Posted on August 11, 2021May 19, 2025 by Dale Phillips The Sami-Sen The Sami-Sen by Nicholas Von Robison Originally published in American Lutherie #12, 1987 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 The Sami-Sen (pronounced and sometimes spelled “shamisen”) is one of the trinity of Japan’s important musical instruments, the koto and shakuhachi* being the other two. The equivalent of the Chinese san hsien, this three-stringed lute was originally a solo instrument, played by a wife for her husband, or a lone musician for his or her own enjoyment (and Buddha’s too!). Not until the Edo period (early 17th to mid-19th centuries) was the sami-sen used in <em>gagaku</em> (orchestral) and chamber ensembles. In recent years there has been a revival in the ancient solo literature, many of the solo pieces being conceived of as an aid to meditation. Poetic and descriptive song titles that reflect tone-painting are not uncommon. The drawing was done from an instrument whose equivalent is probably the Volkswagon or the Sears Silvertone. Even though this bottom-of-the-line instrument shows some crudeness (the inside arch to the soundbox sides appears to have been hacked out with an adz), it is still remarkable. The neck joints fit perfectly, and the soundbox wood is a fine-figured, mahogany-like hardwood that is very attractive. Mrs. Richard Ota, a sami-sen teacher and performer, obtained for me strings, bridge, and pegs, and she owns an instrument of similar caliber to mine, plus a really nice instrument. Lacking a fretboard, once the performer’s fingers have put a hollow in the neck from the most used fretting positions after a few years, the neck is useless. For that reason, the serious sami-sen player owns a cheap instrument for practice and a better one reserved for performing. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on August 11, 2021May 30, 2025 by Dale Phillips The Acoustical Characteristics of the Concert Cimbalom The Acoustical Characteristics of the Concert Cimbalom by Janos Pap Originally published in American Lutherie #61, 2000 We may be surprised that the sound of the concert cimbalom, or Hungarian hammered dulcimer, is occasionally similar to that of the piano. But we can be sure that it is not a piano, only related to it. The cimbalom produces a little more nasal sound, with a rougher timbre. The acoustical differences derive from the construction of the instrument and the manner of playing. I have devoted much time to making acoustical measurements on concert cimbaloms at the Acoustic Research Laboratory of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in an anechoic chamber, and on a cimbalom model at the Institute of Musicology at Cologne University, hoping to satisfy my curiosity about the causes and effects of the cimbalom’s sound. In instruments of the hammered dulcimer family, the form is determined by the mode of playing. The player strikes the strings with two hammers. The strings must be divided to give a large range of notes, and the struck parts of the strings must be raised for playability. The string-dividing determines the damping features, and thus the timbre and the decay. The raising of the strings results in high downward force on the bridge, which determines the sound indirectly, by the mode of energy transport and radiation. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on August 11, 2021May 19, 2025 by Dale Phillips Small Bow for Psalteries and Dulcimers Small Bow for Psalteries and Dulcimers by Tony Pizzo Originally published as Guild of American Luthiers Data Sheet #38, 1976 This data sheet provides plans for a small, simple bow (especially well-suited for bowed psalteries) which I am still in the process of developing. There is no need for frogs and threaded shafting, etc. as the bow hair is held tightly by means of tension. Until information on simple bow making becoms more accessible, bows such as this serve quite well. (The shape is adapted from an illustration in Lynn Elder’s “How to Play the Bowed Psaltery”, and as I developed my bow through a process of trial and error from that initial point, I don’t know how far the similarity carries from there. At any rate thanks to Mr. Elder.) Materials: bow — mahogany (or other hardwood 13" × 1 1/4" × 5/8" (or 1/2")shims — rosewood inlay strip 1" × 1/8"× 1/28"doweling — 1" lengths of 1/2" and 3/8" diameter dowelsbow hair — approx. 13" length (suggestion..“Chieftain” Nylon Bow Hair available from International Violin Co./1421 Clarkview Road, Suite 118/Baltimore, MD 21209. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on August 11, 2021May 20, 2025 by Dale Phillips The Cimbalom The Cimbalom by Alexander I. Eppler Originally published in American Lutherie #5, 1986 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000 The cimbalom is by far the most sophisticated and highly-developed instrument of the hammered dulcimer world. It enjoys the status not only from the point of view of musical performance, standards, and practice, but also from that of actual construction and design. The appearance of the instrument is rather grand. Its beautiful carved case stands on four turned legs with a graceful, lyre-shaped pedal. Other than its elegant and compact tuning system (see illustration), what sets the cimbalom apart from all other dulcimers is that it is fitted with a full set of dampers and pedal. The legs and pedal are removable for easy transport, and the instrument also has a lockable cover to protect the strings and dampers when the instrument is not in use. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on June 23, 2021May 28, 2025 by Dale Phillips A Contrabass for the Pugo Brothers Cuenca. They Became Self-Made Luthiers in their El Cebollar Neighborhood. They Make String Instruments. A Contrabass for the Pugo Brothers These Artisans had to Desecrate Several Secrets Before Making Violincellos, Contrabasses, Violins, and Guitars. But they did it. by Juan Carlos Morales translated by John L. Walker Originally published in American Lutherie #73, 2003 When Angel Pugo was a young boy he developed a phobia that never went away: fear of school. His teachers’ intolerance, according to him, was the reason that caused him to not sit near the blackboard anymore. “Those that went around barefooted were never well considered,” says Angel, now a violin maker. His father, Miguel, had heaped rondadores, flautas de pan, pingullos, and ocarinas1 upon his sons while he watched the corn grow on the hillside. After one of his first “traumas,” as Angel calls them, he also hung up his pingullo and headed towards the Conservatory of Cuenca. “They told me that all they did in the conservatory was repeat do, re, and mi, and that it was very boring. But solfège delighted me.” The musical center’s director looked at him carefully and said, “You are worth it.” This same director, after sitting him in front of a piano, would choose Angel Pugo as a beneficiary of one of the thirty pianos provided by the government of Jaime Roldós Aguilera.2 Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page. If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
