One string phono fiddle

[Patrick Killeen]

I just stumbled on this whilst looking for washboards.

One string Phono Fiddle (http://www.carolenoakes.co.uk/market/other%20strings/CNS792.htm)

I wonder if you can get a mondo with the same tuning. #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

Patrick

[Jim Garber]

Here is the mandolin version made by Augustus Stroh Company.

The one string version was called (pardon the non-PC term) Jap Fiddle, I guess because is sort of resembles some Asian instrument like the shamisen or the erhu.

Jim

[Tim2723]

How you you hold that fiddle? The things that look like chin and shoulder rests seem to be 90 degrees from the fingerboard.

[Jim Garber]

The one-string thing is held (I believe) like a cello. The one I pictured is a mandolin.

Here is a Stroh cello:
http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Music/Pix/pictures/2006/11/02/stroh256.jpg

Here is someone playing a standard stroh-viol.
http://zeitgeist.numachi.com/katt/kneelingstroh.jpg

Jim

[MikeEdgerton]

Hmmm, that rules out any double stops.....

Did Dr. Seuss invent those? Those look like instruments that the Hoos(sp?) played in the original Grinch that Stole Christmas cartoon.

[jasonv]

I actually own one of those one-string Strohs... Jim is correct in his naming, too (glad you said it so I didn't have to). It's a great wall-hanger (actually, it doesn't hang so well with only one tuner) but not all that fun to play. A bit like a musical saw with a limited range and no reverb.
The four string uke, Hawaiian guitar and violin versions do pop occasionally and bring in the big bucks among collectors. I believe Al Dodge in the Bay Area has a Stroh violin that was at one point rigged with tubing so you could blow bubbles through the horn while you played ... now that is pretty much the ultimate musical statement if ever there was one.

[Jim Garber]

I have a 4-string Strohviol. They are very interesting instruments. They do get tiring to play after awhile since they are heavy compared to std, violins.

Tom Waits has a stroh-violinist playing one on a few of his CDs and it can be a very haunting sound almost sounds like a muted trumpet.

Jim

[Pez D. Spencer]

I saw a couple of the one stringed versions of that in second hand stores here in Seattle in the early 60's. played upright, held between the knees. They were refered to as "Swine Hornes", don't know where that name might have come from, but they were called that in both cases. At one of the shops the proprieter said it was awful sounding, and was being sold as more of a quirio or decoration. Have any of you ever heard of the term "Swine Horn" befor?

[Jim Garber]

Lark in the Morning imports stroh-style instruments from Romania, I believe. I think they are used a lot in gypsy and eastern European musics.

Jim

[Bob A]

I heard a 4-string Strohviol played; I was impressed at how good it sounded. Very fancy wood as well, and nice scroll work. Obviously not a cheapo piece of junk, despite its awkwardnesses.

[MikeEdgerton]

Have any of you ever heard of the term "Swine Horn" before?
I can almost guarantee it's from a very old joke that is not appropriate for this forum.

[cooper4205]

here's what a Stroh violin (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGfGw_CdKD8) sounds like. must be an acquired taste, like the malt liquor that shares the name http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[MikeEdgerton]

I believe the idea behind the original was to create a loud instrument that could be heard above the Orchestra. Is that a mic or a tuner attached to the end of horn? This thing might sound totally different in different hands and with different amplification.

[Lefty&French]

I believe the idea behind the original was to create a loud instrument that could be heard above the Orchestra.
Kind of resonator violins?
Elderly sold Stroh reissues (violins only) some years ago.

[Neil Gladd]

I believe the idea behind the original was to create a loud instrument that could be heard above the Orchestra.
They were invented during the early days of acoustic recording, before the microphone had been invented. Everyone had to crowd around the tin recording horn, and violins didn't record very well. This instrument made the violin sound more directional so that it could be pointed at the recording horn. The smaller second horn on the violin is the "monitor."

[Jim Garber]

Here is the first page from an article in the Galpin Society Journal about these instruments.

Jim

[MikeEdgerton]

I sit corrected http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Paul Kotapish]

There is a Transylvanian fiddle tradition--and probably others, too--that makes common use of the Stroh violin, and there are modern knockoffs still being made for the purpose.

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3528/2217/400/ghica%20fara%20dushmani.jpg

Lark in the Morning imports and sells some of these modern Stroh-style fiddles. I'm not sure where they are made.

Check them out here. (http://larkinthemorning.com/product.asp?pn=VIO107&bhcd2=1180312256)