# Music by Genre > Bluegrass, Newgrass, Country, Gospel Variants >  rattlesnake rattles?

## LoneStarMandolin

Watching the two tape Bill Monroe mandolin set that Sam Bush did and there's a little clip where Sam asks him about his mandolin and he shows that there is a rattle snake rattle (and a big one!) IN his Loar.  Sam asks him why and Monroe doesn't seem certain.  finally someone in the background says something about "to keep the cobwebs out" and Monroe agrees with that and then the conversation moves on.

uh, wait a minute.  you have a rattle snake rattle in your mandolin?

apparently fiddle players do it to.  so my question: what's up with that?  is the secret to playing like Bill Monroe putting rattle snake rattles in your mandolin?   :Grin:   where can I find a snake that would loan me his rattles?

----------


## MikeEdgerton

We've had some spirited discussions of this that have resulted in some locked down threads over the years (one because of me... OK, me and Bernie). You might take a look at these two lengthy message threads on the subject.

----------


## Ole Joe Clark

You can come south in the spring, to Opp, Alabama I think. They have a rattlesnake roundup and I'm sure there will be plenty of rattles, not given up willingly of course.

Joe

----------


## Bernie Daniel

> Old Joe Clark: They have a rattlesnake roundup and I'm sure there will be plenty of rattles, not given up willingly of course.


Just wondering what the purpose of the roundup is.  Are these snakes that are living on private property or around residences and thus the chance of interactions with people or pets?

Yes, I do recall the earlier, extended discussion of rattlers.  :Smile:

----------


## MikeEdgerton

Bernie, we probably shouldn't ask that question. It's similar to why the last one got locked down. Let's try and discuss the concept of why the rattles are there and not the hot button issue of why we are rounding up the critters.

----------


## JEStanek

There are some stories of _why do it_ in the web for violins/fiddles and mandolins...

To scare off varmints and spiderweb control in addition to being good luck.

Here's a book on Google with pages on rattlesnake rattles to improve violins and for luck.

This reference details some of the above ones but adds that rattles in a fiddle will lead to the players blindness.

Jamie

----------


## evanreilly

I think that at some of the S.E. Comando gatherings there was some primitive ritual performed by participants that involved the placement of a rattle in a mandolin.
As for myself, I do it because it is a Monrovian thing.

----------


## recon

Maybe the gorilla rattle was too big

----------


## Bernie Daniel

I put a piece of common mojo in mine.

----------


## Michael Eck

I mentioned this to my brother some time back. The other day he called to tell me he's found one that he'll send me for my mando. I don't think it'll make me sound a lick like Mr. Monroe, but it will keep my brother (who lives too many states away) in mind while I play, and I'm all for that.

----------


## Ivan Kelsall

I always thought that the idea was to keep dust from hanging around too much inside a Fiddle or a 
Mandolin. Having read the pages in the link above,it seems more like folklore to me now with no basis in fact,that it confers any benefit at all to an instrument IMHO,
                                                                                            Saska :Confused:

----------


## MikeEdgerton

I'd say that it's more of a bow to tradition than anything else.

----------


## JEStanek

If you attach a 9V battery to the rattle it will continue to vibrate and offer some opening up and wood effects.  :Wink: 

Jamie

----------


## Steve Ostrander

Chuck Norris puts a LIVE rattlesnake in his mandolin.

----------


## MrTidy

I once bought a mandolin off ebay. And when I got it, there was a rattle in it. I truly believed it was some petrified bug larvea and threw it into the garbage!!!

----------


## Ken Berner

MrTidy, I sent a Flatiron A5 Artist to a gentleman in central Florida a few years ago, which still had a rattle installed. It was one of the biggest rattles I've seen and I almost asked for its return, but decided against it since he paid such a handsome price for the instrument. As Ole Joe Clark mentioned, Opp, AL hosts a huge rattlesnake "rodeo" each year and is a great source for everything ratllesnake from earrings to eatin's. There is a rattlesnake processing place (with retail outlet) in Waldo, FL, but I cannot recall the name. I picked up a couple good'uns there a few years back. I imagine that most taxidermy shops in the South would sell a rattle or two.

----------


## MikeEdgerton

Check the links to the threads I posted above. There is an online source listed in one of the messages.

----------


## GTison

You mean some of you DON'T have rattlesnake rattles in your mandodlin????!!!!

Mine has 13 rattles my father killed it on Babcock Ranch in south Florida about 25 years ago.  I also got a guitar strap out of that one.  What a snake.

I've never had a bug in my mandolin and the sound is much better, too.  It's more necessary than a tone guard.

----------


## Big Joe

I have one in mine.  Just because.  It is pretty small and falls out pretty easily.  I want a larger one but have not found one in the last few years.  I'll find one one of these days and put a good sized rattle in there.  Just because  :Smile:  .

----------


## mandozilla

I have one in my mandolin cause I'm hoping for some good MOJO and it is, after all as Evan said, very Monrovian...and that's good enough fer me.  :Laughing:

----------


## Stephanie Reiser

First time I ever heard of this practice was when I read the novel Cold Mountain, and the fellow Strobod had built himself a fiddle and placed a rattlesnake rattle in the box. Seemed like a superstitous thing to me. Odd.

----------


## John Ritchhart

Wow, Mike. It's great to know that you can be involved in a discussion that gets locked down and still be selected later as a moderator. Is this a great country or what?     :Popcorn:

----------


## Chris Biorkman

I think the discussion in question was after his confirmation. Correct me if I'm wrong.

----------


## Ken Berner

Big Joe, do an eBay search for "rattlesnake rattles" and you'll find a few huge 'uns!

----------


## MikeEdgerton

> I think the discussion in question was after his confirmation. Correct me if I'm wrong.


Nope, it was before.

----------


## MikeEdgerton

> Wow, Mike. It's great to know that you can be involved in a discussion that gets locked down and still be selected later as a moderator. Is this a great country or what?


If you look real hard you can find another one as well.  :Disbelief:

----------


## Gutbucket

> Wow, Mike. It's great to know that you can be involved in a discussion that gets locked down and still be selected later as a moderator. Is this a great country or what?


High Five Buddy!

----------


## frankenstein

A little off topic but John Bonham used to line his bass drum with aluminium foil to make it rattle when he'd kick the livin' !*^$ out of it..

----------


## 45ACP-GDLF5

> Watching the two tape Bill Monroe mandolin set that Sam Bush did and there's a little clip where Sam asks him about his mandolin and he shows that there is a rattle snake rattle (and a big one!) IN his Loar.  Sam asks him why and Monroe doesn't seem certain.  finally someone in the background says something about "to keep the cobwebs out" and Monroe agrees with that and then the conversation moves on.
> 
> uh, wait a minute.  you have a rattle snake rattle in your mandolin?
> 
> apparently fiddle players do it to.  so my question: what's up with that?  is the secret to playing like Bill Monroe putting rattle snake rattles in your mandolin?    where can I find a snake that would loan me his rattles?



You must mean John Hartford.  Sam is on the 2nd dvd.  John is in the 1st one with Bill Monroe.

----------


## LoneStarMandolin

great stuff - thanks for the help. 

one more question: are the rattles just loose?  they're just roaming around in there or are they glued in place?  sounds like they are loose but wanted to be sure.  have to do it right to be true to Monroe's ways!

----------


## MikeEdgerton

Just drop it in the soundhole and play. No setup is required for the rattle.

----------


## fatt-dad

Just for the record:  I just did this a few months ago.  There's a quirky little shop just off of  Rt. 1 in Stafford, Virginia that sells all sorts of Native American and trapping stuff.  I went in there from a job site I'm working on and asked about rattles.  She sold me one for something under 10 bucks and I put it in my Flatiron.  I did it just out of curiosity.  Funny thing is when I take my mandolin out of the case, I hear that thing in there and wonder, "What's loose?".  I can believe when you are going at it, there just may be some affect on the overall sound.  That said, my Flatiron is so loud it could easily drown out any stinkin' rattlesnake rattle.

For me it's the mojo.

f-d

----------


## Gutbucket

:Wink: I've have rattles in all my mandolins and my upright bass. And not a single living rattler was harmed. They were already dead before I got them.

----------


## des mando

my 50s  gibson j- 50 guitar came with a 13er, whats that ?well son its a texas guitar de-humidifier

----------


## laddy jota

Roger Siminoff has a new book out on how to tap tune your rattlesnake rattles. It should be a third below the pitch of your tone gard. You will need to slide those little rubber grommets all the way up to the bridge to get the full effect of tap-tuned rattles. Of course, the improvement is subjective - maybe even supernatural.

----------


## Bernie Daniel

> Mike Edgerton: Nope, it was before


I knew that.  :Smile:

----------


## MikeEdgerton

> I knew that.


Of course you did  :Smile:

----------


## John Ritchhart

> High Five Buddy!


Hey Gutbucket! Back at ya. Actually Gutbucket gave me the rattle I have in the ol' Flatiron. I told my wife I have a rattlesnake rattle in my mando. She didn't believe me since I make stuff up all the time. I never showed it to her either. The luthier that did my fret job noticed it right away though.  :Disbelief:

----------


## D C Blood

OK...what I've heard on rattles...somebody back in the East Kentucky Mountains, might have been an old fiddler, told me the rattle thing started back in the days when the fiddle was still known as "The Devil's instrument"...
purpose of the rattles was to scare away the devil when he came around.  I have two, a 13 1/2 and a 14...PS now it's the b@njo known as "The Devil's Instrument"...

----------


## Gutbucket

:Mandosmiley: 


> OK...what I've heard on rattles...somebody back in the East Kentucky Mountains, might have been an old fiddler, told me the rattle thing started back in the days when the fiddle was still known as "The Devil's instrument"...
> purpose of the rattles was to scare away the devil when he came around.  I have two, a 13 1/2 and a 14...PS now it's the b@njo known as "The Devil's Instrument"...


Mr. Blood,
I've heard the same story. Rattles were used as a tool to ward off spirits that might take up residence in a fiddle. Most of the fiddler's I pick with are indeed evil.

----------


## Sleepy

My Grandpa had rattlers in his fiddles and mando( which is now my mando). Indeed no evil spirits have been jackin with my mando. However it didn't keep my x from tossing it across the room, come to think maybe it didn't keep the evil spirits away.

----------


## Hal Loflin

I had one in one of my mandolins that had an internal pickup and 1/4" jack installed. I was playing at church and kept getting the signal to the amp cutting out. The sound man came to try and fix the problem and what we found was that the rattle was wedged against the inside wires from the jack and causing it to not work.

We worked the rattles out and the problem went away. The rattle also would "buzz" from time-to-time while playing.

----------


## Mike Bunting

So at the instructors concert at the Monroecamp this year the boys were playing the Little Girl and the Dreadful Snake and at an appropriate time Mike Compton aims his mando at the mic and gets that rattle buzzing  :Smile:  Sounded real too.

----------


## Martin

I fixed up a fiddle for one of my grandaughters today and put a rattle in it. When I gave it to her I told her about the rattle and she kinda shrieked. I said do you want me to take it out? She said "No Way"

----------


## Pete Counter

Mike Compton sed "I found out monroe had one in his so I put two in mine". I've got a small one in each of my mandos just for tradition. You can get em off ebay all day for $5 or less.

----------


## Scotti Adams

How I got mine was at my neighborhood flea market. You commonly see rattles as cowboy hat decorations. A small pin and clasp is glued to it. I bought a one...the biggest I could find and carefully removed the pin and stuck it in the mando. Cost $1.50

----------


## SilverAngelFan

Luckily, I live in Oklahoma and I get my rattles for free. Be careful though picking up the road kill. I have picked up a few snakes that weren't as dead as I thought. That'll get your heart rate up

----------


## devilsbox

Yeah It started as a fiddle thing. The mojo should be good for a mando as well!  :Mandosmiley:

----------


## Denny Gies

I still like the old guy with three teeth who told me a rattle would keep my mandolin in tune.  I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong, the rattle is in there but the durn thing still needs tuning.

----------


## Big Joe

Mine fell out sometime and disappeared.  Oh well, guess I'll have to find me another.  I actually had forgotten about it until I saw this post.  My last one was pretty small and did not rattle.  One of my earlier ones was pretty big and you could hear it occasionally  when playing.  It did not bother anything, you could just hear it a little during certain notes.

----------


## Steve Ostrander

One time I had a rattle in my MT but it turned out to be a loose tuning peg button. I wonder how much luthiers charge to install a rattle?  :Smile:

----------


## GTison

Joe if you put one in each mandolin they'll SELL better too!      :o   :Smile:

----------


## Rick Proctor

On the Homespun tapes video (volume 1 at least), it's not Sam Bush who talks to Bill Monroe about the rattles, it's John Harford. Sam is on the introduction. Volume 1 is a great video and really lets you see Bill's style up close. I haven't seen volume 2, but I imagine it's just as good.

----------

