Once a house for a mouse
April 8, 2022 12:45 PM Subscribe
Bringing a 100 year old hardanger fiddle back to life: "A customer recently brought an old fiddle into the shop that belonged to her great grandfather. The fiddle was in poor shape and hadn't been playable in many decades. There was even a mouse living in the fiddle for a period of time" (YouTube, runs 1 hour 20 minutes with no narration - just the sound of the luthier's tools and a few explanatory captions as he moves through the restoration process).
From the same luthier:
Making a Norwegian Hardanger Fiddle - Introduction - Setting the Blocks
Making the ribs for a hardanger fiddle
Inlaying mother of pearl and bone into ebony
A bit more on hardanger fiddles and how they're made:
An Introduction to the Hardanger Fiddle, and How One Learns to Make Them
Previously:
Myth and reality of the Hardanger fiddle and Myllarguten
From the same luthier:
Making a Norwegian Hardanger Fiddle - Introduction - Setting the Blocks
Making the ribs for a hardanger fiddle
Inlaying mother of pearl and bone into ebony
A bit more on hardanger fiddles and how they're made:
An Introduction to the Hardanger Fiddle, and How One Learns to Make Them
Previously:
Myth and reality of the Hardanger fiddle and Myllarguten
There was even a mouse living in the fiddle for a period of time
That sounds like it's got to be the set-up for an old cartoon about a mouse who aspired to be a great musician. Like he'd have a whole apartment set-up in there, with tables and chairs and stuff, and he'd have his own little violin that he'd practice every day. Then some goofy human guy would figure out that if he held the violin and mimed playing it people would think he was a great violinist, and he'd work out some deal with the mouse where they'd perform concerts together. Damn, I can picture it so clearly. Call me, 1938 Walt Disney!
posted by Ursula Hitler at 1:38 PM on April 8, 2022 [16 favorites]
That sounds like it's got to be the set-up for an old cartoon about a mouse who aspired to be a great musician. Like he'd have a whole apartment set-up in there, with tables and chairs and stuff, and he'd have his own little violin that he'd practice every day. Then some goofy human guy would figure out that if he held the violin and mimed playing it people would think he was a great violinist, and he'd work out some deal with the mouse where they'd perform concerts together. Damn, I can picture it so clearly. Call me, 1938 Walt Disney!
posted by Ursula Hitler at 1:38 PM on April 8, 2022 [16 favorites]
Ratatouille only with music. Needs a good name, though.
posted by hippybear at 2:06 PM on April 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by hippybear at 2:06 PM on April 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
Needs a good name, though.
Stuart Fiddle?
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 2:07 PM on April 8, 2022 [19 favorites]
Stuart Fiddle?
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 2:07 PM on April 8, 2022 [19 favorites]
eponhysterical!
posted by clavdivs at 2:31 PM on April 8, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by clavdivs at 2:31 PM on April 8, 2022 [3 favorites]
That is a fascinating array of clamp styles.
posted by echo target at 2:33 PM on April 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by echo target at 2:33 PM on April 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
Reminds me I have an old Gibson mandolin just _sitting_ waiting for me to have time to reglue the top...
posted by TomFrog at 2:42 PM on April 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by TomFrog at 2:42 PM on April 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
Har-danger Mouse?
posted by 7segment at 2:48 PM on April 8, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by 7segment at 2:48 PM on April 8, 2022 [6 favorites]
Squeekzhak Perlman?
Mouseua Bell?
Jack Benny?
posted by hippybear at 3:51 PM on April 8, 2022 [3 favorites]
Mouseua Bell?
Jack Benny?
posted by hippybear at 3:51 PM on April 8, 2022 [3 favorites]
Maybe The Tail of the Mouse Maestro, or Symphony in Eek-Minor, for maximum corny old cartoon points.
(None of this is to belittle the skills of the luthier. It's just that I can see this old cartoon in my head, like it's a thing that already exists. But I don't think it does.)
posted by Ursula Hitler at 4:01 PM on April 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
(None of this is to belittle the skills of the luthier. It's just that I can see this old cartoon in my head, like it's a thing that already exists. But I don't think it does.)
posted by Ursula Hitler at 4:01 PM on April 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
(This is literally your call to write a story outline and download some screenwriting software. But you can do with it as you wish.)
posted by hippybear at 4:04 PM on April 8, 2022
posted by hippybear at 4:04 PM on April 8, 2022
That is a fascinating array of clamp styles.
I said that once, but in a very different context.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:21 PM on April 8, 2022 [5 favorites]
I said that once, but in a very different context.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:21 PM on April 8, 2022 [5 favorites]
I'm really interested in his technique of completely clamping the top or bottom and then unclamping sections to apply glue with a knife. In my efforts at making ukuleles, it's pretty nerve wracking, applying hot hide glue to both sides, getting everything perfectly aligned and all the clamps in place and tight before it starts to gel up.
If anyone wants to see a violin made from scratch, this video is great.
posted by brachiopod at 9:53 PM on April 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
If anyone wants to see a violin made from scratch, this video is great.
posted by brachiopod at 9:53 PM on April 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
Epony-relevant! Also, I enjoy this channel to get my luthiery fix and I think you might too. It's strongly geared towards 20th-century guitars; I find it both informative and oddly soothing.
posted by the painkiller at 6:10 AM on April 9, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by the painkiller at 6:10 AM on April 9, 2022 [2 favorites]
“and he'd work out some deal with the mouse where they'd perform concerts together.”
Puts me in mind of Ben and Me, a 1953 Disney short film wherein a precocious New England mouse in colonial garb, Amos, becomes the genius behind Ben Franklin’s inventions and even provides inspiration for the Declaration of Independence, lol.
posted by delight at 10:34 AM on April 9, 2022
Puts me in mind of Ben and Me, a 1953 Disney short film wherein a precocious New England mouse in colonial garb, Amos, becomes the genius behind Ben Franklin’s inventions and even provides inspiration for the Declaration of Independence, lol.
posted by delight at 10:34 AM on April 9, 2022
Looks like that's at least 130 years old! This is beautiful and I love it. I'm the custodian of a stringed wood instrument that is only almost 100 years old. About 25 years ago my harp had a spontaneous major break in the wood "neck", but the manufacturer still has a workshop staffed with people maintaining its techniques + templates + tools, and they rebuilt it better than new. I figure it has at least 50 years before its next major repair, and hopefully there will still be people in that shop ready with a stack of Sitka spruce, an outline for a replacement part, and a pot of hot hide glue.
posted by dreamyshade at 3:20 PM on April 9, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by dreamyshade at 3:20 PM on April 9, 2022 [2 favorites]
I always get twitchy when I see a top being pried off like he does at the beginning. I know he's proceeding with care and skill, but man. That sound suggests something terrible is happening (even though it's quite the opposite).
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:29 PM on April 9, 2022
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:29 PM on April 9, 2022
I figure it has at least 50 years before its next major repair, and hopefully there will still be people in that shop ready with a stack of Sitka spruce, an outline for a replacement part, and a pot of hot hide glue.
Thanks for that article on Lyon and Healy harps - so many interesting details. They even built the one played by Alice Coltrane!
Once upon a time, they made some pretty distinctive-looking mandolins.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:39 PM on April 9, 2022 [2 favorites]
Thanks for that article on Lyon and Healy harps - so many interesting details. They even built the one played by Alice Coltrane!
Once upon a time, they made some pretty distinctive-looking mandolins.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:39 PM on April 9, 2022 [2 favorites]
(This is literally your call to write a story outline and download some screenwriting software. But you can do with it as you wish.)
I might be tempted to see what I could do with it (I've made cartoons before) but unfortunately the story is a bit close to Ratatouille. It's weird just how vivid this cartoon is in my head, like something dimly recalled from when I was a kid. I can picture the mouse's little violin house with furniture made from cast-off human stuff, like a matchbox for a bed and an overturned thimble for a stool, with light streaming in through the violin's f-holes like a sunroof. I even know what the mouse is wearing, a long red coat with a little green bow tie! I guess my brain is mashing up a few dozen cartoon tropes into something that feels like it must already exist, but doesn't.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 9:05 PM on April 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
I might be tempted to see what I could do with it (I've made cartoons before) but unfortunately the story is a bit close to Ratatouille. It's weird just how vivid this cartoon is in my head, like something dimly recalled from when I was a kid. I can picture the mouse's little violin house with furniture made from cast-off human stuff, like a matchbox for a bed and an overturned thimble for a stool, with light streaming in through the violin's f-holes like a sunroof. I even know what the mouse is wearing, a long red coat with a little green bow tie! I guess my brain is mashing up a few dozen cartoon tropes into something that feels like it must already exist, but doesn't.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 9:05 PM on April 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
Here’s Caoimbhín Ó Raghaillaigh and Mick O’Brien on hardanger and Uilleann pipes. Really a great combination.
posted by misterpatrick at 7:27 PM on April 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by misterpatrick at 7:27 PM on April 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
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