HOME | DD
HTYMSITI — Citole Final
Published: 2008-01-19 21:50:24 +0000 UTC; Views: 2561; Favourites: 16; Downloads: 116
Redirect to original
Description
Finally finished with this project, as far as I am going to take it, that is.Adding the little bit of rosewood on the soundholes seems to have covered up how they are off kilter.
Pine for the body, rosewood for the fingerboard and tail, ebony for the bridge, birch ply for the soundboard, and a mystery wood for the pegs (it may be something close to bubinga, but I can't be certain. Strings and frets are monofilament/nylon. Finished with lacquer.
Related content
Comments: 39
Wow ... great work and of course capture.
Also, I learned something.
Citole
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citole
The Citole, also spelled Sytole, Cytiole, Gytolle, was a string musical instrument, closely associated with the medieval fiddles (viol, vielle, gigue) and commonly used from 1200—1350[1][2] Like the modern guitar, it was manipulated at the neck to get different notes, and picked or strummed with a plectrum (the citole's was long, thick, straight and likely made of ivory or wood).[3
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thanks! It was a fun build.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
You are welcome! You do good work!
Sorry about the delay. I am resigned to the fact that I will never catch up here.
I did find some comfort in the thought that my being behind is just an illusion ... based on good authority 
"For us believing physicists, the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion." -
Einstein, The Expanded Quotable Einstein.
Calaprice, Alice, ed. (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 2000). p. 75.
Best,
Frank
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Thanks! It turned out pretty well for a first try. I'm hoping to be able to make another this Spring, and make a tutorial to help others make their own.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Oh, yes, a tutorial may be a great idea
Do you have some recording? It must be interesting to hear it.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Unfortunately I don't have any sort of recording equipment. It's been described as being a "Medieval Ukulele" in design and sound, at least the ones I have made. The final sound really depends on what materials you use to build it. I prefer to use lighter weight woods, as those tend to give a brighter sound as opposed to heavier woods for deeper sounds. Lighter materials lend themselves to natural or nylon strings, where as the other works better for bronze or steel.
The tutorial will be using Western Red Cedar from the Pacific Northwest, with nylon mono filament for strings, and birch plywood for the soundboard for durability. I'm a big proponent of making instruments that are meant to be used, not just look pretty on a shelf.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Cool! I'd love to know what she sounds like. Any soundclips up anywhere?
There used to be a page out there called "The Citole Project"--did you read it? I always thought it would be interesting to make one--maybe tune it like a mandolin so's I could actually knock a tune out of it--but I never got round to it.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Sadly, I don't have any sound clips for it. I know I have found citole clips in the past on the web, but as to where...?
The Citole Project was a major reference when I was designing this instrument. Having a step by step process chronicling several citoles from start to finish allowed me to prepare myself for most disasters. I did have the peg head split during a test fitting of the pegs, but that was easily fixed. It taught me the value of a thin overlay of wood on the pegboard, such as is used with guitars, to improve the overall durability.
I have some friends who do medieval recreations, and I had them play around with it and give me feedback. The running joke was that I had made a medieval ukulele. 
Tuning is pretty flexible- And I have thought about adapting the form to work with strings and tuning for a Renaissance mandolin. However, getting solid answers as to what the parameters should be is often difficult to nail down.
One of these days, I want to make a basic tutorial on building a basic citole and put it up on DA. They are so simple to make, yet are so unappreciated...
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Ah, that's too bad. I've found a few random citole clips, but I'd love to know what this one sounds like.
Agreed, you can't have too many references for this sort of thing. Never thought about the peghead veneer that way before--it's good to know it's more than just aesthetic, for whenever I get round to actually trying to build an instrument again.
Mediaeval ukulele sounds like a handy thing--wish I'd had one when I was playing early music at college, rather than having to play recorder very badly.
I'm thinking mandolins in the modern sense don't seem to exist before the mid-18th century--the earlier mandolinos were five or six course critters tuned like baby lutes, IIRC. There was a book called _The Early Mandolin_ (maybe by a bloke named Taylor?) which had a bit about the parameters. Personally I'd like to have something early-looking, but mandolin-esque in tuning, sort of like those lute-guitars, just for playing at renn faires and suchlike. One of these days maybe I'll actually build one.
As far as stringing, I've got a banjo-uke which I converted to a soprano banjo/banjolin (four string banjo with mandolin pitches, like a baby tenor banjo), using classical guitar strings, a guitar A for the mando G, a D for the D, a B for the A, and a high E for the E. Scale length is a little shorter than a standard Gibson mandolin--something like twelve inches and a bit--but it seems to work pretty well. I'm not sure how the classical guitar strings would do for double-courses; I've seen pictures of nylon string mandos in both double-course and single-string versions, for whatever that's worth.
A citole tutorial would be an awesome thing. Very cool little instruments, and there should be a lot more of them.
Did you ever see Cumpiano's page about making a Puerto Rican cuatro? Sort of a similar concept--he makes his by slicing off a bit of wood from the blank to glue on as the back, then bandsawing out the outline of the instrument, including cutting out the soundbox. Not exactly period, but effective, I reckon.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
looking good ^^ but i cant forget the fact that there are only 4 strings.... i need 6 strings to play anything
6 strings or 88 buttons
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
There is a later period version that uses six strings. If things go well, I may be working on one of those early next year.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thanks! I am still surprised I was able to make it in the first place, and Version 2 turned out sooooo much better. I can't wait till I can post that one (Still a few months away, sadly)
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Woah! Nice instrument
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I spent ten minutes trying to find an angle that didn't highlight the off kilter hole pattern.
When I make things, I try to rely on the grain and character of the wood for embelishment, rather than inlay or carving. The natural patterns of materials are all too often overlooked, if not covered up. It is sort of a Zen thing, I think.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
It looks even better in real life. I'll fave it if you let me tinker with it more!!
--Evil Roomate
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Version 2 is in the works, as of today, FYI... Though you won't get to tinker with that one. It's going to Germany in March, with any luck.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Hows the sound on it? Can you play it at all? I could imagine this would be a hit at a renaissance fair.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
It actually has a pretty bight sound. I am going to be tweaking the 4th string, since I don't feel it is bass enough. Blends in a bit too much with the third string.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I'm assuming you used a larger gauge string. What kind of strings did you use?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Nylon monofilament for the strings. We have it made for our harps, and I get to keep a hank or two for development and repairs.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Nice, custom made strings. Was that expensive?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
lol No idea. The company I work for buys it in bulk, and I never see the invoices. (What I don't know can't hurt me
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yeah, its probably better to keep it that way. I make signs at work but i never really question material costs.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
If memory serves me correctly, it is supposed to be G d g d'. There are other tunings out there, but that was one of the few tunings that had the string sizes with it. Trying to work out string by only the tuning chart gives me a headache...
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Oops! I missed your comment! Sorry!
That is my first try at a citole. The second turned out better since I made a few adjustments. Pictures will be up for that one in a few months (Cross your fingers!)
👍: 0 ⏩: 0