Posted by janolov on Saturday, March 6, 2010
I have planned to start fiddling for a long time, but I have had enough with the banjo. I joined FHO at it's first or second day, to get a little acquainted with the fiddle, but I never took the step acquire.I usually play old time banjo and I am interested in the banjo perspective of fiddle tunes.
Hwever, two weeks ago I found an old student's fiddle when cleaning my mother-in-law's appartment. She has moved to special living for old and senile people, and we shall sell her appartment. I think the fiddle was from some of her male friends (she was a widow in 1953 and never married but have some male friends). So I took home the fiddle and started to set it up. There was a lot of good links and posts at FHO that helped me. I have ordered bow, strings, bridge, chinrest, rosin and some books from Elderly. I have also ordered Fretted Fiddle to make it easier to find the finger positions in the beginning.
Yesterday evening I finally managed to get some sound from it. I realize that it will take some time to get the bow flowing and get the left hand fingers to find the right notes.
I found two immediate problems:
1. It is extremely difficult to tune the fiddle. I have no fine tuners, and it is almost impossible to tune it right with the ordinary pegs. I had one fine tuner for the first string, that was set up on the fiddle when I got it, but I didn't manage to install it appropriate. I shall try to get fine tuners for all strings as soon as possible.
2. I bought a chin rest but I didn't like the chin position. I found it more comfortable to keep the fiddle against my chest..
2 comments on “Finally I've got a fiddle”
OTJunky Says:
Saturday, March 6, 2010 @6:21:45 AM
Welcome aboard - for a fascinating journey of self-discovery.
The essential trick is to somehow avoid ever becoming impatient.
Relish your successes and view your limitations as opportunities.
The great thing about a fiddle is that it awards you a never-ending set of opportunities... ;-)
--paulm
bj Says:
Saturday, March 6, 2010 @3:24:07 PM
Jan, if it's available where you are, buying the Wittner tailpiece with the finetuners built in is only a buck or two more than buying the finetuners, and it will give you the right "afterlength". Less work, too. Do ask questions about how to adjust the gut and where it should be, though, since that can affect the sound.
Congrats on your new obsession!
You must sign into your myHangout account before you can post comments.
