Laith - 1-1-2014 at 11:23 PM
Ran across this on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/CUMBUS-TURKISH-BOWED-BANJO-KEMENCE-/2009997...
It looks like a cumbus but with the bridge of another instrument (maybe a sarod?) Any ideas what this is and if it is part of the usual cumbus family?
Thanks!
adamgood - 1-2-2014 at 06:34 AM
For sure that is someone's experiment and must sound pretty cool. I wonder though if the playing string is high enough to get some nice bowing action
or if the bow bumps the body too much.
adamgood - 1-2-2014 at 06:36 AM
Actually it would be a great idea for someone to make those bridges and sell them on ebay!
NeighborOud - 1-2-2014 at 12:13 PM
Interesting, but the price is a bit over the top! Adding a bridge is a nice idea, but not to double the price of the instrument...
Laith - 1-2-2014 at 11:18 PM
I totally agree about the price. I really wish there was a sound clip for it. I changed out the bridge on my cumbus with a saddle blank and got a
really nice "sitar buzzy" sound with it--so the idea of modifying it even more with that style of bridge is fascinating. Might have to contact the
seller and see if they have a sound sample of it.
adamgood - 1-3-2014 at 07:26 AM
something like this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcjqhH5wa_4
Laith - 1-3-2014 at 08:23 PM
Thanks for the link! I did contact the seller about the modification and this was his answer: "hello,
i do not have sound sample's, the sound produced is much like A Sarangi-with An Errie Ecco... but has cello tone..... yes I modified the Ccumus
myself. thankx". So I guess it's a Yali Cumbus but with a slightly different bridge. Mystery solved!
Jack_Campin - 1-5-2014 at 01:57 PM
It's not a yayli tanbur, that has a long tanbur-like neck.
I don't think the design is quite right. Without adding more tuners, it would be better to allocate seven strings to sympathetics, add two drones,
and reduce the melody strings to three, to get something like an Afghan rubab.