What a day yesterday was. A wonderful group of bumblebee players were able to hone their skills in the courses. Then it was time: Goest-r-ing played its first concert. It was a beautiful day and evening at KunstAcademie KunstParel. Thank you to everyone who was there. Thanks also to Sarah Copriau for letting me turn everything upside down. 🤪 And that for the second time! Thank you for your trust. And especially for letting me organize it again next year!

Almost 7/03! 2th Hommeldag @kunstacademie KunstParel. And the first concert with Goest(r)ing. A brand new trio with (European) dulcimer as the central instrument.

Last week I was teaching ‘Hommel’ at the “stage voor traditionele muziek” in Gooik. At the last minute my college became ill, and I stepped in for him. Therefore this beast wasn’t ready until yesterday. 4 melody strings and 10 drones. The drones are tuned in pairs and in octaves. Because of the amount of drones I had to use traditional zither-pegs. Happy with the result. Now I have to learn to use the drones…

I didn’t post much the last few weeks, but the hommel/epinette is advancing again. I’m busy with the fretboard now. Fretboard on the picture is not glued yet for those wondering. Just loose on top of what’s becoming an instrument.

Difference between not sanded and sanded for the first time. Difference is big already. Next time I’ll do another turn with 180, then 240, … Hommel in the making.

Work in progress. The headstock and a detail of the fretboard to be. Lot’s of work to be done, but this is progressing nicely.

I am in luck. These new woods were offered to me by a friend. They were ment to become hurdy gurdy’s but they now will become dulcimers. Thanks to Jacques for this. The new hommel will have 4 melody strings and some 10 drone strings. I am so curious and excited to start working these woods!

L’avantage d’un peu de stress, c’est qu’il faut éliminer ça rapidement. J’ai travaillé beaucoup pendant la semaine dernière et le résultat est que l’épinette est fini plus vite que prévu. Cette instrument est une épinette « diatonique » entièrement chromatique. 😉 Maintenant j’essaye l’instrument et j’espère que elle va m’accompagner cette été pour m’habituer. Le prochain projet est une épinette à 8 bourdons ét une épinette gauche pour une élève l’année scolaire prochaine.

The ‘hommel’ I’m making is progressing well. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but happy so far. I used a different type off frets for this one among other things but still close to the previous hommel I made. Soundwise I was very happy about that one, so I hope the small improvements are resulting in a fine and quality instrument. Very curious about the end result!