Balalaikaworld Adelaide

A visit to the Glinka Museum in
Moscow gave me the idea to create

an inspiring room full of ‘culture’
here in the Russian Community
Centre in Adelaide, Australia.
I had a large collection of Russian
and international folk instruments
and the Centre had an almost
empty, boring room. The Club
committee agreed and with the help
of Fedya, George, Serge and Mitya
we created a ‘space of dreaming’.
Many stories are behind these
instruments, I tell but a few in the
following pages. We hope to inspire
you to display and promote the
magic of the balalaika. Please beat
us, nothing would make us happier.
Adelaide 25th October 2020
Dieter Hauptmann
The (sub) kontrabass balalaika (E,A,D)
A Russian Kontrabass
doesn’t fit into many cars,
- better start walking.
The big guns of the Ossipov State Orchestra
A legend has it that balalaikas were first made by boat builders

as Russia had no own music instruments: the Church forbade
to use anything but the human voice to praise God.
All instruments were banned as they were built by the
hands of sinners. Russia’s big rivers had a thriving ship
building fraternity. Have a look at the dinghy at the right!
A fresh supply of prima

machines from
Gennady in Moscow
made me very happy.
m,andolin
for size
Andrew makes playing the ‘big one’ Winning first prize in their
look easy. Here on stage June 2017 category, the Adelaide
during the Sevastopol competitions. Junior Balalaikas proudly
pose on the stairs down to
the Black Sea.
Now displayed as No 01 in room two of the
Russian Community Centre, Norwood - South Australia
bottom piece and neck block on board
due to their size back pieces are

soaked in a large plastic bag
bottom piece and neckblock

mounted with back pieces
marked but not yet cut and bent
the backshell takes form
....going home Moscow

style after a busy night of
performing...
In Russia only 2 sizes of basses are used:
Kontrabass- and Bassbalalaika. The emigres
in West made a third, in between size they
called Kontrabass - hence the emigres called slabs of cedar
the big one a ‘Sub-kontrabass’. are assembled
The new size was much better suited to the as the raw top
small pubs and cabarets where they
performed - see next pages: club-kontrabass.
..The Russian Kontrabass

top with inlays, raw neck and body Balalaika, an.impressive
ready to assemble beast all
through history!
The club-kontrabass balalaika (E,A,D)
replacing the ply top of the first balalaika
bass I built in Australia (a Cabaret sized kontrabass).
A 150 year old mantelpiece from a cottage in Church
street, Norwood/Adelaide was beautifully dry cedar.
I had to try and see
breaking off the old top
how much better
the sound would be: preserve the original
great, it still has a mother of pearl inlays
deep, growling prepare the 4
great sound. tier new top
breakout, clean and thin down the old struts

prepare the old body, clean all
rims for glueing
struts fitted
and body
ready to
assemble
...sanded, varnished and strings

fitted - yes, it has that deep cedar
The ‘Cabaret’ Kontra is ‘small’ enough to be played standing up. growl even with the old strings
Here Dieter’s Tschaika Quartet in full voice in 1971.
Now displayed as No 02 in room two of the Russian Community

Centre, Norwood - South Australia
This news clip from 1970 shows
how our bass player Jeff sang
and danced around while play-
ing the medium bass. Nobody
has yet copied us!
....a very big exception from the rule:

my Berlin friends arranged a jam-
session for me and played an historic/
restored bass made in Kiev in 1910.
The ensemble Schastroff later sent me
a 1:2 copy of the plans made by mas-
ter Andreas Gerth - anyone keen to
make a copy?
...sometimes the look of raw timber
can be deceiving: here I made a
bass top and only realized the
imbalance after varnishing - it
sounded too good to put a new top
on, so my friend Margie Baak
kindly used her magic brushes and
created a piece of folk-art. I got
away with a little help from my
friend.
The bass balalaika (E,A,D)
Many
Oldtimers
remember this
....the balalaika bass is ideal for smaller hands. Kids learn beautiful cover
bass easyly. Here the bass-brigade of the of the Omsk
St Nicholas’ Parish School Adelaide. Ensmble featur-
ing just a ‘bass’.
Rarely seen: a bass and a kontrabass

in a small ensemble!
..a Sibirian
Skomorokhi
live in the
Adelaide
Central
market. He
belts it out
on xtra thick
strings..
...the typical Lunacharsky colour scheme

The full balalaika class of St Nicholas’ Church: 4 balalaika
gives this bass away as being made
basses, 4 primas and two 3/4 size specially built for this
in the 1970ies.
class.

The sekunda balalaika (A,A,D)
Here a classic example of

a 1970ies Lunacharsky
balalaika with a distinct
colour scheme and label.
Here we have a sekunda,
the smaller rhythm in-
strument in the Russian
Folk Orchestra.

The alto balalaika (E,E,A) ...a well worn alto from Siberia...
The first balalaikas I built after 2002

in William street, Norwood were
plywood bowls with top cedar and pine
donated by my friend and luthier Tim
Guster.
All of them turned out to be quite
strong and pleasant sounding.
I deducted that the back timber, as
long as it is not too soft does not con-
tribute too much to
the overall sound?!

The prima balalaika (E,E,A)
Original student instrument donated by George Jook. It is a 24 fret

Lunacharsky from Nov. 1969 made in Leningrad. On this instru-
ment George learnt his craft for many years.These instruments are
solidly built, but have a weak sound and a very thick neck. They
were very affordable and were the standard for many decades.
They are still traded on the world wide net.

Please remember that the traditional ‘historic’ balalaika was a very simple instrument. It was trans-
formed to the classic modern balalaika by V.V.Andreyev at the end of the 19th century: here the first
sketch of the larger instrument with 24 chromatic frets made by Nalimov near St Petersburg . And it
was Andreyev who elevated also other Russian folk instruments into the realm of the concert halls
world wide!
A pre-Andreyev-
balalaika from
the Atlas Of
Russian Folk
Instruments
1963.
1960ies prima (German):
old thick varnish removed

cracks filled
top splits filled
original braces are far too thick!
finished and ready

for a new life
....beware of these primas, they are good wall-hangers but

new thinner braces fitted they sound weak and are often cracked almost everywhere -
they are still traded on the net due to the nice back-shell.....

Space engineer Koupfer/Moscow designed a flatter, 7 segment prima with excellent sound.
This is a copy (my No 112) I built August 2018. There is much info on the net to explore deeper.Well worth it.
Virtuoso and ex-teacher of the

Gnesin Institute, Moscow Youri
Mouguerman, now Melbourne,
owns a Koupfer and kindly let me
measure it to try a copy.....

a special edition tourist prima for the
Moscow Olympics 1980.... and more info...
The thinner the prima top is, the louder the
sound - but beware: it looses depth and goes
‘banjo-y’. The thin top cannot be supported by ...sunken top in an exquisite solo in-
the bracing and sags under the weight of the
strings. The strings also pull the neck against strument Moscow 1977,
the bottom of the shell and create more trouble.
Recently pics were published where that xtra
push was compensated by connecting the neck
base with the bottom block by a sturdy piece of
timber!
prima maker: Zubchenko,

owner David Kidron
Solid build with a

thick full plastic
backshell - they are
still traded on the web,
but like all the cheap
instruments have a
weak sound and a
thick neck making
advanced playing very
difficult - they were
not meant for this
anyway and they are
still a very nice deco-
ration to any room.

Ever since I listened to
the Melodija LP with the
butterfly top I dreamt
about making one. In
1975 S.A. celebrity
Rodney Fox brought a
whole bag of abalone
shells behind stage and
when the Arts Council
called my Tschaika Cos-
sacks back on tour in
1977 I performed solo
on stage in the Festival
Theatre to a sell out
crowd on my new butter-
fly prima. We still don’t
know where the original
was photographed, most
likely in Moscow, but I
have used the design and
built a few - good fun!
Players and audiences
love them.
A butterfly prima balalaika
In the meantime
more pics sur-
faced and I
learned that on
the original
‘butterfly’ the
back shell was
scallopped -
now, that is a
challenge!

....and even more butterflies
The 4str. piccolo Domra (C,G,D,A) all joints of segments
cracked open
donated
June 2017
by
Samorodki,
Sevastopol,
Russia.
top lifted from

body,
saddle missing
segments lifted
from front block
pegplate broken
top removed -
brace No1 split mid split
reglued
4 side splits opened, cleaned +

reglued one by one
heel split due to drying out?
front breaks
cleaned and
reglued
neck
joint
seems
solid
with
body
braces seem
solid with top
centre rod had to be shortened

new machines
tailored to
fit head
after fixing the bowl

- top reglued to body
new hole for strings drilled
scratch plate and upper

frets reglued
new nut + new saddle +
new machines fitted new pegplate fitted
stained to mach old colour

....ready to be stained and varnished
....ready to sing again ....................15th August, 2017

Now displayed as No 11 in room two of the Russian Community Centre,
Norwood - South Australia
The prima domra 4str (G,D,A,E)
prima and alto domra family from my workshop.
Another gift from our

friends in Sevastopol,
not yet restored, but
playable with a bit of
buzzing...
TheUkrainian
influenzed parts of the
East tend to play 4
string domri whereas
the Russians stick to
their 3string variety.
The four stringed instru-
ments allow violin- and
mandolin- players to
cross over easily. The 3
stringed domra is tuned
E,A,D and better suits
guitarists.

The alto domra 4str (C,G,D,A)

A horse head sekunda balalaika
It is quite excit-
ing to look into
the variety of
designs of bala-
laika-heads and
sound holes -
there is a lot to
explore!
My first try
to use a
Passierbsky type
‘House’ sound
hole design.
It was fun and
looks great.
The horse heads
make it even look
more ‘antique’-
which it isn’t.
Some people will
be fooled I am
afraid.

The 7 str. Russian Guitar D,B,G,D,B,G,D.
The recordings from the ‘Teatr Romen’ in Moscow were collector’s items around the world.
A standard
Yamaha classical
guitar I rebuilt
for 7 strings. An absolute
Gypsy beauty
from a private
collection of
rare guitars in
Moscow.
In a club
in New
York
(Barynya
Ens.)

The 3str. Prima Domra (E,A,D) No 19 D.H.
It was quite common to use banjos instead of domras in a noisy

‘situation’ like bars and cabarets. The louder, sharper sound would
cut through the chatter. My domra teacher Andrej Popovkin in 1965
played a banjo ( modified for 3 strings) when I heard him first. In fact,
he didn’t own a domra at the time. My first domra was a modified tenor
banjo!
The 3 str. Prima Domra (E,A,D)
With a strong
LED fitting
through the
sound hole I
can make a
good pic to
determine
how the
braces were
set.
This string action is too high, fingers will hurt -
factory instruments rarely are well set up.
Prima domra made in Leningrad

by the Lunacharsky factory.
For many years Ally and I did

school shows of 45 min. and
introduced 9 instruments from
6 cultures to anyone who was
listening. Here a live-pic of a
show at Marryatville High
School. The centre piece was
the Sabre Dance by Aram
Khatshaturian and a balalaika
solo finger breaker - good fun.

A historic Prima Balalaika (E,E,A)
The displayed prima
made most likely by Mr Some more instruments
Novikov in Adelaide - in which I repaired with
the 1960ies? the same characteristics!
Fedya Leschev owns a

sekundo by Mr Novikov with
a custom built case!
This prima was almost

‘destroyed’ but I got it
working again!
....here the label from the

inside of the prima!
I am very interested to hear
more about this early
Adelaide balalaika maker
and his family. Please
contact Dieter at :
artifex2@bigpond.com

The Bass Domra (E,A,D)
Bass domri suffer the sinking top syndrome even more than the
smaller domri. I rescued a few ‘unplayable’ instruments with buff-
ering the forces by connecting the neck base to the front block. Thx
to the lovely people in Russia for putting these tips on the net
It is a credit to
the
Lunacharsky
This antique bass domra factory that
by the famous maker their instru-
Ziuzin had the ments last the
scratchplate on the top distance.
twice enlarged to protect Rarely will the
the top from being played tops sag or the
through with the plec- glue come
trum. I left this treasure apart, espe-
with a museum in Ger- cially the
many when I emigrated series in the
to Port Lincoln in 1983 - colour scheme
I’d love to have displayed
it now. here.

A 3 str. Alto Domra (E,A,D) Lunacharsky

prim and
alto domri from
Putting a strong LED into the bowl RCC collection
and snapping a pic in a darkened
room reveals the bracing used in the
1970ies.

The pre-Andreyev Folk Balalaika (D,F#,A)

...making a Bass-Domra from a sea - turtle shell:
1) lining the upper rim
2) creating the base for neck support
3) all lining almost finished.
plus making a new, wooden ‘spine’
4) raw neck with headstock

from Bunnings garden stakes.
5) slots for frets to fretboard. 6) creating the soundhole+pickguard
hardwood inlays to a cedar top.
7) raw neck fitted and top with

braces ready to fit. 8) top fitted the
traditional way
using twine to
hold it in place.
9) fretboard fitted. Ready to varnish and install

machines, make a bridge and mount the strings.
10) performing Lesghinka, a typical dance from

the Caucasus mountains on the finished instru-
ment with Ally on autoharp accompanying.
Now the ‘turtle’ will most likely ‘outlive’ both of
us - and nothing would make me happier.

A big thank you again goes to my late friend
Frank Schaefer of Kimba who billeted me in
1975 and 1977. When I migrated to Port
Lincoln we often visited each other. After my
retirement we found that Frank did not live
far from where I had moved to in Adelaide.
When Frank heard my multicultural show
with the Sabre Dance on an alto domra made
from a sea turtle I had picked up in a Good-
wood antique shop - he went one better and
got me a big shell which I consequently used
to make a bass domra - lucky for us humans
the good animals leave their shells when they
end their life and some are swept ashore in
one piece.
Only recently I A real nice

found a tortoise/ slab of
guitar advertised walnut
in the local made a
Gumtree - good
so, other people fretboard.
do think too, and
get results,
great!
A very rare prima balalaika (E,E,A)
This is a very historic Zimmermann

prima I bought in the USA from
a Serb on ebay.
As it is an antique instrument I did
no restoration!
Being from 1914 it also was made
in a very historic time frame. Zim-
mermann was a much valued
company in St. Petersburg and the
family spoke better Russian than
German. Nevertheless, the business
was shut down and many pianos
thrown out the windows.
Later, when the Revolution had
won the buildings and local crafts
people were the foundation of the
new Lunacharsky factory.

3str. Tenor Domra (B,E,A)
A rare photo from a box
of Lindt chocolates: The
second domra has been
altered from 3 string to 4
string (rather clumsily)
The label of the

Lunacharsky
domra.

...the Russion Folk fiddle Gudok also called Novgorod Lyra

Greek monks called Ukrainian
into Russia to convert Hudok
the heathens to the
orthodox faith
brought the Greek
Lira with them. Only
relatively recently
were rests of wooden
pieces in the
Novgorod swamps
discovered and re-
stored clearly show-
ing an early Russian
folk fiddle.
Great fun to play, I
have now built 4 of Black Sea Kemenche
them, one being
played in Melbourne -
Dieter Hauptmann.
Novgorod Lyra
An African Folkbanjo - Akonting
Lyra from Crete 1500 BC
Akonting
Akonting Xalam
a Bagaya

Russian Percussion the Tambourine
Tambourines are mainly used in Gypsy music.
La Plevitskaya - available from Amazon: a

thrilling description of the life of an
extraordinary Woman-Singer-Artist-
Surviver and her tambourine.
Or write to Ally at
artifex2@bigpond.com

3str. Dutar
a
modern
Tar
from
Iran Please have a
good read of the
info from
wikipedia above:
when you realize
how many cul-
tures used the
same idea of
‘instrument’ but
slightly changed
the design accord-
ing to their spe-
cific circum-
stances, it is then
very hard to insist
on ‘ethnic’ exclu-
sivity.
The effect of the
vibrating string
was discovered by
many cultures
around the world
simultanously: the
use of bow and
arrow saw to that.
A hunting bow
with many strings
attached was the
first harp.
The first reso-
nance chamber
was the open
mouth of the
player only to be
swiftly replaced
by a gourd, see
next page!
In the beginning
was the hunting
bow and hu-
mans learnt
how to use their
mouth as an
echo chamber to
make the sound
louder
But with the mouth as echo

chamber humans could not
sing: they used Gourds, The African ‘Grassharp’
turtle shells or blown up already shows the path to
pig’s bladders as ‘amplifiers’ build zither, kantele, gusli
and cymbalom - leading to
the use of hammers to create
the first keyboards....
Other ‘found’ objects like:

human skulls were used to
make drinking bowls and
hand drums. Here a pair of
Nepalese ritual skull-drums.
......Australia’s biggest Mandolin is in Adelaide??........

Add a set of strings and 4 bass machines and -
I actually quite fell in love with the sound and so did
our expert domrist from Sydney, Stephen Lalor. Nice to
get a thumbs up from a pro every now and then. Wher-
ever we play the ‘gentle monster’ it gets the full atten-
tion of the photographers.
A Kontrabass Domra.
But after a short while the ‘blob’ looked a bit ‘naked’

when I took it out of the bag I had sewed. Luckily our
Russian community is full of talent so I made a call to my
favourite Russian folk-paintress Margie in town, gave
her free hand to
‘dress the domra as you
like’ and after two weeks
I got a piece of genuine folk-art back.
- isn’t that wonderful?
Of course I got a few things wrong but she sounds fine

and is quite easy to play . Will I build another one? I
doubt it.
A Ukrainian Bandura
Veresai
Adelaide Bandura Players

The ADELAIDE
the Russian folk clarinet Zhaleika JUNIOR
BALALAIKAS
win 1st prize in a major music competition in Russia
- with the help of South Aussie Cows!
Aussies win the
1) 1st prize in the
ENSEMBLE
section
2)
3)
1) The winning performance of the Adelaide Junior Balalaikas in

Sevastopol with 3 Zhaleiki (Russian Folk-clarinets) made in Adelaide
from cowhorns sourced from Barmera and Port Lincoln, 3 balalaiki and 2
domri.
2) A ‘Russian’ Zhaleika made in Adelaide.
3) A happy Jury after the performance. Dieter with master Dmitry.

the Russian folk harp (?) Gusli hurdy-gurdy
A historic pic of Russian zhaleika
country musicians and
no balalaika is present:
The Russian way of playing is

to stop the strings which are
not needed and play the others.
Guslis come in different
sizes prima and alto etc. There
are also large ones with keys
(like an autoharp) to produce
amazing
arpeggios...explore......
...a contemporary ensemble...
The displayed instrument

was donated by Bob Felby. It
is made from plywood, most
likely in Adelaide in the
1960ies. The Adelaide
Balalaikas used it to create
a ‘bandura’ sound for the
Ukrainian songs they
recorded: listen to
youtube: Luche Bulo
Andreyev introduced the ‘table-gusli’ very early.
Now displayed under No 31 in room two of the Russian Community

Russian Percussion spoons:
Spoons are used in many cultures.

The correct way to use Russian
spoons is 3 of them. See Bibs Ekkel
the Rachet is used in
on youtube or write to me for a many cultures to drive out
If time is of a video clip. Winter.
premium and Anvil and hammer made specifically
you can’t learn for our song Vo Kuznetsi by Fedya.
‘proper’ Irish or
Russian tech-
nique make
yourself these
‘connected’
spoons and get
the basics sorted
in 2 minutes!
Treshchotki make sure every one keeps the rhythm

outdoors when balalaika and domra are hard to hear.
The Germans
use a related
folded card-
board gizmo
called
‘Klatsche’
during their
Carnival -
probably
adapted from
the Venetians
who use them
extensively in
their Carnivale.
Now displayed under No 32 in room two of the Russian Community


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A visit to the Glinka Museum in

Moscow gave me the idea to create

The big guns of the Ossipov State Orchestra

A legend has it that balalaikas were first made by boat builders

A fresh supply of prima

due to their size back pieces are

bottom piece and neckblock

the backshell takes form

....going home Moscow

..The Russian Kontrabass

breakout, clean and thin down the old struts

...sanded, varnished and strings

Now displayed as No 02 in room two of the Russian Community

....a very big exception from the rule:

Rarely seen: a bass and a kontrabass

...the typical Lunacharsky colour scheme

Now displayed as No 03 in room two of the Russian Community

Here a classic example of

Now displayed as No 05 in room two of the Russian Community

The first balalaikas I built after 2002

Now displayed as No 04 in room two of the Russian Community

Original student instrument donated by George Jook. It is a 24 fret

Now displayed as No 06 in room two of the Russian Community

old thick varnish removed

top splits filled

original braces are far too thick!

finished and ready

....beware of these primas, they are good wall-hangers but

Now displayed as No 07 in room two of the Russian Community

Virtuoso and ex-teacher of the

Now displayed as No 08 in room two of the Russian Community

prima maker: Zubchenko,

Solid build with a

Now displayed as No 09 in room two of the Russian Community

A butterfly prima balalaika

Now displayed as No 10 in room two of the Russian Community

top lifted from

4 side splits opened, cleaned +

centre rod had to be shortened

after fixing the bowl

new hole for strings drilled

scratch plate and upper

stained to mach old colour

....ready to sing again ....................15th August, 2017

prima and alto domra family from my workshop.

Another gift from our

Now displayed as No 12 in room two of the Russian Community

Now displayed as No 13 in room two of the Russian Community

Now displayed as No 14 in room two of the Russian Community

Now displayed as No 15 in room two of the Russian Community

It was quite common to use banjos instead of domras in a noisy

Prima domra made in Leningrad

For many years Ally and I did

Now displayed as No 17 in room two of the Russian Community

Fedya Leschev owns a

This prima was almost

....here the label from the

Now displayed as No 18 in room two of the Russian Community

Now displayed as No 19 in room two of the Russian Community

A 3 str. Alto Domra (E,A,D) Lunacharsky

Now displayed as No 20 in room two of the Russian Community

Now displayed as No 21 in room two of the Russian Community

4) raw neck with headstock

7) raw neck fitted and top with