Jimbow Anyone?

[Appalachia]

So there's this cool thing called a Jimbow that was developed by Jim Wells for bowing hammered and mountain dulcimers. It's pretty much just a curved nylon rod with a handle:


Here's a video of Jim playing a hammered dulcimer with it:


...and some audio of a mountain dulcimer played with it:
AuntRhodyJimBowlessbass.mp3 (source)

...and here's Jim's somewhat broken, early-90s looking site: GleeCircus

Has anyone tried using one of these on a mandolin? I think it could be another tool for increasing the sonic palette of the mandolin.

p.s. I'm expecting some "why don't you just play a violin" comments, so in response: because I highly doubt a mandolin played with a Jimbow would sound like a violin; so: because they are different sonic textures.

[if6was9]

Interesting idea. I'd like to hear about your experience if you try it.

[Dave Hanson]

The ' hammered ' dulcimer sounds better played with hammers to me, Appalachia seems to be a bit of an equipment geek, with his jimbow and magnetic capo.

Dave H

[Appalachia]

I'm very much into extended techniques on all instruments!

[Paul Busman]

Interesting. I'd like to see how it sounds playing some complete tunes.
I'm not sure how you'd attack the strings on a mandolin though. They're mighty close together, and they're facing away from you, instead of sitting in front of you like the strings of a hammered dulcimer.

[allenhopkins]

Sorta the acoustic version of the EBow for electric guitars?

You may have a bit of a problem since mandolins are double-strung -- getting the JimBow to sound both strings equally. Might be easier to play with the mandolin held flat in the lap (?). The fretted dulcimer is noted from above, not by reaching around the neck like mandolin/guitar/banjo, so "picking" hand technique would need to be modified a bit.

And, betcha ain't gonna find many Cafe-ers who've tried it or are going to; so -- dig out the $27.50, get one, and try it out yourself! Let us know what happens...

[Tim2723]

I had one. Tried it on practically everything. didn't find it very useful except for mountain dulcimer, hammered dulcimer (which I don't play but it its original intent) and oddly enough, bowed psaltery.

[Appalachia]

Sorta the acoustic version of the EBow for electric guitars?

Ebows work on acoustics too, given that they have nickel or steel wound strings. They can even work on mandolin!

You may have a bit of a problem since mandolins are double-strung

Hammered dulcimers are normally double or even triple strung, so that shouldn't be a problem.

The fretted dulcimer is noted from above, not by reaching around the neck like mandolin/guitar/banjo, so "picking" hand technique would need to be modified a bit.

I figure that possibly some kind of grip pinching the sides of the jimbow, where you twist your wrist to bow could work.

[harper]

I tried the Jimbo several years ago on a bowed psaltery. It didn't work very well. I couldn't get much rosin on the curved nylon rod, so the sound was poor. Also, the hand rotation to use the bow on the string was awkward.

[almeriastrings]

I anxiously await hearing "Rawhide" played with one of these things.

Should be interesting. Especially the high 'B' part.

Could revolutionise bluegrass mandolin. You never know.......the truth is out there. Somewhere.

[Dave Hanson]

The truth is it's a gimmick, useless for mandolin, strings too close together, crosspicking would be nigh on impossible, nah just a toy.

Dave H

[Dave Hanson]

In fact mandolins have [ almost ] exclusively been played using a flat pick or plectrum, this isn't a coincicdence, it's been found out over hundreds of years to be the best method, I know of one British musician who can play with a thimble pick, Tony Sullivan, AKA Sully but no one else.

Dave H

[Tim2723]

Appalachia, don't take the nay saying, including my own, too much to heart. The Jim Bow is neither a gimmick nor a toy, it's just not intended for anything other than the hammered dulcimer, although a lot of folks have experimented with them elsewhere with various degrees of success. After all, if you have one you'll try it on everything with strings, right? I found it worked a bit on the bowed psaltery. It produced about as much staccato as a BP can. I didn't have much luck with it on a mandolin and didn't expect to (not too good for ukulele either), but that doesn't mean we shouldn't experiment and try new ideas. Failure often leads to success and some of the oddest things happen. Spend your youth exploring and learning.

[Tommando]

You might have to set up a mandolin different, maybe more like a violin, to get the bow to the strings. Cheap bridges run about $20. You could put a serious radius in the saddle and put it on your test mandolin. That'll change everything. Again, I don't see this as anything practical, but who knows what the exercise might lead to? I thought Jimmy Page copied a huge gimmick when he used a bow on an electric guitar, after all it was not designed for such, but he made a lot of money doing it and a lot of people copied him.

[Paul Kotapish]

I have tried to use the eBow on an acoustic mandolin with very limited success. I think the big issue is string tension--the thing was designed to get a light or slinky electric guitar string in motion, and the short scale and high tension of mandolin strings make that difficult. Once it's going, though, it's a pretty cool sound, if somewhat low in volume.

On the mando, obviously, it's not going to work for picking out melodies across strings, but it's fun to get a violin-like sustain going and play notes up and down the fingerboard. It sounds kind of nice in an ensemble with bowed instruments to get some additional notes in sustained chords.

Tends to work a bit better on an OM, where the longer strings respond to the fluctuating magnetic pulses more readily.

Haven't tried the Jimbow, but I'm slightly curious.

But what you really need is a yayli tambur cümbüş:

[Tim2723]

The cumbus is so cool! I got to try the plucked version once. A raucous banjo if ever there was one!

[Gregory Tidwell]

I have an upright mountain dulcimer called a Walkabout, by a guy in Texas (formerly Washington - Olympic Dulcimer Company). Think I'll give this a try.