dario - 12-23-2020 at 05:48 AM
Hi all,
I've just got myself a cümbüş and having terrific fun with it.
I was wondering if it's possible to buy just a neck - specifically a tanbur neck, as I'd like to try out yayli tanbur. There's plenty of spare parts
online (bridges, bodies, screws and bolts, drumheads) but no necks which seems strange, as it seems one of the main selling points of the instrument
was that it's modular and gives you many instruments in one.
Does anyone have any ideas or thoughts?
Many thanks and merry Christmas!
PS turns out in a big box of spare electric guitar strings I had enough strings in appropriate gauges to string 4 of the 6 courses as octaves, highly
recommend for a particularly aggressive party sound.
Current tuning & string gauges (w indicates nickel wound, otherwise plain steel)
g g .010
d d .012
A a .018w & .009
E e .024w & .011
B b .030w & .016
A' A .034w & .018w
Jack_Campin - 12-25-2020 at 04:23 AM
Octave tuning is a neat idea. Do you have any videos we can hear?
Do you need to replace the nut?
I've done the opposite with one of mine. It's very old with a non-standard small head: I got the membrane replaced with thickish natural skin and
tuned it down a tone, GADgcf. Gives it a dark, quiet Persian tar sound but with Arabic high-F tuning.
dario - 12-26-2020 at 10:08 AM
Hi Jack,
You can hear a quick sample here: https://youtu.be/0r2PzaGUme4
I think you can hear the contrast between the 2nd (unison) and 3rd (octave) courses quite clearly.
I haven't needed to change the nut as it's a switch to thinner strings.
I'd be interested to hear yours too!