Strings

-- DOUBLE-CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE --

Swar Rabouditar

My latest creation that luthier Fred Carlson brought to fruition. It's a combination of an Indian Swar Mandal, an Oud, a Rabab and a guitar. It has five tied-on nylon frets with the rest of the neck fretless. There's a harp section on the lower bout, tuned to the scale of the piece. There are also two accent strings, which are hard to see in the picture, alongside the lowest string. It has nine main strings, which are double course on the top three and single course on the lower three. I'm using an Oud tuning, (low to high, D, G A, d g c).
* Todd Green

Guitarangi da Gamba

Another collaboration with luthier Fred Carlson. This one-of-a-kind instrument is a combination of a Western guitar, East-Indian Sarangi and the Baroque Viola-da-Gamba. It can be held upright between your legs and bowed like a cello, or held horizontally and plucked like a guitar. There are ten resonating strings running through the neck and 14 resonating strings running diagonally across the body. All these strings resonate sympathetically with the six main playing strings and the diagonal ones can be plucked as well.  The main playing strings are traditional da Gamba strings made out of gut.   The tuning is a combination of a cello on the low three strings (C, G, D low to high) and a Turkish Oud on the top three (E, A, D low to high).  This original tuning required me to learn new chord forms and scales unique to this instrument.
* Todd Green

Nylon-String Double-Neck Guitar

Built by luthier Fred Carlson, consisting of a standard classical guitar and a six-string bass classical guitar. The bass strings are custom made and are tuned one octave lower. This instrument is also built with some of the most beautiful Brazilian rosewood I have ever seen. As far as I know, this is the only instrument of its kind.
* Todd Green

Sympitar

Another instrument built by luthier Fred Carlson. It is a standard six-string guitar with 12 resonating (sympathetic) strings running through the neck and over their own flat bridge inside the body.
* Todd Green, Alex De Grassi

Yali Tambur (Turkey)

Long-necked, bowed string instrument with six strings divided into three courses, tuned DD, AA, dd. The bridge rests on a skin head like on a Western banjo. Most of the melody is played on the high course of strings. This instrument is sometimes refered to as a bass banjo because of the low pitch of the strings. The neck has tied-on nylon frets, which are spaced for Middle-Eastern scales, which include quarter-tones. It is also possible to pluck the strings.
* Ali Jihad Racy

Fasil Kemenche (Turkey)

This three-stringed traditional violin (right side of photo) is used in the classical and Sufi religious music of Turkey. It is held upright on the lap and played with a bow. Like the Indian Sarangi, the left hand fingers don't press directly on the strings, but touch the string on the side with the fleshy part of the finger between the nail and the first joint.
* Tanburi Cemil Bey, Necdet Yasar Ensemble

Santur (Iran)

The Persian Santur is the original Santur. It is a three-octave dulcimer with 72 strings arranged in 4-string courses. It is played with very thin, wooden hammers with felt on the ends. It can be made out of various kinds of wood depending on the desired sound quality. Both instruments have adjustable bridges, allowing you to play three octaves on the Persian one. Though the Santur originated in Persia, it has universal appeal. The Greeks have a similar instrument called a Santoori; the Chinese have the Yang Chin; the Hungarians have the Cymbalon; and the Germans have the Hackbrett.

Sarangi (India)

For many centuries, the Sarangi has been the premier bowed instrument of India. It is held upright on the lap and bowed with the palm facing up. Instead of pressing the strings with the top of the fingers of left hand, the player presses the sides of the strings with the cuticle (see close-up.)  In earlier times, its primary role was to accompany classical vocal music, because of its voice-like quality. Today, it has been accepted as a solo instrument as well. There are three main playing strings tuned tonic (Sa), fifth (Pa) and tonic (sa). In addition, there are 30 to 40 resonating strings (see close-up.) All these strings pass through the bridge, which rests on a skin head. Some of these are tuned to the rag (scale) and some are chromatic. These tuners are at the top and along the side of the body.
* Ram Narayan, Sultan Khan, Ramesh Misra, Dhruba Ghosh

Santoor (India)

The Indian Santoor (29A), from the northern state of Kashmir, for centuries was an accompaniment to vocalists. Originally it was called a "Shata Tantri Veena," or the 100 string lute. The Santoor pictured has 93 strings arranged in 3-string courses. A standard Indian tuning has the Sa (or tonic) as the lowest note. The first octave is tuned to the Raga to be played. The rest of the strings are tuned chromatically. It is played with two relatively thick, wooden hammers.

Tamburas or Tanpuras (Ind

ia)

In traditional Indian music, the tamburas provide the drone, which delineates the key in which the solo instruments perform. The traditional tamburas come in two sizes, called the male (left side of photo) and the female (right side of photo.) They each cover a different range of keys in octave. These instruments can have four to six strings and are usually tuned to the tonic (Sa) and the fifth (Pa) of the raga (scale) being played. The large tuners at the top are for basic tuning. There are fine tuners at the bottom for more precise tuning (see close-up.) Sometimes, small pieces of thread are placed between the string and the bridge for more sustain and "buzzy" quality to the sound. These traditional tamburas are huge and delicate instruments, which are difficult to travel with. There are smaller versions, the Instrumental Tambura (left side of bottom photo) and the portable Vocal Tambura (right side of bottom picture.)
* Any traditional classical Indian music

Komuz (Kyrgyzstan/Uzbekistan)

Pipa (China)

A string instrument from the lute family, dating back over 2000 years. The Pipa has a unique pear shape, with four large friction tuners. The four silk strings are tuned, low to high, A, D, E, a. There are bamboo frets glued to the belly of the lute. The traditional playing technique includes very fast tremolos, using all of the right hand fingers in succession. The higher quality Pipas have very ornate, hand-carved ivory head-stocks, on this instrument, a dragon (see close-up.)
* Wu Man, Tang Liangxing, He Shu-Feng

Er-Hu (China)

This is the most widely used bowed instrument in China. It became popular in the Sung dynasty, approx. 1,000 years ago. This instrument only has two playing strings that are suspended above the body. The bow goes between the strings and requires both sides of the hair to be rosined. The sound box is covered with snake skin (see close-up), which gives the instrument its distinctive tone. The more yellowish-beige pigment there is in the skin, the younger the snake was and the better the tone is considered to be. 
* Zhu Changyau, Liu Ying

Gu Zeng (China)

This beautiful instrument is made from a rare wood in China called zitan (gee-tan) with jade decorative flowers. This is the original Asian zither influencing similar instruments in Japan, Korea and Vietnam. The strings are plucked on the short side of the bridges. You can bend the notes by pushing on the left side of the strings. It is usually tuned to a pentatonic scale.
* Angela Jui Lee

Zhong Ruan (China)

A plucked lute instrument with bamboo frets like the Pipa, but with a more guitar-like tone. It comes in three different sizes, this being the middle one. It is tuned G, D, g, d.
* Miao Xiaoyun

Charango (Andean region of South America)

This is a ten-string South American mandolin with a very small body. Traditionally, the body was made out of an Armadillo shell, but these days it can also be made out of wood. It has five courses, that are tuned gg, cc, EE, aa, ee. This is a popular instrument in Andean music.
* Sukay, Alejandro Camara, Gustavo Santaolalla

Ronroco (Bolivia)

The Ronroco is the "big brother" of the Charango family. It uses similar tunings to the Charango, but sounds an octave lower. This instrument, like the Charango, was built by Gamboa, one of the premier builders in Bolivia.
* Gustavo Santaolalla

Waylacho (Bolivia)

The Waylacho is the "little brother" of the Charango family. It uses similar tunings to the Charango, but sounds a forth higher.

Tiple (Venezuela)

This is a 12-string, small, guitar-like instrument (left side of photo) played mostly in the northern regions of South America. It has a triple-course set-up of the top four strings of a guitar (D. G, B, E). All the strings but the first one have a lower octave string in the middle of each course.

Requinto (Central and South America)

The Requinto (right side of photo) is also called an alto guitar. This instrument is tuned a fourth higher than a standard guitar. Mostly used for playing melodies in Mexican music. I like to play solo pieces on it.
* Jeff Linsky

Sonqo and Patasi Charango(Bolivia)

Sonqo (left side of photo) in Quechua (the language of Bolivia) means 'heart'. This instrument is a large Charango with one extra octave string in the center course. It is made out of a Bolivian wood called Naranjillo. The Patasi Charango (right side of photo) is a primitive instrument from the Patasi region of Bolivia. It has steel strings instead of the nylon strings of a traditional Charango.

South American Mandolin

This instrument (left side of picture) is similar in tuning and sound to the western mandolin. The main difference is instead of four double-course strings it has four triple-course strings.

Taro Patch Ukulele

A custom 8-string Ukulele designed by Joe Todaro (see Links) and built in Bolivia. It is a combination of a Ukulele with a Charango-type body, made out of Quinaquina wood, indigenous to Bolivia.

Quatro (Venezuela)

The Quatro (right side of photo) has a re-entrant tuning, which means the low strings are on the top and bottom and the high strings are in the middle. This enables the player to get a similar sound whether strumming up or down. The tuning is A, d, f#, B.

Valiha (Madagascar, Africa)

A tube zither, made out of a large, hollowed-out piece of bamboo, sometimes called a tube harp. It has metal strings, tuned in a two-octave, diatonic scale, that encircle the whole body. I tune mine to a G-maj/E-min scale. The individual strings are tuned with small, movable wooden bridges. The melodies are played by going back and forth between the hands, like a Kalimba (an African thumb piano.) The sound is very similar to that of an Irish folk harp.
* Justin Vali

Bows

Unlike with the western violin and cello, all these bows are played with the palm up. The Kemenche bow (center left) has very loose hair. The player grabs hold of the hair and controls the tension. The Baroque bows (left and center right) are made out of snake wood (a very hard wood). They are also played by gripping the hair for tension control. The Sarangi bow (right in photo) does not have adjustable tension. It is gripped on the frog (the wooden piece at the top). The palm-up grip is the traditional way of holding bows throughout the world and almost all the bowed instruments throughout the world are played vertically.

Capos

I use a variety of standard and customized capos. The customized ones allow me to fret notes individually anywhere on the neck. As you can see on the guitar in the picture, I am able to use any amount of capos to create unusual tunings. These are generally used on the guitars and bass, but I even have one for the cello.