Naming Musical Instruments

[Rhomylly]

Am I the only one that does this? The Hohner was the Beast, as in Questing Beast from the Arthurian legends (huge animal that made a sound like fifty hounds were in its belly).

 

The Tedrow Turbo Stagi is, naturally (to me), named Tess. Readers of the early Bloom County comic strips may remember a female rocker named...Tess Turbo.

[JimLucas]

I have two "problems" with this poll. The first is that I'm not allowed to select two options, e.g., "You are warped" AND "only my concertinas".

 

The other is that a couple of my instruments (and other mechanical "toys") have names, but most do not, but there's no "button" I can use to say that.

...Does this mean I'm going to have to quickly name all the rest of my concertinas, so that I can truthfully select one of the buttons?

[Henk van Aalten]

My Tina has a name: Mary (in Dutch: Marie) which is the name of my mother. After she died in 1997 she left some money, which I estimated enough to fullfill a wish that I had for a long time: to upgrade from my Hohner 20b GC to a better concertina. It took me 5 years to make a choice (which is normal for me) and buy my present Marcus 30b GC.

 

BTW: this does not mean that I do not have special names for my wife, children, my car or (even) my bike!

 

Henk

[Rhomylly]

Can't help you there, Jim, sorry

[Richard Morse]

I ended up doing the "null reply" as none of the categories pertains.

 

Only some of by instruments (yet strangely enough, none of my squeezeboxes are), some plants, a couple of pots, my kids (we have no pets), and every car I ever owned has had/have names. Some have more than one name....

[RustyBits]

I find the more annoying the car, child, pet, instrument, husband, the more names it has. My concertina is mostly very well behaved and is named Lilly. My Dodge Caravan that only has 63,000 and just needed a new $3200 transmission has quite a few names, none of which are appropriate to list here. The husband and kids fall somewhere in between.

[Stephen Chambers]

Oh dear, I think I'm much too prosaic for this quiz, even my cat is called "Cat". It's a good job I don't have any children !

[Helen]

Ah Stephen,

 

I can see it now. Girl Child One. Boy Child Two.

 

Well, Rhomylly, I am stunned. I name everything, but I guess I don't name my instruments. I mean, I call the Gremlin tina, Gremlin. And my Edgley, I have called Edgley since I knew I was getting it. Sorta like naming the baby while it is in the womb. But nope, haven't really named any of them.

 

Hmmm, maybe I should get crackin and name all of them. Hmmm, an awful lot of instruments to name.

 

Maybe I'll do the Stephen thing. Hammer Dulcimer One, Hammer Dulcimer Two, Alto Sax One...

 

Helen

[Rhomylly]

You have *two* hammered dulcimers?????

 

A friend of mine would sell her soul for just one...

[Helen]

Ah well, no, Rhomylly I have 5 hammer dulcimers.

 

But hey I got my first one almost 25 years ago. I used it forever (still have it), and then got a bigger one when, you guessed it, I needed more notes. Then I got one that a very wonderful designer had made and he just designs now doesn't make them, so I got it - and it sounds awesome. I can barely pick it up though, very heavy. And I got one that is small and light to travel and play.

 

And the last one I saved for over a year and was a great deal that someone had commissioned and then not bought. The music store let me pay on account. It sounds like an organ. It's the biggest that designer ever made. Of course now a different designer made even bigger ones, but I am not interested. The one I got has lots of nifty stuff on it and sounds like a dream. Couldn't ask for anything more.

 

Then I thought my buying instruments was over. Ah well. I fell into the world of free reed instruments and now will never be able to retire. I'll always be working to pay off instruments.

 

Hmm, not a bad life, come to think of it.

 

Helen

[Guernsey Pete]

Well, I think it's a good thing Stephen doesn't have any children too...sorry, Steve, how're you doing in Dublin ? Don't think I've seen you since the Fleadh at Buncrana....we've all passed a lot of water since then....

 

Elder child is sometimes referred to as Number One Son... I only have one of each...did you know Charlie Chan sounded like that because he was a drunk ?

 

First car was called Emma ( it was an old Avenger )

A later car was called Slightly, by the children, as it was slightly better than the one before.

OLY whatever numbers was " Ollie ".

The only instrument I ever thought of naming was my home-made electric bass, which a friend suggested be the Dadga - some sort of Celtic God-father figure I believe ? Sounds like a guitar-tuning to me.

 

GP

[Stephen Chambers]

Steve, how're you doing in Dublin ?

Hello Pete,

 

I thought it must be you, there couldn't be more than one Guernsey Pete, could there ?

 

Long time no see !

 

All being well, I hope to move out of Dublin in the next few weeks, to Kilrush, Co. Clare, only a short stagger from Crotty's pub.

 

Don't think I've seen you since the Fleadh at Buncrana....

Funnily enough, I was playing my melodeon (Cajun accordion) at a session in Burton-on-Trent (my home town) last night, and got talking to a woman from Buncrana who was sitting next to me. It made me think back to the Fleadhs there years ago.

 

Now, if ever there was an instrument that should be named "The Beast", then it should be that melodeon. There's no stopping it when it gets going, it just takes over, though sometimes (if I catch it in the right mood) it lets me play it quietly.

 

First car was called Emma ( it was an old Avenger )

A later car was called Slightly, by the children, as it was slightly better than the one before.

OLY whatever numbers was " Ollie ".

Now, I must confess that some of my cars have had names, there was an MGB called "Pivvie" (registration letters PVV), and an Alfa-Romeo, with Bertone bodywork, called "Gina" (because she was beautiful, flighty and temperamental, just like an Italian film star), but I can only plead that it was my girlfriend who named them, not me. She also called the two cats we had then "Wheatstone" and "Jeffries", but I can't imagine why ...