Hey Robin, I wish you could have experienced Almeda live. You would have loved it. Getting to know her just a little bit was a wonderful and expanding experience for an upper middle class kid from the big city.
Lisa,
Almeda was a total hoot as a person. A great sense of humour. You would have really enjoyed spending time with her and of course her singing was wonderful. She always held the end of a handkerchef in her hand and waved it back and forth as she sang. It all transported you to another place. I pictured scenes described by Sharpe and Karples while she sang. It was a wonderful experience.
The rule for air drying green wood is one year per inch of thickness. Seal the end grain so it won't lose moisture too quickly or the peice will crack of check. I just paint the ends with whatever latex house paint I have laying around. Elmer's Glue works just fine as well. I wouldn't put the wood in a room with wood heat. There is no substitute for patience when it comes to air drying. In the old days, a father would cut the wood his son would use.
You can get EVO and stainless steel fret wire from Luthiers Mercantile. I have EVO on my personal instruments. On a dulcimer made in 2009, it shows virtually no fret wear. I play everyday and when I go to fiddler's conventions I play for about ten hours a day. German silver frets are relatively soft and the material is easy to work with. EVO is quite a bit harder and stiffer and is more difficult to make behave. Stainless is even more so. It's the guys who play heavy metal who first instigated stainless steel as all that tapping and string bending was very hard on softer materials. I have found no tonal difference among the various materials. They all do a good job when properly installed. Changing the frets on aMcSpadden would be no more difficult than on any other dulcimer. If you have more questions about any of this, feel free to e-mail me.
I had the great pleasure of spending a little time with Almeda Riddle during a period betweeen 1964 and 1974. She was so sharp and had a great wit. I loved her singing and her memory was nothing short of phenominal. I still miss her.
Hi Lisa,
Sounds like you are really making a lot of progress on your lyra. The tuning makes a lot of sense. I think you are doing absolutely right thing using the old style bow. You might want to check out some videos of gadulka players. Someone just posted a video like that on my Facebook page. Check out the bowing and the holding position. Very distinctive. This type of bow is not difficult to make which means you could make yourself one that is perfect for you. Looing forward to hearing what you're doing.
Here's what I do to get my classes to relax. We start out with just sitting there with your arms and hands complely relaxed with your wrists resting on your legs. Then, LIGHTLY grip the bow, jsut enough so you can lift it up. Put the bow on the string and just bow the open string, concentrating on keeping your shoulders relaxed, your posture good, breathing deeply . Draw the bow over the string and see if you can get a steady tone. On left hand just bow the open string and concentrate on staying relaxed, gripping the bow very lightly and moving the bow at a steady pace.
Next, keep your elbows realxed and close to your body. Now see how far you can move the bow back and forth and not move your arm at all, kind of like Surrty County fiddlers. This is all wrist movement. If you have to, have someone hold your arm so it can't move and see how much movement you can do with just the wrist. Watch that your shoulders don't stiffen up. Try this and see if it helps. If not, let me know and we can try some other things.
Hi Lisa,
Very good sound. You are moving the bow well and your rhythm is good. If I could make a suggestion to you, try and use less arm and more wrist. Hold the bow more lightly. Check out some of the videos at the site of the Viola Da Gamba Society of America and see how much wrist is used. When I do bowed dulicmer classes I am always going around getting people to relax the upper arm so that everythinng flows more. It takes a while to get the knack of loose wrist bowing but I think when you get there your playing will really take off. I look forward to hearing you and Brian doing duets this way. I know it will be good.
Ken
Congratulations, Lisa!! Getting anew member of the family is always exciting. I'm sure you've checked out some videos of Cretan lyra players. They are quite something to emulate. Let us know how you progress with the new baby!
Ken
Hi Lisa,
That bow looks a lot nicer than they usually do. I could be an old nyckelharpa bow, judging from the particular shape. Most Mediterranean bows I've seen do something very different for the tip. That angled portion you often see in nuyckelharpa bows. You can set it up like a fiddle but lyras usually use a different sort of tuning with a middle string being the sort of "bounce" string". I think if you do a bit of Googling you'll find a number of different approaches that might make more sense to you than the normal fiddle tuning. Let me know if I can help.
Ken
HI Lisa, You can clean off the surfaces by wetting them with warm water and gently scraping off the goo. It may take several times doing this to get the surfaces really clean. Then very lightly sand with fresh 220 paper staying away from the edges.
Practice with the glue first. Hide glue does not give you much open time so you have to be ready and have planned out how you are going to clamp it up. Remember that wet glue is alubricant and the pieces will want to slide on you. Many folks take a small brad or two and clip the point end to make some little pointy bits that will grab while the glue is drying. You can plan out what you are going to do. Getting the edges to line up is the hardest part. Try dry clamping several times until you have it figured out. If it doesn't work out like you would like, you can laways get it apart and do it again till you're happy with it. That's the great thing about hide glue. Always mix it fresh. It doesn't keep well. Good Luck and let us know how it works out!
Hey Lisa,
After you get it up and running you'll have to find a laouto player to back you up. It's akiller combination.
Hi Lisa, Nice instrument. It is not a gadulka. It is too small and no sympathetic strings. It is a lyra which you find in Macedonia, Crete, and also in other parts of the Balkans. I have seen four string lyras but they are not as common as the three stringers. Be careful that you don't lose the soundpost which is that little stick that is coming through the soundhole and connects to the foot of the brdige. I think you have a winner here. It looks to be very well made.
While the gadulka does not have a fingerboard, the lyra often does. I think when you start researching it, you will find quite a bit of info about the instruemnt and certainly a lot of Youtube examples. If you need more info, let me know and I'll try to help.
