Comment

Comment by Robert DiPietro on October 26, 2012 at 5:48pm

oh cool, yeah i just couldn't see it that well, and figured it just might have been your own take on the pipa, thanks

Comment by G.S.Monroe on October 26, 2012 at 12:32am

What I did was lighly glue together 2 planks of 3 inch Cherry, to form a 6 inch block. Once turned, I split them apart with a chisel, and carved out the inside with my dremil tool, a router bit and a feeler gauge.

 

Comment by Rand Moore on October 26, 2012 at 12:18am

Cool. Never played a bowed instrument before. Have wanted to build a CBF (Cigar Box Fiddle), but never have gotten around to it. I like the "Gittern"; diatonically fretted, but 8 frets seems too few. Were the two instruments built out of the two halves of the cherry block of wood you turned on the lathe? I wonder how hard it is to carve the insides. Seems like an awful lot of work.

-Rand.

Comment by G.S.Monroe on October 25, 2012 at 11:55pm

The Rebec

Mine has 4 strings, tuned as a modern violin would be.

The body was turned on a lathe, carved from a block of Cherry. It's twin was made into a Gittern, a primative Lute from the same historical period.

Comment by G.S.Monroe on October 25, 2012 at 11:47pm

The short one to the left is a Rebec, an early ancestor to the violin. It's bow can be seen at the bottom of the picture on the table in the center. The two to it's left are both Piezoelectrics, one fretted, one slide. The 3 to the right are pure acoustics.

Comment by Rand Moore on October 25, 2012 at 10:17pm

The short one is not a Chinese pipa as the pipa is a fretted instrument and actually has a wider pear shaped body (see photo below). It's just some 4-string fretless lute with an interesting body shape. A photo essay of how it was built would be interesting to see. Seems like the four instruments on the left are fretless while the two on the right are fretted. But they look like a nice beginning to a new career in instrument building.

Pipa photo:

-Rand.

Comment by Robert DiPietro on October 25, 2012 at 6:34pm

is that short one a pipa?

Comment by G.S.Monroe on October 25, 2012 at 4:37pm

Yea, I have a few Stick Dulcimers around...