The Marxolin

You’ve heard of the uke and the mandolin but this is a marxolin. It’s an instrument used mainly in late 30s and 40s folk music and it’s so named because The Marx Music Co. of New Troy, Michigan became famous for building unique, simple-to-play parlour instruments.

It’s a string instrument but unlike a wood-backed instrument such as a violin or guitar, which makes a plucky sound when tweaked, the marxolin is metallic and so makes more of a well, twangy sound when plucked.

There are a few different designs of the marxolin, some quite large, some small and some actually quite ornate, but most work on the premise that there’s chord hammers and a whammy bar.

The bridge is equipped with two levers which sharp and flat various strings. The rosin for the bow is attached to the instrument; a few other Marx instruments also offer this feature. The name “Marxolin” though, was used for other instruments as well.

I think it’s fair to say this is an obscure, very rarely used folk instrument used by current folk recording artists but Bat for Lashes’ Natasha Khan uses one in her new album and is the reason one was brought to my attention.

~ by Suzy Norman on 30/06/2009.