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Date: Tue, 02 May 2000 17:55:39 +0000
From: Lawrence de Martin <demartin @ tesser.com>
Subject: Re: [CB] Contrabass BalalaikaWas it hollow body or solid? Was it tuned in fourths like a guitar?
Thank you
Jon Carreira wrote:
> I saw an electric contrabass balalaika being played ... It pretty much
> sounded like an electric bass but was way cooler to look at!---------------------------------------------------------
From: Opusnandy @ aol.com
Date: Tue, 2 May 2000 21:43:26 EDT
Subject: Re: [CB] Contrabass BalalaikaIn a message dated 5/2/00 6:58:26 PM, demartin@tesser.com writes:
<< Was it hollow body or solid? Was it tuned in fourths like a guitar? >>
To be honest, it looked like an electric bass mounted on a huge balalaika
body. This would lead me to guess that it was tuned in fourths. Also, if
memory serves me right, I believe it was a solid body.Jon
---------------------------------------------------------Date: Wed, 03 May 2000 03:13:11 +0200
From: "Klaus Bjerre" <K-Bone @ vip.cybercity.dk>
Subject: Re: [CB] Contrabass BalalaikaNot answering this question I would still express my interest in the CB balalaika.
Russia is not strong in foreign currency. Still there is an interest in visits from western guest musicians. One way to get your payment out of the country is to buy instruments.
It does need planning, but if you do know of musicians travelling Russia, then that might be your chance.
When the Royal Chapel of Copenhagen, where my tromb teacher played, visited Leningrad years ago, the big hit among Russian musicians were simple things like mouthpieces, that could easily be bought over here. They would pay with piles of music.
Explotation? I do not think the Russians do see that way.
Another good type of items to swap is medicine. Outside the metropoles shortage of insuline and remedies for astma is so hard that none of us would like to experience it ourselves. And be sure that the Russian customs authorities are not stopping this sort of incomming stuff. Only packets should be unbroken. Paranoia of drug-trafficking is not a western privilege. (I have been in a gift-scheme helping a small boy with asthma).
Sorry for straying from the main topic. But the interest for this 3 string instrument tuned in fourths is well founded. And shared by me.
Sadly I only do have 2 electrical basses and a double bass aside of my large recorders, tubas, and bass trombones. And an instrument which was brought to life in an attempt to make the real bass sound accessible to stage pianists back in the 50-ties: the Fender Rhodes bronzebar stage piano.
Any of you ever built an electrical bass with the vibrations picked from a soundboard by a magnet? Did it once at a teachers course. Not beautifull, but sounding rather much like a double bass.
Klaus
----------
>From: Lawrence de Martin <demartin@tesser.com>
>To: contrabass@contrabass.com
>Subject: Re: [CB] Contrabass Balalaika
>Date: tir 2. maj 2000 19:55> Was it hollow body or solid? Was it tuned in fourths like a guitar?
>
> Thank you
>
> Jon Carreira wrote:
>
>> I saw an electric contrabass balalaika being played ... It pretty much
>> sounded like an electric bass but was way cooler to look at!
---------------------------------------------------------From: "Tom Izzo" <jeanvaljean @ ntsource.com>
Date: Tue, 2 May 2000 22:09:14 -0500
Subject: Re: [CB] Contrabass Balalaika> In a message dated 5/2/00 6:58:26 PM, demartin@tesser.com writes:
>
> << Was it hollow body or solid? Was it tuned in fourths like a guitar? >>
>
> To be honest, it looked like an electric bass mounted on a huge balalaika
> body. This would lead me to guess that it was tuned in fourths. Also, if
> memory serves me right, I believe it was a solid body.If it's really a Balalaika, it will only have 3 strings.
There are such things as Acoustic Basses, too. Mariacchi Bands have them in Mexico. 4 Strings, VERY LARGE, no Electricity.
Tom
---------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 03 May 2000 04:27:56 +0200
From: "Klaus Bjerre" <K-Bone @ vip.cybercity.dk>
Subject: Re: [CB] Contrabass BalalaikaThe Mexican instrument does use very heavy low tension strings. Are they easy to replacements for?
I do have a very special Ovation guitar. Round bowl, shallow, classical fingerboard, nylon strings. The model is called the Ovation Viper. It should have a bass version also, but I can not trace it over here.
Any ideas?
Klaus
----------
---------------------------------------------------------Date: Wed, 3 May 2000 01:46:22 -0400 (EDT)
From: Eric Mumpower <nocturne @ arepa.com>
Subject: Re: [CB] Contrabass Balalaika> There are such things as Acoustic Basses, too. Mariacchi Bands have them in
> Mexico. 4 Strings, VERY LARGE, no Electricity.You're thinking of the guitaron.
See this page for a discussion of the instrument:
http://www.ifccsa.org/guitaron.htmlI saw a gentleman playing one of these last month at the annual NEFFA
festival. Other than its modest, smooth, deep sound, I was most struck by
the arched belly of the instrument, which you don't normally notice when the
instrument is being played because it's out of sight between the instrument
and the musician's body.
(Oh, and greetings from a new list member! My only list-pertinent instrument
at the moment is a low-C Amati bass clarinet, but I aspire to greater depths
as opportunity presents itself. :-)
---------------------------------------------------------Date: Wed, 3 May 2000 11:15:01 -0700
From: Grant Green <gdgreen @ contrabass.com>
Subject: Re: [CB] Contrabass Balalaika>There are such things as Acoustic Basses, too. Mariacchi Bands have them in
>Mexico. 4 Strings, VERY LARGE, no Electricity.If I recall correctly, the guitarron has six strings, some of which
are tuned in unison (so that you can pull the same note with thumb
and finger on two different strings).There are also acoustic bass guitars. I know that Ovation makes both
4 and 5 string models. I have a 4 string electric/acoustic, which
can be played with or without an amplifier.And does anyone remember the bass banjo? One appeared on a Primus CD
a few years ago...Enjoy,
Grant
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Grant Green gdgreen@contrabass.com
ecode:contrabass http://www.contrabass.com
Professional Fool -> http://www.mp3.com/ProFools
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
---------------------------------------------------------Date: Wed, 3 May 2000 11:23:31 -0700
From: Grant Green <gdgreen @ contrabass.com>
Subject: Re: [CB] Contrabass Balalaika>I do have a very special Ovation guitar. Round bowl, shallow, classical
>fingerboard, nylon strings. The model is called the Ovation Viper. It should
>have a bass version also, but I can not trace it over here.
>
>Any ideas?
>
>KlausThe Woodwind & Brasswind carries it: see http://www.wwandbw.com/pdf/rnr_33.pdf (yes, they have a "Rock n' Rhythm" section full of guitars, amps, etc.). They also ship internationally.
Enjoy!
Grant
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Grant Green gdgreen@contrabass.com
ecode:contrabass http://www.contrabass.com
Professional Fool -> http://www.mp3.com/ProFools
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
---------------------------------------------------------From: "Tom Izzo" <jeanvaljean @ ntsource.com>
Date: Wed, 3 May 2000 17:32:03 -0500
Subject: Re: [CB] Contrabass BalalaikaGrant & all,
> If I recall correctly, the guitarron has six strings, some of which
> are tuned in unisonYes that's true.
(so that you can pull the same note with thumb
> and finger on two different strings).
>
> There are also acoustic bass guitars. I know that Ovation makes both
> 4 and 5 string models. I have a 4 string electric/acoustic, which
> can be played with or without an amplifier.
>
> And does anyone remember the bass banjo?Yup.
There's also the Mandobass.
The Mando has a whole family, not just the Soprano member-the Mandolin.
Mandola, Mandocello, Mandobass.
Back in the 60's, there used to be a quartet of Mandos in the museum of
Vandercook College of Music (Chicago), Does anyone know if this is still the
case?Tom
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