RESONERA MERA!

Svenska fioler med resonanssträngar

Magnus Gustafsson have written the following passage in his book Axel Sjölander - spelman i Grönadal (Tingsryd, Småland): "Johan (Axel Sjölanders grandfather Johan Håkansson Sjölander 1819-1880) probably used a fiddle with sympathetic strings of the type that was not unusual in this area in the 18th century. He might have inherited the instrument from his father. Håkan (the father of Johan) was educated in Växjö and had probably came across the instrument type there. Axel made it clear that the grandfather played a violin that "had some sound strings, they sounded with (the playing strings). Some fiddlers had that by then. It is exactly like with some psalmodikon..."

The quote from Sjölander above (not too easy to translate) gives no information about which type of instrument his grandfather had. Magnus most likely refers to double-deckers since he had recently been to Edvin Karlsson i Berg and seen Bulan at Smålands museum in Växjö and it is his asumption that it's that kind of instrument Sjölander talked about. There is nothing that contradicts that assumption and it is a good guess, but it is not certain it is correct either.

NameSjölander
TypeReference
Luthier
Year
Origin
Found inTingsryd, Småland
Playing strings
Sympathetic strings

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