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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
 Posted - 09/18/2008 : 1:01:07 PM
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I couldn't wait until Sunday to post this. I am amazed. Totally amazed.
From the You Tube of dhavlena: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLhRtV1xKiM
Hi - Here's a short sampling of a few of the simple folk instruments whose
construction is detailed on my webpage at http://www.ehhs.cmich.edu/~dhavlena/
This video was made in my back yard, on the spur of the moment and is not intended
to be fancy music -- just to show some of the instruments, which include -- in order:
- 3 string cookie-tin banjo with weed- whip line strings. Tune is "the Cuckoo".
- "Tambiro" made from a new (never-been-filled) 20 Lb. propane tank.
- My "Fiddle-Gurdy" combination fiddle & Hurdy Gurdy. Much fun! I apologize for the squeak here and there -- I was impatient to get things on Youtube. Tune is an old French Canadian Voyageur's melody, "En Roullant Ma Boulle".
Inspiration from Yuichi Onoue's "Kaisatsuko".
- My 4-string, full sized wash-tub bass. Holds it's own nicely in a band situation.
- Simple Hardanger fiddle conversion. 4 strings playing & 4 strings sympathetic that run through a tunnel carved into the underside of the fingerboard. Tunes are "Road to Boston" (aka "Col. Greene's March") and "Over the Waterfall".
- Low D Tin-Whistle made from a shower-curtain rod for a few dollars. Tune is made up on the spot (& it sounds it!).
- Octave Mandolin (aka bozouki, cittern) converted from an old guitar. Tune is the
"Boys of Bluehill" hornpipe.
PS: I just put another short video on
YouTube of my PVC tubing instrument that
plays like a hang drum, at this web address:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5dD4K...
PS: Also see my propane-tank hank drum at:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bpMS15kJyO...
My webpage describing building these instruments is at this URL:
http://www.ehhs.cmich.edu/~dhavlena/
Thanks!
PLEASE NOTE: A real, Swiss-made hang drum is VERY difficult to obtain these days. A ray of hope is on the horizon however--
Pantheon Steel, a maker of beautiful steel drums ("steel pans") is researching and experimenting -- with the intention of producing hang drums (under a different name) for sale. Please contact them at pantheonsteel.com and encourage them!
They're looking for signs of interest at this time. Dennis
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Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 09/18/2008 : 1:02:27 PM
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| Jack - everyone tells me there is not a stringed instrument that Jack cannot play. What do you think of this guy's stuff? Could you play his gadgets? |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
Edited by - wcerto on 09/19/2008 11:24:12 AM |
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sm80808
Lokahi
347 Posts |
Posted - 09/18/2008 : 2:46:50 PM
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I could mess around with all his stuff for hours.. I especially liked the propane tank hank drum.
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Lawrence
Ha`aha`a
USA
1597 Posts |
Posted - 09/18/2008 : 3:02:06 PM
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This guy has a nice energy.
Another earlier guy who was a little bit more famous for making lots of radically different instruments was, of course, Harry Partch:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Partch
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Mahope Kākou...
...El Lorenzo de Ondas Sonoras |
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 09/18/2008 : 4:49:46 PM
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I ordered Dennis' expanded CD of plans and pictures and built two of his washtub basses. I'm starting to build more and do some experimenting. Some of his designs are extremely rudimentary (bagpipes made from boxed wine bladders) but the basses are very functional.
Jesse Tinsley |
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slipry1
Ha`aha`a
USA
1511 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2008 : 10:40:14 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by wcerto
Jsck - everyone tells me there is not a stringed instrument that Jack cannot play. What do you think of this guy's stuff? Could you play his gadgets?
Very interesting! The fiddle is the one stringed instrument that has thwarted me. I am left handed, and my bow hand is always about an eighth of a beat or so behind. I have made several valient attempts (attended Fiddle Tunes for about 19 years and took a couple of years worth of the Canote Brothers string band class). As far as the instruments go, the banjo and nickelharfe are cool, but the fiddle is strange - the extra 4 strungs may be resonants like on a hjardanger fiddle. I have fooled around with empty propane tanks of several sizes in my role as Depatrment of Water and Power at Sweet's Mill (usually with my consciousness altered on something or other). Seeing the flute remined me of Sam Hinton, who used to come to the San Diego Folk Festival with a cardboard box filled with PVC pipe - end-blown flutes, side-blown flutes, nose flutes, and one 6 foot long tume with one hole that he played lake an alpenhorn. Nice video. I could not understand what's going on with the electric guitar - it sounds like a Dobro. |
keaka |
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2168 Posts |
Posted - 09/28/2008 : 07:22:30 AM
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| I only get dial-up, but years ago a friend of mine made an Alphorn out of garden hose and played it with a trumpet mouthpiece. Sounded great. At PSGW last winter, Ben Bonham had a "rescued" guitar that he put a resonator in and an 8-string neck tuned to C13. Very cool, as Jack and Al will attest. |
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