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A pair of Weissenborns

Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 3:18 pm
by Freeman
My version of the koa twins. Number One has a couple of coats of zpoxy pore filler, Number Two was just closed and is getting ready for the binding.

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Re: A pair of Weissenborns

Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 4:14 pm
by darren
thanks for sharing Freeman. Maple Binding? Care to share any 'under construction' photos?

Re: A pair of Weissenborns

Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 4:16 pm
by Ken Hundley
Gorgeous work as always, herman, can't wait to see the finsihed product.

Re: A pair of Weissenborns

Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 4:57 pm
by Freeman
darren wrote:thanks for sharing Freeman. Maple Binding? Care to share any 'under construction' photos?
Since these aren't kits I didn't want to clog up this forum - I've done three small threads over here

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/sho ... take-three

The fanciest weissenborns had rope binding, but I liked the flamed maple that I used on the tricone so I thought I'd duplicate it here. One is braced in the traditional weissie pattern, however smaller and taller, the other has angled tone bars like a modern guitar. That is the only difference - we'll se if they sound different.
Ken Hundley wrote:Gorgeous work as always, herman, can't wait to see the finsihed product.
Herman is my evil twin

Re: A pair of Weissenborns

Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 6:02 pm
by Ken Hundley
I am sorry, Freeman.....beautiful work as always. I was sneekin a look at work, and, well, sorry bout that! I've never heard one of these, will you be able to record them?

Re: A pair of Weissenborns

Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 8:04 pm
by David L
Never heard of them either but they're really cool looking.

David L

Re: A pair of Weissenborns

Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 8:47 pm
by darren
Thanks for the links - good stuff.

Re: A pair of Weissenborns

Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 9:49 pm
by Tony_in_NYC
Nice! A matching pair of boat paddles! I question your use of such expensive wood for such a pedestrian usage.



I like the look of these things. I have never heard one either, and though I could overwhelm myself on Youtube with videos, I will impose upon you, Freeman, to record and post a video.

Re: A pair of Weissenborns

Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 10:31 am
by Freeman
Thanks all. For those of you who haven't seen or heard of them, they were popular in the 30's for Hawaiian style music and have had a big return with people like David Lindley, Ben Harper, Ed Gerhard. They are fretless (the "frets" are maple strips inlayed into the fretboard) and are played lap style with a Dobro steel bar.

I saw Lindley with Jackson Browne last summer (Lindley does the incredible lap steel solo in "Running On Empty") and that got me fired up to build myself one. The Fretboard Journal article with Harper and Lindley fueled that fire and when a steel guitar playing friend commented that he wanted one the fire really took off.

I promise to record it and I plan to take it and the koa tricone to the GAL conference and let Mark Swanson play them during the Acoustic Listening seminar.

Re: A pair of Weissenborns

Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 11:02 am
by Freeman
Speaking of recordings, I recorded John Fahey's song Steamboat Gwine Round the Bend on the home made12 string and since the Dobro and the Duolian were also in open G so I thought I'd record the same thing on them. The tricone was in open D, but it was pretty easy to switch to G so I threw in it.

So, One Song, Four Guitars (two of them home made)

http://vom.infocusreviews.com/index.php ... -_OM12.mp3

http://vom.infocusreviews.com/index.php ... _Dobro.mp3

http://vom.infocusreviews.com/index.php ... uolian.mp3

http://vom.infocusreviews.com/index.php ... ricone.mp3

Crappy playing, sorry, but it kind of shows the differences in sound. It will be interesting to add the Weissenborn to the mix.

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