🦋 Jamming notes
Bob and Janis are coming over this afternoon to play some tunes -- I'm eagerly anticipating my first jam using the custom shoulder rest I carved this morning. Ever since I got this  fiddle I have been thinking that a wooden block shoulder rest would work better than the contraption the maker provided, to attach a standard violin shoulder rest. Fate forced my hand a few weeks ago by ordaining that I should lose the said contraption... (come to think of it, I've been playing with no shoulder rest for a few weeks, and have been making some interesting music that way too... Mountain Station recorded a fun take on Odds & Ends last week.) Turns out I was right! It's extremely comfortable to hold the violin with this extension. I've been listening to some old (well not that old I guess but from like last year) Mountain Station tracks lately and enjoying our sound. And it is just getting better -- our new "St. James Infirmary" is a different, more organized and complex song than our first recording of it.
 Also -- bought a pickup for the fiddle, I decided to get a saxophone pickup that will clip onto the bell. This will help with amplification when we play at Studio 12 in Montclair next Friday.
posted morning of Saturday, October 15th, 2011
➳ More posts about Jamming with friends
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The shoulder rest is (I'm pretty sure) mahogany, it's about half of a piece of wood that I've had in the basement for several years since I was woodworking on a regular basis. I look at it and think Oh no, it is way too heavy to be workable. But the weight of it actually counterbalances the weight of the bell and makes it easier to hold up. The extra weight is all right on my shoulder so it is easy to support.
posted afternoon of October 15th, 2011 by Jeremy
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