Any carbon lutes out there?

[Bax Burgess]

The harp has signed up. The upright bass, the grand piano, are they on board? Imagine a carbon upright bass dominating the jazz mix. Scary?

[kramster]

Originally Posted by Bax Burgess

The harp has signed up. The upright bass, the grand piano, are they on board? Imagine a carbon upright bass dominating the jazz mix. Scary?

"They" make the all.. cello, violin, the bell of the trumpet and bone ...all good and cool and less scary than you think, I think.

[Bax Burgess]

What I fear the most is that there will never be a carbon hurdy-gurdy or dare I say a didgeridoo.

[ac]

Photo from a music shop in Istanbul several years ago.

Carbon fiber bağlamas. Not a lute or oud excactly, but if seriously asked, they would likely build one.

Tradition being what it is in the middle east, these two didn't exactly sell too well.

[kramster]

Plus the strings are facing down.

[AZLiberty]

Originally Posted by Bax Burgess

What I fear the most is that there will never be a carbon hurdy-gurdy or dare I say a didgeridoo.

Too late. Carbony makes carbon fiber Irish flutes, pennywhistles, and didgeridoos:

https://carbony.com/products/didgeridoos/

[Bax Burgess]

Super Boom Didgeridoo
High Backpressure Didgeridoo

That's how to tag an item.

On Fire Lyre
Standup & Salute Lute

[Bax Burgess]

Originally Posted by ac

Photo from a music shop in Istanbul several years ago.

Carbon fiber bağlamas. Not a lute or oud excactly, but if seriously asked, they would likely build one.

Tradition being what it is in the middle east, these two didn't exactly sell too well.

Maybe it was sticker shock, comparing the price of those cheapy guitars to the bağlamas'.

[Earl49]

Or maybe all six players that wanted a CF lute got one.... market saturated.

[Bax Burgess]

Originally Posted by Earl49

Or maybe all six players that wanted a CF lute got one.... market saturated.

Or the one player who bought all six.

[ac]

The shop sells their own custom wood bağlamas and that's almost the only thing you see in every direction. The Martin's or Taylors of bağlamas.

That handful of dreadful & cheap guitars happened to be in the path of the photo at the time. There were no others in the shop, as I recall. I visited again some years after that and don't recall seeing any guitars at all at that time.

There are a couple dozen other music stores on the same street that sell higher end guitars--but no carbon fiber for sure.

[ac]

Originally Posted by kramster

Plus the strings are facing down.

As you might imagine, the bağlamas don't survive well when placed on their backs. Tend to roll over pretty fast!

Usually seen hanging up by the neck or leaning in an upright position.

[ac]

What a bağlama sounds like . . . found a few instrumentals without vocals. YouTube. Sound quality not great.

AC;

You've done some interesting travel. I've never heard of a baglamas (and never visited Istanbul). They look way cool and I have to wonder how you could resist buying one--or did you?

[ac]

Originally Posted by EvanB

AC;

You've done some interesting travel. I've never heard of a baglamas (and never visited Istanbul). They look way cool and I have to wonder how you could resist buying one--or did you?

Borrowed one once from a friend, then took some lessons from a pro for a few months. Learned to play by reading notes actually--something I can't do on a guitar. Notes are a bit different on paper also since they include microtonal notes. For various reasons, I needed to discontinue lessons and I never bought one for myself, even though, in terms of guitar prices, they are not that costly. Felt I needed to get back to guitar as I still have so much to learn and discovered I haven't enough time to spread to many other instruments.

These instruments are commonly referred to as saz, though technically, the word just means "instrument". In normal life, it's used to describe the bağlama and similar instruments. There are different lengths for essentially the same instrument, from very short to very, very long necks. Each has it's own special name and few know them other than the common bağlama. Hence "saz" is a catch all. BTW, the "ğ" character is silent, so that will affect how it's pronounced.

I do have a few other local instruments though, more than I use. Plan to sell them eventually.