Gusle Bow On Way To UK

 A lady from the UK happened onto my site last week, while looking around for a bow with which to play her Gusle.

I had created one for myself several months ago to favor the Gusle I traded for with Carlton Gill-Blyth.

Jade Buck asked me to create a similar bow using a ram's head as a design, which would match the headstock on her instrument.

The bow is handmade from poplar wood, and the ram's horns are carved from a piece of Spanish cedar that is used for guide strips inside the cigar
boxes I use in building guitars.

Horsehair strands are the 'strings' for the bow, and it is held in place on either end of the bow by small button pegs I created from dowel material I had laying around.

I applied a little soft resin (they call it soft, but it's hard as a walnut shell) and tried it out on my Gusle.  The sound is really morbid, but that is the the musical platform that makes the Gusle interesting.  The instrument, which is a product of Serbia/Croatia/etc., is played to accompany story telling, which usually has to do with hardship and tragedy experienced in that culture and region of the world.