Ken Longfield

Thanks Ken, It has been a fun journey and I learned so much. The strum stick is a good place to begin as it is an easier build than the next one. It's interesting, the strum stick doesn't have the mellow tone as my Cedar Creek. Stands to reason, the sound box is so much smaller. I used David Ash's book "Fret Position Reference guide", This book took a lot of stress out of getting the frets correct. My digital caliper made it possible. This is why I became interested in this group. Not just sharing my ideas, but gathering ideas from others that have enjoyed the experience of a home build. 

Thanks, Ken. check out my post on Ben's comment. I think I will enjoy this group. I don't know anyone around here that plays the dulcimer. I'm new at it and try to practice everyday, 

I am also a fossil hunter and a fossil guide for Creation Studies Institute in Deerfield , fl. I love o travel and meet new people. My wife (of 60 years) is a homebody so I travel with my brother. We enjoy playing together, his guitar and my dulcimer.

Thank you Ken. I've gotten busy of late and have not been paying much attention to the fact that I joined the group. When I've taken some pictures and narrowed down some dates I will get back on about posting it for sale. The local string shop here in Santa Fe, NM says they will take it on consignment, but they want 35% to do that which seems a bit high to me. 

Thanks, Ken - glad to be here.

We are just strictly speculating on our ancestors and dulcimers, but hope to find direct evidence and will share if/when we do. Our family tree has recently grown to over 30,000 as we work on it pretty religiously, but we don't just "fill in the boxes", we love to learn about who they were, what they did, and how they lived. It's a really fascinating way to learn about our shared history as a country and a people and we love it. 

We often come across more detailed information in that regard through newspaper clippings, old family letters and even in photographs. Censuses are helpful, too, giving occupational information. Our mother's granduncle was a composer, publishing works from about 1911-1935 or so, Ragtime and Jazz, playing piano, and his family was pretty musical.

At any rate, the moment I saw the dulcimer that I picked up at the estate sale I could well imagine our old-time relatives enjoying them back in the day. I might even have to learn how to play it!

Thank you, Ken. Are you in the Tulsa area? I noticed the reference to the Woody Guthrie gig. 

Hi! Thank you. Just poking around to start.

Thank you Ken! I have been taking it slow, but I am learning.  I know I can't expect much in the beginning, but with patience and persistence, I should eventually get there!

Thank you, Ken,

Thank you, Lisa. I needed a photo for the Hindman dulcimer homecoming since I did a presentation on the restoration of my 1931 James Edward Thomas dulcimer. My wife snapped a few photos and I liked this one. I'm holding that Thomas dulcimer.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

@ken-longfield , I like your new profile picture!

@Old-Dawg , I went in and downsized these particular photos for you that are on Ken's profile Comment Wall.
I'm sure you will soon figure out what program on your device (laptop, phone?) can downsize images easily for you. Every device i've ever known has an image editing ability in one app or another that will save as a smaller file. Sometimes I find out just by googling it, like "how to downsize images on a Galaxy phone" (or on an iPad, etc etc) 

Sorry about the photos. They came through enlarged for some reason. I'll work on that.

Thanks for the warm welcome, Ken. I am hoping to get some feedback on my dulcimer: value, comments from those that may have one by the same builder, etc. Being new to the site I am not sure if this is where I should be posting a description and photos, but I will give it a try.

Many years ago I contacted John Stoddard about building me a dulcimer. He told me he was no longer building but he would be willing to sell me one of his personal instruments. I bought it. It came in a "well traveled; soft case. The dulcimer was in excellent condition with minor wear. If I remember correctly, he called it his concert model. It has a beautiful, full round sound with excellent sustain. It is 38" long. The bouts are 8 1/4" and 6 3/4". It has gold Gotoh tuners. Attached are some photos I took this morning. Thanks in advance for any responses.

The problem is that there is no loop. The loop end of the string was wound until it was up against the little button. If you look at my photo you may be able to see how the loop end of these strings was wound tight, all the way up to the button. Leaving no wiggle room. 

Thanks for the welcome message!

Nice to be back!

Many thanks to you for the warm welcome, Ken! Port Washington is indeed on LI and I love it there—I didn't know Jean Ritchie lived there for quite some time, very cool. 

Thank you for the welcome Ken.  Surprised you visited El Cajon, glad you enjoyed it.

Thank you for the welcome Ken!

Thanks for the kind welcome. Just starting to navigate my way around.

Cheers...Shane

Thank you Ken, I'm excited to be here and to explore the great information about the mountain dulcimer. I'm sure I'll have a lot of questions along the way, and I appreciate the friendly atmosphere. I look forward to learning from everyone.