Lark in the Morning
Mouthbow
Mouthbow
SKU:JAW600
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Musical instruments have been around for a long, long time, and the mouth bow is probably one of the oldest of them. In fact, an ancient French cave drawing, made perhaps 15,000 years ago, shows an individual dancing toward several buffalo while playing one of the stringed resonators. Early humans may have believed there were magical powers in this simple soundmaker, or may have discovered that wild animals were intrigued by the humming, twanging noises it could produce.
The most traditional sort of mouth bow is similar to its counterpart, the simple hunting bow . . . being little more than a springy bough with a length of twine, leather, or gut strung between the two ends. The so called Appalachian mouth bow is a variation on this style, having a flat strip of wood, tapered on each end, rather than the rounded branch. Its design is clean and uncomplicated.
Hold the mouthbow in one hand press it firmly against your opposite side cheek, next to your mouth. Open your mouth behind the stick, and make the inside of your mouth as wide as you can. Pluck, hit or strum the string with your other hand, quite close to your mouth. You change the sound by changing the size and shape of the inside of your mouth. The mouthbow is a relatively quiet with rich harmonics.
Length: Approximately 27.5 inches long
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I was looking for the right equipment for my Camac Isolde Celtic harp. I did NOT want to install the Dusty Strings pick-ups- seemed like way too much to add. This little gizmo was easy to install with the little pictures on placement- like, less than five minutes easy. I plugged the pickup into my new Roland Mobile Cube and it’s perfect! I don’t hear any sound distortion, and I think this will be just right when playing background music for noisier environments. Super happy with this!

I was excited to receive this kit. I do have several banjos already; however, I did not have a mountain banjo. I have built gourd banjos and ekontings (I went to Gambia in 2004 and 2007 to learn how to play and make them) from scratch, so I am not a beginner in terms of making instruments. I had a lot of fun putting the kit together. I do have a few observations regarding tips or slight modifications in the instruction manual, if interested.
Thanks!
Paul Sedgwick

I am very happy with the quality of the instrument. I am of Puerto Rican decent and it reminds me of my childhood, watching the musicians and learning to play myself. It is a beautiful guiro and sounds amazing.

It's great to be able to buy a hurdy gurdy in the US without having to wait for 6 months to a year or more. The Aplo is a quality entry level instrument that produces beautiful sound. It resonates very well and there are no buzzes or squeaks. Workmanship is very good. I got mine cottoned, rosined and tuned in a half hour. The transaction was easy and it arrived within a week.
I've been able to play some tunes on it with only a few hours of practice. It's going to be a lot of fun.

I love it, the entonation is really very good (sorry for my bat english).
Regards!