Other Instrument Manufacturers and Makers

Other instruments eh? - well theres a huge undertaking on its own. What I hope to do is put together a list of lesser known but still valid folkie type instruments that have found their way in to our ever widening musical genre. Being a strings player myself, many of these may be biased towards that idiom - but only because of my lack of knowledge. There are probably loads of you out there playing scroggum pumps or weazel-horns or other mythical beasts - if so LET ME KNOW ! (by the way, there are no such instruments as scroggum pumps or weazel-horns - unless you know different !

Here are a few interesting items I have found, played or discovered myself.

www.smokeymountaindulcimer.com - Owned a run by Blaine Horlocker, the Smokey Mountain Dulcimer Works makes a variety of top-class dulcimers. He was taught by his grandfather up in the smokey mountains how to make musical instruments. He makes a fine array of other instruments as well, such as the ever popular strum stick

The Strum Stick - These instruments play like a Mountain Dulcimer. They use numbers to play songs. You only put your finger on the bottom string and strum all 3, you will have a beautiful sound, none like you ever heard.

These instruments have been found in the Smokey Mountains for a lot of years. No body knows exactly where or how they became but our mountain folks are very inventive people and we can only guess.

 

 

This instrument is known as a DIDDLEBOW and comes from the mountain folk. We don't know how far back. The Mountain folks are very inventive and come up with so many instruments which we are still finding.

This one is a one string steel guitar. It is 30 inches long by1 1/2 wide, two feet on it so it can set on the a table. It has one geared guitar tuner on one end and a single string is ran across the body through a tin can which is the sound resonator.

You can tune to any pitch. you use a metal or glass slide just like a steel or dobro guitar uses. You run the slide up the string and get a beautiful slidding sound used a lot in playing the Blues music and Country music. As you move the slide up the string, you will go through all notes in a chromatic scale just like a guitar scale.

 

Smokey Mountain Dulcimer Works
Florida, USA

Phone: 239-910-5216
blaine_horlocker@yahoo.com

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www.sounding-bowls.com

 

 

Melody Bowls

Such as this are just one type of Sounding Bowl.

Unique instruments unseen in world history yet possessing a wonderful resonance and long sustain. The notes from these instruments are clear and bright, larger instruments produce a good volume with rich overtones subtly woven from the open stringing. The inner curve of the bowl produces a focussed sound that can be miked up or simply projected onto an audience.

Apart from their performance value as used by both poets and singers these instruments also have a powerful and strange tendency to open peoples hearts. For this reason music therapists and healers also use Sounding Bowls of various designs. As a performer you may experience a remarkable audience response using a Sounding Bowl

Email their maker for more pictures and full information

or visit his slightly outdated website.

Tobias@SoundingBowls.com

www.SoundingBowls.com

Tobias Kaye Sounding Bowls
The Workshop,
11 Lower Dean,
BUCKFASTLEIGH,
Devon,
TQ11 0LS, England.

Phone: +44 (0) 1364 64 28 37
email: Tobias@SoundingBowls.com

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE INFO

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www.telynau-greville-harps.co.uk

 

 

Telynau Greville Harps manufacture quality 22 string lap harps in Walnut or Maple with spruce soundboards and finished with Danish Oil.  The back of the harp is shaped and designed to sit comfortably on your lap.

The harps are tuned in the key of  'C' with brass semi tone levers on the C and F strings, enabling easy changes to the keys of G, D and relative minors. The harps are strung with high quality nylon strings ranging from .60 (bottom E) through to .25 (top E) covering three octaves.

Complete with tuning key and soft case.

Greville Hunt
The Old Baptist Church,
6b Castle Street,
Caerleon,
Casnewydd (Newport).
NP18 1BR

Phone ++44 (0) 1633 420404
Email greville@grevillehunt.com