Turkish Saz / Baglama

Jangle_Jamie · September 17

I went to see some live music on Saturday night - The Budapest Cafe Orchestra - led by violinist Christian Garrick. What a wonderful group. Four musicians and an incredibly tight and fulfilling sound. Some elements of gypsy jazz in there. Their instruments are: double bass, violin, accordion, and the fourth member alternated between guitar (a nice sounding Lowden), a Turkish saz/baglama (pronounced ballamer) and a Domra - a little bowl-backed mandolin sized instrument with four strings.

I was so impressed with the band, that I came home and looked at saz on Ebay. In a moment of madness, I bought a second hand long-neck one from Germany. 7 strings. Quite a nice looking instrument and I hope to be able to get a tune from it, and maybe even try something like Les Yeux Noirs.

I will report back!

I saw Christian Garrick play with Angelo Debarre some years ago. Their live Quecumbar album with Andy Crowdy and Dave Kelbie is very very good by the way.

billyshakes · September 17

Very cool, Jamie! I lived in Istanbul for ~2.5 yrs during grad school. Thought about trying to learn the Saz there but realized I didn't even know how to play my guitar well and figured it was better to focus on that. I always thought Saz was a smaller version of Baglama, but I guess that isn't exactly accurate. I was probably in my pointy-talky phase of learning the language then so maybe nuance was lost in the answer to my question: "What's the difference between Saz & Baglama." So, I learned that today. ha ha

The word Baglama has that funny soft "g" letter written with a smile on top, which means it is unpronounced. The vowels all sound the same, so it is probably closer to <bah-lah-mah> in pronounciation. The verb baglamak means "to tie" in Turkish, probably referring to the way they created "frets" by tying gut strings around the neck. I used to check them out by the music stores near the Galata tower. Does yours have real frets?

I'll bet Dark Eyes will sound great with that instrument, really giving it that "oriental" feel! Maybe Anniversary Song, Joseph, Joseph, or even Hava Naguila would sound cool with this instrument. Found this video of a German guy playing a pretty well-known Turkish folk song too. Might be fun for you to play. Can't wait to hear your progress!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4duXfZPrAIM

JasonS · September 17

Very cool. I've played the oud for many years and have dabbled with the saz here and there. It's a fun instrument and I think you'll find the right hand technique from Gypsy jazz translates very well to saz.

Jangle_Jamie · September 28

Well, the Saz turned up... very badly damaged. The neck is broken and splintered, tuning pegs snapped off, some hairline cracks near where the neck joins the body. The actual body itself seems to be ok.

A massive shame to see a beautiful instrument destroyed by either stupid DHL staff or stupid Royal Mail staff.

I was covered by Ebay so am able to return it for a full refund. HOWEVER... oh dear, here we go... I've decided to keep it and graft a Vox mini guitar neck onto the body (which I happen to have lying around), add a Selmer style tailpiece and see what happens. I've been refunded half of the money, and I have a new (possibly very silly) project to do in my (non-existent) spare time.

Pics to follow

billyshakes · September 28

https://djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/118389#Comment_118389

#newprofilepic-comingup

Jangle_Jamie · October 18

I cut the neck off and cut a channel for the new neck (Vox mini) and in doing so, discovered the soundboard is made up of plywood glued to a thick slab of pine - not ideal!! I've therefore decided to cut that all off and make a new thin spruce top. This had better end up being a nice instrument when I've finished with it!!!

billyshakes · October 18

Man, how did that thing even produce any sound? It's a tank!

Buco · October 20

Surely once you're done there will nothing like in the whole world. This is how interesting and sometimes important discoveries are made so who knows what you might learn along the way.

Jangle_Jamie · October 20

I've cut the top off this afternoon, and it reveals a very nicely made body which is thin, lightweight and should be a good sound chamber. I now have to decide how many braces and where to put them. I'm tempted to put two thin ones in, above and below the bridge position. The body is narrow so it shouldn't need anything too beefy. Any luthiers here like to chime in?!