John Carty and Mike Considine

At the New Edinburgh Folk Club in Dunedin (Tull Cafe). Man, that was a great little venue.

Fiddle Pick-ups

The question was asked:

> ...does anyone have any advice on the best way to amp up a fiddle?

And an answer came:

It's a bit like asking, "What sort of computer should I buy?". To which the response should be, "What do you want to do with it?"

So. What do you want to do with it?

If, as I suspect, you want to play pubs and clubs and earn money, the best (imho) way to go is an "in the slot" bridge pickup and a preamp. They give pretty good sound on most fiddles when set up properly, are non-invasive and non-permanent inslatations which don't damage the fiddle, although they will have some small affect on the acoustic sound of the instrument but that's usually only noticeable to the player. Fishman is one maker. The good thing about them is they are bullet-proof, don't readily feed back, you can install them on the bass or treble side of the bridge - whichever gives the best sound (it's different for different fiddles, there's no rule of thumb) and they sound like a fiddle to the average pub-goer. Sometimes they even sound very good. Whatever the sound lacks can be ironed out, first with the preamp then with the mixing desk. They're prettymuch plug-and-play.

If, on the other hand, you want to be Ken the hoose and you're playing concert situations and want your instrument to sound like your instrument but louder (the ideal), then a clip on microphone; ideally one that doesn't mount on the fiddle itself will be great. The equation is simple: the more you spend on this mic, the better it will sound. BUT. (See, it's a big but.) You will be restricted in sound pressure levels, especially with foldback. So if your band is loudish, you're going to run into problems hearing yourself. However, for a Ben the Henhoose style of thing, where the fiddle is key and accompaniment is in proportion (small and kilted), it can be a good option. A friend of mine had a $16 Dick Smith computer mic on his fiddle and it sounded amazing (giving lie to the equation above).

If you want to keep your fiddle for fiddling and not pub-gigging, another option is to aquire a $300 cheap electric violin (there are plenty on trademe). They're quite playable - easy to adjust the bridge for best action because the usual acoustic considerations don't apply, just hack away at the bridge with your pocket-knife. They sound a bit artificial, but they do sound very pubsy/pogueish and you can use effects with them easily. They are surprisingly playable and essentially disposable.

My last bits of advice are: don't get anything that sticks to the body of your fiddle unless it cost you more than $500. And get a carbon fibre bow, they're pretty cheap and much better than a wooden bow of the same price (after about $800, wooden bows are better), it wont break or split if you drop it and can stand a fair bit of gig abuse.
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Then Kenny Ritch (fiddleplayer of Ben the Hoose) said:

Ah, yes, good advice as always Mike Macaroni. I've got an Accusound uni-directional microphone (have a look here: www.accusound.com) and it's a lovely piece of kit. A touch pricey but gives a very faithful representation of the sound of my fiddle. It attaches to the fiddle using a small clip on the tailpiece.

Actually it only attaches to this small clip if you remember to take it with you. If you forget it, as I did at Whare Flat, you steal some gaffer tape from Mike and use that. Works wonders.