Tony did it. On chat, I jokingly said that I might try my hand at building a Fujara. He goes and tells all and sundry that I’m gonna do it. (sigh…) so here we are on our way to FujaraLand.
Before we take off, let me assure you that I have no intention of building these things for sale. Those of you who think it’s a subliminal ad for the New Wonderful Brassy Fujara, well, sit on it. Ain’t gonna happen. This is a journey of intellectual curiosity - and keep that smart remark to yourself, too! Let’s get flying…
I looked at several websites, and found a number of cutaways and other bits of plans for building. The best one in terms of something usable for a prototype is here: http://www.fujara.sk/building_fujara.html The dimensions are pretty good, though some of the measurements don’t exactly add up, the sizes of fingerholes leave something to be desired, i.e. there are no diameters given, and it’s difficult to tell whether we’re supposed to be working with a tapered tube.
Experiment 1 was just playing with harmonics. I made a regular D Brassy Polly tube with a head, but no holes, and stuck it into another D tunable tube with holes, thus effectively almost doubling the length. I blew it, and it worked - sort of. I got a half of a chromatic scale (!) and when I kicked the octave, could get third and fifth harmonics up the kazoo. I will put an MP3 up on the site and let you know when it’s there.
Warning: If you are one of the people who likes to snipe at me, be aware that I snipe back, when the venue is mine.
Anyhow, it’s turning into a fun project, and anybody who has ideas about how to proceed from here, your suggestions are welcome!
Again - I am NOT going to sell the things. I figure the market is someplace in Slovakia, or on eBay’s World Oddities pages. If you think messing with musical stuff is fun, though, come on down and participate. If not, well…
Cheers,
serpent
As I posted on the other Fujara thread…A Fujara is simply a sub-contrabass Tabor Pipe. Any Tabor pipe measurements can be multiplied 2 or 3 times to produce Fujaras. I find the larger pipes even easier to build than the smaller ones. Should I post 2 or 3 sets of measurements for popular keys? say,CC,DD and AA? It isn’t difficult to expand on existing Tabor Pipe designs.
Playing any type of Tabor,Picco and Basque tunes as well as Slovakian traditional standards, is pretty easy with only 3 toneholes. The trick is memorizing the registers to play each note. Should I post finger positions(tabulation) with notes and frequencies(?).
Yes! Yes! Yes! Thomas, you are the best! While I do love mucking about with making the thingy work, some measurements to get the proper keys would be most welcome, as I have a limited amount of PVC pipe and paticnce!
Contra! Most wondrous! I’ll keep everyone up-to-date with pictures and my inimitable boundless enthusiasm for boundless silliness - like playing The Kesh on a Fujara – who knows - maybe “The New Mown Meadows”?
But wait – whatever is wrong with my wanting six holes tuned at half-tone intervals? I have small hands and small fingers - doubling up on the large single holes may well be beyond my ability! So hey, maybe it’s time for a hybrid! And time for me to go to work on bending Pete Kosel’s Flutomat to my will!
This is getting to be even more fun, thanks to you and Jerry!
Cheers,
Serp
Group: I shall endevour to produce at least one set of measurements before Santa arrives (probably a DD first?). I will post at least 2 sets of fingering tabulations with a frequency chart as well.
Serpent: Fujara tonehole diameters average 1/2" (12.5mm) but moving them up the bore will allow them to be reduced in diameter to about 1/4"(6mm) if needed, as long as they remain within their nodal “windows”. There is also the posibility of “twinholes”, like those used in Oboes and Recorders. The top tonehole can become a dorsal thumbhole for ease of play(?) too. Short wide voicings would reduce wind requirements (e.g. Renaissance Recorders) and should be considered.
Why don’t some of you calculate some measurements too, so we can compare?
Let’s get flying…
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