Medusa is a baritone electric cümbüş . It's the first and one of a kind.
Since 1930 where Zeynel Abidin Cümbüş created the original cümbüş as an instrument of the oud family it has been under continuous development as many instruments who follow the music flow.
The original cümbüş was created to participate orchestras where it can be heard.
Same today the needs of music leads to develop an extension to the sound field.
I thought that the versatility of the original cümbüş as well as the ease of use should be included as well to any developed versions .
So here I present you the Medusa, the first electric baritone cümbüş!
Medusa is designed to be used in a variety of occasions such as a sudio recording and small to large live music stages.
The soundscape that Medusa offers and the richness of frequencies make it appropriate to be used in many music styles such as traditional, rock, psychedelic, jazz, experimental, electronic e.t.c.
The Fishman Fluence Tosin Abasi modern active humbuckers offers a unique feeling to approach the desired expression within Medusa's frequencies range.
The electronics compartment at the backside of the instrument uses a magnetic cover for fast approach plus easy battery change.
The wood choices are:
Body: Honduras Mahogany
Neck: Pommele, Padauk and Wenge
Fingerboard & tailpiece: Indian Ebony
Top: Flame American Walnut
Bridge: Copper
With a 58.5 cm vibrating strings length it is a very easy to play and still a baritone instrument.
The screw to adjust the action of the original cümbüş has been replaced with a modern truss rod installed into the neck.
When The double strings turn into singles the player can have a fretless electric guitar approach.
Being able to combine all these elements and create a totally new instrument needs high skills in instrument making as well as proper ideas. It needs a traditional and modern instrument knowledge to make a step further into this field.
I found all these in the talented Hüseyin Yıldız. His instrument making skills from manouche to electric guitars plus his ideas in a combination of hard work provided this excellent result! Giving life to an idea is not easy thing especially when you need to combine tradition with modern and taking all of them into a step further. Hüseyin belongs to the new generation of high skill luthers with strong willing to create and explore in daily basis. As an Istanbul residence the multi cultural approach in music from old traditions to modern music is making Hüseyin the best choice to collaborate with.
I couldn't finalize the design I had in my mind without the valuable help of Melike an abstract artist who created the sketch and the Medusa logo as well as took the official photos. I trusted Melike's help because her approach in her work as one of most important abstract painters in Istanbul as well as a photographer and performer is so expressive and can capture the story of Medusa into this instrument.
Simge Güler is the designer of the ornaments of the fingerboard that based on my idea around sacred geometry in combination with some important symbols represent parts of my life. Simge is also a very talented graphics designer and watercolor painter based in İstanbul . A great artist that I always trust and had also collaborate in the past .
Periklis Tsoukalas