WEBVTT - The Artifact: The Walking Stick Fiddle

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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<v Speaker 2>Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the Artifact,

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<v Speaker 2>a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind,

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<v Speaker 2>focusing on particular objects, ideas, and moments in time. During

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<v Speaker 2>a recent family trip to Arizona, I found myself strolling

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<v Speaker 2>the halls of the Fantastic Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix

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<v Speaker 2>once more. If you've never been to it, I highly

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<v Speaker 2>recommend a visit. The museum features thousands of musical instruments

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<v Speaker 2>from all around the world to illustrate the rich diversity

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<v Speaker 2>of musical instrument design and innovation, as well as the

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<v Speaker 2>universality of music, and via a headset and video displays

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<v Speaker 2>all over the place, you get to see and hear

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<v Speaker 2>many of these instruments in their traditional use, from Polynesian

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<v Speaker 2>nose flutes to DJ Cubert's custom QFO turntable mixer. There's

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<v Speaker 2>a little something in there for everybody. I snapped numerous

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<v Speaker 2>photos and took several notes for possible artifact episodes here

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<v Speaker 2>on the show, and today I want to talk about

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<v Speaker 2>the spatzerstt Geika, a late nineteenth century walking stick fiddle

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<v Speaker 2>for Machnor Kirkeen in Saxony, Germany. This is a famous

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<v Speaker 2>musical instrument making region, so feel free to look up

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<v Speaker 2>images of the cane, but I'm going to go ahead

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<v Speaker 2>and describe it for you here as well. A short

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<v Speaker 2>wooden walking stick with a small, functional four string fiddle

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<v Speaker 2>built into one side of it. There's also room for

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<v Speaker 2>a fitted bow with which to play it. Now. I

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<v Speaker 2>wondered at the time, as I was looking at this

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<v Speaker 2>in the museum if there was some sort of panel

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<v Speaker 2>that could cover up or even hide the fiddle portion

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<v Speaker 2>of the cane. And while there wasn't such a panel

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<v Speaker 2>on display at the Musical Instrument Museum, subsequent research revealed

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<v Speaker 2>that such panels existed. So yes, you could have a

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<v Speaker 2>completely hidden fiddle in your cane. So what was the

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<v Speaker 2>point of all of this? Was it to sneak fiddles

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<v Speaker 2>into places where music was banned? There some sort of

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<v Speaker 2>secret musical spy war going on. Well, I'll refer you

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<v Speaker 2>back to a previous artifact episode I recorded on gadget canes.

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<v Speaker 2>As Michelle Debchak explored in a twenty seventeen Mental Floss article,

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<v Speaker 2>you can find various antique walking sticks and canes with

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<v Speaker 2>all manner of special gadgety features, ranging from possibly practical

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<v Speaker 2>to somewhat ridiculous. So there's a nineteenth century cane with

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<v Speaker 2>a coin weighing gadget built into the handle. There's a

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<v Speaker 2>magic lantern projector cane, a cider press walking stick, an

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<v Speaker 2>architect's cane with drafting tools hidden inside, a spy camera

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<v Speaker 2>from the nineteen eighties that fits in a cane, a

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<v Speaker 2>nineteenth century cane containing a miniature croquet set, a microscope cane,

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<v Speaker 2>and even a nineteenth century eagle headed crossbow cane. I

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<v Speaker 2>believe there's also a spitting cane that naturally reminds one

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<v Speaker 2>of the gimmick umbrellas favored by the batman villain the Penguin.

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<v Speaker 2>So all of these gadget canes most clear novelties. They

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<v Speaker 2>extended from the popularity of cane swords and swordsticks in

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<v Speaker 2>the eighteenth and nineteenth century in Europe. The basic appeal

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<v Speaker 2>of a hidden blade is of course understandable and to

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<v Speaker 2>our modernized hey, is there anything cooler than a cane sword?

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<v Speaker 2>I mean, I grew up watching Sherlock Holmes, and when

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<v Speaker 2>they busted out the cane swords, I got really excited,

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<v Speaker 2>But the popularity of sword canes at the time actually

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<v Speaker 2>had to do with just how uncool openly carrying a

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<v Speaker 2>sword had become in polite society. So basically the message became, hey,

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<v Speaker 2>by all means, carry a lethal blood letting weapon, but

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<v Speaker 2>be a gentleman about it and hide it away in

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<v Speaker 2>a nice walking stick. Then, as sword canes became fashionable,

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<v Speaker 2>the idea of hiding various other gadgets and curios in

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<v Speaker 2>a cane became the fat It was no longer about

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<v Speaker 2>hiding anything or even remotely being practical. In many case,

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<v Speaker 2>says gadget canes were just a curious luxury, and we

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<v Speaker 2>see that reflected in the musical instrument cane as well.

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<v Speaker 2>According to the Musical Instrument Museum, the walking stick fiddle

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<v Speaker 2>was more visually impressive than musically gratifying, and this was

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<v Speaker 2>largely due to its small sound box. Its maximum volume

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<v Speaker 2>was fittingly low for such a stealthy stringed instrument, but

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<v Speaker 2>again this was more fashion accessory than practical musical instrument.

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<v Speaker 2>Tune in for additional episodes of the Artifact, the Monster

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<v Speaker 2>Fact or Animalia Stupendium each week, and Hey go back

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<v Speaker 2>into the audio archives for Stuff to Blow your Mind

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<v Speaker 2>wherever you get your audio podcasts. If you want to

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<v Speaker 2>hear more about gadget canes and how Benjamin Franklin carried

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<v Speaker 2>one with oil inside of it, and how one factors

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<v Speaker 2>into the death of Edgar Allan Poe, and as always,

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<v Speaker 2>you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow

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<v Speaker 2>your Mind dot com.

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