PLEASE defend the SAW

Subject: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Billy the Bus
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 12:23 AM

G'day,

Since we seem to be defending aged folk instruments, may I put in a plug for the Musical Saw? They were just plain ornery carpenter's saws - one held the handle between your knees - held, and flexed the blade with one hand, and fiddled on the back of the blade (not the side with the saw teeth) with a violin bow...

Mumble.... Disston (USA) and Spear & Jackson (UK) were the best builders of 'Musical Saws' that I recall....

Wish I could make the sound here....

Cheers - Sam

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 03:27 AM

The best glissandi I ever heard in my youth were produced by a busking saw fiddler in my home town.

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Leadfingers
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 04:29 AM

Then there is the chap I met a few years ago who played Musical Saw with what looked like a Tenor Drumstick . Got a sort of Xylophone sound out of it , but a bit more mellow .

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Dead Horse
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 05:23 AM

They don't need defendin', mate. They got TEETH.

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Hrothgar
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 05:28 AM

Those high, haunting notes - beautiful.

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Rapparee
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 08:21 AM

I tried the saw once, but trying to bow a chain going that fast nearly cost me my fingers. And how do you hear it over the sound of the engine?

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 09:12 AM

All Right Guys! Cut it out!

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: mack/misophist
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 09:59 AM

Once when I worked in a greasy spoon café, a man came in, ordered some coffee, and began playing - just for his own entertainment. I can't remember what he played, but it was wonderful.

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Bill D
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 10:14 AM

"And how do you hear it over the sound of the engine?"

...so this feller from WAY back in the woods of (insert favorite bumpkin state here) comes into town to the hardware store and asks about saws....he says he has to cut all the firewood for his big family, and it plumb wears him out.

   The man tells him, "Boy, whut YOU need is a chain saw! It will save you time and energy!"
Well, it's expensive, but he buys it and goes off. Two weeks later, he's back, complaining. "Man, I done cut a couple of cords with that saw, but it ain't no better...in fact, Ah'm tireder than before!"

"Well, I dunno" says the store guy," Mebbe you dulled it...lets go try it out back." So they go out and the clerk sets up a log and gives the chain saw a pull..........and the country boy leaps back, eyes wide... "Whut's that noise??"

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: dwditty
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 01:09 PM

I have a friend who is a second generation saw player. We have performed together some (I play guitar and sing). Ken has been playing nearly half a century and I have never heard anyone come close...recordings and instruction tapes included. I once heard him play selections from The Messiah accompanied by organ, two violins, and cello....man oh man. The man has an ear and can play along with just about anybody in any style of music. Sandvik still makes a model called - yup - The Stradivarius.

dw

PS. I even went so far as to purchase a saw and bow...after a couple of months, I gave it to Ken. nuff said.

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Chris Green
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 01:17 PM

'Please defend the saw.' They're the ideal way to play the banjo!

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Ernest
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 02:36 PM

Chainsaw vs. "Acoustic" saw ?
Are chainsaws folk?
Freddy Kruger`s greatest hits?

There`s a lot of interesting threads coming up....

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Padre
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 04:02 PM

Is it related to the bowed SAWTERY?

Padre

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 08:25 PM

The best musical saw I ever found was the one I got from Clarence Mussehl in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. His MUSSEHL AND WESTPHAL company made the one that was easiest for me to manipulate properly, but still had exceptional tone---and a full 2-octave range. It was made of very good English steel. Clarence's secret was that he would never tell anyone where he got his blades!!! The standard saw was 26 inches long back in 1922 when he started out. He got the steel company to make him a 28 inch saw---and that was the one with the best tone quality combined a good ratio of manipulatability.

If there was any law you had to follow religiously in order to get good tone, it was the rule that you always had to draw your bow on the straight side of the blade.

The other side always played sharp !!

;-)

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: open mike
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 09:15 PM

IF you want to find out more, go to our very own Reggie Miles' web site.
He has started an organization, SAWS, Sawplayer's Association of Washington State. And can be heard on some recordings, among them,
Tom Lewis.
HE is not here to defend himself because h has been busy entertaining
at the http://www.oregoncountryfair.org/ last weekend.

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Mr Red
Date: 14 Jul 04 - 05:40 PM

Well Phil Beer (Show of Hands) reckons that the difference between a Buzz Saw and a Hurdy Gurdy is vibrato.

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 14 Jul 04 - 11:18 PM

It's lucky I SAW this thread at the bottom and refreshed it!

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: open mike
Date: 15 Jul 04 - 05:43 PM

more defense:
theremin and saw page
the saw lady
musical saw
/musicsaw/
musical_saws
The next Saw Player's Picnic and Music Festival at Roaring Camp near Santa Cruz, California, will be held on Sunday, August 8, 2004. A highlight each year is the "Chorus of Saws", all saw players on stage at one time. Last year there were twenty-six saw players and several other supporting instruments.
international musical saw association
list of sawyers
Bob Armstrong's pages

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Celtaddict
Date: 16 Jul 04 - 05:34 PM

This I absolutely love about the folks at 'Cat: A thread starts out looking as if it will be tongue-in-cheek, trailing a string of threads in defense of successively less "mainstream" (or more maligned) traditional instruments, and turns into an interesting resource with links for further information and intriguing music tales with a few grins along the way...

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Jul 04 - 12:25 AM

G'day Mike, My mouth is open.....

Thanks for those fantastic links - especially the saw/theremin one - I tried to build one of those electronic thing-a-me-bobs (from Populat Mechanics plans) back in the late 50s. Couldn't get the right valves - but did get a few sounds out of it...

I never realised how many "specialist" musical saws were built - still got some browsing to do too...

Celtaddict - 'twere no TIC in my original post - musical saws were quite common in NZ when I was a kid. I haven't heard one played properly in decades. About ten years back I shocked hell out of a bloke climbing on the ferry, when I looked at the canvas case he was carrying and "That's a Musical Saw!" ('Twas the skinny pocket for the fiddle bow that gave it away). Alas, by the4 time he was on-board and had the saw out, the ferry was departing, so I only heard a couple of notes...:(

Watch out for washboards/tubs and lagerphones - plus maybe some others...

Cheers - Sam

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: GUEST,BtB - decookied methinks
Date: 17 Jul 04 - 02:52 AM

Mumble....

Didn;t someone come up with a Chainsaw Concertto a couple of decades bacK?

Cheers - Sam

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Tracey Dragonsfriend
Date: 17 Jul 04 - 02:49 PM

Lovely sound - just wonderful.
The only thing I've ever heard with a comparable tone is a glass harmonica, and that only on the TV in an old programme so long ago I forget the name. But I saw it again just yesterday, in a UK programme called "Local Heroes", and it reminded me. It was invented by Benjamin Franklin, made of a series of rotating glass bowls, working on the same principle as playing a wineglass with your fingers, and it has a similar unearthly tone to a bowed saw. Sounds a bit like a Theremin crossed with a bagpipe's dronepipe! They have a kind of "old" sound, although I can't explain what I mean by that...

Amazing - I just did a Google search, and they're still being made!
By href="http://www.finkenbeiner.com/GLASSHARMONICA.htm">G. Finkenbeiner Inc, in the USA - They even have some sound samples. Marvellous!

Cheers
Tracey Dragonsfriend
www.scorchpyro.co.uk

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 17 Jul 04 - 02:52 PM

I always liked Sega games.

Giok

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Tracey Dragonsfriend
Date: 17 Jul 04 - 03:09 PM

Umm... yes? (Can you hear the whistling sound, as that flies straight over my head?)

That link for the glass harmonica makers went a bit strange - here's how it should have been : G. Finkenbeiner Inc

Seems like you can even buy CD's of it, books about it, and everything...

Cheers
Tracey Dragonsfriend
www.scorchpyro.co.uk

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 18 Jul 04 - 04:27 AM

Sega is the Italian word for a saw.
Giok

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Billy the Bus
Date: 18 Jul 04 - 04:43 AM

Tracey,

What a woderful link to the 'glass-harps' - many thanks. I heard the glasses played as a kid - but none as sophisticated as those...

Cheers - Sam

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Tracey Dragonsfriend
Date: 18 Jul 04 - 03:09 PM

Ah, Giok, now I get it! Sadly, I know no Italian at all, (umm... apart from lasagna, bolognese, etc!) hence the initial lack of comprehension.

Sam - me too! I was captivated when I heard it on the TV. Grandad used to play a glass, (and I seem to remember him having a go at playing the saw, too) but I never saw or heard anything like the glass harmonica...


Cheers
Tracey Dragonsfriend
www.scorchpyro.co.uk

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: open mike
Date: 18 Jul 04 - 06:24 PM

so i suppose we are going to have to have a defend
the glass harmonica thread, now?!
my dad used to play glasses at fine restaurants...
to test to see if it was good quality crystal and
to test to see if his family members would get
embarrassed!

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 18 Jul 04 - 09:49 PM

"Flight Of The Bumblebee" ought to be played on a buzz saw.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 19 Jul 04 - 04:43 AM

And The Bum of the Flightlebee?

Giok

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Peace
Date: 19 Jul 04 - 06:05 PM

Keriste, I thought this was about a squad automatic weapon, and I figured to hell with that, let it defend itself!

However, the saw is a beautiful instrument. Beautiful.

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: GUEST,Art again
Date: 19 Jul 04 - 07:05 PM

And Celtic music on a jig saw.

Polish music---a War saw.

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: BK Lick
Date: 22 Jun 08 - 03:03 AM

Thought I'd refresh this good thread with a link to this thread (click me) where you can hear Art play Summertime and Home On the Range on his Martin musical saw. I watched the Leonard Cohen documentary "I'm Your Man" last night on the Sundance channel and was surprised by the musical saw in the band. (It's scheduled to be shown again on Tue, Jun 24 at 4:30pm CDT by the way.)

—BK

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: pdq
Date: 22 Jun 08 - 10:21 AM

Rounds should always be done on a circular saw.

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 22 Jun 08 - 10:27 AM

But that would make it electric and we all know folk is accoustic!

LTS

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: pdq
Date: 22 Jun 08 - 10:53 AM

John Philip Sousa marches are best with a band saw.

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Azizi
Date: 22 Jun 08 - 11:54 AM

And children can start off playing on a see saw.

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Rapparee
Date: 22 Jun 08 - 12:00 PM

I used to have one, but my mom got rid of it and we then called it the saw-saw.

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Art Thieme
Date: 22 Jun 08 - 01:18 PM

Azizi,
Only in the key of C!

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Art Thieme
Date: 22 Jun 08 - 01:19 PM

Psychiatrists prefer a coping saw.

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Art Thieme
Date: 22 Jun 08 - 01:21 PM

Use a chain saw for heavy metal music.

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Art Thieme
Date: 22 Jun 08 - 01:24 PM

Voyeurs like keyhole saws.

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 22 Jun 08 - 01:55 PM

If you're worried about the music use a fret saw!

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 22 Jun 08 - 07:05 PM

I saw this on youtube Saw chorus playing Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 22 Jun 08 - 08:05 PM

Not even going to ask why this thread about the MUSICAL saw has been demoted to the NON-MUSIC section.

Nope. Not me. Not even curious.

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Rapparee
Date: 22 Jun 08 - 08:10 PM

SAWs don't need defending. The Squad Automatic Weapon is 5.56mm NATO and has a 750 rounds-per-minute cyclic rate of fire.

I suppose you could play music on one....

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Gurney
Date: 22 Jun 08 - 11:19 PM

The generic name for a portable saw here is a skill saw. For the same reason that the generic name for a vacuum cleaner in Britain is a hoover. You could do something with that, but would anyone catch it.

I tried to play my Disston panel saw a couple of times, and I suspect that the playable ones are specially made, because you would need hands like a silverback to do the curves. Or perhaps an old saw(ha) thinned down by a lifetime's sharpening.

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 23 Jun 08 - 05:52 AM

"panel saw"

The only way to get a tune out of a steel backed tenon saw is with a hammer...

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Gurney
Date: 23 Jun 08 - 06:46 PM

Foolestroupe, a panel saw is like a rip saw, but smaller teeth. In some places called a cross-cut saw.

Subject: RE: PLEASE defend the SAW
From: Azizi
Date: 23 Jun 08 - 10:11 PM

Nobody's mentioned cole slaw yet.

You say the word is saw?

Oh.

Well, never mind. Forget you saw this post.