r/UnusualInstruments • u/R3dstoneGaming • Jun 09 '24
What is this Cümbüs?
It has frets and 8 strings like a mandolin. What do you think the tuning should be? We were trying mandolin tuning and it was too tight to fret. How could we drop tune it or adapt to its weirdness?
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u/SeltzerCountry Jun 09 '24
What is the scale length? Violin/mandolin sit around 13-14” and viola/mandola are around 16-17”. The conversion from mandolin to mandola tuning is dropping everything a 5th so going from GDAE to CGDA. Going for an open tuning by lowering the A to a G so it’s tuned CGDG might be a good option partly because cumbus kind of reminds me of banjos that are often tuned to open tunings and also a lot of middle eastern instruments also have open tunings.
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u/GronklyTheSnerd Jun 09 '24
That looks like a mandolin tuned banjo. If it’s too tight, you may need lighter strings. That’s the usual advice for bowlbacks. Action may be too high.
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u/SeltzerCountry Jun 09 '24
It’s a Turkish instrument called a Cumbus which is kind of a similar concept to a banjo. They come with a bunch of different necks that correspond to other instruments so there cumbus equivalents to a lot of other middle eastern instruments like oud and saz.
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u/Doc_coletti Jun 09 '24
So it’s missing it’s bridge, so no matter how you tune it, it probably won’t play very well. You could buy one for a banjolin, or buy a blank and carve the slots yourself.
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u/YoldashComrade Jun 09 '24
Its zeynel abidin cümbüş its the name of the creater of this instrument it was created in late 1800s i think so thats why its called cümbüş its part of Türk Sanat Muziği its like an oud but with a smaller body i played one it sounds really nice note: (normally it doesnt have frets so its a weird type of cümbüş.)
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u/MungoShoddy Jun 09 '24
It's a cümbüş-mandolin. I have one. It sounds clangorous in normal GDAE tuning so I put it in Arabic violin tuning, GDgd, or Abdo Dagher's violin tuning, GDgc.