One of my favorite things about writing film music is creating evocative, unusual sounds that can enhance the movie. I'm always looking out for new instruments, especially acoustic instruments that can create sounds that are familiar without being instantly recognizable.
A good example for this would be bowing a guitar. The overall guitar sound quality remains, but the attack and shape of the tones becomes slightly different. Trying to bow a guitar, however, I soon realized I could only reach the the first and sixth string, because unlike classical stringed instruments the fretboard is evenly shaped. But since I wanted to use a guitar I could not just change the shape of the fretboard.
The solution for this was finding a small travel guitar where the outer strings are placed relatively close to the edge of the instrument, making it easier to angle the bow and reach the upper and lower strings. Also, I reduced the number of strings from 6 to 3 and lifted the middle string with a piece of paper so it stands out and can be strung on its own like any other bowed string instrument.
Despite the narrow shape of the travel guitar, the rear strings were still too far away from the edges of the body, making it difficult to play the outer strings without touching the middle string with the bow. Therefore, I carved out the sides and made the entire instrument slimmer.
I named it the ‘Cellotar’, despite my assistants’ suggestion ‘Shit-tar’.
