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Honorary advisor
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Nice! It sounds like she's got a dark, mellow voice! You've got a winner there 
Mary in Springfield, Oregon http://www.thefiddleandbanjopr.....dpress.com
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A couple comments about the fiddle:
It has never had a chinrest installed, cuz Grampa didn't fiddle that way! I am undecided if I will use one or not - we'll see what is most comfortable for me.
The knobs are broken off of the D and A string tuners, so I have to tune with pliers. The two remaining knobs are pretty brittle as well. New knobs are on order and should arrive sometime next week. The screw on the E string tuner seemed to be loose. I think this was affecting the ability to keep the proper tension on the string, not sure.
I have a tin ear anyway, so I am utterly dependent on my electronic tuner
Fiddle On!
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I like it. Anxious to hear it when you get the tuners working and put on the pressure. Especially the E
I suggest that you definitely put a chin-rest on. You may decide not to have a shoulder-rest but a chinrest would help the sound. Unless you play with it on your chest or stomach and not really hold it instead. I can't advise you on that technique since it is not something that I suggest for optimal technique.
The thing is that you will also be protecting the finish on the top by not having your chin touching the top.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Thanks FM.
I finally got the original chinrest on the fiddle last night. It took a pair of pliers to bend it so it would stay, since it has never been mounted.
And yes, my Grampa was one of those old-time fiddlers that held the fiddle to his chest when he played. He could play standing, sitting, or leaning back in his recliner if the mood took him.
Me, I'll just be happy to produce a recognizable tune!
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Well, I posted this info yesterday, but it seems to have vanished into cyberspace...
I took Grandma shoe shopping yesterday, and we were talking in the truck about the fiddle and my progress. It turns out she bought the fiddle as a Christmas gift in 1946 from a "hock shop" in Topeka KS, so it is anyone's guess how old it is or where it came from. There is no label inside that I have found. It was my Grandpa's pride and joy, and I am just happy to let her sing again.
I will post some vid or pics when I put the new tuner knobs on, per the request of Dennis.
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Thanks Dyonisia, good to see the beast at last. Now looking forward to hearing you give us a tune on it 
I am amazed at how old people of my age are.....
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OMG!
I just had my fiddle turned over to tape on the pdf printout for the "frets", and when I picked up the fiddle, lo and behold - a rattlesnake rattle lay on the bed!
Now I HAVE to know what the story is about fiddles and rattles. 
[whoa - tha math problems are gone!]
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You're almost up to 99 posts in any case which means that you will not be needing to do any post spam control whatsoever soon. You still have to do the image drag and drop captcha right?
You guys like that?
Did the rattle come from the fiddle case?
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Fiddlerman said
Did the rattle come from the fiddle case?
Nope. The rattle fell out of the fiddle itself. I knew I heard something still inside the fiddle after I vacuumed out the dust bunnies. I just figured it was the post string sliding around.
I haven't tried posting any pics lately - I have been procrastinating on getting my new tuner knobs put on.
Somehow, Life seems to get in the way!
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'Cat' sent me a picture of her fiddle with the rattle laying next to the F hole, and told of the bluegrass tradition of placing a rattle in the fiddle. Go back thru those posts and you'll see her info on the subject.
That pic is in the calander of the rattle and fiddle by the way.
September 2012
"If you practice with your hands you must practice all day. Practice with your mind and you can accomplish the same amount in minutes." Nathan Milstein
Pro advisor
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Good stuff, the rattles help make a nice crunch sound. Guitar players used to turn up their amps to 11 to get that sound. The band, "the Kinks" were in the recording studio recording, "You Really Got Me" and one of the speakers was ripped so they were trying to figure out how to get a new speaker and the engineer said NO! Let's use that sound.... A couple years later electronic distortion boxes of all types were selling like hot cakes.
http://www.youtube.com/v/dvyDWGF290M
Same types of ideas for the snare drum.
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Thanks for that vid MGN. I really like the Kinks, but I never pictured them rocking out dressed in suits like that... it must have been pretty uncomfortable.
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I wonder wheere the rest of the snake is!
do you have a violin case with a little cubbyhole in it??
I am amazed at how old people of my age are.....
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LOL Terry!
That case has been sitting upstairs in my grandma's house my entire life. That poor old snake is LOOOONNNNGGG gone by now.
Here is something else from upstairs at my grandma's - the toy fiddles she bought for my dad in hope that he would learn to play [he didn't].
sorry - for some reason the picture loaded upside down.
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you say they are toys, what size?
did any more rattlers tails fall out when the picture ended upside down?
I am amazed at how old people of my age are.....
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Terry said
you say they are toys, what size?
They are just over 14 inches long. The darker colored one is tin with steel strings. The lighter colored one is celluloid with gut strings. The bow is strung with real hair, but the past 60 years of storage in a closet with no heat or cooling has caused it to warp pretty badly. Grandma says the tin one used to have a bow as well, but she doesn't know what happened to it. I think with a bit of rosin on the bow they would actually produce sound...
did any more rattlers tails fall out when the picture ended upside down?
Sorry Terry. I know you would just love to have one too!
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