Cool Tool - an Oud

This is an introduction to the Egyptian Oud.

Tuning low-to-high: d gg aa dd gg cc (11 strings)

Here's where I got mine.

Cool site about oud and middle eastern scales.

Here's one like mine...
Egyptian Deluxe Oud w/ Soft Case & CD & Oud Pick

One a Year

For a period of about ten years I bought one new instrument each year.  Not a new guitar.  A completely new instrument.  And as a rule I would learn it in it's native tuning.  Much easier to think and sound idiomatically that way.

I think it started with a mandolin.  Not a guitar.  Not even close.  A guitar is largely tuned in fourths.  A mandolin is 4 pairs of strings tuned in fifths. Like this one... Fender FM-52E Mandolin, Sunburst

And so it was on.  Here are some other stringed instruments I've picked up. Not in this order.

A Hawaiian Lap Steel Guitar - Fender FS-52 Lap Steel

Then I got a five-string banjo.  It's tuned like... oh, never mind, let's not go there right now.  Not as nice as this one... Deering Goodtime 5-String Banjo

Then a baritone electric. Tuned down a fourth from standard tuning

An auto harp - kind of like this one... Oscar Schmidt 21 Chord Autoharp

Then a uke. - Mine's the flea.
        Here's a nice one...  OXK Ukulele

An oud. - Similar to...  Egyptian Deluxe Oud w/ Soft Case & CD & Oud Pick

A bajo sexto.  It's a mexican instrument that is kind of a cross between a baritone and a 12-string.  Something like this one... Oscar Schmidt OH52SE Acoustic Electric Guitar, Bajo Sexto

An electric sitar.  This Jerry Jones one.

Just added this Gretsch round neck resonator guitar to the collection.

Check out Lark in the Morning for a great source of cheap instruments you might only use once a year.