MOUNTAIN FIDDLING

Enlarge Image Image Gallery

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Finding and fixing an old-time fiddle.

by Len Jones

THE MOANING, LONESOME wail of the country fiddle has graced American homesteads for centuries, from the peaks of the Blue Ridge to the Louisiana bayou. It is a wonderful, expressive instrument that you can have fun teaching yourself to play.

Hunting for a Fiddle

Now, a super-slick contest fiddler (and there are plenty of contests) might tell you that it takes an expensive, exceptional instrument to sound good. That's fine for him but it doesn't mean much to the man back in the sticks. In fact, my wife gave me an inexpensive instrument with a full, resonant tone that's earned me compliments from a classical violinist! Speaking of tone, a fullsize (violins come in full, three-quarter, and one-half sizes), high-sided fiddle will generally have the full, foot-stomping sound most people associate with fiddling, while smaller, more delicate instruments possess a more "conservative" quality. When searching for your fiddle, knowing the kind of sound you want really helps.

Just as important as tonal quality is your choice of a bow. Most country fiddlers "choke up" on a standard-size bow. That is, they ignore classical discipline and slide their bowing hand way up in order to master the fast, sweeping licks that country fiddling demands. Although this is a comfortableenough approach, many fiddlers find themselves with their hands a full one-third the way up the bow! For this very reason, many people (myself included) choose to buy a three-quarter- length bow. These bows alleviate the need to choke up and are available anyplace that carries fiddles.

A small cake of rosin rubbed generously along the bow's horsehair is necessary to get the proper friction and tonal quality. The powdery white dust from the freshly rosined hair will collect under the strings of your fiddle and, although it's not absolutely necessary to clean this resin, many people prefer to keep the necks of their instruments clean. In old, hard times, many fiddlers allowed the rosin to collect heavily on the fiddle's neck and recycled it by rubbing the bow hair through the dust as needed. Rosin was darned hard to come by, and reusing it was a good, practical idea. Some still adhere to that method, but I keep my fiddle spotless and waxed since too much resin accumulation will eat up my varnish.

Other basic necessities include a good bridge that sits level and straight on the instrument. (Some bluegrass fiddlers even file down the rounded top in order to make playing double stops-fiddling two strings at oncea lot easier.) If you're buying a used fiddle, make sure the tuning pegs fit good and tight and that the neck is unwarped or "hollowed out" from the firm pressing of fingertips over the years.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print