W.T. Fisher was probably a poor man in the Ozarks, who could not afford a violin but knew woodworking and knew he could make one. So he did. It sounded good, and he was proud. It probably entertained his family and the families of his friends and neighbors. I think it’s fantastic you’ve saved the samples so the sound can be saved and used forever now. It’s something very special, this small piece of American folk instrument. It’s a sound not many people get to hear today.
I agree, the closest you get nowadays to the classy folk instruments that varied between ratty and competent, but sounded good nonetheless, are box guitars. And people think you're mental for wanting to make your own instruments.
@@StevDoesBigJumps I think making your own instruments is a wonderful use of time and great avenue for learning and expressing yourself. Who thinks it's mental? That's so sad.
@@error.418 It's strange, to a lot of the people I've met find building instruments and amps almost incomprehensible. Not just guitar snobs, but also regular people I know, think it requires whatever the touch of a master or some magic factory process to get anything usable. Oh well, it's probably because they don't understand it too well.
@@StevDoesBigJumps Sounds like something that needs to be demystified, it's very approachable. Now it's up to us to teach it in a way that's accessible.
@@lunevermeil1400 seriously. I had a violin my great grandfather made in the early 20th century. I learned on that instrument. In 2015 we left our garage door open and that, a mandolin, most of my tools and a $2000 road bike were stolen. If I could have had a single thing back, it would have been our violin, and the sound is lost forever to me.
@@kevbob That's actually horrible. I'm so sorry that happened. I guess the best we can do is hope the thief at least used what they stole wisely.
Pretty crazy to think of an amateur in the distant past lovingly making this instrument for themselves only to have its sound captured in a virtual instrument used by countless people here in the present. I'm sure their mind would be blown seeing this. Thank you so much for all of the amazing work you do!
When you were talking about the records you examined, I was surprised you didn't follow up on any of the "farmer" ones. This instrument was obviously made by a farmer. Every detail shouts it. The handwriting is by the Greatest Generation or before.
That was really impressive! It looks exactly like what a farmer with no spare money would make to satisfy his/her musical bent. My father grew up on a farm and the credo of all farmers was, figure out how to do it yourself or how to do without it. SO MANY of them were expert engineers, electricians, plumbers, masons, carpenters, auto mechanics and farmers out of necessity. Not only did the locals NOT have to go without, I bet they were thrilled to hear the music that came off that beauty!
I had an ex-in-law who was a truck driver, and in his spare time he hand made several violins. I looked him up in the '40 and '50 census and sure enough he was a truck driver and there is no mention of his violins. (No, his last name was Powell, not Fisher.) Good luck on some random family member out there seeing this video, recognizing that violin, and contacting you. BTW: I like that sound of it. Much nicer than I expected.
Everything about this video has you in it, from the nature of the instrument you found, your happening to have a few violin bridges kicking around the place, your tenacity in trying to find out about the maker and your optimistic investment of time getting it to a playable state, to your choice of "Cassette pong" among the effects presented by the LVX delay unit (which inspired me to google it-excellent). A delightful piece of work.
Definitely got me to sub. Incredibly interesting and informative video. All it needs is a little more background music (removing a lot of the overall silence), and this might be my favourite "intriguing instrument"-related video ever.
Hello David ..I just wanted you to know I have an almost identical violin made by an Alton Frissette in 1974 in Nashua NH... I was impressed that you tried to find WT Fisher. I hope information about him surfaces. I'd also very much like to find out about Alton Frissette. His violin is a work of art and a prized possession.
I love the homemade look of the violin and the sound of the samples. I wish you luck with finding out more about the creator, it would be amazing to have that backstory in more detail. Maybe he was a farmer, who carved his own fiddle for a hoedown?
I think the wood type and signature are a path to both localizing and dating the violin. The handwriting style looks more like pre -WWII. The wood looks like - well, I’m not an expert on wood but I’m guessing that it may have been left overs from furniture making. The tuning pegs are probably the most recent addition. That’s not to say that type of tuner wasn’t there from the beginning, just they don’t necessarily last, and may be replacements.
It'd be worth going through some folklore collections of the Ozarks and surrounding areas in the Library of Congress and some colleges to look for a WT (and variations) Fisher as a player, or maybe people referencing him as a fellow musician or source of tunes. There's a few fiddles like that floating around there and on some old vinyl covers I have (no Fishers there though), and the guy from Otava Yo plays a similar instrument.
Everything about this is so wholesome - from the generosity of making the sample format and VST, to the research and documentation of it, to calling it "Decent Sampler" cheers me up. I'll be happy to write to Buckingham Palace and suggest you be granted honourary British citizenship and perhaps be made Sir Dave, keeper of the King's round robins.
My favorite hobby is building instruments and building experimental instruments is the best part of the best hobby. Thanks for posting! From now on I will be sure that every thing I build has a date, name and location on the label or engraved.
A word that comes to mind after viewing this is "honesty". WT and David both. And another is yet again "connection". This whole DS project is a model of how digital technologies need not always separate and divide.
You might want to check an early 1900s Sears Catalog if you can find one. Sears actually sold plans for making violins along with selling completed instruments prior to about 1940. I only mention it because that looks an awful lot like the "Sears Blueprint" violin my great uncle made back in the 1920s and he grew up along the Iowa/Missouri border.
The depth of care and research that you put into these instruments is remarkable and at the very least entertaining. Thanks for all that you share with all of us.
I found this video strangely touching. The instrument itself has a lovely voice in its way. As a guitarist I don't know much about the violin, so I can't tell if it's your playing or the instrument itself but I found the sound nostalgic and sweet. I'm a little heartbroken by it and I can't explain why. I do hope you held on to it, or at least gave it to someone who will.
As a fiddle fan and mom of a young fiddler, I can say that this may be an ok-sounding violin, but it's actually got a fantastic sound for a fiddle. I would love to hear it played by an old-time fiddler, as I think it would sound absolutely amazing. When people didn't have access to professionally made instruments, they made them from what they could. The Birthplace of Country Music Museum has 2 fiddles built out of, I kid you not, matchsticks! They were actually played on the radio there in Bristol, apparently. And that spirit isn't limited to the rural South of the US, of course. Think of Brian May not being able to afford an electric guitar and building one with his dad, even winding his own pickups.
David, your efforts to restore old instruments and share their unique sounds with the world has always moved me. This instrument calls out to me. I'm literally weeping messy tears. There is something about rustic things that gets me right in the core and this is just a beautiful example of that. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
We feel a great amount of nostalgia and sadness in this video Thank you for your appreciation for the violin maker and for trying to find any information about him
God, seeing things that were lovingly created by passionate ppl from past eras makes me weirdly emotional, lol. It's incredibly sweet of you to name the sample library after him, despite his true identity being lost to time.
Your videos are highly addictive because they create very unique connections between things and disciplines that don't seem to fit together. The idea of digitizing the sound of flawed music relics and letting them live on is almost romantic. I'm already looking forward to the next finds.
Your videos helped inspire me to create my first sample-based instrument using a friend's kalimba recorded with a Zoom H1. With only seven notes, it was an easy instrument for an initial effort and turned out better than I'd hoped for. Notes are mapped in the same layout as the real instrument and I'm working on a song that uses it.
What a lovely video, and an utterly charming instrument! And -- just an aside -- but in an era of videos that are bloated to twice the necessary length by repetition, digressions and self-indulgence, *thank you* for respecting your viewers' time and making videos that tell us _just enough,_ and leave us wanting more. I wish more content creators understood that doing this is a gift to the viewer.
So many would dismiss off hand or see a wall hanger as stated. In Australia old instruments turn up in rubbish or become reporopsed, when preservation and reusing them saves lost sounds. Thans for a beautiful video, so much more than I initially expected
David, i am simply impressed by your passion and your ability. I am a big fan of your sample library and I always enjoy working with it. I would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you for what an incredible job you are doing and that we are all very happy with it. Keep it up, I'm looking forward to your new results. Ralf.
Thank you David. Your videos are always such a joy to watch, and the sample instruments you produce are usable and unique. The work and enthusiasm is very much appreciated!
Excellent work David, and I love the fact that you wish to credit the original maker. I'm not a violin player but I was really surprised how lovely it sounds, enhanced by your expert playing. Thanks very much and take care, from England.
Looks like the violin I picked up a few years ago, in very similar fashion. I am going to dig it out of storage and take a peek inside to see if I can find any names on it :)
My grandfather who was a musician his whole life, from piano, piano tuning, violin, guitar etc. He was also great in repair of instruments, students/parents would come to him for repair work etc. When I was a kid, he started dabbling in making, violins and violas. He made several over time. When he died my father and uncle inherited everything since my grandmother passed before my grandfather. But His instruments have been turning up, some my uncle pawned!!!! (long story) But this reminds me of that. :)
Thanks for providing Decent Sampler. I don't record my music but I wanted to refresh my piano skills and the sound the application reproduces is amazing. Feels like I'm able to play an instrument that I would never by able to afford. So thank you kindly for providing and maintaining this wonderful tool.
As a guitar maker I found that this was a fascinating approach to reviving this instrument. If it had been a fretted instrument this may not have been possible due to the accuracy need to place the frets on the fingerboard.
This violin reminds me a LOT of an upright bass I got from a garage sale while living in Arkansas....So much so that I am going to have my family check and see if there is a signature noticable anywhere on it, I still have it in storage at my father's place there. I know the story behind the bass, which is a sad one. Rather or not the two instruments are related, they definitely share some common ground as folk instruments.
would be amazing if at some point in the future you were able to re sample all of the acustic instruments that you collected in a neutral (i.e. studio w/ dampend walls) enviroment to see how it sounds completely w/o the room influencing it
@@DavidHilowitzMusic i dont know how expensive a studio for that would be, but it would be something you could have as a strechgoal on pateron, "rent a studio for a weekend for re recordings of samples"
Friendly reminder for everyone watching to set notifications to All! I just realized I had it set to Personalized and I don’t want to miss a single video this guy makes :)
You are the best I’ve come across in this particular niche. I love the samples of old instruments and found things that this channel provides. I mean it you are the best! If I had a synth I would definitely get your decent sampler app. Keep up the work and peace be with you🙏
I really hope that in 70 or so years, someone finds one of your box violins and is just as confused (and I say this not to disparage the box violins, but because I love how purely utilitarian this one is! Yet in a very different way than your box violins!)
Great job! The sound reminds me very much of a Rebec which I built at an Early Music Workshop that I attended back in the '70s. The Rebec is a medieval three stringed bowl-back fiddle that was/is popular around the Black Sea in Europe. Although I sold the one that I built decades ago, I can still remember its hollow, haunting tone, evocative of another time and place, and which I hear echos of in your fantastic pawn shop violin. :)
I’m a fan of the work of the scholar Greil Marcus, and this instrument was definitely from the invisible republic. Preserving it is a public good. I wish our libraries museums and institutions were as meticulous in preserving instruments in this fashion
Thats really cool that you bought back that mans art. I have an old violin and I can't help but wonder about the players who etched their own marks into with sweet and friction how much emotion went into playing it over the centurys.
If I had to guess: It's probably something home-made just before or during the depression, because people were crafty back then. And the intonation of it, one could say it was definitely a playable instrument and not just wall art. It sounds good despite the rough tooling in places. The name that's on it is whoever had it sometime after WWII, as that's when Biro or ball-point pens became commonly available in the U.S. If there's some way to tell if it's specifically a Bic pen, then it's after 1951. The name might be whoever got it as a hand-me-down rather than the original creator. So that may not be the best lead to go off of. If it's not home-made or some school shop project that turned out well for what it is, it could also have been a product of some prison workshop. Some places had programs like that for their inmates.
Maybe, just maybe the name was a joke meant only for people in the 21st century. WT Fisher. It would have been too obvious to carve only WTF. "Fisher" was just to make us work for it. Maybe.
Great video. You might be able to narrow down the date the instrument was made by having someone analyse a sample of the glue used, the ink used for the signature or the varnish. The glue may be the best start point - as post WWII, glues changed significantly.
I think the sampled version of this instrument could use more articulations, pizzicato, trills, tremolo, staccato, spiccato, etc. I’d definitely pay for that considering the work it would entail
In Brazil, there is an instrument that is more common on the coutryside that is called "rabeca". The rabeca is similar to this instrument you've bought, and you can find them in different sizes, with different tunings. It also has some difference in the manner you play than a regular violin
W.T. Fisher was probably a poor man in the Ozarks, who could not afford a violin but knew woodworking and knew he could make one. So he did. It sounded good, and he was proud. It probably entertained his family and the families of his friends and neighbors.
I think it’s fantastic you’ve saved the samples so the sound can be saved and used forever now.
It’s something very special, this small piece of American folk instrument. It’s a sound not many people get to hear today.
or a teen doing an ambitious wood shop project at some rural high school
I agree, the closest you get nowadays to the classy folk instruments that varied between ratty and competent, but sounded good nonetheless, are box guitars. And people think you're mental for wanting to make your own instruments.
@@StevDoesBigJumps I think making your own instruments is a wonderful use of time and great avenue for learning and expressing yourself. Who thinks it's mental? That's so sad.
@@error.418 It's strange, to a lot of the people I've met find building instruments and amps almost incomprehensible.
Not just guitar snobs, but also regular people I know, think it requires whatever the touch of a master or some magic factory process to get anything usable.
Oh well, it's probably because they don't understand it too well.
@@StevDoesBigJumps Sounds like something that needs to be demystified, it's very approachable. Now it's up to us to teach it in a way that's accessible.
you are preserving sounds we didnt even know existed. cataloguing and archiving these things is a big deal for me so thanks for your work.
I wish I had samples of all my family instruments now gone.. sample catalogs are a wonderful gift to humanity
@@lunevermeil1400 seriously. I had a violin my great grandfather made in the early 20th century. I learned on that instrument. In 2015 we left our garage door open and that, a mandolin, most of my tools and a $2000 road bike were stolen. If I could have had a single thing back, it would have been our violin, and the sound is lost forever to me.
@@kevbob That's actually horrible. I'm so sorry that happened. I guess the best we can do is hope the thief at least used what they stole wisely.
Pretty crazy to think of an amateur in the distant past lovingly making this instrument for themselves only to have its sound captured in a virtual instrument used by countless people here in the present. I'm sure their mind would be blown seeing this. Thank you so much for all of the amazing work you do!
My mind is blown watching an hearing this ,amazing,
WT Fisher had no idea his instrument would become immortal.
When you were talking about the records you examined, I was surprised you didn't follow up on any of the "farmer" ones. This instrument was obviously made by a farmer. Every detail shouts it. The handwriting is by the Greatest Generation or before.
Agreed. My great-grandfather made his own violin, and he was a farmer in the Appalachian mountains.
Calmest man in Philly.
Most sane mane
Lol.
So true!!! 💯%
Nerdiest man in Philly too, but he does release some killer samples. 🤓
Psh
I work at the said pawn shop and you're a genius
That was really impressive! It looks exactly like what a farmer with no spare money would make to satisfy his/her musical bent. My father grew up on a farm and the credo of all farmers was, figure out how to do it yourself or how to do without it. SO MANY of them were expert engineers, electricians, plumbers, masons, carpenters, auto mechanics and farmers out of necessity. Not only did the locals NOT have to go without, I bet they were thrilled to hear the music that came off that beauty!
I had an ex-in-law who was a truck driver, and in his spare time he hand made several violins. I looked him up in the '40 and '50 census and sure enough he was a truck driver and there is no mention of his violins. (No, his last name was Powell, not Fisher.) Good luck on some random family member out there seeing this video, recognizing that violin, and contacting you.
BTW: I like that sound of it. Much nicer than I expected.
Everything about this video has you in it, from the nature of the instrument you found, your happening to have a few violin bridges kicking around the place, your tenacity in trying to find out about the maker and your optimistic investment of time getting it to a playable state, to your choice of "Cassette pong" among the effects presented by the LVX delay unit (which inspired me to google it-excellent). A delightful piece of work.
Aww, thanks!
Definitely got me to sub. Incredibly interesting and informative video. All it needs is a little more background music (removing a lot of the overall silence), and this might be my favourite "intriguing instrument"-related video ever.
What does it sound like without the reverb
Hello David ..I just wanted you to know I have an almost identical violin made by an Alton Frissette in 1974 in Nashua NH... I was impressed that you tried to find WT Fisher. I hope information about him surfaces. I'd also very much like to find out about Alton Frissette. His violin is a work of art and a prized possession.
I love the sound of that fiddle! Feel like I really have to make a boxfiddle. That slightly nasal and distorted tone is wonderful.
Yes, nasal is a great way of describing it
I wanna have a gourd fiddle myself. Strings rest on a floating bridge, which itself rests on top of a drum head, just like a banjo.
I love the homemade look of the violin and the sound of the samples. I wish you luck with finding out more about the creator, it would be amazing to have that backstory in more detail. Maybe he was a farmer, who carved his own fiddle for a hoedown?
I think the wood type and signature are a path to both localizing and dating the violin. The handwriting style looks more like pre -WWII. The wood looks like - well, I’m not an expert on wood but I’m guessing that it may have been left overs from furniture making. The tuning pegs are probably the most recent addition. That’s not to say that type of tuner wasn’t there from the beginning, just they don’t necessarily last, and may be replacements.
It'd be worth going through some folklore collections of the Ozarks and surrounding areas in the Library of Congress and some colleges to look for a WT (and variations) Fisher as a player, or maybe people referencing him as a fellow musician or source of tunes. There's a few fiddles like that floating around there and on some old vinyl covers I have (no Fishers there though), and the guy from Otava Yo plays a similar instrument.
If only W T Fisher knew his fiddle was heard and digitally) played all over the world.
Always grateful for the free DS samples, David.
Everything about this is so wholesome - from the generosity of making the sample format and VST, to the research and documentation of it, to calling it "Decent Sampler" cheers me up. I'll be happy to write to Buckingham Palace and suggest you be granted honourary British citizenship and perhaps be made Sir Dave, keeper of the King's round robins.
Missed opportunity to make the title of this video "W.T.F. made this violin"
XD
@mahimarajapaksha huh
@mahimarajapaksha What?
Why tho
To be honest, I like the emoji chaos A LOT! sign me up for sum emoji chaos any day of the week. Yes, man!
I like the look of the violin. Sturdy. Rustic. Not half bad for an amateur. It reminds us that art is for everybody. And it sounds nice too.
My favorite hobby is building instruments and building experimental instruments is the best part of the best hobby. Thanks for posting! From now on I will be sure that every thing I build has a date, name and location on the label or engraved.
It would be great if you do videos showing your creations!
@@gabrielfkaplan Thanks for the encouragement! I may do that.
@@scillyautomatic please tag me when you do it!
@@gabrielfkaplan Will do!
A word that comes to mind after viewing this is "honesty". WT and David both.
And another is yet again "connection".
This whole DS project is a model of how digital technologies need not always separate and divide.
You might want to check an early 1900s Sears Catalog if you can find one. Sears actually sold plans for making violins along with selling completed instruments prior to about 1940. I only mention it because that looks an awful lot like the "Sears Blueprint" violin my great uncle made back in the 1920s and he grew up along the Iowa/Missouri border.
The depth of care and research that you put into these instruments is remarkable and at the very least entertaining. Thanks for all that you share with all of us.
I’m also in Philly, so now I 100% HAVE to check out that Pawn Shop you mentioned on South St.
I found this video strangely touching. The instrument itself has a lovely voice in its way. As a guitarist I don't know much about the violin, so I can't tell if it's your playing or the instrument itself but I found the sound nostalgic and sweet. I'm a little heartbroken by it and I can't explain why. I do hope you held on to it, or at least gave it to someone who will.
God it sounds amazing, i love how soft the sound is, I think the fact that it has so few extreme frequencies gives it such a lovely modest sound.
What an awesome find. 10/10 on the cool vibes scale. Keep it and if you want to get rid of it send it to a folk music museum in the ozarks.
As a fiddle fan and mom of a young fiddler, I can say that this may be an ok-sounding violin, but it's actually got a fantastic sound for a fiddle. I would love to hear it played by an old-time fiddler, as I think it would sound absolutely amazing.
When people didn't have access to professionally made instruments, they made them from what they could. The Birthplace of Country Music Museum has 2 fiddles built out of, I kid you not, matchsticks! They were actually played on the radio there in Bristol, apparently.
And that spirit isn't limited to the rural South of the US, of course. Think of Brian May not being able to afford an electric guitar and building one with his dad, even winding his own pickups.
David, your efforts to restore old instruments and share their unique sounds with the world has always moved me. This instrument calls out to me. I'm literally weeping messy tears. There is something about rustic things that gets me right in the core and this is just a beautiful example of that. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
It sounds very comforting. And I like the framed painting on the wall. And the way you play this instrument. Everything radiates a basic beauty.
We feel a great amount of nostalgia and sadness in this video
Thank you for your appreciation for the violin maker and for trying to find any information about him
the World, Humanity at least, DESPERATELY needs more People like You, my Friend... Your work, You MO is remarkable! keep it up!
I just played with this for a bit; I love the sound. Thanks a lot, not just for the library, but for creating Decent Sampler.
I lived on South St! It was back in the early 90s. Then i lived on Rodman in a brownstone.
God, seeing things that were lovingly created by passionate ppl from past eras makes me weirdly emotional, lol. It's incredibly sweet of you to name the sample library after him, despite his true identity being lost to time.
Your videos are highly addictive because they create very unique connections between things and disciplines that don't seem to fit together. The idea of digitizing the sound of flawed music relics and letting them live on is almost romantic. I'm already looking forward to the next finds.
Got goosebumps from this …..resurrection of a treasured artefact….thank you
I'm loving the new video format with all the b-roll footage, it looks really professional like I'm watching a documentary lol
I actually teared up it made my bones cold as soon as he started playing
Your videos helped inspire me to create my first sample-based instrument using a friend's kalimba recorded with a Zoom H1. With only seven notes, it was an easy instrument for an initial effort and turned out better than I'd hoped for. Notes are mapped in the same layout as the real instrument and I'm working on a song that uses it.
Man! What a work of art. Both, the violin and the sampling process.
Thanks for sharing!
thanks so much...again
What a lovely video, and an utterly charming instrument!
And -- just an aside -- but in an era of videos that are bloated to twice the necessary length by repetition, digressions and self-indulgence, *thank you* for respecting your viewers' time and making videos that tell us _just enough,_ and leave us wanting more. I wish more content creators understood that doing this is a gift to the viewer.
I adore your sample libraries
I just want to now say how much I've used this sample library... Thank you for it
Literally the definition of contributing to society. Thank you David.
So many would dismiss off hand or see a wall hanger as stated. In Australia old instruments turn up in rubbish or become reporopsed, when preservation and reusing them saves lost sounds. Thans for a beautiful video, so much more than I initially expected
David, i am simply impressed by your passion and your ability. I am a big fan of your sample library and I always enjoy working with it. I would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you for what an incredible job you are doing and that we are all very happy with it. Keep it up, I'm looking forward to your new results. Ralf.
Are you kidding me?? The sound is beautiful!! I was not expecting it to sound that good.
W. T. Fisher was right-handed; that's about as much help as I can be. I hope you'll keep us updated as you learn more!
An old TV might be cool to do a scope mod to, basically driving the tube directly with an audio signal so you get a visualizer.
Gotta remember to hit up that pawn shop next time I'm on South :D
Thank you David. Your videos are always such a joy to watch, and the sample instruments you produce are usable and unique. The work and enthusiasm is very much appreciated!
Can’t be overstated! 💯
Excellent work David, and I love the fact that you wish to credit the original maker.
I'm not a violin player but I was really surprised how lovely it sounds, enhanced by your expert playing.
Thanks very much and take care, from England.
I honestly did not expect for that violin to sound as beautiful as it did.
I love your videos because they are relaxing and always have more to them than just sampling an instrument. Thanks for sharing ❤❤
Great work David, thank you 🙏!
Fantastic, amazing to think that the sound of W.T. Fisher will live on. Thanks for the sample pack x
Looks like the violin I picked up a few years ago, in very similar fashion. I am going to dig it out of storage and take a peek inside to see if I can find any names on it :)
Sounds lovely, can‘t wait to try it out! Thank you for all the amazing free instruments! :)
A lovely instrument! Im glad you took the time to try to discover who it was who had made it. I do hope this reaches the individual or their family!
My grandfather who was a musician his whole life, from piano, piano tuning, violin, guitar etc. He was also great in repair of instruments, students/parents would come to him for repair work etc. When I was a kid, he started dabbling in making, violins and violas. He made several over time. When he died my father and uncle inherited everything since my grandmother passed before my grandfather. But His instruments have been turning up, some my uncle pawned!!!! (long story) But this reminds me of that. :)
Thanks for providing Decent Sampler. I don't record my music but I wanted to refresh my piano skills and the sound the application reproduces is amazing. Feels like I'm able to play an instrument that I would never by able to afford. So thank you kindly for providing and maintaining this wonderful tool.
this is fantastic, Dave. I was not betting it would sound that good! thanks (again!) for all you do, and all you have done for the sampling community.
Wow! That was unexpected violin sound, beautiful and nostalgic!
As a guitar maker I found that this was a fascinating approach to reviving this instrument. If it had been a fretted instrument this may not have been possible due to the accuracy need to place the frets on the fingerboard.
That fiddle sounds absolutely beautiful.
The first time you played it, it sounded so beautiful! It has some mysterious tone to it that I love
This violin reminds me a LOT of an upright bass I got from a garage sale while living in Arkansas....So much so that I am going to have my family check and see if there is a signature noticable anywhere on it, I still have it in storage at my father's place there. I know the story behind the bass, which is a sad one. Rather or not the two instruments are related, they definitely share some common ground as folk instruments.
I used to play violin in a Orchestra as a teen now I want to play my old violin again thanks
would be amazing if at some point in the future you were able to re sample all of the acustic instruments that you collected in a neutral (i.e. studio w/ dampend walls) enviroment to see how it sounds completely w/o the room influencing it
Yes, I would love to resample a bunch of them.
@@DavidHilowitzMusic i dont know how expensive a studio for that would be, but it would be something you could have as a strechgoal on pateron, "rent a studio for a weekend for re recordings of samples"
Very Eno sounding going through the pedal. Great work Dave
Honestly, I actually loved this video. I keep my eyes open in Thrift Stores, Pawn Shops etc.
Everyday that a David Hilowitz video gets released, the world gets a little bit more magical...
Friendly reminder for everyone watching to set notifications to All! I just realized I had it set to Personalized and I don’t want to miss a single video this guy makes :)
You are the best I’ve come across in this particular niche. I love the samples of old instruments and found things that this channel provides. I mean it you are the best! If I had a synth I would definitely get your decent sampler app. Keep up the work and peace be with you🙏
Even though its age and worn out look, it still manages to sound like beautiful instrument, great work man!
I really hope that in 70 or so years, someone finds one of your box violins and is just as confused (and I say this not to disparage the box violins, but because I love how purely utilitarian this one is! Yet in a very different way than your box violins!)
your vids are amazing! they are interesting and wholesome. one of the best series on TH-cam
Great job! The sound reminds me very much of a Rebec which I built at an Early Music Workshop that I attended back in the '70s. The Rebec is a medieval three stringed bowl-back fiddle that was/is popular around the Black Sea in Europe. Although I sold the one that I built decades ago, I can still remember its hollow, haunting tone, evocative of another time and place, and which I hear echos of in your fantastic pawn shop violin. :)
Multi-sampling is a very tricky process because it also involves finding the best loop points at the end of each waveform 🌊
My friend, you made that old cigar box sound pretty good!
"It's a Beautiful Day in Philadelphia" sounds like a sitcom
That little TV could be used to make a CRTelecaster! Now there's something I'd like to have a sample library of!
Thank you Fisher & Hilowitz.
I must say: this Mr. David Hilowitz is a treasure!
I’m a fan of the work of the scholar Greil Marcus, and this instrument was definitely from the invisible republic. Preserving it is a public good. I wish our libraries museums and institutions were as meticulous in preserving instruments in this fashion
You always have an engaging new adventure to share. Bravo
It is possible that W.T. Fisher is still out there 🤠
You know I clic the LIKE button the moment the video starts... right?
You know this channel is sooooo good, you gotta do it!!
Thats really cool that you bought back that mans art. I have an old violin and I can't help but wonder about the players who etched their own marks into with sweet and friction how much emotion went into playing it over the centurys.
The violin sounds great, but the mystery behind who constructed it makes it even better!
Да, надеюсь, эту тайну кто-то однажды откроет. Спасибо за прекрасное звучание скрипки!
Love Retrospect, gotta check out that pawn shop!
Mate, you are bloody brilliant. I love what you do.
sounds amazingly well for what it looks like, and just well overall.
If I had to guess: It's probably something home-made just before or during the depression, because people were crafty back then. And the intonation of it, one could say it was definitely a playable instrument and not just wall art. It sounds good despite the rough tooling in places. The name that's on it is whoever had it sometime after WWII, as that's when Biro or ball-point pens became commonly available in the U.S. If there's some way to tell if it's specifically a Bic pen, then it's after 1951.
The name might be whoever got it as a hand-me-down rather than the original creator. So that may not be the best lead to go off of.
If it's not home-made or some school shop project that turned out well for what it is, it could also have been a product of some prison workshop. Some places had programs like that for their inmates.
Maybe, just maybe the name was a joke meant only for people in the 21st century. WT Fisher. It would have been too obvious to carve only WTF. "Fisher" was just to make us work for it. Maybe.
Great video. You might be able to narrow down the date the instrument was made by having someone analyse a sample of the glue used, the ink used for the signature or the varnish. The glue may be the best start point - as post WWII, glues changed significantly.
I think the sampled version of this instrument could use more articulations, pizzicato, trills, tremolo, staccato, spiccato, etc. I’d definitely pay for that considering the work it would entail
In Brazil, there is an instrument that is more common on the coutryside that is called "rabeca". The rabeca is similar to this instrument you've bought, and you can find them in different sizes, with different tunings. It also has some difference in the manner you play than a regular violin
THank you David, much appreciated. I think it's fantastic.....