'Other' acoustic instruments

TimmyO · November 2017

..as in "other than acoustic guitars"

I've been developing a real hankering for getting to know some of the other folkier instruments.

I've decided that over the next 12 months I want to have got my mitts on at least:
- a Mandolin
- a Banjo
- a Resonator

other inklings include some kind of 3-string didley bow/cigar box kind of thing and a lap/weisenborn kind of thing.

I'm sure there are folk here who dabble in this darker side?

thermionic · November 2017

I can knock out a few chords on a charango.

TimmyO · November 2017

I had too google that!

sweet sound

VimFuego · November 2017

currently fiddle and mandolin.

BigLicks67 · November 2017

Try a Double Bass.

VimFuego · November 2017

BigLicks67 said:

Try a Double Bass.

I'd love to, but they're a bugger to get under the chin.

Guitar_Slinger · November 2017

Brucie was a virtuoso!

mgaw · November 2017

banjo and mandolin

Basher · November 2017

Irish Bouzouki?
Somewhere twixt an octave mandolin and a guitar. Generally used for drones, chordal strums and counter melody in trad music. Most popular tuning seems to be GDAD and the bass strings can be either unison or octave pairs. ADAD is a bit "dronier" while GDAE (mandolin/fiddle tuning 1 octave down) leans more towards tune playing (although the scale length can make this a challenge, unless you capo into friendlier keys).

Chris_J · November 2017

earwighoney · November 2017

I don't play one, it terrifies me but I consider the Oud to be the king of guitar related acoustic instruments.

Even if one doesn't consider it to be the king, it's the father for sure.

Here's a video of a legend of the instrument

ToneControl · November 2017

first choices:
Tenor guitar
Wooden bodied resonator or preferably a Weissenborn

Also I bought a mando-strat

JerkMoans · November 2017

I’ve got a Sitar. Purchased in India, no less.

Bugger to tune, and the only thing I can play on it is the James Bond theme.

my daughter and I are seriously considering re-tuning the main strings (let’s forget resonators for now) to Guitar pitch and let rip.

AliGorie · November 2017

Image: http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4501/38066346722_6ef70f6021_b.jpg

A uilleann chanter <> 100 yr old 4 keys making it fully chromatic, wonderful sound and feel, 's why I bought it. Must get of my a*s and get a new bag made for it - got the bellow. Then a few months getting back to where I was before the bag gave out.and take up from there 'learning'.
Because these earlier ones are individually made there was no 'standard' dimensions - so you really have to have the reed made for each chanter - something I intend to grt into - given time and health.

TimmyO · November 2017

Tune it in fifths for some power chord action!

TimmyO · November 2017

AliGorie said:

A uilleann chanter <> 100 yr old 4 keys making it fully chromatic, wonderful sound and feel, 's why I bought it. Must get of my a*s and get a new bag made for it - got the bellow. Then a few months getting back to where I was and take it up from there.
Because these earlier ones are individualy made there was no 'standard' dimensions - so you really have to have the reed made for each chanter - somthing I intend to grt into - given time and health.

Pardon my ignorance - this is the blowy bit from a bagpipe?

TimmyO · November 2017

ToneControl said:

first choices:
Tenor guitar
Wooden bodied resonator or preferably a Weissenborn

Also I bought a mando-strat

There's a great local band here where the front fella plays a (copy of a) Weissenborn on a bunch of their songs - sounds great

AliGorie · November 2017

It's a stick wi nine holes for fingering tunes on - basically, but the Irish did only what they can do - fashioned the reed to cover two octaves and added keys to cover the half notes.
Oh and they added three 'tenor' drones with more keys so you can accompany ur'self like this -
oops - that did'nt post the video - try again -

http://https//youtu.be/OAtEnKBvmbM

Balrog68 · November 2017

Tenor guitar, Mandolin and Octave Mandolin

stimpsonslostson · November 2017

I play mandolin, CBG and lap steel as well as "normal" guitar.
I had a banjo, but in 6months of concerted effort I only achieved being bad rather than awful. i was learning Scruggs style picking and it was SO hard! Sounded great in the few moments I got it together, but they were too few.
its surprisingly loud too!

Resonators are great but also VERY loud by design- I loved the tone, but didn't love my children being woken whenever I got carried away and started digging in.
Instead I bought a lap steel, which is great fun- you needn't spend a fortune on one. The tone is in the heavy strings and heavy bar. So long as the instrument can take the tension and the pickup is ok it's all good.

Its worth building a three string cigar box (CBG) if you want to dabble in fun instruments but don't want to shell out: I built mine for £20 (& I had money left over). I've got a piezo in it and have even gigged it once or twice. I couldn't be bothered with frets, so I play it slide & have it tuned DGd. Simple fun.

Mandolin is huge fun, if a very cramped space to work in. I mainly play it at folk jam sessions where we have too many guitarists & not enough other instruments. A mandolin is an excellent travelling instrument too- even with two small children filling the car with their accoutrements I can sneak the mandolin and its hardcase in there.
Watch Chris Thile & be amazed.

Sporky · November 2017

I'd say cello, but mine's electric.

Basher · November 2017

stimpsonslostson said:
Watch Chris Thile & be amazed.

One of my favourite gigs was just Chris doing a solo set - mandolin and vocals - in a club. One of the greatest musicians it's ever been my privilege to watch live. He's stunning technically but immensely musical too.

Lewy · November 2017

TimmyO said:

..as in "other than acoustic guitars"

I've been developing a real hankering for getting to know some of the other folkier instruments.

I've decided that over the next 12 months I want to have got my mitts on at least:
- a Mandolin
- a Banjo
- a Resonator

other inklings include some kind of 3-string didley bow/cigar box kind of thing and a lap/weisenborn kind of thing.

I'm sure there are folk here who dabble in this darker side?

I've had a crack at all of them with varying levels of commitment.

I've had multiple attempts at mando but have always given up in the end because it would appear that I am the world's greatest mandolin tone snob and only the sound of a high end mando in the hands of a master is pleasing to mine ear and everything else is like someone pouring ammonia mixed with pins directly into my brain.

Banjo - I got the basics of clawhammer/frailing/old time banjo together, and still have a fairly decent open back banjo knocking around. Having a good grounding in open G tuning made that come along quite quickly and being really into old rural blues I felt it gave me a more fundamental understanding of the mutation of blues from banjo to guitar music. Sadly the curse of my paper thin nails meant that I struggled to get a good strong tone for long before my nail just wore away to nothing. Never tried Scruggs style bluegrass banjo. During a CW Stoneking phase I also got a short scale 4 string tenor banjo, which I tuned to "chicago" tuning, which is basically the top four strings of standard guitar. That was fun.

Reso - extensive explorations in matters resophonic.

CBG - I have a 3 string one which is currently sitting next to a 1920s one string PhonoFiddle as part of a little curio arrangement in my downstairs bog, which is about where it belongs.

Weisenborn - such a lovely sound, but the cheap ones don't achieve it. You're better off getting a decent standard acoustic (something like an all solid Recording King) set up as a lap style guitar a la Kelly Joe Phelps imo than spending the same money on one of the cheap Weiss's you see on ebay etc. It's really just a case of having a nice high bone nut fitted. You can get metal nut risers but they don't sound as good and are usually too high.

Don't over look the noble (but albeit horribly hipsterfied) ukulele. There is so much chord inversion vocab you can learn on uke that then translates straight back over onto guitar - you'll never struggle to find triads on the top strings ever again.

BigLicks67 · November 2017

You could try the bandurria or laud or whatever the instrument is that is played by Javier Mas in Leonard Cohen's band.

Whatever it is it sounds good.

fob · November 2017

Does it need to be a stringed instrument? If you like the folkier side of things you could pick up a penny whistle for very little money. I think an instrument from a different 'family' would provide a more interesting challenge and a simple one like the whistle would provide a satisfactory achievement curve.

VimFuego · November 2017

fob said:

Does it need to be a stringed instrument? If you like the folkier side of things you could pick up a penny whistle for very little money. I think an instrument from a different 'family' would provide a more interesting challenge and a simple one like the whistle would provide a satisfactory achievement curve.

that's an interesting comment. I recently picked up a melodeon (diatonic button accordion) and I really struggled with it. It was fine when I was using the box equivalent of TAB, however I struggle to make music on it (if that makes sense) even though it is, in theory, an easier instrument to play than, say, fiddle or guitar. I think years of playing stringed instruments have conditioned my brain, and I struggle if I step away from the safety of a fret/finger board.

Sassafras · November 2017

I've got loads of banjos, far more than the half dozen guitars I have.
They're the ideal compromise between percussion and stringed instruments.

Jalapeno · November 2017

Chris_J said:

I've a strong hankering for a Viellette, or something similar by Emerald guitars. In lieu of a 12 string.

Have a listen to what Kaki King does with the big brother of that ^^^^^

I will get a resonator again one day

TimmyO · November 2017

Talking of Resos, I see that Busker guitars has closed its doors :-(

Lewy · November 2017

TimmyO said:

Talking of Resos, I see that Busker guitars has closed its doors :-(

Messer guitars are still operating though and I have to say the product is a step up from what it was in the Messer/Busker days, especially the necks.

TimmyO · November 2017

ah - for some reason I'd assumed that Messer piggybacked on the Busker production so wold also have stopped. Good to know.

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