Re: [HG-new] Capo without capos…

[Ruth Bramley]

Hi Arle I regularly tune my trompette up to D, which is fine. I also have a homemade capo that I occasionally put under the trompette if I want, say, a G. This consists of a prism-shaped piece of wood with a small notch cut into it. This sits on the soundboard, with the trompette string in the notch, and acts as a nut/bridge. I can move it along the soundboard to get the correct note. If you're not happy tuning the trompette up to D, you could leave it at C, but put something like this wooden block under to raise it to D. There's no reason why you couldn't also make one to go under the gros bourdon to put it up to A. I'd leave the petit bourdon off the wheel, and then on the chanterelles play either a D or an A. Hope that helps. Cheers Ruthie On 16/11/2012 18:11, Arle Lommel wrote: Hi all, Got an unusual question. I have a C/G instrument but have been asked to provide a drone in D as part of an Advent processional as part of a program put on by my children’s school at the Berliner Dom in a few weeks. (I know, drone only is boring, but that is what they need.) The problem I face is that they need a rich drone sound in Ds and As, but there is no way I'm going to tune directly up (last time I tried I lost a drone string, and I can tell even going to C♯ that the tension is higher than I want to go). My instrument does not have drone capos. While I have thought of making some using harp levers and wooden supports under them, I've never gotten around to it. (I've also thought of nondestructively fitting a fret board under my drones with a clip-type capo, but that is a major project and I don't have the tools right now to do it. So the question is if any of you have any good suggestions for how to (a) easily and (b) cheaply raise the pitch of my drone strings. I don't want to restring for this event (nor do I want to buy new strings at the moment). I tried using clothes pins to grip the strings, but I find that they do not grip the strings firmly enough, so the results only work if I grip the clothes pin by hand and force it to shut harder. Not an ideal way to do it. So any ideas would be most welcome. Best, ARle -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "hurdygurdy" group. To post to this group, send email to hurdygurdy@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to hurdygurdy+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/hurdygurdy   The rules of posting, courtesy, and other list information may be found at http://hurdygurdy.com/mailinglist/index.htm. To reduce spam, posts from new subscribers are held pending approval by the webmaster.