>>>Oswald himself specialised in guittar (English guittar) which has a >>> sound like a very quiet harp or lyre. It's also a very easy instrument >>> to write music with, as it transposes and the tuning forms two major >>> chords (CEGceg, GBDgbd or AC#Eac#e normally).
Are there any pictures of these instruments online? I'm going to have a load of questions about these once I see pictures of them :-) > But Chris Egerton, a luthier in London, has just made me an entire set > of bone string pins and it's sounding very good as a result! > > David Wow, how well do those bone pegs work? Are they subject to the same problems that the wooden pegs on fiddles are? Are they just the traditional material for pegs of that time period, and not necessarily really use to tune with? Speaking of tuning pegs. I went over to World of Strings this weekend and traded him my least favorite fiddle for one that has a much gutsier sound. I had to play several dozen axes to find this new one. Half of them were out-of-tune and had either slippery or super-tight pegs. Plus some of them had some weird wonky-sounding super stretchy gut strings and those high round bridges that feel fine above 3rd position, but feel like holding down a suspension bridge down at the nut. That type of setup is probably great for Mendelssohn's violin concerto, but not the thing for Miss Lyall's strathspey :-) All those poorly adjusted wooden pegs had me spending as much time tuning as I did playing. It almost made me wish they all had modern metal tuning pegs, or at least those metal fine tuners on the bottom. It was worth it though, after I found "the one", I had him shape the bridge just right and put on a set of Helicores, now it sings and plays really easily. I took it over to a friend's house on Sunday evening and played a bunch of tunes in the kitchen for hours. They liked the tone and openess of it, I even brought over my favorite fiddle as a point-of-reference. It especially sounds good with a 12-string guitar chording. I think I got a good deal, even though the new fiddle cost less originally then the one I traded him, I threw in a bunch of needed guitar stuff and it ended up being an even trade. -- Toby Rider ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) "He either fears his fate too much, Or his deserts are small, That puts it not unto the touch To win or lose it all." - James Graham, Marquis of Montrose Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
