billkilpatrick
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stupid experiment
i did something stupid to my charango in removing its frets. i left the fret closest to the nut in place and when struck, the strings ring as bright
as before with the same projection and sustain. when the strings are stopped, however, the charango sounds as dead as a door-knob.
anyone have any ideas as to why this should be?
i was hoping to find the same fluidity on a fretless charango that i find on the oud. the fingerboard doesn't appear to be interferring with the
strings; the height of the nut and bridge hasn't changed ...
... wh'ass'up?
science stumbles on ...
- bill
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Jameel
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because now you are stopping the string with your finger, whereas before the frets were stopping the string--your finger simply pushing down on the
string until it contacted the fret. Same reason why classical guitars and lutes have such clean notes all the way up the fingerboard. Can't happen
with a fleshy finger.
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Jason
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If only you had metal fingers....
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billkilpatrick
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makes sense but why doesn't the same happen on an oud?
- bill
" ... oh the thimbles on her fingers made the noise ..."
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Peyman
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Erkan Ogur plays a classical guitar without frets. If you do some research about fretless guitars you might find out what to do.
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Brian Prunka
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two guesses about this:
1: Charango has metal strings, right? The smaller diameter (compared to nylon strings) would mean that a relatively larger percentage of the string
is being muted by the flesh of your finger when you press it down . . . maybe this is a factor.
2: if the fingerboard is a soft wood (likely on an inexpensive instrument, especially if it was designed to be fretted), then the fingerboard may also
have a dampening effect. A very hard wood, metal or synthetic fingerboard might help.
These are just my guesses, I'm no string theorist.
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Jameel
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Brian Prunka
I'm no string theorist. |
Love it! 
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billkilpatrick
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| Quote: | Originally posted by billkilpatrick
makes sense but why doesn't the same happen on an oud?
- bill
" ... oh the thimbles on her fingers made the noise ..." |
answered my own question: the bowl.
the charango has a bowl as well but nothing as large as the oud and size, obviously, matters. someone on another site likened any fretless instrument
of the charango's size to the sound of a violin being plucked. be they mandolins, charangos, whatever that little greek thing is that drives people
out of cafe's holding their ears ... without frets, they just don't have sufficient bowl size to resonate properly.
je regret - bill
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excentrik
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Brian- Charangos have nylon strings- My Charango (a Peruvian armadillo...very illegal) is made of some really nice wood- the fretboard is hard as a
rock...
tarik
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