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Various new designs
As a multi instrumentalist who specializes in playing lead, I have had a go at every instrument that I could get my hands on. Eventually, I realized that the instruments I visualized and wanted to play usually combined elements from several different instruments.
The problem with creating new instruments is that there is no existing market for them. They are usually purchased by people who see and play them at a musical event. Sometimes people see them on the net and can identify with them.
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This instrument is like a bouzouki but with a fixed bridge and 5 courses of strings, it is more like a Brazilian guitar (viola caipira). The lower 3 courses are tuned in octaves. I found that it was just like playing a really clear 12 string guitar, but without the bass string. I intend to make another with fluorocarbon strings which will be more like a lute. |
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This instrument is a mandolin, except for the fixed bridge and the fluorocarbon strings. This makes a subtle difference to the sound, in that it sounds more like a classical Italian mandolin than like a bluegrass instrument, but it makes a huge difference to the feel of playing it. I can play them at high speed with minimum effort using a plectrum. Playing with fingernails, I can use Latin strums like a charango, cross pick it like a banjo, or pluck it like a lute. The strings are Worth clear E-.47, A-.62, D-.81 and G is a classical guitar A string. Here is a video playing it with fingers. and another video playing it with a plectrum |
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This instrument is technically a ukulele because of the tuning, GCEA, but the sound has a lot more body. As I played it, I kept thinking of a small lute and it came to be called a "luke" The carbon strings, the shape and the bracing, give it a range of tones more like a small guitar than a uke. This one was a prototype, and when I make more lukes, they will look more like the mandolin above. |
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Fluorocarbon was invented about 25 years ago by Kureha Chemical in Japan with the name polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). It is used mostly as fishing leader because it is invisible in water, holds a lot of weight, and the fish can't bite through it.
Fluorocarbon strings look like nylon but the similarity stops there. Being stronger, you can use a thinner string at higher tension. The attack and sustain of the note is somewhere between steel and nylon strings. They seem match the tone of the wound strings on a classical guitar better than nylon strings do and are now popular with a lot of classical guitarists.