balalaika tuning + balalaika tuning 28 Feb 2021 flickr see more. Build your own guitar kits. A Step-by-Step Guide On How To Make a Straight Headstock, How to Install a Mini Humbucker in a Cigar Box Guitar, How to Build a 3-string Cigar Box Guitar – Free Plans, Video How-To: Installation of a Pre-Wired Magnetic Pickup Harness in a Cigar Box Guitar (C. B. Gitty’s “Florentine Screamer”), http://theguitar-blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Building-the-balalaika.pdf, 2015 Huntsville Cigar Box Guitar Festival, 2016 New Orleans Cigar Box Guitar Festival, The Gang Performs The Eagles ‘Peaceful Easy Feeling’ [VIDEO], [VIDEO] Let It Be performed on Gitty Gang Show #44, One Neck For Multiple DIY Instruments [VIDEO], Gitty Gang Show #124 | Homemade Music Is Amazing [VIDEO], [VIDEO] Bob Seger’s Against The Wind Played On Gitty Gang Show #123, Green Grow The Rashes, O Played On The Gitty Gang Show [VIDEO], [VIDEO] The Gang Performs Red River Valley. Balalaika Strings Prima Balalaika 3 String Set Steel Strings Russian Balalaika Strings. You can also see that there is a lot of glue and general mess inside the instrument that needs to be cleaned up. It seems almost inconceivable not to finish the entire instrument before putting on the pickguard. They kept shifting down and applying a great deal of pressure on the back plate. I love the Blues and woodworking is my hobby – this is perfect! After stringing it up I took it upstairs to the empty living room where I’m putting the final finish on the new hardwood floor in the living room, so it has a nice ‘echo’. Balalaika soundboards are made in four pieces unlike the usual two pieces used for a guitar. The next task, now that the body was ready, was to install the fretboard, which after much trepidation, turned out to be pretty simple. (I thought I would post it cause for me the link here does not work anymore.) The higher-pitched balalaikas are used to play melodies and chords. The balalaika belongs to a family of lutes originally developed in Central Asia. Millcreek 12 ft. x 20 ft. Wood Storage Shed Kit with Floor Including 4. balalaika plans now in print Find great local deals on Sailing dinghy for … I took the maple bindings and ebony purflings off as I would now have to replace them. This operation was the primary purpose I built the cradle described earlier. Things were really starting to take shape. Woodworking Kits; Small Turning Project Kits; Pen Turning Kits; Knife Making for 1 last update 2021/03/14 KitsKnife Making Kits; balalaika plans for buildinghow to balalaika plans for building for Wood Burning; DIY Home Improvement Projects. The other was quite a bit more difficult. I don’t want to run the risk of scratching it. All of these breaks needed to be repaired. The balalaika, as its name would suggest, is a Russian folk instrument. After several coats of sealer and a final spray finish you can’t even tell that it broke. http://www.luth.org/downloads/Flynn-Balalaika-GAL.pdf The tuners just sit inside a cavity hollowed out of the back of the headstock and are not ‘fixed’ in place. Quite a transformation from the original orange finish. I started out just wanting a new fretboard and a better looking finish. There was sufficient overhang to ensure that after scraping and sanding I’d have a nice tight fit and smooth looking edges. This version of them are listed on www.Luth.org, the site of the Guild of American Luthiers. Same. All went well as I sanded them down to very thin tapers. [See The Search for new balalaika tuners], I then took some time away from re-building the balalaika to build myself an instrument stand. Thank God for CA glues. The difference in the sound is difficult to describe, but it is wonderful. . It bounces off the tongue like lyrics, concluding with a resounding last syllable (a triumphant -ka) like a song’s final resolution. After all the work involved in cutting the billet, cutting the slots, sanding the radius using a 12″ radius sanding block, and finally installing the frets, it was quite a lengthy project. Was wondering if you could.please post them one more time? FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon. These strips would both need to be tapered from 2mm in the center, down to zero at the edges. Now, on the right is the view after stripping the old finish off completely. Get it as soon as Wed, Mar 17. This ‘gifting of instruments’ thing is starting to sound like a pattern . Once I got my tuners from Russia I changed out the tuners on this balalaika for the new set made by “Zarya Plyus” in Penza, Russia. In the meantime I put the balalaika on the stand and left it. I decided that what I was going to have to do next was to remove the soundboard and completely fix it up, which was probably a good thing in the long run. One man's journey into the freeing of his creative mind... while wearing a kilt. This process would entail performing a number of upgrades to the instrument not only to improve the acoustics, but especially to improve the appearance. On the left you can see what the balalaika looked like after removing the fretboard and pickguard. Musings, tips and tricks from a budding guitar builder. If you click on the photo above you can see the darkened lines where the splits occurred. These free plans are for a 3-string, triangle-body Russian instrument known as the Balalaika. Building the balalaika . It’s a major improvement. The instrument was often used in folk music and in large balalaika orchestras formed in the 20th century. Wedding Invitation Kits Wedding Templates Save The Dates ... Balalaika soviet toy children's toy made in the USSR, souvenir, vintage 1960s, Russia, rare musical instrument VintageShopIgor. Regular price $60 00 $60.00. Luckily I have lots of clamps as I needed extra pressure to ensure a tight fit due to the amount of curve I now had. The new pantsir’ came out looking nice, I sprayed a new finish on it, let it dry and then started buffing it out. -30%; Upgrade costs /Time /XP: Level 2: 240,000 or 40 / 6 h / +9 Level 3: ? I read over and over again that it basically couldn’t be done easily, or even successfully without ruining the top. So far, so good. The soundboard was the section most badly in need of repair at this point. Perhaps the fact that the braces had both come loose and the soundboard was split into pieces was a contributing factor! But those old tuners really had to go, see The Search for new balalaika tuners below. The width of a typical prima balalaika is approximately 17″ along the base. The Prima balalaika is the most common size known and is the one used as the principal solo instrument. Now you can see what the instrument looks like once I managed to get the soundboard completely off. Russian Balalaika Music + Russian Balalaika Music 21 Feb 2021 We supply only the finest laser-cut model airplane kits to the discerning hobbyist. Production Date 1981. On the right is my interpretation of a stand I had seen in a photo. © 2018 – Boston Balalaika Workshop, Woburn, MA Shed kits for sale home depot. The melody has been used in many different songs and ballads over the years, and can be adapted as easily as swapping out the lyrics, making this a versatile song to have in your songbook. The Construction and Repair of Balalaikas 4 Mechanical machining of workpieces is typically done in two stages. I thought it might be nice to build a new one out of walnut as I was now using more walnut appointments to dress up the instrument: walnut veneer on the peghead, stain on the neck, a new pantsir’ and eventually new walnut bindings. Imagine, only 15 rubles (approximately $20 in 1981) for an instrument made of spruce, maple and mahogany! 4.6 out of 5 stars 70. Required fields are marked *. This was especially true in the finishing of the instrument. The transformation of the peghead from the original poorly-finished maple, then stripped, then new walnut veneer added, then inlayed with a Mother-of-Pearl 3-cupola logo, and finally with the tuners (temporarily) back in place to see how it’s going to look. Unfortunately I didn’t think to cover it up and it turned out to be a rather drafty area not too awfully far from an air conditioner. In comparing them to the tuners made in the Soviet days they were like night and day. The instrument was in desperate need of a new fretboard, the original was of such poor quality, with a stained, uneven surface, and soft brass frets. Balalaika's father has presumably either been condemned by the USSR or fled the country. Moscow Experimental Musical Instrument Factory It is a word with rhythm, dynamics, tone. I was fortunate enough to find a contact in Moscow who arranged to have a few sets of tuners sent to me directly. I spent some time looking online in places like MIMF (Musical Instrument Makers’ Forum) and elsewhere for information about how to get the soundboard off. Two passes were necessary to get it just right as shown in the photos. . I used “Citristrip” foam. The width of a typical prima balalaika is approximately 17″ along the base. Also Rm … She was brought up by her grandfather, the high-ranking military head of the USSR. The view on the left is the balalaika all stripped, sanded, ready for the finish room (if only I had one), while the view on the right is with the various parts in place. As you can see by the center photo, it came out looking pretty nice for something that started out as inexpensive birch plywood. The How-To Repository for the Cigar Box Guitar Movement! Model # mill1220df. I originally chose to fill the grain, then spray it black and inlay five MOP dots along the edges as I have seen in so many photos of older instruments. Experienced cigar box guitar builders know that studying traditional & conventional folk instruments is a great place to pick up new tricks and methods for building CBGs. The stripping is now in progress. After buffing, I reinstalled everything and strung it up again. The plans you had on this site are no longer available. With turnkey prices ranging from $36,000 – $45,600 or $15-$19/sq ft This is only possible if you can communicate in Russian, otherwise you’d have to find a U.S.-based outlet. The zipper had broken many years ago and I took it to a local place called the “Zipper Hospital” but they said it couldn’t be fixed or replaced. The closeup on the right shows more detail and you get a good glimpse of the linen strips glued in along each rib seam on the inside. However, I later wrapped it in a paper towel to protect the finish and stored it away. I even put the metal plate on the back of the headstock. The back is slightly bowed and made with alternating staves with two tones of sheesham and lacewood. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. After carving the braces and gluing them in place, it put a noticeable curve in the soundboard. Sofiya "Balalaika" Pavlovna is the boss of the mafia organizations known as Hotel Moscow. It is rather like a mandolin relative to a guitar, double-strung of course! Sometimes the balalaika is tuned "guitar style" to GBD (mimicking the three highest strings of the Russian guitar), making it a little bit easier to play for Russian guitarists, although balalaika purists frown on this tuning. Although these were inexpensive tuners, I was very pleased with the quality of them, especially compared to the old Soviet-made tuners. $6.99 to buy. Be sure to click the pictures below for a better view. I started out to make a walnut fretboard thinking that would be kind of neat to have the wood match the new trim. Stevens AeroModel model invites you to build our innovative laser-cut balsa ... Russian Balalaika Music It's easier than you might think to make your own metal bins from decorative sheet metal. We send out a weekly newsletter, full of how-to info, product features and more. Most 6-string instruments are considered to be of inferior quality. Russian guitars have … 50 35 during "Super Sale!" A balalaika -as well as other stringed musical instruments- has to bear a high tension of merely 10kg per string. lofty design ideas wooden ... balalaika tuning Build this project using crates and dimensional lumber for a storage solution. Given that one of my objectives was to preserve as much of the original instrument as possible, I really didn’t want to run the risk of ruining the top. from Athens. The body has the classical triangular shape. The instrument really dried out over the ensuing months and I picked it up one day only to discover that the seams along the soundboard/binding joints were cracking and coming apart. A balalaika is a stringed musical instrument, belonging to the lute family, that is used mostly in Russian folk music. After reinstalling the back plate, which now fit flush on the back instead of being ‘pressed’, I could truly say it’s done. But before gluing it, I inserted two very sharp pins that would dig into the neck from the underside of the board so that the glue would not make the fretboard “drift”. The ‘hacking’ is much more evident in these photos. Contact us at Boston Balalaika Workshop. and read that it is supposed to make a very nice fretboard, and as it turned out, it really did. Sometimes it is called a ‘scratch-plate’, which seems more appropriate. The baglama was also a gift, from a very good friend who lives in Greece. I later went on to build a similar stand proportioned to hold my baglama. After truing the seams and re-gluing the soundboard, I replaced the two crudely cut braces with three new Engelman spruce braces carved according to the Kupfer Moskvichka plan . Guitar Restoration , Repair, and Construction, The #1 YouTube Channel for Ukulele Building. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. The original label is in good shape and just required a little bit of extra hide glue to hold down the corners where it started to come up. But, how? (Ужас Один! This was to be able to visualize what the finished instrument might look like. Fast & Free shipping on many items! I was back at square one. Balalaika, Russian stringed musical instrument of the lute family. two story barn cabin. Your email address will not be published. I glued it back together, put a linen tape reinforcement strip along the crack on the back and re-sanded the top. Jan 20, 2021 - Explore Johnny Gonzales Wedding Guitar's board "Balalaika", followed by 333 people on Pinterest. Then the balalaika had to sit for a week to cure before final buffing out of the finish could be done. Like guitars, there is a certain expectation among the players that balalaikas conform to a particular look and feel. The tuners are pretty low quality and I was finally able to find a better set that would fit properly. Click the image to the left, or click here, to view the full how-to guide in PDF format. Also shown is a picture of the 3-Cupola logo from the peghead. I reapplied clear sealer as some of it was stripped off from all the tape used in the fretting process. … The pantsir’ (pickguard, sometimes called (transliterated?) It does a really good job and was quite easy to use. Great deals on Balalaika String Instrument Parts & Accessories. You may be interested in reviewing the complete technical specifications of this particular instrument. Adventures in teaching English in Cali, Colombia. Allen. 4.2 out of 5 stars 31. What a disaster!. It’s a beautiful hand made instrument. Building issues. The “Perestroika” project was ready to be unveiled. The method used is primarily straightforward; the project started with researching about the building of musical instruments and then the knowledge gained was applied to build an electric balalaika. So I decided to start by stripping it down and refinishing it completely. I just keep using pieces from the pile to do various projects. I took the additional time to bind the entire board with “ivroid” for a really finished look. Main location for the manufacture of musical instruments Example: Yes, I would like to receive emails from The How-To Repository for the Cigar Box Guitar Movement!. But unfortunately the quality of the workmanship was generally quite poor. Let’s take a look at several before and after pictures to gauge the progress of the project. I started by removing the fretboard using a hot iron laid directly on the frets. I worked at inserting the edge of a razor saw into the cracks and gently prying to finish separating the glue that remained. Ah well, time to place another order to Stewart MacDonald! 45. Thank you for letting us know, the link has been updated. Fret leveling, crowning and polishing came next. Actually, you can. Looking ro build a balalaika. Experienced cigar box guitar builders know that studying traditional & conventional folk instruments is a great place to pick up new tricks and methods for building CBGs. “The Wearing of the Green” is an old street ballad that originated in Ireland during the Irish Rebellion of 1796. I took all of the parts off and commenced to do the final buffing and polishing. Fortunately, Chinese-made balalaika tuners are now available through an “import” company called Imperskay Music in New Jersey. Buildings allowed to build: 10 Construction time: 4 h Electricity-100 Yields experience for construction +90 Price: Cost shown may be lower with active VIP discounts. See more ideas about folk instruments, musical instruments, musicals. Before joining the mafia, Balalaika was a captain in the Soviet Army, Vozdushno-Desantnye Vojska' (translate from Russian: air assault troops), also known as the VDV, paratrooper and a veteran of the Soviet war in Afghanistan. Finally, all of the tape was removed and the final 4 coats of lacquer were applied to the neck and head of the instrument. Article 203 I recommend building this table out of cedar or other outdoor appropriate materials that are popular in your local area for building ... balalaika plans room ak This … Over the course of the next two weeks I was able to pry the entire soundboard off without any perceptible damage. (You can unsubscribe anytime). Then I made another walnut board, but afterall decided that either rosewood or ebony would be more appropriate. After approximately 10 days I did the final fitting of the upper nut and the bridge, temporarily installed the tuners and strung it up for the first time in over a year. Four and 6-string balalaikas are known to exist but the 3-stringed type is by far the most common as they are easier to play the rapid runs required of the balalaika. This would also give me the chance to try some more inlay as you can see in the closeup of the cupola I inlaid into the new pantsir’ made from gold and white pieces of Mother-of-Pearl. It has tremendous projection for such a small soundbox. On the left you can see what the body of the balalaika looked like after stripping and sanding it. But, we’ll get to that later. Before we start to take things apart it is probably worth looking at a few more “before” pictures. It would also give me a chance to actually see the inside which up until now I had never been able to do. How to Build and Play Cigar Box Guitars and other Homemade Instruments. I have a small stockpile of Bolivian Rosewood (Pau Ferro, aka Machaerium spp.) The sustain compared to the original is markedly better, given that I don’t recall there being all that much before. Oh man, what a nightmare (uzhas odin)! This balalaika was a gift from a close friend who studied in Moscow in the early 1980’s and naturally has great sentimental value to me. The Pocket Yachts are at the core of Stevenson Projects' building adventures. This is when patience is called for, because the project is so close you just want to string it up and play it. Although I hang on to the old vinyl one, the new case is padded, has many pockets, straps, etc. Overall it is an instrument built of reasonably good quality materials, including a spruce soundboard (which was split in several places), mahogany back ribs, maple neck, bindings and purflings, etc. I also hoped that it would not upset the glue too much as I didn’t want to get into a major rebuild at the time I started. $8.45 $ 8. Roosebeck Balalaika Prima, Walnut, Nylon Gig Bag This Roosebeck Balalaika Prima has the traditional 3 strings and measures approximately 27 inches in length. The braces were not as good as I thought they should be, poorly shaped and finished, basically just pretty rough pieces of spruce. It was also cracked to the right of center, but not along the seam. 1939 | NR | CC. Needless to say, I did! You have to use balalaika tuners. First I laminated a strip of “ivroid” along the edge of each walnut strip, then glued the bindings into place. The prima balalaika is tuned E-E-A and normally has 3 strings. Price 15r. Also, look closely at the spruce top, it’s a bit hacked up. After successfully gluing the top it was time to install the new walnut bindings that I made to replace the original maple ones. They were written by James H. Flynn, Jr. in the early 80’s and some time ago he made them freely available. As you can see by the photo above depicting four different (original included) fretboards, this was somewhat of a hit or miss prospect. I had to figure out a way to fix them in place but not permanently. It remained mainly a folk instrument until the late 19th century, when a Russian nobleman, Vasili V. Andreyev, standardized the balalaika by creating a range of sizes with standard tunings. @Ken Sheets. The soundboard was also cracked in 3 places now, most notably along the center seam. I then proceed to make a ‘bag’ to cover the balalaika to protect it when it’s on the stand or going into the fabric case. The first order of business however would be to remove everything and then strip off the orange lacquer. Shutters; Outdoor Project Kits; Interior Projects These free plans are for a 3-string, triangle-body Russian instrument known as the Balalaika. But, you know, sometimes there is opportunity when a disaster strikes! These four boats are our most popular projects and can offer great adventures — sporty sailing fun, romantic weekend cruises, transformative summer projects, swashbuckling journeys exploring your local lake — thousands of builders have had all sorts of satisfying experiences in these boats. One was the direct result of trying to use a belt sander for a job that was “just too small”. The scale length is 430 mm. This would be my chance to make my own walnut strips to replace them with. The quality of Soviet-made balalaika tuners is poor, but the tuners being made in Russia today are pretty nice and are relatively inexpensive. Perhaps it was the Citristrip? The Moskvichka plan calls for a diagonal brace just below the soundhole, which necessitated moving the lower brace down. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! On the left is a view of the neck after stripping, then sanding and getting it ready to stain. It's a great time to upgrade your home music studio gear with the largest selection at eBay.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Brittany is a Celtic-style lap harp kit with 22 strings, offering a three-octave range from G to G. Thi... Hourglass Mountain Dulcimer Kit. The clamps were left on for 24 hours, and then it was left to really dry for a few more days before scraping down the excess glue and making sure that everything was even and smooth for final sanding before applying the finish. Balalaika soundboards are made in four pieces unlike the usual two pieces used for a guitar. After truing the seams and re-gluing the soundboard, I replaced the two crudely cut braces with three new Engelman spruce braces carved according to the Kupfer Moskvichka plan. They had to be replaced, but I didn’t have any material. Later on I also learned that it was possible to purchase a much more substantial case, called the Balabag II, from a now defunct “import” company called Imperskay Music in New Jersey. Building a Balalaika By William Prince Member of the Fretted Instrument Guild, and of the International Classic Guitar Association In starting this series of articles it will be appropriate to explain to the reader something about the balalaika and its history. Balalaika: tuning E4 E4 A4 The most common balalaika is the prima, which is tuned to EEA (The 2nd and 3rd string are tuned to the same note). After all was dry I noticed that it would be difficult to attach the top due to the new arch. Valuable building woods for balalaika staves, guitar sides and other parts are sawn out or planed on special machines into 3.5-4 mm thick billets. Building the Balalaika, a Russian Folk Instrument Zarya Plyus is an engineering firm that purchased a former watch manufacturing facility in Perm. I hope that the restoration is a fitting tribute to our friendship and a way of saying “spasibo” (спасибо) to her. Thanks. Wedding Invitation Kits Wedding Templates Save The Dates ... Balalaika soviet toy children's toy made in the USSR, souvenir, vintage 1960s, Russia, rare musical instrument VintageShopIgor. I did not care about scorching the surface as I was going to discard it anyway. The only thing remaining was to do was to fix the old vinly/fabric carrying case that came with the balalaika when I got it. The balalaika (Russian: балала́йка, pronounced [bəɫɐˈɫajkə]) is a Russian stringed musical instrument with a characteristic triangular wooden, hollow body, fretted neck and three strings. By James H Flynn Jr. Download File. Another important lesson learned along the way, “how to recover from a blunder”. The tuners on the left in the upper-right photo are the original Soviet tuners from the balalaika and the ones on the right are the new replacement “Zarya Plyus” tuners. That’s sort of like using a sledge to drive a finish nail. The label inside the instrument translates as follows: MMP RSFSR Prima Balalaika a pancer in English, although I don’t know why as it doesn’t conform to any transliteration system I’ve ever seen) needed to be stripped and refinished. After building the stand I put dark brown felt on the areas where the instrument would touch. On the right we can see that the walnut stain will cover the joinery reasonably well. by tuff shed. There’s a stark difference in the quality. Except, I had to put the project away for a while. I used hide glue on the fingerboard. She proceeded to tell my children the story of trying to carry back all of this stuff from Moscow those many years ago. My Russian-made (read “Soviet”) balalaika was originally built in Moscow in 1981 by the Moscow Experimental Musical Instrument Factory – Moskovskaya Eksperimental’naya Fabrika Muzikalnykh Instrumentov. Some people say we learn from our mistakes, others say “as long as you don’t make the same mistake twice”. This link should work, and I believe it is the same plan as published here. . Luckily I was able to reglue it and use it instead of starting over again, and it does not show at all. Notice the left half of the soundboard on the table beneath the balalaika. But there was one more thing that was bothering me. They came off quite easily now as the glue was breaking down. These walnut pieces would look much better with the walnut peghead veneer and the new pickguard. Sign me up! Many other sizes exist (piccolo, sekunda, alto, bass, contrabass, subcontrabass) and are generally used to accompany the prima. On the left you can see the tuners with new “Ivroid” buttons to replace the really cheap plastic buttons that were originally on the instrument. Big mistake! Thanks for your help. It is obvious that to the average inhabitant It is made in six sizes, from piccolo to double bass, and has a flat back and a triangular table, or belly, that tapers to the fretted neck. 99 to rent. I used liquid hide glue for this job. Traditionally, they have a triangular body made of wood such as spruce, evergreen, fir, or maple, and many have beautifully decorated tops. As a budding amateur luthier I decided that I wanted to try to make some improvements to the instrument. Balalaika. I sat down with my 100-year old Singer sewing machine, and although I’m no seamstress, I managed to install a zipper satisfactorily in about 20 minutes. Don't miss out - sign up for the Gitty newsletter today! Your email address will not be published. I built it out of mahogany because I have a rather large pile of it that a friend gave me a couple of years ago. Balalaika plans not found…error 404 comes up a lot on this site. It had split along the center seam and the seam on the left. As they say in Russia – Uzhas Odin! I next figured out that I would have to build up the transom on the inner edge to support the soundboard as well as add a strip of walnut along the outer edge that would show in order to support the new bindings. Ironically enough the first person to see the completed balalaika outside of my family was my friend who gave it to me in the first place. On the right is how it looked after putting on shellac and a coat of sealer. ), © 2018 – Boston Balalaika Workshop, Woburn, MA. After everything was dry, the bindings were cut flush and scraped and sanded.