Feb 4, 2014 08:38
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Hedningen posted:My talharpa should ship out next week - apparently the finish is just drying and there's some final finishing work to wait on. Considering the amount of time it has taken to get built, I am really looking forward to this drat thing finally arriving so I can suck at it for a month or two before it suddenly clicks. Awesome! I'm looking forward to seeing your talharpa when it gets in. Who made it for you? My jouhikko is somewhere in a build queue... I'm really excited to try it out, especially since it's designed with piezo pickups so I can run it through an amp. What will an overdriven jouhikko sound like? I also ordered a 10 string kantele kit for my girlfriend's birthday present. Hope she likes it, I like the sound of the instruments I found on youtube and it looks pretty easy to pick up.
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Feb 14, 2014 00:59
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Turns out the polar vortex has screwed up my luthier's schedule... it's been too cold in his shop to cure the glue or apply finishes, so while my jouhikko would probably have already been made normally, it'll be a few more weeks now.
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Feb 20, 2014 08:33
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BigHustle posted:I have an Indy Custom lap steel that I picked up last year for $200. This is their current offering. That's a really neat looking lap steel. But I've always found that calico tone cats give a warmer sound. Cached Money, you wouldn't happen to live in the San Francisco area, would you? I ask because I was in this music shop in North Beach a few weeks back and they had a couple decent looking used lap steels. No idea what he wanted for them... he was asking $100 for an older dulcimer, nothing special but it was in decent shape; I didn't buy it, though. He also had what looked like a saz, and a really clapped-out sitar.
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Feb 27, 2014 04:37
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When I came home from work today, I was excited to see that USPS had delivered me a sex toy, judging by the shape of the package: The label did nothing to change my opinion:  What's all this poo poo?  Ah, finally we get to the meat of the matter... it's not meant for my butt, it's a flute!  Yes, TTFA had acquired a spare Spilåpipa, a traditional Swedish fipple flute, as a bonus in an instrument swap. He was kind enough to offer it to me provided I  about it.I've only had a few minutes to play with it. Tin whistle owners, you know how it's easy to overblow and jump an octave, or just misblow and completely lose the note? Well, it's even easier with the Spilåpipa  TTFA, do you have any videos or sheet music for this thing? Once I get the hang of it, I'll try to record some audio. Also, what's the patch?
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Mar 7, 2014 05:22
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That's loving awesome that you just gave the pBone to some kids on the street. I think it's cool that they were just sitting out there playing around with a baritone of all the drat things. I don't think I have the balls to go out in public and play like that. Were they improvising, or did you recognize the tunes? Hell, if anyone has busking experience, I'd love to read some stories! I'm having a lot of fun playing around with the Spilåpipa, thanks again! It's got a mellower sound than my Clarke tin whistle, and with 8 holes instead of 6, I get a wider range without having to overblow (which is actually pretty hard to do). I've mostly been messing around, stumbling onto nice-sounding little sequences, but I've also worked out what sounds like a passable "Amazing Grace". What is it about that song--is it just so easy to coax out of most instruments? Maybe the slow tempo makes it easier. By the way TTFA, this is a prod to link me some Spilåpipa music/learning resources if you know of any, I haven't had a lot of luck with google.
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Mar 27, 2014 18:01
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No Gravitas posted:Yeah, that will be fun. My first instrument was the clarinet. I like it a lot... You know how you'll be trying to work out some song on the tin whistle, but you either run out of range or it just doesn't have the right note available? Not a problem on the clarinet. I recently bought a secondhand clarinet for $70 at an antique store... You can find good deals as long as you can spot warning signs like missing pads, mold, loose pieces, etc. If you enjoy your new instrument and want to make the jump to clarinet, I recommend scouting second hand stores and craigslist. Bring a reed with and you can test them on the spot!
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Apr 6, 2014 17:01
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No Gravitas posted:My Clarineo arrived. Make sure your embouchure is firm enough. Seems like half the problems back in band class were embouchure related. Really matters for brass and double reed instruments but it's important for clarinets too
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Apr 15, 2014 03:54
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No Gravitas posted:It was as low as 48$ shipped at one point. bitcoin.txt edit: poo poo I've been reading too much GBS lately. Content-wise, are you using sheet music from the Internet with your clarineo? I'd like to find some good music for my clarinet but haven't seen a lot out there, I might have to (gasp) pay for sheet music.
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Apr 21, 2014 21:46
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I'm still waiting for my jouhikko 
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Jul 18, 2014 09:48
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My wife and I are building the Musicmakers kantele kit I got her for her birthday... It's shaping up nicely, can't wait til it's done. Maybe I'll post a video if it works out.
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Aug 2, 2014 08:02
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Bigos posted:Please do. I might be doing that soon. I want to see what they're like from a customer. Which rosette did you pick? I went with the snowflake design
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Aug 3, 2014 06:27
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Pham Nuwen posted:My wife and I are building the Musicmakers kantele kit I got her for her birthday... It's shaping up nicely, can't wait til it's done. Maybe I'll post a video if it works out. Update: we've glued everything together and are now sanding. Holy crap, be prepared for a lot of sanding. We don't have an electric sander, so we're doing it the old fashioned way with 60-grit glued to a block. They give so much extra wood because it makes it easier to get everything joined up properly and then sanded down to join up smoothly. It's just that you will spend hours sanding it by hand. I'm stopping at Lowes on the way home to see how much a little handheld electric sander costs. I plan to apply a few coats of boiled linseed oil, then a few thin coats of polyurethane to seal it. I really like how the BLO turned out with my Mosin Nagant stock, so I'm hoping it'll give the same nice look on the kantele.
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Aug 5, 2014 00:05
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:
I've been in contact with Nogy, it sounds like he just got behind on things after a really bad season. I'm checking my progress page all the time, he said there was only one instrument in the queue in front of me. I had thought about just taking my knife and trying to shave off bits of it, never thought about a little plane like that. That would have been perfect. I ended up buying a drill attachment that gives a cylindrical grinding surface, it was only  and it ended up doing the job. The kantele is now sanded to our satisfaction, so we started the finish last night. I applied two coats of boiled linseed oil, then a very light coat of polyurethane before going to bed. This morning I tossed on another thin coat of polyurethane and will probably put on one final layer tonight. The combination of the BLO darkening the wood and enhancing the grain with the polyurethane adding some shine is looking really fantastic, I just wish I had taken a "before" shot.
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Aug 7, 2014 20:35
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:This one is for your wife? 10-string? Should be awesome. Does she play music already? Are you getting any 10-string book for her to learn some basics, or just going with intuitive playing? My understanding is there aren't a ton of 10-string books (or many kantele books in general), but in Finnish there's Kymmenkielisen Kanteleen Opas (and apparently with the diagrams and music language skills not really an issue), and Lani Thompson has several books for 5/10 string kantele: http://www.kantelemusic.com/product.html Yep, 10 string. The finish turned out really nice, I'm extremely happy with the color and texture. We strung it last night, and as usual I managed to stab myself in the fingertip with a string. The worst part was getting the strings spaced properly on the tailpiece, since they just kind of slide around until you get it tight. Oh, and the lack of a nut on the other end meant that I had to wind carefully or the wire would end up too high/too low. You really start to appreciate the additional development that's gone into a guitar... Anyway once we got it tuned up, it made a pretty great sound. Then it went out of tune, because it has 10 brand new strings on it. I'll tune it up again tonight, hopefully the strings have settled/stretched by now. I'll check out those books, but tonight we'll probably just be looking at some basic "how to play" PDFs and doing some intuitive playing. She can play guitar ok, although she's rusty, so hopefully strumming and picking should come easily.
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Aug 8, 2014 17:50
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Here's a loving kantele post! We got it together and tuned after breaking only one string. It sounds really nice even to just sort of aimlessly pluck strings, which is mostly what we've done so far (I plan to play with chords later). I'm especially pleased with how the finish came out. I applied two coats of boiled linseed oil, then some polyurethane. I honestly think it would have been best with just the BLO, but by god I bought that polyurethane and I was going to use it! Boiled linseed oil kicks rear end, use it on everything. I'll see about recording some noises later.   Edit: Here, put some loving kantele noise into your ears! https://soundcloud.com/phamnuwen/kantele-sample Pham Nuwen fucked around with this message at 22:52 on Aug 16, 2014 |
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Aug 16, 2014 22:06
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Nice work on your kit build! Sound samples pretty cool though, though sounds like your tuning is slipping as it settles in. If you have a decent $5 tuning app for your smartphone, kantele is an ideal instrument to start learning about unEqual temperaments. Since each note on the kantele is individually tuned, you can look at whatever tune/set you're about to play and build your temperament around your keynote. As an easy starter, if you have something like ClearTune, just go futz with the settings and make the keynote of your song the keynote on the app, and then chose "Just Intonation" or "Pythagorean" and note how much clearer your harmonies are within the tune. If this is just too technical, let me know and I'll see if I can dig up an article with a straightforward explanation. Ah yes, let's talk about tuning. I have a tuning app on my phone. Tuning the kantele seems to be largely a matter of luck, because the tuning pins have a lot of static friction. If the string is flat, I use the tuning tool and by the time I get the pin moving, it's gone pretty sharp. Tune it back down and it goes flat again. At least the strings don't seem to be stretching any more. I basically tuned the fucker so that all the wires were on the sharp side rather than the flat, figuring that being slightly sharp sounds better than being slightly flat. Would I regret putting a drop of 3-in-1 oil at the base of each tuning pin?
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Aug 20, 2014 18:41
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slap me silly posted:Yes. I don't know what the solution is but that ain't it. These fuckers are sticky! Oh well.
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Aug 20, 2014 18:55
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Hedningen posted:So it looks like ArCane has closed its Etsy shop. Already tried contacting Nathan several times through every channel I could - no responses, and stuff keeps going up on the eBay store, so unless it's an automatic listing of surplus stuff, I've resigned myself to never seeing my talharpa. Bit of a shame - I'm guessing health issues are the root cause, but I'm super-frustrated that I can't even get any acknowledgment out of him for it. Did you get a refund?
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Aug 21, 2014 15:54
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Jouhikko update: shaping is done, color gets applied next. I picked the location for the output jack (we're putting piezo pickups in it) last night. Hopefully pictures soon.
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Sep 10, 2014 16:43
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Pham Nuwen posted:Jouhikko update: shaping is done, color gets applied next. I picked the location for the output jack (we're putting piezo pickups in it) last night. Hopefully pictures soon. It has been colored and is currently a rather intense-looking red which should darken and mellow significantly once the oil finish is applied. Should take about a week for all the layers of oil to be applied, then I think it's mostly a matter of getting it strung and shipped out!
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Sep 15, 2014 21:08
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The finish is partly done and the soundhole has been installed: It's looking fantastic. The tuning pegs and the tailpiece will be maple dyed a medium yellow/gold and oiled, bridge will be natural maple. Final bit will be brass tacks down the sides of the soundboard.
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Sep 17, 2014 21:12
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:So exciting! What kind of musical styling are you fixing to interpret on this? Going to record us some YouTube once you get beyond the "screeching cat" phase common to all learners of bowed instruments? Well I've been listening to Pekko Käppi's album "Rammat jumalat" pretty much constantly all week, my dick is hard for jouhikko music  . I'm thinking once I can get some actual notes out of the thing, I'll try watching Pekko and other good players doing solos on Youtube and attempt to replicate some of their stuff. Beyond that, improvising little melodies to start with and trying to squash childrens' songs into the jouhikko's range.
Pham Nuwen fucked around with this message at 21:05 on Sep 18, 2014 |
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Sep 18, 2014 21:03
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