Don Rickert Musical Instruments

The Tenor Guitar: An Odd Loner without a Real Family

Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop. The Tenor Guitar: An Odd Loner without a Real Family http://www.rickertmusicalinstruments.com/2015/08/the-tenor-guitar-an-odd-loner-without-a-real-family.html Prelude This article is by D. Rickert Musical Instruments and its online store, Don Rickert Musician Shop. We hope that you find this article interesting in its own right. That being said, the article is a background piece to an article that proposes a new graduated family of 4 or 5-string steel-strung instruments, tuned in 5ths and intended primarily for melodic playing rather than rhythmic chords. The instruments are designed to be played with a plectrum (pick). The instruments, as well as plans and kits for building them, will be available very soon at the Don Rickert Musician Shop. Introduction The tenor guitar is more or less a fluke (i.e. an accident) of musical instrument design history. It is a bit smaller than a 6-string guitar with a slightly shorter playable scale (23” vs. 25”-25.5”). It has four strings tuned in 5ths (just like the violin and mandolin families). Okay, an instrument of the tenor guitar’s size tuned in 5ths would be appropriate for a melody instrument tuned an octave lower than a violin or mandolin; essentially a single course octave mandolin. Note: The Octave Mandolin did not appear until about 40 years after the tenor guitar. Well, it is not. What we call the “Historic Tenor Guitar” is tuned way higher than an instrument of its size should be (rather, it is tuned like a viola: C-G-D-A) and traditionally is NOT... Read more →

Don Rickert Musician Shop: Your Source for Unique Bowed and Fretted Instruments and Accessories Ranging from Baroque Period to Today’s Cutting Edge

Don Rickert Musician Shop (D. Rickert Musical Instruments): Your Source for Unique Bowed and Fretted Instruments and Accessories Ranging from Baroque Period to Today’s Cutting Edge Introduction It is quite clear that we are the place to come for the unique stuff…things you just cannot get at either the corner music store, traditional violin shops or the online mega-stores. What are these things that musicians, and the occasional museum, come to us for? Over the 9 years we have been in business, our analysis of search engine “hits” to our websites and online store, corroborated by actuals sales records, indicates that we are best known, in descending order for the following: Modern Travel and Backpacker Violins The world’s finest and more models (to meet different player needs)…5 base models; all customizable! We sell more travel violins than anything else, by a long shot. Yup, real musicians are willing to pay 3 to 5 times as much for a real luthier-built travel violin than for a toy instrument. See the Bowed Instruments (Regular Offerings) > Travel and Backpacker Fiddles at the Don Rickert Musician Shop Octave Violins, Violas and Octave Violas (aka “Chin Cellos”) Best and most innovative. Ours have been played by some of the greatest fiddle innovators in the world. Our instruments are on some CDs by some of the greats, including the musician responsible for the re-birth of the octave violin, Darol Anger (and most recently Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas, their “Abundance” CD). For our current offerings,... Read more →

About Stromberg-Voisinet and it Successor, Kay Musical Instruments and How This Relates to D. Rickert Musical Instruments

Attention!: This is an older post. We are currently working on newer and better instruments in this category. Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop. Introduction This article relates to several new instruments to be announced soon (or will have been announced by the time you read this) by D. Rickert Musical Instruments and available from the Don Rickert Musician Shop. These new luthier-built (i.e. not factory made and not cheap!) instruments by D. Rickert are all based on a design motif introduced by a company called Stromberg-Voisinet in the 1920s. The design motif is quite distinctive and is called the “Venetian” style. Stromberg-Voisinet and Kay Musical Instruments The Groeshel Mandolin Company was established in Chicago in 1890. In 1921, the company was renamed to Stromberg-Voisinet. In 1923, Henry Kay Kuhrmeyer joined the company. He later became president. In 1928, with help of an investor, bought the company. The new company, "Kay Musical Instruments" was formally established in 1931 from the assets of Stromberg-Voisinet. Stromberg-Voisinet primarily manufactured mandolins, tenor guitars, tenor banjos and 6-string guitars under its own brand as well as a large number of other brands, as Stromberg-Voisinet was an OEM supplier to many other manufacturers. Kay Musical Instruments continued this practice; however, Kay did sell many instruments under its own brand, “KayKraft.” Stromberg-Voisinet has a special place in guitar history. Stromberg-Voisinet produced the first commercial electric guitar, the Stromberg Electro, in 1928. Stromberg-Voisinet is particulary well-known among serious students of stringed instrument design for its unique “Venetian”... Read more →

Octave Mando-Guitar (Guitar Style Octave Mandolin) by D. Rickert Musical Instruments

Attention!: This is an older post. We are currently working on newer and better instruments in this category. Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop. The new D. Rickert Octave Mando-Guitar is available now at the Don Rickert Musician Shop (D. Rickert Musical Instruments) For reasons discussed in the article The Octave Mandolin and its Relative, the Octave Mando-Guitar, we were absolutely certain that we wanted our first Octave Mandolin to be of the Mando-Guitar type. We decided to base the instrument on the best all-around tenor guitar we could find. That turned out to be a Gold Tone TG-18 Tenor Guitar. We start with a new TG-18 tenor and make the following major modifications: Re-work the headstock into our shape (loosely based on a Stromberg-Voisinet mandolin head stock of the 1920s or later KayKraft models) and modify it appropriately for 8 Gotoh tuners. Replace the 4-string nut with a new Micarta nut that is grooved appropriately for 8 strings. Remove the fixed pin type bridge Repair the instrument top where the bridge was (e.g. expertly filling the bridge pin holes, glue removal, varnish repair, etc.) Craft a custom movable type bridge from ebony with a TUSQ™ saddle (Note: if you choose to have a pickup installed, the bridge may or may not have a TUSQ™ saddle) Key Features Based on Gold Tone TG-18 Tenor Guitar body Solid Sitka Spruce Top Mahogany Back and Sides Mahogany Neck Double Action Truss Rod Ebony Fingerboard Ebony Bridge (moveable mandolin type) Gotoh Tuners... Read more →

The Octave Mandolin and its Relative, the Octave Mando-Guitar

Attention!: This is an older post. We are currently working on newer and better instruments in this category. Please visit the Don Rickert Musician Shop. The Octave Mandolin and its Relative, the Octave Mando-Guitar This article is associated with the announcement of a new 4-course (8-string) by D. Rickert Musical Instruments and available at the Don Rickert Musician Shop. Introduction The octave mandolin is a fretted string instrument with four pairs of strings tuned in unison fifths, G, D, A, E (low to high), an octave below a mandolin. It has a 20 to 23-inch scale length and its construction has generally been, until recently, is similar to other instruments in the mandolin family, particularly those of the flat-top type rather than the carved arch-top (e.g. Gibson “A” or “F” types) type. Octave mandolins did not exist in the early 20th Century, which was the heyday of amateur mandolin orchestras. The primary use of the octave mandolin has been in Celtic music, particularly Irish Traditional Music; however, Octave mandolins have occasionally found their place in modern mandolin orchestras as a replacement for the mandola or alto mandolin. Octave mandolins have also found their way into progressive folk music throughout continental Europe, particularly in Scandinavian and Eastern European bands. The Octave mandolin is also enjoying ever-increasing popularity among Bluegrass and Old-Time mandolin players. The Irish Bouzouki and Irish Octave Mandolin By my reckoning, about 5 decades ago a “tipping” point occurred whereby independent luthiers in the U.S., U.K. and Ireland starting... Read more →