Introducing my current obsession:
My fiddle.
My mountain fiddle/travel fiddle/pochette
This is a newly made fiddle. I've been lusting after a travel fiddle (I could conceivably take one to work and practice on my lunch break once I am good enough to go out into quasi-public) and I really liked the looks of Wiplstix travel fiddles, but the price is a bit high right now.
Evidently (I've been doing some research) back in the day these were fairly common. Fiddlers would travel from house to house to teach people the newest dances and such, and they frequently carried 'pocket fiddles' (hence the name pochette) with them. They aren't as loud as a regular fiddle, but they're great to have for portability's sake. (When I get really good enough, I could even bring it to Burlington to play while I'm sitting there waiting to sell something.) Anyway, since I love the idea of small playable instruments, I went in search of a nice fiddle like the old-style pochettes. Most of the ones I found were way too expensive. Blaine Horlocker of Smokey Mountain Dulcimer Works makes them, though, and that's where I got mine.
(They even had walkingstick fiddles back then! How cool is that?)
The tone of my fiddle is very mellow, a little nasaly, but not harsh at all. Definitely good for playing old-time music, which was my intention all along. It's very easy to hold and play (the bow didn't come with it; I actually have used both a regular 4/4 bow and this one, which is actually a bow from an old ukelin.) I'm sure the tone will even out as I play it, because it's new, after all. But it's really fun to play so far. Definitely a keeper.
My parlor guitar.
And here, last but not least, my parlor guitar. After doing some research, I've discovered that this is probably a Sears & Roebuck guitar from the early 20th century and it's not what the true collectors would call a great guitar. But it also has a nice tone, and it's really cute and I like it, so that's what counts. This is a keeper, too.
My fiddle.This is an ebay fiddle, one of two I've won. (I haven't received the other one yet.) I am very impressed with this one's tone. No scratchiness on the G string; plenty of sound. It doesn't have a label, so I don't really know how old it is, but it's obviously been played quite a bit. Compared to my original blue $20 fiddle, this one's voice runs circles around it. It's very smooth. This one's a keeper.
My mountain fiddle/travel fiddle/pochetteThis is a newly made fiddle. I've been lusting after a travel fiddle (I could conceivably take one to work and practice on my lunch break once I am good enough to go out into quasi-public) and I really liked the looks of Wiplstix travel fiddles, but the price is a bit high right now.
Evidently (I've been doing some research) back in the day these were fairly common. Fiddlers would travel from house to house to teach people the newest dances and such, and they frequently carried 'pocket fiddles' (hence the name pochette) with them. They aren't as loud as a regular fiddle, but they're great to have for portability's sake. (When I get really good enough, I could even bring it to Burlington to play while I'm sitting there waiting to sell something.) Anyway, since I love the idea of small playable instruments, I went in search of a nice fiddle like the old-style pochettes. Most of the ones I found were way too expensive. Blaine Horlocker of Smokey Mountain Dulcimer Works makes them, though, and that's where I got mine.
(They even had walkingstick fiddles back then! How cool is that?)
The tone of my fiddle is very mellow, a little nasaly, but not harsh at all. Definitely good for playing old-time music, which was my intention all along. It's very easy to hold and play (the bow didn't come with it; I actually have used both a regular 4/4 bow and this one, which is actually a bow from an old ukelin.) I'm sure the tone will even out as I play it, because it's new, after all. But it's really fun to play so far. Definitely a keeper.
My parlor guitar.And here, last but not least, my parlor guitar. After doing some research, I've discovered that this is probably a Sears & Roebuck guitar from the early 20th century and it's not what the true collectors would call a great guitar. But it also has a nice tone, and it's really cute and I like it, so that's what counts. This is a keeper, too.
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