Pestle sounds

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Seven-string pestle lute

The pestle lute , also known as the pestle mandolin , is a flat plucked instrument with a lute - like outline and, according to Rolf Irle, belongs to the box zithers . It was named after its inventor, the Cologne violin maker Georg Stössel (1867–1943).

The short and wide neck features a five- fret fingerboard . The strings (tuned in thirds for the 7-course pestle lute) are gripped over the front edge, the gripping fingers are parallel to the strings. With this lute, Stössel tried to simplify the difficult ways of grasping common string instruments for accompanying purposes, to achieve a quick learnability and a greater comfort. For this purpose, a special tablature similar to the usual notation was used. The common form has seven strings, but there are also ram lutes with five and nine strings and the bass lutes, which have an additional 13 bass strings that are plucked like a zither . The strings are attached and tuned using zither pegs on the body. Due to the simple manufacturing method, Stössel's product, which can be grouped between the zither and the flat mandolin, was suitable for cost-effective mass production, but due to the fingering that did not require any play, hardly any ornamentation or sound modulation and the poor sound quality compared to other lute instruments, it did not allow further distribution as a concert instrument.

history

In 1914 Georg Stössel built his first Stössel lute. On August 31, 1915, he received the patent for the basic version and three further developments from the German Patent Office . In the following decades he built hundreds of modifications of his lute. His collection of prototypes in his Cologne workshop burned in a bomb attack in 1943. On June 23, 1923, the Stösselinstrumentenbau AG was founded in Stuttgart, which produced the lute, under Stössel as technical director and engineer Kurt Schiffler as sales manager, for the national market. After the bankruptcy of the AG, Schiffler continued production in his Dusyma workshops in Stuttgart - Ostheim . This is where the Schiffler model named after him was created . One of the most famous Stössel lutenists and promoters of the instrument was Jacob Pick from Cologne (died May 24, 1984).

Surname

Stössel called his instrument Stössel's lute mandolin . In a school by HJ Bachem published in 1920, the instrument is called Stössel's Accord-Mandolin . This gave rise to the name Stössel mandolin when the school of Joseph Drechsel appeared . The Stuttgart Dusyma workshops produced them under the names Deutsche Lute and Mandolaute . The latter name was used by Dusyma for various instruments.

Web links

Commons : pestle sounds  - collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

  • Erika Liesmann: The ram lute. In: Neue Musikzeitung (Regensburg) 20, 1981, No. 3, p. 29.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rolf Irle: Re .: Article by Stefan Lieser on the Stössel lute in G&L 4/1985. In: Guitar & Lute , Volume 10, 1988, Issue 4, p. 4 f.
  2. ↑ Thomas Kannmacher: Re: Stefan Lieser's report on Georg Stössel and his Stössel lute. In: Guitar & Laute 7, 1985, issue 6, p. 7.
  3. ↑ Kurt Schiffler: Letter to the Editor in: Guitar & Laute 7, 1985, Issue 5, pp. 10 and 12.
  4. ↑ Stefan Lieser: Fishmonger in Ehrenfeld. Addendum to the article about the pestle lute. In: Guitar & Laute 7, 1985, issue 5, p. 27 f.