Go To The Source

I was listening to a recording of an old time fiddler talk about why he kept a rattle snake rattle in his fiddle. According to him, when they hung on the wall for a long time, spiders would fill them with webs and the rattle was supposed to help keep this from happening. The more I have thought about it, the more questions I have. I suspect it is more an old wives tale than a real solution, unless it is just the rattling around when you take the fiddle off the wall.

Worried about spiders crawling out of my dulcimer, I asked my son what he thought. He said he'd been hanging stringed instruments on the wall for some time now and the only thing he'd ever found in his were a few lost picks and some super heroes.

Asked what he did about it, he said it's easy, just keep a piece of kryptonite in each one.

Always go to the source for real answers.