hoosierhiver
Well-known member
Has anyone ever played uke with a psaltry bow?,do you have to rosin the bow and does that mess with your strings?
Psaltry bow
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GrumpyCoyote
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It's been a while, but the psaltry bow I used was nylon wound with no rosin needed (this reminds me of how much I liked to play that thing)
I suspect that it all depends on the bow. Horsehair would likely require rosin...
Rosin is abrasive, but I don't think it would be too messy - Then again, I could be wrong.
Very curious to hear what sounds you get out of it... let us know.
tHeDirTyJoHnSon
Well-known member
I'm reasonably new to all this,,whats a psaltry bow????
Enlight
Member
I just looked up what a psaltery bow was, and if its anything like a bow used for violin or something then it'll probably do the same thing.
I used a cheap ukulele with nylon strings so i didn't really think about any damage that might occur. The bow really just acted like a really bad slide type thing. You can try if you ever feel the need or are just curious, but the sound is not pretty! you know how when you play a violin or something and it does one consecutive note? the pitch changes (on the uke) depending on where the bow is.
Any way, if anyone finds out if it actually is damaging or not then i'd encourage you to try it out (just for fun) if theres no harm. Or you could try it just before you change your strings.
I used a cheap ukulele with nylon strings so i didn't really think about any damage that might occur. The bow really just acted like a really bad slide type thing. You can try if you ever feel the need or are just curious, but the sound is not pretty! you know how when you play a violin or something and it does one consecutive note? the pitch changes (on the uke) depending on where the bow is.
Any way, if anyone finds out if it actually is damaging or not then i'd encourage you to try it out (just for fun) if theres no harm. Or you could try it just before you change your strings.
Yopparai
Well-known member
I haven't tried it on my uke, but I did try it on my cello banjo with nylon strings, but even with rosin, my bow just didn't get a good grab on the nylon. I don't know if that is the norm, but it just didn't seem like I could get much sound out of it.
I will have to try it on the uke. I recently heard a cut with a guy bowing his guitar that I thought was great.
I will have to try it on the uke. I recently heard a cut with a guy bowing his guitar that I thought was great.
jackf
Well-known member
Oh - that's what you meant!
OP
OP
hoosierhiver
Well-known member
I haven't had alot of time to experiment with this lately,but I've also found that there isn't enough "grab" with the nylon strings to make much sound.I was also concerned that any rosin would leave goo on the strings.Maybe I'll try stringing up a uke with some metal mandolin strings.
Pippin
Well-known member
My bow psaltery was strung with piano-wire. I never tried to play the ukulele with that bow, however, to get the right friction, I would recommend rosin. My bow psaltery was made by Unicorn Strings, which I believe was the nicest I've ever found. I sold it last summer to a lady that was totally enchanted by them.
Pippin
Well-known member
Here is a couple of pictures of the psaltery that I had...
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