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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
 Posted - 07/02/2008 : 5:02:04 PM
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I've been wondering what the Hawaiians did in the olden days when they needed strings for the instruments left behind by the paniolo or the Pordagee? If they broke a string, how would they know what gauge to put? How did they know how to tune them? What were the strings made of? They did not have an Elderly Instruments or Musicians Friend back in the day.
Does anyone know of any tomes on the subject I could read? I would be most interested in the history of those instruments being introduced to Hawai`i.
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Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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Retro
Ahonui
USA
2368 Posts |
Posted - 07/03/2008 : 06:26:34 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by wcerto
I've been wondering what the Hawaiians did in the olden days when they needed strings for the instruments left behind by the paniolo or the Pordagee?
My guess (emphasis on guess) is that they might have used animal sinew or gut, just as musicians around the world did at that point in time. "Frets" magazine ran a nice piece on stringmaking, back in the late '70s; not specifically on Hawaiian - more general than that, but a fascinating story.
I found it online at the author's own website:
http://www.cumpiano.com/Home/Articles/Articles/stringmaking.htm
William Cumpiano has written a lot of pieces that explain the technical aspects of guitars in understandable terminology, and he has posted many of them there. |
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 07/03/2008 : 10:16:34 AM
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I was told that, a few hundred years ago, the Italians who specialized in making instrument strings from sheep guts invented the term "cat gut" strings because to discourage competition, knowing that killing a cat for its intestines would be an anathema to most Italian people.
Jesse Tinsley |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 07/03/2008 : 2:32:16 PM
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Speaking of cat gut strings.......
Paul and `Oni`oni are making music on da banjo `ukulele.
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Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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rendesvous1840
Ha`aha`a
USA
1055 Posts |
Posted - 07/04/2008 : 7:53:39 PM
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http://professorstring.com/cat_gut.htm
Check this link for the history of the Cat Gut misnomer. Oni-Oni accepted this explanation, and we're cool again.
Paul |
"A master banjo player isn't the person who can pick the most notes.It's the person who can touch the most hearts." Patrick Costello |
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