Adventurous Muse: Musical Instruments and Whimsical Things

Authentic Cases for 19th Century Musical Instruments

The type of case usually used for fiddles and guitars of the mid-19th century is often called a "coffin" case, owing to its resemblance to a coffin. Coffin cases were sometimes used for banjos as well. Here are some examples of some actual cases for period guitars and a pretty worn out fiddle case.

   

Shown below is a design diagram for the coffin cases that we will be selling. They will be made from 3/8" pine lined with heavy felt and will be available with either an oiled finish or painted black, per common practice. All joints will be super-strong box joints.

 

The cases will sell for about $325 for a guitar case and $220 for a fiddle case.

We will also be making heavy duty weather resistant fabric cases for guitars, fiddles, banjos and Irish harps.

All cases will be available in the Musicians' Sutlery section of the Adventurous Muse Store.

The Old Mill 1857 Martin Guitar Reproduction

Plans for this historic instrument were taken from an actual Civil War era Martin. This gut-strung Martin replica, far smaller than the Dreadnoughts of today, is what musicians actually played in the mid-19th Century. It is the direct ancestor of the Martin 000 steel-strung guitars of the early 20th Century. I will soon be available, as will its wooden "coffin" case in the Musicians' Sutlery section of the Adventurous Muse Store.

Free Mountaineer Backpacker Fiddle at Adventurous Muse

Of course there is a catch...you've got to purchase $600 or more worth of stuff from the Adventurous Muse Store. It is that simple. Delivery time on the Mountaineer Backpacker fiddle will be about 6 weeks.

How Much Longer for the Robert Burns Birthday Sale?

Robert's birthday was almost a week ago, but we promise to keep it going until Saturday, 3:43am EST...maybe even 7:59am EST.

Just to reiterate; that is 20% off of everything at Adventurous Muse except our new Mountaineer Backpacker Fiddle (it's already priced low enough) and CodaBows. We already sell them at the maximum discount allowed by CodaBow, which is 10%.

Special Offers at Adventurous Muse Store

Special offer #1: Any purchase over $50...get a FREE copy of Cigar Box Fiddles: About Them & How to Make Them. We'll send you the link as soon as your purchase clears.

A number of customers (who paid $30 for the book) have already completed lovely cigar box fiddles using this book as their guide.

This book provides a general introduction to cigar box fiddles, their history, the differences between the solid wood 19th Century style fiddles and “modern” cigar box fiddles made from cheap plywood. The majority of the book deals with the actual making of two different types of cigar box fiddle, as well as a variation, a whiskey bottle box fiddle. 150 pages with over 100 illustrations.

 Link to comprehensive outline and the book cover.

Go to the Adventurous Muse Store to claim your copy...yeah, you've gotta buy something first.

Old Mill Historic Banjos at Adventurous Muse

Don Rickert Design is launching a new line of musical instruments under the Old Mill brand. The name obviously is derived from our new studio and workshop on the grounds of the historic Old Roswell Mill in Roswell, GA.; furthermore, we like the way it rolls of the tongue.

Initial offerings from Old Mill Musical Instruments will be reproductions of historic mid-19th Century through early 20th Century instruments. The mid-19th Century instruments are targeted to Civil War history enthusiasts and Re-enactors, who want want the most authentic instruments available anywhere.

Here is some information about our first four historic Old Mill banjo reproductions, to be available at the  Adventurous Muse online store soon.

19th Century Minstrel Banjo (1840s - 1860s)

This one will be very similar to the instrument depicted in William Sidney Mount's famous painting, The Banjo  Player, shown here.

Features:

• Maple or Walnut Neck
• Boucher-style headstock
• Violin-type tuning pegs
• No truss rod (a 20the Century invention)
• Ebony or rosewood flat fingerboard
• 5 or 6 string configuration (note: the 6-string is NOT a guitar banjo, but rather a banjo with an extra low drone string)
• Fretless or tied "gut" frets
• 11" rim
• Maple dowel stick with nickle-plated bracket, ferrel and end-bolt
• NO tone ring (a 20the Century invention)
• Brass tension ring
• 8 brackets
• Nylogut Minstrel Strings
• Remo FiberSkyn or genuine skin head (add $75)

Transitional Minstrel-Early Old-Time Open-Back Banjo 

The type of banjo was probably available during the 1860s but was more common in the 1870s. The one pictured has metal frets, which would have been an 1880s retrofit.

Features:

• Maple or Walnut Neck
• Square headstock
• Violin-type tuning pegs...5th string peg in modern orientation, as illustrated in the photo
• No truss rod (a 20the Century invention)
• Ebony or rosewood flat fingerboard
• 5 or 6 string configuration (note: the 6-string is NOT a guitar banjo, but rather a banjo with an extra low drone string)
• Fretless, tied or or metal frets (metal frets would have been a retrofit in the 1880s)
• 11" rim
• Maple dowel stick with nickle-plated bracket, ferrel and end-bolt
• NO tone ring (a 20the Century invention)
• Groved tension ring
• 12 brackets
• Nylogut Minstrel Strings
• Remo FiberSkyn or genuine skin head (add $75)

1880s Style Old-Time Open-Back Banjo

Features:

• Maple or Walnut Neck
• "Modern" headstock
• Friction Pegs - non-geared 5th string peg
• No Truss Rod
• Ebony or rosewood fingerboard
• 5 or 6 string configuration (note: the 6-string is NOT a guitar banjo, but rather a banjo with an extra low drone string)
• Metal frets (metal frets were introduced in 1878)
• 11" rim
• Maple dowel stick with nickle-plated bracket, ferrel and end-bolt
• NO tone ring
• Grooved tension ring
• 16 brackets
• Nylogut Minstrel Strings
• Remo FiberSkyn or genuine skin head (add $75)

Late 19th Century/Early 20th Century Old-Time Open Back Banjo

Features

• Maple Neck
• Modern headstock
• Friction-type tuning pegs...non-geared 5th string peg in modern orientation
• Truss Rod
• Ebony or rosewood fingerboard
• 5-String
• Metal frets
• 11" rim
• Maple dowel stick with nickle-plated bracket, ferrel and end-bolt
• Rolled brass tone ring
• Grooved tension ring
• 18 brackets
• Nylogut Minstrel Strings
• Remo FiberSkyn or genuine skin head (add $75)

"Modern" Old-Time Old-Time Open-Back Banjo

Features:

• Maple Neck
• Modern Style headstock
• Planetary tuning pegs...geared 5th string peg in modern orientation
• Dual-Action truss rod
• Ebony or rosewood fingerboard
• 5-String
• Metal frets
• 11" rim
• Single rim rod and neck attachment bolt
• Whyte Ladyie Tone Ring
• Notched tension ring
• 24 brackets
• Metal Strings (buyer's preference)
• Remo FiberSkyn head or buyer's preference

The Irish, the Harp and Civil War

The minstrel boy to the war is gone,
In the ranks of death ye will find him;
His father's sword he hath girded on,
And his wild harp slung behind him;
"Land of Song!" cried the warrior bard,
"Tho' all the world betrays thee,
One sword, at least, thy rights shall guard,
One faithful harp shall praise thee!"

("The Minstrel Boy", known by anyone with even a drop of Irish blood in his or her veins, is an Irish patriotic song written by Thomas Moore (1779-1852) in remembrance of friends killed during the Irish Rebellion of 1798.)

The Harp is mentioned twice in first verse. The instrument has deep symbolic significance of every Irishman. There were Irish-only (not necessarily their own choice!) regiments on both sides of the American Civil War. Images of a Federal (Union) and Confederate battle flags, remarkably similar in design, are shown below. The old Irish Harp figures prominently in both.

The 28th Massachusetts (designated 4th Regiment Irish Brigade) Battle Flag (Federal)

 

10th Tennessee Irish Infantry Brigade (Confederate)

The Musicians' Sutlery section of the Adventurous Muse online store will be carrying a number of small Celtic and Irish harps, ranging from about 2 lbs to 9 or 10 lbs. Some of these are pictured below. They will range in price from around $100 to $700. We will also sell weather-resistant period appropriate carrying bags.

     
   

Harp images Copyright Your World Instruments 2010

The Robert Burns Birthday Sale at Adventurous Muse

Remember that. It could end today, tomorrow or some other day, depending upon a completely arbitrary decision.

Let's help each other out.

Announcing Old Mill Musical Instrument Line

Here is a positive post to balance out yesterday's rant.

The Old Mill^(tm) Musical Instruments Brand

The Old Mill^(tm) brand will include accurate reproductions of instruments made from the 1840s until about 1930. All instruments will either be made in our workshops or "sourced" to vendors who get the whole thing about historical authenticity. Many of the Old Mill instruments will be of particular interest to American Civil War re-enactors. Initially, Old Mill musical instruments will be available through the soon-be-established Musicians' Sutlery section of the Adventurous Muse online store.

We will have photos and details on the specific instruments in one of next few posts, but we can tell you now that there will be:

• Several mid-19th Century C.F. Martin guitar reproductions
• A number of 5 and 6-string banjos from the 1840s into the early 20th Century

Note about 19th Century 6-string banjos: These are NOT guitar banjos, but rather 5-string banjos with an extra low drone string that were popular in the 1800s.

• An affordable fiddle set up in the 1860s manner (no chin rest or fine tuners and, yes, gut strings)
• A true 19th Century type cigar box fiddle
• A number of small Celtic Harps of the type that would have been played by Irish soldiers during the Civil War.
• A variety of 19th-Century type cases for fiddles, guitars and banjos, including wooden "coffin" cases and period style carrying bags. Note: A mid-19th Century Martin guitar in a coffin case is shown.
• And much more...

Stay in tune!

The Economy is Improving...I Want to Believe. I Realy Do!

Warning: This is a rant.

We at Adventurous Muse are still getting inquiries from people who want to buy our least expensive musical instruments on an installment plan.We also get a lot of "purchases" (mostly through other channels besides our store since we stopped taking PayPal) that are actually fraud attempts.

A request: When inquiring about an instrument, please do not say that you are thinking about maybe buying something in several months...EVER. Why? Because I know that you are deluding yourself and/or fibbing to me and it distracts me from doing worthwhile work.

I am getting tired of seeing one musical instrument company after another go out of business. Every time I drive past a closed shop it makes me sick.

I want to see tangible improvement (income), which is another way of saying "show me!" When we are selling enough to allow us to: a) finish our new workshop, including installing indoor-safe propane heating and b) make it so that I don't have to choose between sleeping in the unheated workshop or commute 100 miles from our North GA mountains residence/offices (no workshop...all machinery moved to our new workshop in Roswell)

One more thing: It would be nice if even a small percentage of the large number of visitors to our sites actually purchased something. Statistically (I actually do have advanced statistical training), I would expect that there would be enough instances of temporary insanity (or temporary sanity) to account for some sales.

Actually yet another thing: I left a career as a successful career as a Marketing Research and "Consumer Insights" Director to start this business and have sunk everything I owned into it. Come on, give me and my associates a break...we lack the skills to be very good street people.

Some good news: We have lots of wood and awesome tools and know how to use them to make you great stuff.

D.R.