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Cross-Tuned
Mandolins
Q I read with interest
your review of the CD Mac, Doc, and Del [Hit List, May],
and I was interested in the item referring to Ronnie McCoury's "cross-tuned"
mandolin. Could you explain this tuning principle?
Jeff Wethevill
Darlington, Durham, England
A cross-tuned fiddle or
mandolin is one whose tuning varies from the standard G D A E.
Like open tunings on the guitar, cross tunings create alternate
voicings for specific tunes, offer extended harmonic possibilities,
and provide additional drone strings. On the mandolin, cross tunings
can be used to remarkable effect by taking advantage of the string
pairings. The separate strings of a pair can be retuned to a specific
interval so that when melodies are played on that pair an automatic
parallel harmony is sounded.
Bill Monroe used cross tuning on several bluegrass classics, including
"Get Up John" (F#A DD AA DE) and "My Last Days on
Earth" (G#G# C#C# G#B C#E). The tuning Ronnie McCoury
used on "Black Mountain Rag" was GG DD GG BD, a step
down from the old-time fiddle tuning A E A C# commonly
known as Black Mountain tuning. Mandolin pioneer Radim Zenkl built
an entire CD (Galactic Mandolin) around a series of complex
cross tunings, such as GbG DbD AbA EbE, and Jesse
McReynolds and Jethro Burns both perfected an innovative approach
to cross tuning on the fly by learning to fret single notes within
a pair without retuning the strings. Using this "split-string" technique
allows you to vary the intervals of the string-pair harmony to suit
the chordal structure of each tune. Frank Wakefield's idiosyncratic
mandolin compositions also feature a wide variety of cross tunings
and split-string techniques.
—Paul Kotapish
Setting
Up An Open Mic
Q How do I go about starting
an open-mic night? What kind of equipment do I need?
Jennifer R. Lundquist
Goose Bay, Newfoundland, Canada
A Setting up an open mic
shouldn't be too difficult; finding a venue is often the hardest
part. Depending on the size of the place and the crowd, you might
find that you can get away without any PA equipment, making it more
an open stage than an open mic. There's a café close to where
I live in San Francisco that does it that way, and it works out
really well.
If you feel that you need a PA, you have a lot of choices. Probably
the simplest thing to do would be to get a package deal that includes
two speakers and a combined amplifier/mixer. Companies like Carvin,
Crate, Fender, and JBL all offer basic systems like this, with prices
starting at around $500. It's always a good idea to get the speakers
off the floor on stands. You'll also need a couple of mics (sturdy
ones like Shure SM-57s or SM-58s are a good choice), mic stands,
and cables to hook everything up. Having a DI box would also be
nice, as it improves the sound of pickups plugged directly into
the mixer. You should familiarize yourself with the equipment before
using it live for the first time to avoid problems.
Once you have a place and whatever equipment you think you need,
it's time to do some advertising. At the very least, put up some
flyers in the venue itself a few weeks ahead of time. If you're
in a small town, you can probably get the local papers to write
an announcement about the event. Talk it up among all the musicians
you know; the more people that show up the first time, the better.
Think about how you want to structure the evening. How will you
decide the order of the performers? How much time will each performer
get? What does it take to be a good emcee?
I find that the best open mics are the ones that take place regularly
at a set time (such as every other Friday night). That way people
don't have to call ahead to find out whether it's on, and it's easier
to build a regular crowd.
—Teja Gerken
Scalloped
Fingerboards
Q I'm curious about the
origins and advantages of scalloped fingerboards. Does scalloping
the fingerboard increase the ease and speed of fretting individual
notes and chords?
Mark Griffin
Minneapolis, Minnesota
A The earliest frets I'm
aware of were made of gut and tied onto the neck of the instrument.
This system is still used on the Turkish saz, the European lute,
and some fretted and bowed viol-style instruments, such as the arpeggione.
Tied-on frets lie very close to the fingerboard, and when luthiers
first started using ivory and later metal for fret wire, they kept
the frets quite low. Scalloped fingerboards may have originated
because luthiers were inlaying the frets flush and then scalloping
the fingerboard in between the frets.
As far as I know, the earliest modern scalloped fingerboard on
a steel-string guitar appeared on a Philip Interdonati built in
the late '20s or early '30s and now owned by Marc Silber. This is
a remarkable instrument not only for its fingerboard and adjustable
intonation saddle design, but also for its incredible workmanship
and decoration.
Some contemporary users of scalloped fingerboards include John
McLaughlin, who has a Wechter guitar so equipped for better playing
pieces influenced by Indian classical music, and Yngwie Malmsteen,
the Swedish rock virtuoso. Scalloped fingerboards can make it difficult
to achieve proper intonation because you need to play with very
exact finger pressure, but the fact that you can get lots of finger
pad under and around the string makes bending notes a lot easier.
It's also easier to play glissando with a scalloped fingerboard,
but I'm not sure that it increases actual speed.
—Rick Turner
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