Your favorite non-guitar fretted stringed instrument?

[Greywolf]

My Weber Metolius mandolin , 1 of 10 made . Port Orford Cedar top and a figured Myrtle body and neck , a bit fuller sound .

[RJVB]

Theorbo and the entire viola da gamba family. Yes, I'm into the "early music idiom" (and ideology O:-) ) but those who aren't could check out index.html

[Tom Karol]

FWIW, I was talking about instruments you like to play, not just listen to.
And yes Woody, Pedal Steel counts - I've never played one, but I love the sound!

[RJVB]

Heh, I would like to play theorbo and have played gamba, so there

[randal]

Greywolf, that myrtlewood on that Weber is quite pretty

Theorbo and the entire viola da gamba family. Yes, I'm into the "early music idiom" (and ideology O:-) ) but those who aren't could check out index.html

Tell us more - I'd enjoy hearing about what folks are into. It (strings) is such a vast world - when you open it up to all that's gone down...

For me, flamenco knocked my socks off 30+ years ago and has been unrelenting. Grew up studying classical, but I don't remember the last time I played anything (on nylon) that wasn't flamenco, or Bach. All-encompassing is the word. As is usual for me, the more I study in a genre, the further back I reach. Then I started listening to Jordi Savall (renown gambaist) and Hesperion ensemble Occident/Orient iterations, which places the music in great context - from Africa to al-Andulus, and of course the Occident. Diving into oud, I don't think I can extricate myself - too all-encompassing - the essence.

I've done this deep dive into old forms elsewhere - Gaelic music, Scandinavian, and of course blues, jazz, American folk - and it's all highly, highly distracting from what I should be doing - which is playing jazz. But I'm a hopeless case, which is why I'll never be a jazzman even though my life is consumed by it (I have this voracious appetite for improvised music and spend all my time listening). Some days I fantasize that I'll get out my horns (which I haven't studied on since my kids left the house) and forget about my house full of sonorous stringed instruments...

This whole gamba/viol thing - it all started with jazz bass, the king of strings. One rabbit hole after another...

[AndyV]

Steel guitar!

[docsteve]

Lute and related instruments. Such a sweet sound. And if course you can play modern music on it, too.

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[icuker]

I just recently bought a cheap Recording King Tenor guitar. $200 but a lot of fun to play and learn new tricks on. I also play ukulele (lead the local Uke Club).

[Gilpy]

I like the charango too. It's so tiny but can be really loud. Picked one up in Chile, and have used it on a bunch of recordings. If you play guitar it's super easy to figure out the neck. Strumming style takes some practice. Mine's all wood, those armadillo ones are kinda gross, especially when they leave the head on!

[dot75]

I like the charango too. It's so tiny but can be really loud. Picked one up in Chile, and have used it on a bunch of recordings. If you play guitar it's super easy to figure out the neck. Strumming style takes some practice. Mine's all wood, those armadillo ones are kinda gross, especially when they leave the head on!

I think it's better if I don't tell you that when my wife was pregnant with our 2nd child she could often be found
inhaling deeply from the sound hole...

[Glin66]

I found violin easy to pick up but I'd been playing viola for 8 years at that point.

I've always wanted to learn harp. It seems difficult though.

[Laro]

Mandolin, renaissance lute (13 courses), 5 string (open back) banjo...
No uke (cant bound with that thing...)

[Tom Wright]

Two of my five. Acoustic by Thomas Buchanan, UK:



electric by Almuse, UK:



I only play 10-string now, but grew up playing violin, played rock guitar in the 70s, played professional viola in an orchestra until 2014.

The acoustic is great for folk dances, whether contra or English Country Dance. The electric is my jazz axe. One album on the acoustic, three with the electric.

www.twtunes.com

[randal]

I've been into lots of Brazilian music on guitar, accordion, etc and I recently got this for my retirement years.

[Tom Wright]

I think the top 10-string player is Hamilton de Holanda. His 24 Caprichos are impressive, I recorded three of them.

[Jonah]

Though looking at my face you probably would not think it is my favourite...

[L50EF15]

I go back and forth between mandolin and banjo, both tenor and five string (played as a plectrum) as my non-guitar favorites. It's been awhile since I messed with my violin, but that's another one I enjoy.

[Tom Karol]

I now have a mandolin as well as a mandola and an octave mandolin.
I've been leaning towards the mandola lately.

[Tom Wright]

Here's what can be done with a 10-string electric in bass/drums trio. Keith Jarret's "'Long As You Know You're Living Yours":

[Tom Karol]

Nice - always loved that song!

[frabarmus]

"Tenor" (although it's actually Alto, isn't it?) banjo. I like the perfect fifths tuning in an instrument whose register is not so high (as in mandolin, for instance). Perfect fifths tuning makes it possible to play Bach Cello Suites.

I'm so absorbed by jazz guitar (with the little time I have for it anyway) that my banjo has been comfortably sleeping in it's gig bag for the last 10 years or so.

Anyway... here's an old video of myself having a go at J.S. Bach's Corrente from Cello Suite 1.