Forum Activity for @strumelia

How I find strum hollows essential in real life playing:

I used to play the mtn dulcimer in fingerpicking style long ago, with plastic fingerpicks because I have crappy fingernails. Playing on a dulcimer with a strum hollow was delightful and comfortable. Playing in that style with no strum hollow was an AWFUL experience for me because the tips of my fingerpicks were constantly bumping into the fingerboard accidentally, and made a racket with clicking sounds. Personally, I couldn't play in fingerpicking style without the strum hollow. Especially if doing 'pinches', which some traditional players did when playing with their thumb.
Strum hollows also facilitate playing with a bow- as you rock the bow a little to play either outermost string, as you have to do when there is not an arched bridge, you don't want to scrape the bow hair on the fretboard edge.. but that's less common than fingerpicking. Been there done that, and a strum hollow totally solves that issue.

I have similar issues with picks bumping into the fretboard on banjos with no strum hollow. That's why they are so common on banjos.

Yes- the v is 'down'. The v^ is down,up.  By 'down' I mean the dominant direction that you tend to strum in- some folks strum inwards towards their body on major notes, others have an outwards dominant direction, away from their bodies. Thus, my v means your dominant direction strum. Easy to think of it as 'down', while the ^ is strummed as you go in the return direction of the strum. For more on this, use the blog's right lower keyword search feature and choose 'strumming' for various posts on strumming tips.

So happy you are enjoying it!

There are many beautiful and plaintive tunes in DAC tuning (Aeolian mode). They are so easy to play in drone style when in the proper tuning.

Here are a couple other DAC/Aeolian tab posts from my blog if you like to explore more:

https://dulcimer-noter-drone.blogspot.com/2009/03/here-is-another-old-ballad-in-aeolian.html

https://dulcimer-noter-drone.blogspot.com/2009/03/black-is-color.html

https://dulcimer-noter-drone.blogspot.com/2009/07/wedding-dress-my-little-doney-gal.html

Yes- thank you Dusty! My coffee had not kicked in yet when i wrote that.  lolol   Will correct my post.

Wow I bet you are super thrilled to have this new beauty, Richard. Happy playing! 

Suzette, tune to DAC and try my free noter/drone style tab for Shady Grove:

https://dulcimer-noter-drone.blogspot.com/2009/03/beautiful-aeolian-mode.html

(I posted over 30 free tabs on my noter dulcimer blog)

Ah, so now we know: 1) why Leo could not attach a word file, and 2) why there was suddenly a .pdf there that Leo did not put there. Mysteries solved!

Leo, I have our site code set to not allow people to attach word docs to posts, because that type of file can contain malware code. It's just a site safety setting that has nothing to do with you.

What a lovely dulcimer Megan! 

That's a terrific subject to cover, Patricia.

Early music is one of my passions. Much of it utilizes compelling drone intervals that are familiar to drone style traditional dulcimer players.

Having a 6.5 fret won't stop a dedicated noter player from playing traditional tunes on a dulcimer in noter style...and sounding great!

There is nothing particularly special about 'banjo strings' vs 'dulcimer strings'... except in relation to their being offered in convenient pre-packaged sets. Banjo 'sets' are geared towards banjo scale length (generally 25"-30") and standard banjo tuning: gDGBD (the last D being an octave higher than the first D, equal to a dulcimer high d).

The reason old timers and older books mention using banjo strings is not because they thought banjo strings were better suited than dulcimer strings. Rather, it's simply because there didn't used to BE many places to buy pre-packaged sets of 'dulcimer strings' in those pre-1970s days, whereas banjo string sets have been around for a lot longer and were way easier to find in music stores. Old timers were resourceful and used whatever they could get their hands on. This was pre-internet- there were no websites to order strings from- you had to either go to a music store or order from a paper catalogue using stamps envelopes and sending checks. (and then "allow 6 to 8 weeks for delivery", LOL)

The truly best approach is to use a string calculator (Strothers is the current best one online) and based on the VSL of YOUR dulcimer and the notes that YOU want to tune the strings to, select the gauges you'll need for that tuning. Then buy some separate steel strings (usually loop-end) from a site like juststrings .com. Have some extras on hand for breakage. If you have a typical sized dulcimer and simply want to use typical DAd or DAA type tunings, you can buy packets of dulcimer string 'sets' and it'll work just fine in most cases. It's convenient if you don't need anything out of the norm.

Commercial strings heavier than a certain gauge will more likely be wound, which you'll notice when ordering strings online. If you have your heart set on unwound heavy bass strings then you 'may' have to buy a spool of that heavy gauge music wire and cut/twist your own unwound bass strings. It depends on just how heavy the gauge is that you want. Personally, I found heavy unwound bass strings to really hurt my fingers when fretting, so I do use wound heavy bass strings on my banjos and dulcimers. If you always play with a noter this wouldn't matter.

I agree with the approach of keeping it simple- go with our original name and designated day in March. Don't worry about what others may/may not be doing.
I agree with Robin's thoughts about it being a simple celebration that anyone can be part of from their own home in whatever way they can or would like to. Complicating things or broadening the scope only makes people not want to do anything themselves.

Steve- I'm sorry but i had to delete a couple of your posts that were copied from another site. The formatting of the text, ads, headlines, and pictures was so gigantic that it screwed up the page here on fotmd. Plus run-on lines. It made everything here impossible to read and would also generate Google errors concerning posts with huge items or text that doesn't fit on a page. Try to not copy/paste chunks of content directly from other sites, thanks! 

We should be careful about using photographs taken by other people. For example, many of the nicer photos of Jean Ritchie were taken by her photographer husband George Pickow, and of course the family owns the rights to them.

Here, maybe try this version, I upped the contrast a bit with the white text. Here's a jpg and a pdf of same thing.

Should look fine printed out either in color or in greyscale...

 INTERNATION APP. DULCIMER DAY-page-002.jpg - 246KB

Wonderful to see the same player over such a long time span, with a glimpse into the past again.

If you click the link to "Forums" you will see various forums for different subjects, and you can pick the forum that applies for your new thread.
(and Thanks Dusty!)

I wonder how many years Bruce C. has played a dulcimer and not used it til now in his concerts? Cool.

Dusty, you are a mover and a shaker! 

Steve, I'll send you a private message through fotmd.

I can adjust the contrast for the white text areas by deepening the yellow and pale blue background colors just a little, if anyone needs me to. Then it would be nicely readable if printed out or copied in greyscale.

Great poster!

Note: the word "holding" at the bottom has a typo.

Also- many folks would be printing/copying this out in greyscale, and it'd be good to bump up the contrast between the lettering and the background colors so it's easy to read. ...making the background colors behind the white text just a bit darker. Here's how it prints out on a blk&white printer as it is now:

No real need for a poll if everyone thinks that's a good plan, Dusty.

Does anyone have other options they'd like to see considered?

Geoff that is wild! 

And additional thanks to @geoff-black for starting this real nice thread over ten years ago!

-I wonder Geoff- do you still have your wormy chestnut Glenn? Any photo you could add for us? Would love to see your thoughts on this dulcimer of Kevin's. 

That dulcimer is lovely!  (btw Kevin I reduced the size of your pix- they were way off the page)
Not having a 6.5 fret, I would strongly recommend a 1-5-5 (DAA, CGG) tuning... would make your life way easier in playing tunes without running into 'missing' notes.

I highly recommend the "Peg Drops"- for both sticking and slipping pegs. The drops seem to correct all woes with stubborn wooden pegs. They are made from liquified rosin and they make my wooden pegs behave beautifully- holding tight when i want but also moving smoothly and not getting stuck.

Since the peg ends are not actually sticking out from the pegbox, use a little dowel with a bit of fabric over the end (to cosmetically protect the peg ends), and tap them inwards as Greg said. Tap lightly with a little hammer and increase only as needed. Make sure the dulcimer has been for several hours in a room that is not too cold or too dry when you do this. Never put the instrument anywhere near a stove or radiator.

The only Glenn dulcimer I ever saw in person was from the 70s and as I recall was quite petite and slender. Use the Strothers string calculator! If it's a petite dulcimer you may not want a standard string set.

Most dealers in old items consider "antique" as anything 100 yrs old or more... and "vintage" to be something between 50-99 yrs old. 'Retro' is a term people nowadays use for something like 20-40 yrs old.
A 1975 dulcimer would now be 47 yrs old, and personally I'd call it vintage.
KenH I'd call you and myself vintage as well, but maybe you'd prefer Retro Ken?  lolol 

The end result should be that when you press the string down on the 7th fret, it will sound a note that is the same but one whole octave higher than the open string. Like in a "do re mi" scale they would be low do and high do.

Don't just count the frets to find "the seventh fret". Do you know whether your dulcimer had a 6.5 fret or not? Not knowing can lead to a grave error when determining which fret is actually the 7th fret, in order to correctly place the bridge. Many older dulcimer kits like from the 1970s-80s did not have 6.5 frets added. More recent kits usually do have a 6.5 fret included.
If a total beginner is told to 'count your frets' then they'd likely be including both the 6 and the 6.5 fret when counting-  thus thinking that the repeat octave is the C#.  Most beginners don't yet know that they should count EITHER the 6 OR the 6.5 fret when 'counting frets'.. but not count both.  I think it really helps to look at a picture:

I never hear people saying "MD" or "HD" when they are talking. Only when they're writing. Because in written discussions it's a pain to type it all out over and over in every other sentence. It's way faster to SAY those names than it is to type them.

Jean Ritchie wrote the Forward for L.Allen Smith's 1983 book A Catalogue of Pre-Revival Appalachian Dulcimers.

Here is what she said concerning the name of our beloved instrument, and the part she herself played in the evolution of that name starting from the 1940s:

Consider that it was not until at least the middle of the 20th century that there were any mountain dulcimers brought to the entire western half of the US (more than a century after the dedicated work of early Appalachian dulcimer makers such as Thomas, Singleton, Prichard, etc), and consider also that there are many other other countries in south and central America, not to mention all of Canada.

But my main point is that i would be sad to see the reference to the region of origin where our instrument was first created stripped away from its name, replaced by a broader label based on our whole nation rather than a region. It would feel to me like removing a connection to the unique culture specific to that region. That's why I am fond of the names 'mountain dulcimer', Appalachian dulcimer', or even 'lap dulcimer' or 'dulcimore'... those names still connect with and honor the region and culture that created the instrument. Just my two cents.

@irene - I too find it highly annoying that wikipedia has accepted photos of BOTH the 'American' instruments that show instruments made in other countries instead. The dulcimer pictured is a Roosebec (made in the middle east) and the banjo pictured is a very cheap 1960s pot metal tenor banjo made in Germany. How utterly lame is this?? The irony is astounding, considering it is the very point of the whole list.  

so, what if next year they find another old dulcimer with an authentic earlier date?

Well, if you want a poll, then please gather here the suggested dates and reasons for them- once i create the poll I can't change the items or add to them. Discuss this for a bit if you would and somebody make a post to organize the options... then in a day or two I can create/activate the poll from those various choices. Now's the time to make suggestions to add to the choices.

If you guys wanted, I could create a Poll here on fotmd to see the number of votes for each suggested date...?

Teddy Romeo Roosevelt just chillin'...

Thanks for the great photo!
The headstock, with its 6 strings and sturdy long shape, reminds me of a large version of French epinettes. This fellow is obviously interested in early instruments and their history. I see another headstock in the making on the table- perhaps for a 4 string dulcimer. How sweet those tiny heart sound holes are!
Is that a vielle on the table in the photo? Lovely! I love the very old sounds such instruments produce.

Great insight Dusty. In fact, I have a banjo with a string that rings out in an annoying way- I will try this fix next time i take it out to play! I have a little nut file that has served me well for years.

OK if the scale length is 27" then forget everything I said.

Ok well that helps a lot. 22 1/2 " is a very short scale length... practically like an epinette.

You don't say what gauge your other strings are - that would help!

But .012 for a middle string at 22-23" scale length is too thin a string for DAd or CGC... and whatever tuning you use, a string of .012 for a middle string will be rather loose... so that when a capo presses the strings even further down than the nut slot level, that middle string is likely to vibrate against frets when strummed open. It's a shame you already filed down frets, as that's a more drastic and risky solution (sort of like cutting off a table leg if the table wobbles).

All you need do here is put on strings that are more appropriate to your short scale length. A heavier set will not be lax and vibrate so much that they create sympathetic ringing against the frets. The middle string will likely need to be at least a .014, for example. How did the current set of strings get chosen?

The Strothers gauge calculator is very helpful when ordering strings: http://www.strothers.com/string_choice.html

FWIW, your described 'ringing' is not a string that is 'dischordant' (meaning a note out of tune)... it's more a noise, a wolf tone, or a buzz type issue.

Also- please elaborate on what you mean about the middle string that it sounds "off" or "dischordant:
Do you mean it's actually out of tune, meaning not the right note, sharp or flat?  OR
Do you mean it has a bad tone- like a buzzy sound or thuddy/twangy. Need to know this!