Tag: Irish
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The New Mandolin Family Part 2: Octave Mandolins, Citterns and Irish Bouzoukis
This article is Part 2 of 2 and a follow on the article, The New Mandolin Family Part 1: Ancient Mesopotamia to Orville Gibson. We will pick up with other developments staring in the 1960s and culminating in today's New Mandolin Family of instruments. Here I will discuss the large tenor range instruments of the…
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The New Mandolin Family Part 1: Ancient Mesopotamia to Orville Gibson
This is the first of a multi-part series on the New Mandolin Family of musical instruments. Those who follow this blog will know that this is also the first article I have posted in some time. This reason for this hiatus is simple; we at Don Rickert Musical Instruments have been very busy making instruments.…
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The Tenor Guitar: An Odd Loner without a Real Family
Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop. The Tenor Guitar: An Odd Loner without a Real Family http://www.rickertmusicalinstruments.com/2015/08/the-tenor-guitar-an-odd-loner-without-a-real-family.html Prelude This article is by D. Rickert Musical Instruments and its online store, Don Rickert Musician Shop. We hope that you find this article interesting in its own right. That being said, the article is a background…
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The Octave Mandolin and its Relative, the Octave Mando-Guitar
Attention!: This is an older post. We are currently working on newer and better instruments in this category. Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop. The Octave Mandolin and its Relative, the Octave Mando-Guitar This article is associated with the announcement of a new 4-course (8-string) by D. Rickert Musical Instruments and available at the…
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The Irish, the Harp and Civil War
Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop. The minstrel boy to the war is gone,In the ranks of death ye will find him;His father's sword he hath girded on,And his wild harp slung behind him;"Land of Song!" cried the warrior bard,"Tho' all the world betrays thee,One sword, at least, thy rights shall guard,One faithful…
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Irish Traditional Music is a LIVING Tradition!
Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop. Traditional Irish Music is almost a misnomer, as it is such a wonderful LIVING tradition, adopting new instruments all the time. We talk about traditional Irish Bouzoukis and Octave Mandolins. Fact is, it was Andy Irvine, I believe in the Irish band Planxty at the time, who starting…
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Tenor Banjo and Irish Tenor Banjo: Is There a Difference?
Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop. This is an excellent question, and it comes up all the time from smart musicians. The difference between the Tenor Banjo and Irish Tenor Banjo is, on one level, analogous to the difference between a violin and a fiddle. They are played differently. But Irish Tenor Banjos are…
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A Regular Fiddle with the Innovative Tailpiece-Chin Rest Combo
Introduction As part of Don Rickert Lutherie's search for the perfect chin rest for our backpacker fiddles and travel fiddles, particularly our 2-inch wide Mountaineer Backpacker Fiddle, we found a unique accessory from the innovative Dov Schmidt, which combines the function of the tailpiece AND the chin rest. To our amazement, this Tailpiece-Chinrest Combo works extremely…
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A Chin Rest for Fiddlers Who Do Not Use Chin Rests
In our very recent article, The Solution to the Chin Rest Problem on Backpacker Violins and Fiddles, I described Don Rickert Lutherie's quest for the solution to the chin rest problem with our backpacker and travel violins and fiddles. See that article for the details. The bottom line is that we have found a tailpiece-chin…
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