Jankowski Tsimbl / Alcock Sticks

[ro <ro...>]

I know Jankowski tsimbls have come up here a few times, so I wanted
to share this.  I'm a fairly new player, moving over from piano.

Last summer I bought a Jankowski instrument, and he provided his
style of sticks, which are very different from cimbalom or
tsimbl sticks.   Several good tsimblists felt they were not
appropriate for the Jewish sytle (which is not to say they are 
bad sticks, they're kind of neat.  Just not appropriate for the style).

On Peter Rushefsky's (hi Pete!)suggestion, I got in touch with 
Gillian Alcock, the dulcimer/cimbalom builder from Australia, 
and asked her to make
cimbal sticks in a sandouri length (shorter than traditional 
cimbalom sticks).  

While waiting, I used American hammer dulcimer style sticks, having
seen Beverly Woods (hi Beverly!) use them; and I padded mine 
with the instrument maker's secret weapon, Dr. Scholls Moleskin.  
These worked well in the interim.  

But I must say, these sticks that Gillian made are quite the ticket.
They circumcised this Belorussian instrument, and dunked it in the mikvah.
They totally transformed the sound and it became significantly easier to play,
even tho I still need to get accustomed to the different length (I'm hitting
a few more adjacent notes than usual).

She charged a very reasonable $70 for them.  Also, she says:

> You'll find the sticks are a new design of mine. They look pretty much like
> traditional cimbalom hammers except they are shorter as we discusses. They
> are in two aprts however. The handle is separate from the shaft. This is to
> allow for the different way people hold their hammers. If you twist the
> shaft, you can place the angle of the head exactly where you want it. When
> you are happy with the angle or if the shaft becomes loose (unlikely) you
> could put a tiny dab of glue on the shaft where it goes into the handle and
> it will stay put forever. If you want a reversible procedures, use animal
> glue ... you can then apply steam to and the glue will soften ... but that
> is a long way down the track. Fell free to ask questions about them. I'd be
> interested to see how they work for you. I played with them a little bit
> and found them rather good fun.

and I will say the adjustable angle is a very good idea.

Just wanted to share this in case anyone else can benefit from the info.
Gillian is reachable through her web page:
http://www.netspeed.com.au/gillian.alcock/default.htm

ro

-- 
r l reid        ro (at) panix(dot)com

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