Here is the Tiple that so many of my friends here at the Cafe helped me with advice, parts, and support. thanks to all of you A Tiple, although it looks and is tuned like a Ukulele, it is closer to the Mandolin in that it has 10 strings in 4 courses 2-3-3-2. Mine is a 1925 CF Martin which i inherited from my Uncle and finally got around to restoring. While Martin recommends tuning to ADF#B,, i took mine down 1 whole tone to GCEA 1, to take some tension off of this 85 year old instrument; 2, to keep it in tune with my other Ukes. Anyway, hope you like it. THX again, mc
That's pretty amazing! Both, your playing and the instrument.
Nicely played, and thank you for showing the instrument. It is nice to know what a tiple sounds like, after seeing lots of references to them. Are they all about the size of this one, or do they come in different body sizes? Joe
Very impressive instrument and performance. I hope you are right about winter being behind us. It's pretty warm today, but I've lived in the Chicago area through some pretty bad Springs Tom
Gorgeous. Made my day.
Manfred & Joe, thanx for such kind words. Joe, as I understand it, the Tiple is native to Central & South America and, like a Uke, has several body sizes and numbers of strings from 6 to 12, The American Tiple was originally designed by CF Martin in 1919 with 10 strings and tuned similar to a Uke. ( i got most of that from wikipedia and some from the unofficial martin forum) It's really a fun thing to play but harder than a uke which has single nylon strings. the sound is really B-I-G and i don't think my mic picked it up with the fidelity that it should. thx again mc
Tom & Rob, thank you too! well, 'chicagoland' ain't out of the woods yet. here in Aurora it was about 64 yesterday and all but the biggest snow drifts are gone but, as you well know, we can still get hit till about april 1st. As Yogi says it aint over till it's over. thx mc
Thanks for posting that - I've always wondered what exactly a tiple was! Nicely played - very dreamy sounding indeed!
Michael, nicely played. A friend back in the 70's had a tiple whose back was made from an armadillo shell. Eric
Jill & BlueMt thanks for such kind words. When I lived in Florida, many moons ago, i used to see dead armadillos all the time around Jacksonville but would never have thought you could make music with one. I'm guessing it would be kinda like a natural 'Ovation' style instrument. don't mean to offend Ovation lovers but the similarities are sorta obvious, no? mc
Very cool!
Ha! While looking for a song to learn, I found this fun video and had to say "Awesome job!" What a fun instrument. It must have had some pretty big issues to be in the shop for a year, but it sounds terrific now.
Thanx, Marcelyn !! The issues were with the Luthier's very busy work load and unrealistic forecast, but i was expecting that. since it is tuned like a ukulele i got a couple of them and spent my waiting time learning to play, or what passes for playing <g> michael
What a cool instrument!! Very nice playing as well.
Thanx, Susi. it is a really fun instrument to play, as well. the sustain is incredible! i'll be posting some more tunes, to be sure. mc
Beautiful rendition on a beautiful instrument. Thanks for posting, and yes, I know I'm 2 years slow.
Everything everyone else has said, Michael! What a great sound and what a lovely arrangement you have there. Like the others i was not at all sure of this instrument or its sounds - now that I have heard it, I am really impressed. Thanks again.
