don't know if this is okay to post here or not, but i don't know where else to post it:
This is my treasure and my first time ever posting a picture on ILF. It is a traditional thai instrument called phin. It is used in the Isan area of thailand. I bought it from a man who hand-makes them while i was working for the past ten days at a festival. I have wanted one for a long time, but have always wanted to wait and purchase one in person so that i could actually try it out. While taking a few minute lunch break, i ran across the festival to the booth that this man had set his shop up in. He sat down with me and showed me all his different phin hanging from the ceiling and after trying out a few, this was the one that i felt most comfortable playing and enjoyed the sound of. While i tested it for the final time, a blind man sitting right beside me who was waiting to perform on the music stage in about an hour or so right next to the booth commented on how he liked my playing. The shop owner was really surprised and asked the man if he wanted to show me his style of playing, to which he said he would like to use my instrument if i didn't mind. I told him i would love to hear him play, so i handed it over to him. He tuned it to the khan (type of mouth organ) the owner played. Then he smiled and just started shredding. I have never seen anyone play an instrument that precise, quickly, or confidently. He was flew over the frets and after he finished his song and solos, he thanked me and invited me to watch him play that night. I told him i had to return to my booth, but told him i was thankful that i could hear him play.
I love the resonance of this instrument. I really would like to find a pickup of some sort to allow me to use effects and and amp with it in the near future. If anyone has any suggestions, that would be great. I would like to try to not use anything that will damage the instrument itself if possible. also, the strings are very close to the actual body of the instrument, which kind of limits my options. I love lace alumitone pickups in my guitar, so naturally i was inclined to maybe try out the lace matchbook sensor, but ideally i think something that was thin like the the dobro or california acoustic pickup would fit better maybe. I need to measure the actual space so that i know for sure my limits, but i would be interested to hear people's experiences with things like this and maybe even piezo pickups and such
in the future i am looking at using a lot more acoustic instruments, both plucked and bowed, so any experience or thoughts would be great.