It saddens me that this obvious talent is wasted on such godawful gag-inducing music. Blech *shudder* posted by greta simone at 7:58 PM on August 21, 2011 [3 favorites]
And Pat Metheny has a 42 string guitar, the Pikasso, built by Canadian Luthier Linda Mezner. There was an awesome documentary about their longstanding collaboration on the CBC just last week. You can listen to the whole thing here.
(More Metheny and Pikasso here and here. Not really to my taste, but admirable nonetheless.) posted by maudlin at 8:04 PM on August 21, 2011
It's cool and all, but all I could think was, he's built himself an autoharp. posted by easily confused at 8:09 PM on August 21, 2011
It's cool and all, but all I could think was, he's built himself an autoharp.
Whuh? It's nothing like an autoharp, aside from the fact that it has strings. posted by Sys Rq at 8:13 PM on August 21, 2011
Oh I know it's not really an autoharp: that's just what all those extra strings made me think of. posted by easily confused at 8:17 PM on August 21, 2011
I want to hear Jimmy Page play Bron Yr Aur on that thing. Without the drum machine. posted by Devils Rancher at 8:31 PM on August 21, 2011
It is kind of like a regular harp, though. Or, to get really geeky, it sounds a lot like a kantele, a Finnish folk instrument. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSYrAaysI0Y I'm only familiar with the instrument from a very mellow kantele cassette (called Ice Flowers Melting) that we had when I was a kid, so I was delighted to learn that some Finnish metal bands also use them. posted by Nibbly Fang at 8:32 PM on August 21, 2011
Both the autoharp and kantele are technically zithers because the strings do not extend beyond the soundboard, as opposed to a guitar where's a neck extending beyond the soundboard, or a harp where the strings are position vertically with respect to the soundboard. (Although 'zither' and 'guitar' have the same etymological root, just to confuse things a bit more). posted by unSane at 5:36 AM on August 22, 2011
Thanks for that Andy McKee link, benzo8. I immediately thought of Beppe Gambetta playing the same instrument, which I can't find video for. I had the good luck to see Gambetta perform live and really enjoyed his work.
Seeing all these different instruments reminds me a lot of some of the early music I've seen where there are about a jillion minor variants on the guitar and lute. These are less minor in terms of variations but most of them are similar to each other (and intimidating as hell to me as someone who only dabbled in guitar lessons as a girl). posted by immlass at 8:37 AM on August 22, 2011
Re: Bob culbertson above: Bob is bee's knee's here he is playing on of the few acoustic chapman sticks. posted by MikeHoegeman at 12:00 PM on August 22, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcZ7Deu0V9A posted by MikeHoegeman at 12:00 PM on August 22, 2011
This reminds me of the Theorbo or Archlute - Take an ordinary tenor or bass lute, and graft on an extended neck, with strings that aren't over frets. The result is an instrument that you can play continuo with yourself, picking out the melody on the fretted courses, and the bass line on the open strings. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~lsa/aboutLute/Theorbo1.jpg is typical. (its the rare lutenist that is taller than their theorbo case) posted by rjnerd at 1:23 PM on August 22, 2011
That's about 25 more strings than I'm usually comfortable with. posted by malocchio at 1:18 PM on August 24, 2011
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Neat!
posted by Sys Rq at 7:38 PM on August 21, 2011