Epinette des Vosges
August 10, 2022 8:13 AM Subscribe
This Epinette des Vosges has fallen into my lap. Help out a zither newbie ...
The wood is white oak, I think. It appears to be the same maker as this one, which says it was made in the late 19th century.
I need to get strings for it. It has 5 strings, two appear to be for melody and 3 for the drone. Would these be appropriate?
Also, what does one use for a pick and slide? A guitar pick? This video shows the guy using a modified clothes pin for the 'noter' (which guitar players would call the slide).
The wood is white oak, I think. It appears to be the same maker as this one, which says it was made in the late 19th century.
I need to get strings for it. It has 5 strings, two appear to be for melody and 3 for the drone. Would these be appropriate?
Also, what does one use for a pick and slide? A guitar pick? This video shows the guy using a modified clothes pin for the 'noter' (which guitar players would call the slide).
Here's a page for the guy playing in your video. He could probably help you.
posted by mareli at 2:42 PM on August 10, 2022
posted by mareli at 2:42 PM on August 10, 2022
Far Out. It's beautiful.
I'm presuming that it could be strung with Mountain Dulcimer strings, it's a very similar kind of instrument. But I would be a little bit concerned about tension, because later Dulcimers were designed with a solid neck to take some higher stress. So on the safe side, you would not wynd it up to too high of a pitch. (Also note, you could kinda substitute Banjo string sets for Dulcimer strings, which are in a similar gauge, except the 2 high strings go together.)
Wikipedia article shows a great deal of variations in tuning and playing style...
What I did with the dulcimer was experiment with different tunings and playing styles. I ended up mostly finger fretting and flat-pick picking on simple open chord tunings, but anything is possible. The traditional noter is a short hardwood dowel, but I sometimes used a hard plastic lighter.
posted by ovvl at 4:15 PM on August 11, 2022
I'm presuming that it could be strung with Mountain Dulcimer strings, it's a very similar kind of instrument. But I would be a little bit concerned about tension, because later Dulcimers were designed with a solid neck to take some higher stress. So on the safe side, you would not wynd it up to too high of a pitch. (Also note, you could kinda substitute Banjo string sets for Dulcimer strings, which are in a similar gauge, except the 2 high strings go together.)
Wikipedia article shows a great deal of variations in tuning and playing style...
What I did with the dulcimer was experiment with different tunings and playing styles. I ended up mostly finger fretting and flat-pick picking on simple open chord tunings, but anything is possible. The traditional noter is a short hardwood dowel, but I sometimes used a hard plastic lighter.
posted by ovvl at 4:15 PM on August 11, 2022
« Older How to approach potential land sale? | My best friend stalked his roommate not sure if I... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by umbú at 1:18 PM on August 10, 2022 [1 favorite]