Hornbacks of note

[Neil Gladd]

A Stroh Mandolin on eBay! Very tempting for the wackiness factor, but my money is earmarked for other things...

[Neil Gladd]

This closes in less than an hour. It's up to $810 and the reserve still hasn't been met. In case any of you were wondering what to get me for Christmas...

[Bob A]

Sorry, Neil, St. Nick loses, St. Wubby won - with a bid of $3100. Given the rarity I suppose it's not too far out of line, but now that wax cylinders are more or less passe, it's hard to justify.

[Neil Gladd]

Sorry, Neil, St. Nick loses, St. Wubby won - with a bid of $3100. Given the rarity I suppose it's not too far out of line

So I saw, but since I found that you could buy a new Stroh violin for just over $400, it wouldn't be hard to modify with a mandolin fingerboard, bridge and tailpiece. I probably have everything I would need lying around, but still the money could be better spent...

now that wax cylinders are more or less passe, it's hard to justify.

Since I am one of the few living mandolinists to have actually recorded on a wax cylinder, could I deduct it as a business expense? This was taken at the Edison Historic Site in 2001, and I recorded a mandolin solo by Samuel Siegel that I had learned by ear from a cylinder!

[Martin Jonas]

Since I am one of the few living mandolinists to have actually recorded on a wax cylinder, could I deduct it as a business expense? This was taken at the Edison Historic Site in 2001, and I recorded a mandolin solo by Samuel Siegel that I had learned by ear from a cylinder!

Great photo, Neil! So, with a Stroh mandolin, one would basically line-up the output horn of the instrument with the input horn of the recording device for true in-line sound transmission?

Martin

[Neil Gladd]

So, with a Stroh mandolin, one would basically line-up the output horn of the instrument with the input horn of the recording device for true in-line sound transmission?

Correct! In the days of acoustic recording (until the mid 1920s, when microphones replaced the horns), the most successful recording artists were not always the ones that sounded the best, just the ones that recorded better. Certain voices and instruments just had a timbre that was picked up better by the recording horn. Samuel Siegel must have really played out, because me made lots of recordings. By all accounts, William Place, Jr. was a better player, but he didn't play very loud so he only made a handful of recordings. I have them all, and they are very under-recorded. In the 1940s he was using an electric mandolin for classical music. (I have a photo in an old Gibson catalog.)

[RSW]

I never did that but I recorded the Bach E major solo prelude on cylinder with an Edison machine on the violin some years ago. It sounded like those old recordings... I was just curious how much of the sound comes through since I obviously know my own sound. A lot of fun and I'd love to hear it Neil! You won't be able to hear mine though because the bloody cylinder tube fell off the shelf and inside are a lot of broken pieces. #

[Jim Garber]

I have an old unlabelled Stroh violin. Very cool thing to have but not much fun to play for any moderate periodof time. Despite the lightness of the aluminum horn, it is heavy and not well-balanced.

Tom Waits has a violinist playing one on some of his recordings and it does have a haunting sound near to a muted trumpet.

Jim

[Martin Jonas]

Tom Waits has a violinist playing one on some of his recordings and it does have a haunting sound near to a muted trumpet.

It's funny how close the tonality of violin and trumpet can get: Stephane Grapelli's violin sounds very trumpet-like on many of the old Hot Club sides. Of course, some of them DO have actual trumpet too, just to confuse matters.

Martin

[Neil Gladd]

A lot of fun and I'd love to hear it Neil!

I thought it was lost as I never had the actual cylinder and my CD-R of it no longer plays, but I found the recording in a subdirectory on my hard drive!

Here is the original recording by Samuel Siegel that I learned the piece from, and here is my recording of it as a RealAudio file. Part of the reason that Siegel's recording sounds better is that he was recorded with advanced 1905 technology, while I was using older technology from circa 1900. This is NOT a joke. Fidelity was greatly improved with the new molded cylinders after 1902. (The other reason he sounds better is that I missed some notes.)

[Jim Garber]

Here is the original recording by Samuel Siegel that I learned the piece from

Hey, that is my cylinder we are listening to. I am honored, Neil

"Edison Recoooord"

Wonderful playing, Neil!

Jim

[Neil Gladd]

Hey, that is my cylinder we are listening to. I am honored, Neil

Actually, I learned it from my own copy about 15 years ago, but your copy was online, and mine wasn't!