Violin-Uke

kypfer

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A friend of mine sent me these snaps of an instrument he was shown in a museum near Groningen, Netherlands yesterday.

Looks more like a zither or psaltery to me, apparently it's played with a bow, but it's called a "uke" so I thought some here might find it interesting ;)

Violin-Uke 1.jpg

Violin-Uke 2.jpg
 
Looks like a bowed psaltery to me. The shape has been modernized over the years, but the playing concept for the pictured "violin uke" is still the same. You bow between the metal pins to play each note. Thanks for sharing your friends pictures with us.
Jan D
 
A friend of mine sent me these snaps of an instrument he was shown in a museum near Groningen, Netherlands yesterday.

Looks more like a zither or psaltery to me, apparently it's played with a bow, but it's called a "uke" so I thought some here might find it interesting ;)

View attachment 118165

View attachment 118166

I'd like to know the year it was made. I think "uke" is just a coincidence.
 
They were sold door to door for awhile and advertised as a way to play violin without having to learn to play violin. I've never seen anyone play one well, not even on Youtube.

That's just strange. It has so many extra strings it seems it would be easier to pick up the fiddle.
 
I've got one. Apparently, they were made as recently as the 1950s.

And no, I neither can, nor have ever tried to, play it - my sister found it at craft show, and bought it for me. It is sitting in the attic bedroom, next the the bagpipe chanters, and an Erhu.

-Kurt
 
They were sold door to door for awhile and advertised as a way to play violin without having to learn to play violin. I've never seen anyone play one well, not even on Youtube.

For those who are curious what they would sound like



 
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Gregg Miner has a great 2cd with Christmas instrumentals played on rare and antique stringed instruments. It's not only very good to listen to, but also has lots of info on the actual instruments (including several ukuleles). And it features this ukelin/violin-uke and its siblings Zitho-Harp (two interwoven zithers), Marxophone (a zither with a piano keyboard)) and Tremoloa (four chords, one harmony string but played with a pantograph-style slide bar). Fiona Apple and K.D. Lang used them in recordings as well.
 
These are more often called ukelins and were one of many weird and wonderful instruments that were sold door to door or through catalogs. There were guitar-zithers, mandolin-zithers, pianolins, ukelins and many others. It seems that the Autoharp was the only one to really catch people's attention. All of these others are more often found as wall hangers, because, although not used as musical instruments much any more, they are pretty.

Ukelin - I found in my Grandma's basement. It's in a closet. The bow is missing.
Ukelin_1_.jpg



Mandolin zither - a gift from a cousin. hangs in my music room
Mandolinzither.jpg

Guitar zither - hangs in my back room
guitar zither.jpg

Pianolin - not mine
pianolin 2.jpg

Autoharps - I do use these
autoharps on couch (2).jpg
 
Good grief! Imagine tuning these before electronic tuners. You'd need a whole set of tuning forks like the piano tuners used to have and one heck of an ear for exact notes.

Really interesting thread.
 
Good grief! Imagine tuning these before electronic tuners. You'd need a whole set of tuning forks like the piano tuners used to have and one heck of an ear for exact notes.

Really interesting thread.
I taught school for over 30 years. Each new school I taught at, starting in 1967, had a dusty, out-of-tune Autoharp in a store room. I would get them out, repair and clean them and tune them up. When the other teachers heard my class singing to the Autoharp, they wanted to use them too, and we often had sign-up sheets for folks to use the Autoharp. When I moved to a new school and talked to the teachers in the school I'd left, I would ask how much use the Autoharp was getting. They'd usually say, "It went out of tune, so nobody uses it any more."
It usually took me about 15 minutes to tune the 'harp. I'd tune it to an in-tune guitar. The lowest note on the Autoharp is the F note at the first fret of the 6th string of the guitar and the highest is the C note at the 20th fret of the 1st string.
I hope with the advent of electronic tuners, that folks will get those instruments out and start using them again.
 
Haha, no one "takes a stab" at violin and does well. Start at age 5. Practice 8 hours every day. Then you might play good enough to enjoy playing it!
I've always wanted to learn violin, but I don't think my cat's ears would thank me for it! She seems to enjoy the uke, though...
 
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