Museum of Making Music | San Diego Review

Located at 5790 Armada Dr, Carlsbad, CA 92008
Just across the street where the flower fields will bloom in Carlsbad is the Museum of Making Music.
It is housed in the National Association of Music Merchants building on Armada Drive.
The Museum of Making Music opened to the public in the year 2000, and recognizes the achievements of the people who create, sell, and use musical instruments.
One of the first displays shows different types of acoustic guitars used by musicians.
This nickel silver resonator guitar produces a louder sound at the cost of losing some of the deep, resonant tones that come from a wooden acoustic guitar.
It does have a unique look with its three resonators.
This Knutsen Harp Guitar from 1908 has five more strings to increase the volume and low end range of the instrument.
Notice the harp strings don't have a fingerboard so the musician is limited to playing the five pitches they are tuned to.
When acoustic guitars are made, they have cross bracing on the inside of the body of the guitar in order to regulate sound and provide stability during performance.
Rainsong makes carbon fiber or graphite guitars which are strong enough to forego the internal cross bracing, allowing for generation of a louder sound.
Ukuleles are one of the easiest instruments to pick up and learn to play. The mellow, sweet sound of a ukulele often has a calming effect on our ears.
Their small size are good for children and the four nylon strings are easier on the fingers as opposed to the steel strings of acoustic guitars.
Ukuleles originated from Portugal in the 1880s and were popularized in Hawaii. Two notable Hawaiian musicians who play or have played the ukulele
are Jake Shimabukuro
and Israel Kamakawiwo'ole.
Ukuleles come in different sizes, with the larger ones producing a bigger, more resonant sound.
Although they are not priced as low as advertised in this Sears Roebuck catalog, even today, ukuleles are some of the most affordable instruments available.
Here are banjoleles and a banjolin. They have the body of a banjo with the strings and tuning of a ukulele or mandolin.
In the 1880s, the mandolin was popularized by a touring ensemble called the Spanish Students who played a similar instrument called the bandurria. Interest grew, especially among Italian immigrants,
forming mandolin groups which served to increase the demand for mandolins. There's even a Mandolin Orchestra here in San Diego that has been playing and performing for over half a century, based at Mesa College.
Seen here are various sizes and shapes of mandolins. Larger ones produce lower pitches, and the older bowl back design gradually gave way to a flatter shape which is more compact and has greater volume.
Mandolins are quite portable, most being the size of a guitar or smaller, except for the mandobass.
The mandobass is so large, it is not held in the lap, but instead sat or stood behind with a spike that supports its body on the floor.
You'll notice the mandobass has four strings. Normal mandolins have four sets of two strings each.
This increases the sustain of each note played by vibrating the pairs of strings together, which also contributes to the richness of sound.
Bill Monroe, heard here, is known as the Father of Bluegrass and played his mandolin along with his Blue Grass Boys for nearly sixty years.
The banjo is considered a mainstay of country, folk, and bluegrass music here in America. Its origins trace to West Africa and came in the form of a banjar or gourd banjo,
transported with enslaved Africans brought to America against their will. The drum-like head of the banjo produces its signature snappy, twangy sound.
It can be played by strumming, finger-picking, or clawhammer.
Finger picks allow players to perform a pattern of notes called a banjo roll which is a series of repeated broken chords that give songs a richer sound. The finger picks allow for astonishingly fast barrages of notes on the banjo.
Currently playing is a clip of Foggy Mountain Breakdown by Earl Scruggs. He popularized the three-finger picking style and along with Lester Flatt co-wrote The Ballad of Jed Clampett used in the Beverly Hillbillies TV show.
Clawhammer somewhat describes the shape of the musician's strumming hand. Strings are struck with the fingernails of either the index or middle finger and plucked with the fleshy part of the thumb.
The clip playing here is an example of clawhammer style. You can hear the light tapping sound of the fingernails on the banjo head.
The accordion was invented in Vienna in 1829. It quickly made its way to the United States along with the families who immigrated from Europe.
Despite its predominance across the Atlantic, mainstream America was unfamiliar with the accordion. At least until Guido Deiro performed in 1909
at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle and also in San Francisco. The recording playing here was restored by UCLA and features Guido Deiro himself.
Like many stringed instruments, the

[@felix1647]

An awesome video! I really enjoyed the section about saxophones and the second part where you created your version of Kraftwerk's "We are the Robots". Nicely done video! Thumbs up!😃👍

[@vasukinagaraj]

Don't forget the harmonicas - both reed and glass! 🎶

[@SanDiegoReview]

Yes, the museum did have a few harmonicas, including a rolmonica that functioned similar to a player piano with a paper music roll. Too bad Benjamin Franklin's glass harmonica wasn't there; it has an interesting story connected to mesmerism and hypnotism.

[@vasukinagaraj]

@@SanDiegoReview Yes! Eerie tales of Franklin's instrument and its players extend well into the 20th Century so as to aptly echo its weirdly ethereal sound. A strange legacy for such a stolid and thoroughly pragmatic character. 🤨