I traded back for the cobza today, and it sounds great! I’m using
techniques from pipa and oud. by the way, there are a lot of
traditional cobza solos and ensemble-playing on YouTube now; when
I started with the instrument, there was almost nothing.

cob0 is a straight recording. my cobza has ten metal strings tuned
with pegs; towards the very end, you can hear one of the courses
has gone out of tune. I’ve learned to avoid them; I finish on the
other three. (here, the cobza’s tuning is eee’ aa dd gg; the 2nd
a went out, so I ended up on eee’ dd and gg. note that the tuning
is 3 4ths; it’s not actually tuned to eee’ etc. pitch.)

cob1 is recorded with highly altered echo and post-production
with high hiss-elimination. I had to play slowly, in order that
the harmonic ‘bell-tones’ come through.

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playing the cobza:

cobza http://www.alansondheim.org/alan1.jpg