plectrum

[billkilpatrick]

i've just about completed making a lifetime's supply of risha for my oud and in the process have a handful of very supple, 1" - 2" pieces of cow's horn plectrum suitable for the mandolin.

if you would like, please give me an address and i'll send one to you as soon as they emerge from their nice long soak in an olive oil bath.

- bill

[Alex Timmerman]

Hello Billkilpatrick.

Great and very interesting. I would very much like to have one. I will e-mail the address where you can send it to.

Many thanks in advance.


Kind regards,

Alex


PS. The Charango Topic you asked me about can still be found, just click here. (http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=6;t=12536;st=25)

[billkilpatrick]

dear youse -

i've put the plectrum into envelopes and will send them to you tomorrow.

i hope you have many, many happy tunes with them.

- bill

[Jim Garber]

Thanks, Bill. I will report back on the plectrum when I receive it.

Jim

[Alex Timmerman]

And so will I.

[Jim Garber]

Hi Bill:
I got the two plectra in the mail yesterday. They are very nicely done and I thank you very much for sending them. The sound is quite nice and they have a pleasing flexibility.

Jim

[billkilpatrick]

un piacere...

[vkioulaphides]

Good morning/evening, Bill (depending on time-zone, of course) http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

I got the two picks yesterday. You should have seen the look on my almost-seven-year-old daughter's face, when I told her (with a straight face) of how "my friend Bill puts the entire cow through the pencil-sharpener and... voila: mandolin-picks!" http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

I will practice (feebly) and report (promptly). Many thanks.

[billkilpatrick]

you are a wicked man, victor and i dare say that in 10 years time your daughter will be telling you whoppers to produce the same effect in you.

i hope you enjoy the picks but it occurs to me they might be better suited for "picking" than strumming.

please let me know - bill

[vkioulaphides]

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif I assure you, however, that my daughter is not one to be traumatized by such antics of her father, whom she fully recognizes as "a very silly man"; a degree of ongoing buffoonery is modus vivendi in our home.

[pklima]

I just got mine a few minutes ago. I'm still temporarily mandoless so I don't really have anything to properly test them on (just a bass, cello banjo and nylon-string guitar), but they do seem well-crafted. I was quite surprised by their appearance - the material doesn't much look like the horn picks I've seen in the past. I'm guessing that's a side effect of the oil bath.

[billkilpatrick]

dear peter -

mandolinless?!?!

this is a golden opportunity to take a nice long covetous look at your neighbor's charango and start thinking alternatively. there's one on ebay now for less than $50.00. i've ordered several from these people and they're all beautifully hand-made. you don't have to tune it in the traditional manner - 2 of mine are strung with double sets of nylgut, 5-string banjo strings (gbead) and they sound absolutely wonderful - lovely warm sound, something like a tenor lute.

you won't regret it and i'll have someone to talk to out here on the furthest-most reaches of the small stringed instrument frontier.

forza! - bill

[pklima]

dear peter -

mandolinless?!?!

this is a golden opportunity to take a nice long covetous look at your neighbor's charango and start thinking alternatively.
This isn't a very convenient time for me to be buying instruments as I'm going to Poland in a week... Once I figure out which continent I want to live on I can start building up a proper instruments collection. And continue complaining that I have all this stuff but nobody ever asks me to play anything except bass, but that's another story.

[vkioulaphides]

[QUOTE]"...I'm going to Poland in a week."

Peter! As in, ehm... moving? Wherever you go, whatever you do, stay in touch!

[billkilpatrick]

you're missing a golden opportunity here peter...

just think of the warm reception you'll receive; the delighted circle of admiring faces that will soon surround you as you break open your case to produce your exotic and enchanting charango! #think of the "oo's" and "ahh's", everyone wondering what is was that could produce such light-hearted gaiety and still be perfectly acceptable for historically informed performances of early musicidon'tcarewhatanyonehastosayaboutit... why, you'll be the center of attention! #mothers will nudge their blushing, radiant daughters up to the front of the crowd just to be near you! #be it train, boat or plane, when you launch into a selection of your favorite ditties, boredom will be gone!...miles will melt!...pleasure and contentment will reign! #a little traveling music maestro!!!

...all for a measly fifty bucks!

[pklima]

I'm not yet moving to Poland, just going on vacation for a couple of weeks. I'll be seriously looking at the job market and whatnot, though, so I can figure out which continent I want to live on. Till that gets settled, no new instruments! Although instruments involving dead armadillos do have extra appeal.

[Martin Jonas]

I've now safely received and tried out Bill's cow plectra (many thanks again, Bill, and sorry for being so tardy in acknowledging!). Lovely look and feel to them, very nicely made and a good flexibility. The tone is somewhat similar to an old thin tortoiseshell plectrum I have -- a sharp, well-defined attack. I'm still struggling a bit with finding a grip for such an unusual shape (probably best to study what Alex has said about the Ranieri grip and try to emulate that), but it certainly adds an intriguing variation to my family of picks.

Martin