… Continued from pt. 3
The Tarhu
One of the most significant new developments in the technology behind spike fiddle instruments can be found in the form of the circular bodied instruments known as Tarhu, as they are made by an Australian luthier known as Peter Biffin. With these instruments there is no sound board, at least [...]

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• Fiddling Instruments: A Primer pt 5 ... Continued from pt. 4 The Pontic Lira The Pontic lira is a lira that is slim and bottle shaped and that has a finger board upon which three steel strings can be stopped. All three of the steel strings are tuned into fourths. This instrument features a nut like......
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• Introduction to Stringed Instruments, pt 2 In the last post in this series we started talking about stringed instruments and the different varieties. We listed plucked stringed instruments, and will now talk about instruments that are played by bowing, striking and other methods. Bowing is a method that is used with some string instruments, including the......

Continue reading → Fiddling Instruments: A Primer pt 4

… Continued from pt. 1
The Zhuihu, also known as the Zhuiqin is an instrument that is descended from a Chinese lute known as the Sanxian, and the strings of this instrument are stopped by pressing them down on a flat fingerboard on its neck. The Kokyu is a four stringed version from Japan that is [...]

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• A Little Background on Harps The harp is a simple stringed instrument that is comprised of a plane of strings that is positioned perpendicular in relation to the instrument's sound board. All harps have similar elements, like the neck, the strings and the resonator. Some harps, frame harps as they are referred to, also have......
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Continue reading → Fiddling Instruments: A Primer pt 2

Generically, fiddles are bowed lutes. The fiddle term denotes the existence of a stringed instrument that has a neck that bears strings sounded through the use of friction rather than the use of striking or plucking as with other musical instruments.
Playing the Fiddle
In nearly all fiddle instruments around the world, the friction that creates the [...]

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• Introduction to the Bass Instrument The bass is also known as the double bass or the doghouse, and it is both the largest as well as the lowest pitch instrument in the violin family. Just like the violin, the double bass instrument evolved from the viol in Europe. Fine bass models are made out of......
• Introduction to Stringed Instruments, pt 2 In the last post in this series we started talking about stringed instruments and the different varieties. We listed plucked stringed instruments, and will now talk about instruments that are played by bowing, striking and other methods. Bowing is a method that is used with some string instruments, including the......
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• Brief History of the Mandolin A mandolin is a musical instrument that belongs to the lute family meaning that it can either be plucked or strummed. It is a direct descendant of a instrument called the Mandore, which is a soprano member of the same family. The mandolin instrument has a body that possesses a......

Continue reading → Fiddling Instruments: A Primer