At 05:50 PM 6/28/2008, LGS-Europe wrote: >>I'm just an occasional dabbler in plectrum technique and I'm getting >>really confused! Two related things are bothering me - which end of the >>damned feather to use, and (difficult to phrase this one), wobbly or stiff? >> >>A guitar string (or presumably a lute string) or the thin end of a >>feather is very wobbly indeed. Just out of interest I've tried both and I >>can sort of see how they may work. Wouldn't you get a very tinny, 'rebec' >>like sound. >> >>On the other hand, surely a horn or bone (or modern plastic) plectrum or >>even the thick end of a feather would be wholly different. > >I found these pictures and text explaining how to split a feather and make >one of the resulting halves of the tip (the bit stuck into the bird) into >a plectrum, much like a pen, very instructive: > >http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?s=263874652887a855b1a3a0ff8f6a6f14;act=ST;f=6;t=15088
Remarkable. That page looks identical to the one I e-mailed to the list back at the beginning of June...because it is. That set of instructions was crafted by a fellow .nl-er, David: Alex Timmerman in Zwolle. >I've done it with a turkey feather. I've made two quite different plectra >out of one feather. One for fast runs and flexible melodies, one for >strong tenor lines. I'm still hunting for an ostrich, not many around >here, to try the other type of plectrum, and haven't turned my bit of >ossobucco into a plectrum yet, but it's waiting. Cow's horn is also on my >list, but I cannot think of a dish yet. > >Different plectra have quite a different sound, indeed. Choose one that >suits the piece and the ensemble. Indeed. Also as I'd mailed back then, I have gotten consistent results from the body tube of a particular model of Bic ball-point pen. Best, Eugene To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
