Forum Activity for @kevin63

     Just by chance several weeks ago, before my friend sent me the link to this dulcimer sale, I had started gathering information on A.W. Jeffreys for my Today In Mountain Dulcimer History posts but never completed it.  This got me jump started. In fact today I traded several emails with Jeffreys' daughter, Jan. I'm still tweaking this but this is what I have so far:

     A.W. (Alois Waldo) Jeffreys, Jr. was born in 1923 in South Hill, Virginia to a tobacco farmer/auctioneer.  

     A.W. Jeffreys was a Naval pilot during WWII. In 1946 he was in the naval pilot's group that was the fore-runner to today's Blue Angels, then known as the Flight Exhibition Team.

     After his Naval career he was a clinical psychologist. He was Chief Psychologist at Western State Hospital at Staunton, Virginia for 33 years. 

     According to his daughter Jeffreys became interested in dulcimers after observing local folk playing them in the mountains of Virginia where he lived. He made his first dulcimer in 1956.

     About 1960 he started the Appalachian Dulcimer Company in Staunton, it was a family business. His wife ran the business side and she and the kids, Jay and Jan, helped A.W. with various aspects of the business and building dulcimers.

     Jeffreys built both 3 string and 4 string instruments, but preferred 3 strings, in walnut, cherry or butternut with either heart or diamond shaped sound holes. With each dulcimer came an instruction book, which he wrote, a cloth bag, a hand cut pick, and an optional LP record made by his friend, Paul Clayton.

     In the mid-1970s A.W. and his wife took over all the work when Jay and Jan left home. The business wound down sometime in the late 1980's. It is estimated that over 3000 dulcimers were made. Sometime in the 1980's Jeffreys donated much of his dulcimer collection to the Smithsonian Institute.

     Jan told me her dad played the dulcimer very little as he was more of a vocalist. But the song she remembers the most was "Go tell Aunt Rhody".

     A.W. Jeffreys died 29 January 1992.

When I replace my strings do they include the chenille wrap on the loop ends that looks like fly fishing wrap?

No, if you buy dulcimer string sets. I am not aware of any manufacturers who offer this.

Why did they wrap the loop end with chenille?

This is a feature of some banjo strings. The chenille was added to prevent overtones and the string rattling on the banjo tailpiece which is made of metal. Dulcimer players would buy banjo strings in the proper gauges to put on their dulcimers because they were loop end strings. This was before dulcimer string sets became readily available. Under tension dulcimer strings can eat in to the end of the fret board depending upon how they are attached and chenille my help prevent this.

If by chance you say new strings do not include chenille loop ends since that was done in the 70’s, then why not wrap them any more?

Banjos still have metal tailpieces. Again, I am not aware of dulcimer string sets that come with chenille wrap.

Do new steel strings stretch like ukulele strings after they’re installed?

No, steel string stretch, but not as much as nylon ukulele strings. After steel strings are brought up to the proper pitch, they will stretch a little and need to be tightened. Like other materials, steel is subject to expanding when hot and shrinking when cold, so changes in temperature will require tuning. So will changes in humidity as that effects the wood of the dulcimer.

You can purchase strings for you dulcimer from The Dulcimer Shoppe in Mountain View, Arkansas. They offer sets for DAA or DAd tunings.

I hope this helps you.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

It looks like string tension has pulled the pins toward the saddle. One reason this could happen is the pins are too short to take the pressure of a tightened string. Ken's suggestion to use at least 1" brads is one solution. Another reason this could have occurred is that the wood is not very hard. And yet another is too much pressure on the pins from over tuning. Two other solutions for this problem are to use screws instead of brads or to move the brads from their current position to the end of the dulcimer. The latter might cause the strings to imbed themselves in the end of the fret board as they pass over the top of the dulcimer.

The saddle in the second photo shows quite a bit of damage and needs to be replaced. In replacing it you need to measure its size; length, width, height. If you can't find the exact size for replacement you will need to purchase something a little larger and sand it down. Two places to look for parts for dulcimers are www.folkcraft.com  and https://mcspaddendulcimers.com .  You may have to search the sites to find what you want.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."