paddle basses

at the complete opposite end of my artistic spectrum from the harbinger fiddle is the paddle bass. it is the solid body electric version of a washtub bass. no frills, just one string made of a bicycle brake cable, and a single coil pickup with volume and tone. the larger one i tuned to A the smaller one to C. you play it by standing on the base and bending the paddle sharp or flat from the open note. i used to play the prototype version (also an A) in the Knotwells when we began so long ago. that one had it's pickup inside of a tin can so it would look like a mini washtub. i still have my prototype, and one of these two is in seattle now. the other is missing.

hardanger fiddle

 i prefer to call this the harbinger fiddle since it doesn't meet all the specifications of a real hardanger. 

firstly and most importantly it was built in minneapolis. 

also, neither the owner nor myself  are norwegian. finally, the body is from a violin which was donated to the shop by a loyal regular. hardangers are arched higher on the top, in other words they have bigger bellies than violins. hardangers also have overlapping f-holes, violins do not.

the painting on the top is called rosing. i went with a slovak/russian inspired design in tribute to myself and the owner respectively. you can see that the top had been split in a few places and was sloppily glued together still gapping in places. the cracks all had to be cleaned out, fit, re-glued and cleated.

the inlays in the fingerboard, tailpiece and corners are made from pipestone(to signify minnesotan origin), corian, blue and abalone colored acrylic, and five snazzy buttons. 

the divider lines are pre-made colored wood. 

i inlayed the corners because they had all been strangely drilled into.

harbinger fiddle is also a more fitting name due to the headstock the owner requested.

 

 the pegs are faced with corian and are supposed to resemble bones. the pegbox on the original neck had broken in half, which is what prompted me to build a new neck in the first place. at the time i was in a band called Eatin' Hogeye with the then future owner who convinced me to build a hardanger neck.

aside from the extravagant decoration on the body and the figure carving on the head, what makes this instrument a hardingfele is the four symathetic strings running through a channel in the neck. you can see the lower second tier on the bridge and the nut at the end of the neck where it is hollow. the fingerboard and bridge arches are also flatter than a violin's so it is easier to bow two or three strings at once to play chords.

this was not the first nor the last instrument i've built that needed a case made just to fit it. i really enjoy custom fitting cases to match the more unusual shaped instruments. i like to know they'll be safe when traveling.

this was the case the violin came in. i just extended and deepened the neck end and cut out some extra room for the bridge. then of course the pushin-up-daisies theme covering to hide the patchwork seams.