a few DIY musical instruments from Dennis Havlena

Hi – Here’s a short sampling of a few of the simple folk instruments whose construction is detailed on my webpage at dennishavlena.com This video was made in my back yard, on the spur of the moment and is not intended to be fancy music — just to show some of the instruments, which include — in order – 3 string cookie-tin banjo with weed- whip line strings. Tune is “the Cuckoo”. – “Tambiro” made from a new (never-been-filled) 20 Lb. propane tank. Building this instrument gave me the idea for inventing my propane tank “hank drum” (a humble alternative to the hang drum) – My “Fiddle-Gurdy” combination fiddle & Hurdy Gurdy. Much fun! I apologize for the squeak here and there — I was impatient to get things on Youtube. Tune is an old French Canadian Voyageur’s melody, “En Roullant Ma Boulle”. Inspiration from Yuichi Onoue’s “Kaisatsuko”. – My 4-string, full sized wash-tub bass. Holds it’s own nicely in a band situation. – Simple Hardanger fiddle conversion. 4 strings playing & 4 strings sympathetic that run through a tunnel carved into the underside of the fingerboard. Tunes are “Road to Boston” (aka “Col. Greene’s March”) and “Over the Waterfall”. – Low D Tin-Whistle made from a shower-curtain rod for a few dollars. Tune is made up on the spot (& it sounds it!). – Octave Mandolin (aka bozouki, cittern) converted from an old guitar. Tune is the “Boys of Bluehill” hornpipe. PS: I just put another short video on youtube of my PVC tubing instrument that plays like a hang drum …

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