To the French, it’s a Lame Sonore; the Germans call it a Sagende Sage; and the English, a Musical Saw. One of the strangest of instruments, it’s just a saw played with a violin or cello bow. The player grips the saw handle between the knees or thighs, bending the blade into a gentle ‘s’ shape with the left hand, and bows the flat side of the blade with the right. The trick is to find the ‘sweet spot’ on the curve and coax the saw into singing for you. It emits the most haunting, sad sound you’ve heard, not unlike a Theremin, but more characterful.
While it’s worth noting that any saw can be used, you’ll get a better range from a properly made Musical Saw, made from more flexible metal and a bit longer than your average handsaw. There are a few firms still producing Musical Saws. Charlie Blacklock and Mussel and Westphal are two American companies that I would recommend. Alexis Faucomprez, in France, makes a toothless saw with a very big range – over three octaves – and a Sheffield-based Saw Manufacturer in Britain has just started making them – Thomas Flinn & Co..
I once had a Musical Saw trio with the lovely Mara Carlyle and the just as lovely Rowan Oliver, called The Weeping Saws. When we rehearsed, the windows would shake in their frames. We did a couple of great gigs, and made babies cry. These days, as well as playing it myself, I have been recording with Guy Bellingham (aka Dennis Teeth (pictured) of the Hot Potato Syncopators) who is able to get a much more beautiful tone out of a saw than me.
There are more Musical Saw players around than you might think. Once you’ve got the bug bad enough, you can trot off to the Musical Saw Festival in New York City. If you’d like to read a piece I wrote for the Sunday Times about Musical Saws, click HERE.