Introduction

[Andy Birko]

Hi There,

My name is Andy Birko and I'm mostly a bandura maker. I've already introduced myself on the CNC forum but figured I'd post a few pics here just to show what I've done.

I'm pretty much a fan of all woodworking methods. I have a decent collection of planes, old and new and I'm planning on buying a CNC machine in the very near future to do the things I draw but can't execute.

I've got a blog documenting the last three instruments I've made here: http://banduramaker.blogspot.com which are a guitar and two banduras. The pictures I've uploaded go all the way from my first instrument, the pic where I've got a goatee, which looks kind of like Homer Simpson built it to my latest, the one with the curly sunburst. I'm pretty proud of how they came out starting with bandura #3 (the amber one with walnut trim) and beyond

Anyhow, nice to meet everyone. I've been doing this a while and though my output is pretty low, perhaps I have some experience I can share with others.

[John Coloccia]

Very nice work, Andy. An instrument I have absolutely no familiarity with. Is it designed for the left hand to finger individual notes or do you simply pluck it like a harp?

[Andy Birko]

Originally, it was kind of a reverse harp guitar - long strings were fingered and there were a few treble strings that were plucked. Over the centuries, more treble strings were added and the bass strings were no longer fretted.

Back in Ukraine, there's a bit of a resurgence of the old style instruments with a neck that allows fingering and there's even a few guys who can play them well that way. Not my gig though.

[Mike OMelia]

It's definitely one of those things you do because you love it. Right Andy?

Glad you checked in. We have been trying to get a music forum in here for a while. It's nice having so many other resources at hand in one single place. Do the contributor thing, you never know what will show up in the classifieds!

Mike

[Larry Fox]

Welcome Andy. I am also not familiar with the instrument but phenominal work for sure and looking forward to seeing more.

As an aside - anyone who maintains two open beers at the same time immediately has my respect (pic with you seated). :)

[Andy Birko]

As an aside - anyone who maintains two open beers at the same time immediately has my respect (pic with you seated). :)

Thanks, Larry. Unfortunately I can't take full credit for that. The guitar in the picture was my first "real" guitar that I made and I went to a friend's house to set it up as I don't have the tools for cutting nut slots and such - nor the experience. I have been known to go double fisted before though ;^)