damfino said...

I'll see if I can get my nerve up to play today, but still not sure I'm feeling it.  

 

  Not a problem - just do what feels best for you right now.  Sometimes a short break works wonders !   

Many thanks to the players @Tipiaowsek (your first Strings on Sunday - well done!) and Rob van Neil- and of course to the audience.  It was as ever a fun afternoon / evening...

Hope you soon put the "confidence-sapping gremlins" behind you @damfino - just join back in whenever you're ready, but thanks for tuning-in     

Man, I had to laugh - after Kesh Jig I wanted to play Red Wing - well - like those of you who saw it already know - could I get the A-part....   nope - it just kept turning back into Kesh....   I finally got it by starting with the B-part of Red Wing haha - but, that's what it's all about - all good fun....

@Bob - you can still catch my own show on SJ - the "replay" will stay there for another - oh - about 4 hours... LOL

@Bob - cool - thanks for your kind words 

And that was the whole idea of my Strings on Sunday get-togethers - no pressure - no expectations of perfection - nearest thing to a jam session as we could get....

Yup - Billy's Return was effectively my first fiddle tune composition - a kind of slow-air - and I struggled with a name for the tune - finally, "Billy's Return" came to mind, as in my return to writing music (wrote a few tunes and lyrics (guitar and other instruments) years ago).

No, there was no active pickup in use on the "violinola" ( she's called Violetta ) although there are pickups fitted - they allow me to play her through my Boss guitar FX box, octave drop her, and - "voila" the "viola" has the range (if not the actual timbre) of a cello ! - here she is in action as both - 

EDIT:  I should add that the instrument is actually an "old" (late 1970 probably) Chinese SkyLark.   In spite of all my efforts, she's pretty much dead (as a violin) anywhere above E on the A string ( and anywhere on the E ! ).   I had intended to chop her up for firewood (at that time, "she was a he" and was called Hermano del Diablo) but restringing as a viola kind of works.....  it apparently also had the effect of a gender change on the instrument name

AndrewH said
@BillyG I believe at least one string manufacturer is now making "octave" violin and viola strings that sound an octave lower, putting them in cello range. I haven't tried them, but maybe you'd be interested in that kind of thing?  

Yes, thank you @AndrewH - I was aware of that.   For the viola->cello "transformation" the octave strings would be an interesting experiment to observe not only how they sound, but also how they respond and play under the bow.

It is just "one of the many other things on my agenda to mess with" 

One day, one day...

EDIT: Since this topic has re-surfaced - a few tips and "don't do things" if anyone is planning something similar.    (1) I retained the violin G, D, and A strings, just moving them one peg-and-bridge position up so G goes where the D was, D where the A was and A where the E was.   The original E just becomes a spare E for something else....  (2) This is a "don't" - I originally got myself a C string (to fit in place of the original G position) specifically intended for a viola.  However, because of its quite different weight and tension, although it COULD be played, it demanded a lot of bowing-effort and it tended to over-vibrate once set in motion and sounding.  Bad decision.    (3) The final answer was to get a C string intended for a 5-string violin - I chose the Thomastik Vision-Titanium C - specifically designed as a violin string with the normal length, weight and stiffness for a 4/4 violin.  It blends in reasonably well with the remaining original strings (which, I think are currently Dominants - I'd have to check the colors though) in terms of bow-ability and sound.

A fun project if you have a spare fiddle... 

Sunday 3rd Dec - the next "Strings on Sunday" on StreetJelly - come along, join in and play or just watch and listen from your armchair !   8pm GMT for me, should be 3pm EST, but check the SJ calendar for your own timezones....