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An interesting novelty on Victor from 1921. Ford Hanford plays two selections on "musical saw" (My Old Kentucky Home & Old Black Joe). An amusing disc, interesting to listen to the orchestra try and keep time with the sometimes arrhythmic saw.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9zCNIA ... sp=sharing

Nice, in a quirky way.

Clay

I've played the musical saw a bit, Mr Hanford is using the technique of striking the saw instead of bowing it. either way playing the saw and getting a good sound out of it isn't simple.

Interesting. I thought perhaps he was striking the saw on the first selection and bowing on the second.

You're right - I omitted that. You hear bowed playing much more often.

I really should get mine out of the bag and play it.

IIRC from my acoustics of music course, the pitches emitted by the saw, like those of human whistling, are practically pure fundamental tones, i.e., no harmonics (overtones). As such, the sounds produced by the saw are closely related to those electronically produced by the theremin. The two certainly sound very similar, to my ears.

In good company... James.

This may be a really dumb question. But I have to ask.
Is the musical saw a specially made saw or is it just a regular wood cutting saw?
Inquiring mind wants to know

howardpgh wrote:This may be a really dumb question. But I have to ask.
Is the musical saw a specially made saw or is it just a regular wood cutting saw?
Inquiring mind wants to know

Musical Saws are made from the same sort of steel used for regular saws- the teeth aren't sharpened or set but if they were you could cut wood with them- some performers have the saws sharpened so they can cut wood as a demonstration.

You can play a tune on a regular wood saw but most are too short to reach even an octave - musical saws are commonly several inches longer than a standard saw. The taper of the saw also has some effect on the tone and range.

Several tool manufacturers made musical saws as sidelines - European players still get them from Sandvik.

There's no such thing as a "Musical Saw."

You either play a Saw or you don't.