Posted by Captain Béla K. Berty on June 09, 101 at 01:19:33:
In Reply to: Hope this webpage address works... posted by Don Sanders on June 07, 101 at 13:13:13:
Captain John Hartford got his fiddle to produce a sound like a steamwhistle by having a fifth string installed on his fiddle and having it tuned to a very low pitch. As I recall, around 1977 or 1978, after a concert in Charleston, West Virginia, The Dancing Boat Pilot went to the Charleston Athletic Club to catch the Katie Laur Band performance. Alas, her banjo picker didn't make it, so John pulled out his banjo and blended in. Afterwords, in the kitchen, a few of us were standing around, when The Fiddling Goatherd from Roane County asked how he got the low sound of a steamboat whistle to come out of his fiddle . . .