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| Quite a few years back, I was inspired by a man who came into a tiny buy and sell music store I was in, and had with him a fiddle he made out of a toilet plunger. He had a pickup in it, and plugged it in and sawed off a bit. It didn't sound very good, it was thin and scratchy sounding, but I thought it was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. So I set out to try my hand at making a electric fiddle. The first one I made from a piece of wood that goes under a mattress to hold it up. It was cheap and available. I don't even know what kind of wood it is. It became known as my bedslat fiddle, and trying to keep up with the times, I decided to make it a five string. It came out fairly well except the guitar tuning gears out on the headstock got a little heavy for prolonged playing. I did use it for about a year on stage, and it almost sounded as good as my real fiddle with a pickup in it, but I just wasn't happy with the sound. Actually, I wasn't exactly happy with the sound of my real fiddle with the pickup in it. Why are they so hard to get setup??? Anyway, now it was time for my second try. I took everything I learned on my bed slat fiddle and made what I now call my Stick Fiddle. It still took alot of experimenting and alterations to try to get it to sound natural and not synthetic. I finally stumbled on a different way to pick up the sound, and now it's sounding, and playing great. It is headless, by the way, and has the tuners back by the chin. A few of the benifits I have found using it onstage are, tuning stays rock solid, even with some change in temperature. No feedback at any volume. It has three to four times the output level than my real fiddle has, (very low signal to noise ratio). It definately turned alot of heads, and gets alot of attention. And you can practice on it without bothering anyone. Good for on the road, in Silver Eagles to motel rooms. I am considering making them to order. If you live in the Nashville, Tn. area and would like to try out my Stick Fiddle for playability and sound, click "Send Me a Message", and I will get back to you. |
