This is where my interest started and gave its name to the website. I must make it clear that I am Scottish but I really fell for the Apache fiddle.Here are some of the Apache-type fiddles I have made.
These fiddles were made from agave stalks, hollowed out to give a resonant outer shell. I used various strings, some fiddle strings, a couple with guitar strings and a few with industrial steel wire. The tone of each varies enormously depending on fiddle size and the type of string used. The bows are usually either pine wood or the curved flower stems from the agave itself. The strings of the bows are "shoestring" type cord that has been rubbed with natural pine resin. All wooden material is from dead branches, nothing cut from live trees or plants.
Again I have to state that they were made by me (a Scotsman) in Europe not by a native Apache, but they all sound like an authentic Apache fiddle. I have had fun making them. In the bottom photo are a few of the "Apache" style fiddles that I have made from Arundo Donax river cane. It grows (or used to grow) in abundance in many of the traditional lands of the Apache. I am convinced they would have used it to make fiddles. After all they used the cane for basket making, for pipes and flutes, for construction and to make bows and arrows. It is easier to harvest and to fashion into a fiddle and is much lighter. It is equally tuneful, if you feel that's an appropriate adjective!! Also bear in mind that there exists the corn-stalk fiddle and shoe-string bow that utilise the fibres of the cane to make strings. If the white man could use cornstalks perhaps he learned it from the Apache.
