Forum Activity for @strumelia

Since we are talking also about avoiding breaking strings...
One other point I'd like to make is that although I might be able to use just one dulcimer to retune into four different keys, especially if it's a middling scale length and using correct string gauge to do that...  even though I 'could' tune to all four keys with the same strings without breaking them, the mere strain of tuning up and down frequently between tunings for the keys of G and D (a whole three and a half steps between G and D) can be enough to very much shorten the normal life of a string.

I remember walking around oldtime music festivals with one dulcimer, joining in on one jam session after another, and retuning back and forth between the keys of G, A, C, and D every hour or two depending on what folks were playing. A whole day and evening of doing this often was too much for my strings and one or even two of them would snap at some point. Not because I was tuning the string too high (because i had no problems while at home where I changed tunings much less often), but because I was going back and forth 3.5 steps too many times and creating metal fatigue.
People who play dulcimer in jam sessions with players of other instruments need to be able to change key fairly often. So this is another reason for a noter player to use two dulcimers in jamming situations.. at least it was for me. Chord players who use capos or fingering notes on various strings can avoid some of these issues- they are able to utilize more ways to play in different keys without so much retuning.

Again, for active festival or gathering jamming scenes where I want to play only dulcimer, i use one dulcimer for the keys of G and A, and the other dulcimer for the keys of C and D. Other folks have cool ways of avoiding snapping strings by using 'reverse' tunings or capos and under-string capos (sometimes called false nuts). 
Robin's mentioned EAA tuning is an example of such a reverse tuning for playing in the key of A, in mixolydian mode. It's a 5-1-1 tuning, and can be great for playing in mixolydian mode rather than ionian. Her tuning neatly avoids breaking strings because she can simply tune DAA and put a false nut capo under the bass string at fret 1 and then play in A. (her middle string then becomes the tonic drone, and the bass string capoed becomes the "5th", and the melody string is tuned to the tonic note).
There are lots of cool ways to be able to play in various keys- using string gauges, capos and false nuts, reverse tunings, tuning to a different mode, using extra frets, or using more than one instrument and/or different VSL lengths. Understanding all of these different methods is a process that usually involves years of playing and endless 'lightbulb moments'.   I'm certainly still in that process myself. (may we never stop learning!)

Believe me it's an awful sinking feeling when you are having great fun playing at a campsite jam at 1am and suddenly a string snaps and you have to trudge off somewhere far away to find a place with enough light to be able to change a string because the night is still young! Not easy to change a string at night by flashlight, not having three hands.  ;)  BTW other times I sometimes opted to bring one dulcimer for the keys of C and D jamming, and a banjo for the keys of A and G. The banjo is always heavier to haul around at a festival, though.

I see where the confusion is coming from. TrailDad, you've been quoting from this 2009 blog post I wrote in my noter drone blog:

https://dulcimer-noter-drone.blogspot.com/2009/03/tunings-i-mostly-use.html

If everyone reads the entire blog post I wrote, and also the various comments between TrailDad and myself at the end of that blog post, it will be clear that some of this confusion (again) is coming from the fact that I typically use all .010 gauge strings on my oldtime session dulcimers, and thus the AEE and the GDD tunings I am describing there are all in the high octave (like with my Galax dulcimer)- with no heavy bass string and no middle gauge middle string. If one reads my entire noter blog post linked above (plus the Comments at the end of it from a month ago, where TrailDad asks these very questions and I answered them), most of the confusion in this thread could be avoided.

Personally, I would not recommend a 30" scale dulcimer in order to use these tunings, even with all .010 strings. It could well work just fine, but it's pretty long IMHO and the strings might be real tight. A different approach might be called for at 30". In my blog post I describe my 28.5" and my 26.5" dulcimers I use for these tunings. The tunings TrailDad has laid out in his previous post are the tunings from my blog post but they are tunings I use with all .010 strings tuned in the higher octave , on the two VSLs I've given. (btw if i had a 30" dulcimer I would probably just lower whatever tuning i was using by one whole step to the next lower key, if I was just playing alone at home).

In my blog I've written extensively about having ditched my bass string for oldtime fiddle session playing and gone with all high octave light gauge strings, but when my specifics are taken out of their blog context, people naturally assume the tunings I wrote about are to be used with the usual heavy wound bass string and a medium thick middle string most dulcimers use. Then they start using the string gauge calculator based on that assumption... and up come various dilemmas concerning the tunings and the vsl and and the gauges. This is a good example of why it's problematic to quote 'articles' (i.e. blog posts) out of context without identifying where the information is coming from. It's also one of the problems with blogs- because they are a continuous string of related posts, and in many blogs each post builds upon what has come before it.

If one goes back to read my blog post from 2009 , there are no tuning challenges such as those we are trying to solve here. The confusion comes simply by trying to apply my "all high octave gauge strings" tunings to dulcimers with typical low/middle/high gauge string setups. It's like trying to pound a square peg into a round hole. Hence the subsequent talk of baritone dulcimers (tuned a whole octave down from what I described in my blog) by folks trying to be helpful, to solve this 'tuning dilemma'.

My advice is that if one is going to use the typical string setup of a heavy wound bass string, a middle gauge middle string, and a thin gauge melody string(s)... and i think it's a great standard system... then don't try to apply the same tunings i suggested for using with all .010 strings- it won't work well. Probably better to use tunings and/or gauges that are more normally used for the keys of A and G. It's better to figure out WHY you want or need to play in particular key or tuning rather than assuming you need to play in it.  My advice: pick a few tunes, figure out what key you want to play them in, then figure out the tuning method you want to use to tune for those tunes. Trying to understand and anticipate all situations before one encounters them is a difficult and frustrating path.

All this said, several good players have now mentioned that having only two dulcimers in slightly different vsl length can enable you to playing in the four most common keys pretty easily without lots of retuning (and without constantly changing strings). Others can do it with just one dulcimer, especially if they use either a 'reverse' tuning, OR a capo or under-string "false nut" capo to raise the bass string without breaking it, like Robin Thompson does- watch her videos for tips on that- and she's a very creative and expressive player.  :)  Hope this helps.

p.s. TrailDad thank you for pointing out that typo in my blog post- I went back and corrected it- you were right about that!

Who doesn't love Dolly? 

Around 1975 Greg Deering and his fledgling banjo company did make a bunch of mountain dulcimers. Your might be one of them. What makes you think it's a Deering?

From the web:

"...So, around July 1975, we officially started Deering Banjo Company. That lasted until November 1977. Geoff [Stelling] had bought a shop building and I was renting part of the building from him. I had a crew of about nine people. We were making about 40 banjos a month. And Geoff came to me one day and said, “You shouldn’t be Deering Banjo Company. It should all be Stelling Banjo Works, and you should just be working for me.” And I said, “I’m not going to do that.” The next day, he cut my orders in half. So, I stayed up all night and built an Appalachian dulcimer and, when my crew came to work the next day, I put half my crew to work making dulcimers. I went out, got a bunch of orders for them and just kept on going...."

also:

"...The family-owned Deering Company, which was formed in 1975, has 49 employees. The enterprise has the self-descriptive slogan “The Great American Banjo Company,” with “Proudly Made in the U.S.A.” emblazoned on banjos made there.
Janet Deering is CEO of the company, and during a tour of the manufacturing areas of the facility, she spoke warmly about the deep roots the company has nurtured in East County throughout its history. Her husband, Greg Deering, made his first banjo in an industrial arts class at San Diego State in 1968. The couple initially made banjos and mountain dulcimers in the garage of their home, before moving to a Lemon Grove location. After outgrowing that facility, the company moved to its current factory site in Spring Valley during early 2001. Over its 40-plus years, Deering has built over 100,000 banjos. ..."

Awesome, Dave!  I'm going to watch this video. Such tips can be applied to many dulcimer, scheitholt, epinette, and hummel playing techniques.

Looking on the bright side- I'm guessing we have all become better cooks this year! Also maybe more knowledgeable and reading more? Perhaps started a garden, built things, or learned to sew, or bake?    I know I've been doing most of those things over the past 10 months.

John, I look forward to hearing that from you!  It's clever how you figured to first tune to C and then capo on 3 to get into the key of F.  I think the key of F is probably the most problematic key to tune to on a typical diatonic dulcimer with 26-28" scale. Good for you!   btw I too find it way easier to sing in F or G than in D.

Dusty, how wonderful that you have backyard oranges and lemons! What a blessing for health!  I'm grateful to be able to buy the world's best fresh apples here here in NY. Long ago when i lived in Puerto Rico my neighbor had a HUGE mango tree and my kids and I ate them by the shopping bag full. 

I believe age 65 and up is group 1C. Lots of states have opened up for that group now, ahead of the original plan... including CA and NY state where i live. However, for example in our county there are 60,000 people, yet the govt has only been sending our county 300 doses per week for the past month and a half. Major fail. You can see where that's going... at this rate I'll die of old age before I get vaccinated!
Hopefully vaccinating people will be given higher priority and speed soon. I can't wait to get mine!

Here's to covid vaccines coming to a pharmacy or clinic near to all of us in the not so distant future! 

I try to plan my supermarket trips so that I hardly ever have to go- like once every three weeks or so. Between big trips i do occasionally stop into our (much smaller) local farmer's market to quickly pick up a few fresh things like bread, milk, eggs, and apples.

Today was one of my big supermarket trips. It's a big project, especially when I get all those bags of stuff home! Pretty much takes up half a day.
There are things that we so much savor, now that we don't have them as often. For example this evening it was sooo nice to cut up a gorgeous juicy navel orange and eat it slowly- it was so good!  And my husband was excited to have a tub of real guacamole to put some in the tortillas he likes to make for himself, along with his favorite pepperjack cheese. And we now each have 2 pints of our favorite Ben & Jerry's in the freezer as a treat!  Brian's is always ChocolateFudgeBrownie, and mine is CherryGarcia. 
The pandemic has taught us to really appreciate fresh food and having access to it.    We're lucky indeed.

Dave your citera looks delightful! 

In the beginning of the video around 0:22 when she comes on stage you can get a glimpse of the instrument.
How wonderful this is!!  Delightful and amazing in every way!!

Love how an entire crew of men reverently bring the required playing surface to the Little Queen.   
She deserves to be worshipped. The Hungarian Bonnie Russell?.. arguably even more skilled.

BTW I want that skirt, for contra dancing. And her faceted garnet necklace. 

And by reflection, I mean as in examining ourselves in a mirror.

We are all living through very trying times- both in dealing with this relentlessly long and difficult pandemic, but also through the current pandemic of political strife, division, and violence that has become a stain on our great country. It seems that intolerance and bullying have become almost as natural online as breathing.

I strive to make FOTMD an oasis where all members can temporarily escape from fighting and ridicule due to politics, religion, sexual orientation, race, or country of origin. But FOTMD does not exist in an isolated online bubble.

People sometimes forget how interconnected their online behavior actually is. When someone behaves in an unkind way on one site or network, it becomes known on the other sites they are connected to. All sites we belong to are connected and affected, and our actions on other sites can echo to represent us here as well. Ask yourself if your various online presences are reflecting the human values you want everyone to know you by. Are you a friend  to others?

It's easy to get swept up by the current of division and intolerance that has spread through our society. But please look inside yourself and see if there is room for a little more more kindness and less aggression. Can you reach out and give a friendly hand to someone instead of belittling them? Can you bring someone closer rather than push them away? We each need to look inside ourselves. I hope for this new year that our goodness and kindness will shine and prevail.
Stay safe, and hugs to you. 

I believe one should avoid keeping count after an even dozen. After a dozen it does it really matter? 

I also believe that no one can call you a 'collector' unless you have more than a dozen of something.

James do you have it yet, or is it being shipped?  Hey, I'm thinking with that uke, it doesn't matter if the weather is cold during shipping!

James that ukulele you got looks pretty amazing. I can't believe how it is so weather proof, but sounds great. I like how it's sort of translucent.
What made you decide on the white one? Colors are always such a hard choice for me.

Starfire, if you are talking about comments left on your profile page, then there should be a link under their comment that says "comment back", which takes you to their profile page- you can then leave them a responding comment on their profile page in their comment wall section.   :)
Anytime you click on someone's namelink here, it will take you to their personal page.

If you have other questions about how to use the site, you may find answers HERE (look through the threads of commonly asked questions) or start a new thread to ask a new question there about how to use the site.  :)

@matt-berg  ...genius!  

My noter tip would crash into anything closer than the middle string. You mean like those little stick-on circular plastic jewels kids put on their faces? I'd think they'd get in the way of any smooth sliding by either fingers or noters. I suppose a very gentle slow player might not have a problem with them.

I would think that raised fret markers could interfere badly especially with noter playing, particularly if they were located between the melody string(s) and the middle string. That'd be bad!

Besides, on any dulcimer other than a chromatic one, if you're not looking while playing anyway then raised fret markers are already there... they're called frets.  ;)

Interesting discussion! 

Yes we all agree that 'fret markers' or fret board inlays can be decorative or utilitarian, or a combination of the two.

But just for the sake of argument-  if we put aside inlays and decorations that are for decoration only.... then does the very term 'fret markers' imply that they are marking frets in some purposeful utilitarian way?  Is the purpose and definition of a 'fret marker' by its very nature to mark/differentiate a fret so as to enable the player to more easily tell one fret from its neighbor frets?

--------

I mean, you could have the standard of a simple dot inlay on certain frets (say 3, 5, 7, 10). Some might say that was all practical purpose without any decorative intent. If they were inlaid abalone of something you could say they were practical makers that were decorative as well.

But if you had those exact same dots on every fret they would not differentiate any fret from the others. They would have no practical purpose to differentiate certain frets, only a decorative purpose. You could have fancy leaves or vines on every fret and if they were all the same visually for every fret then they would be only decorative.

OR, you could have inlays on every fret but maybe on the 3, 5, 7 etc they could be larger or fancier. Then they'd fall back into having the practical purpose and maybe decorative as well.

I would put forth the thought that a 'marker' implies marking something so that it is recognized and stands out. And 'decorative' implies simply visual embellishment. But you could have 'markers' that are also decorative. But if they are all the same on every fret then they are simply decorations and not 'markers'.

What do you think?

One word of caution to those who use stickers on their fretboards-
There are good products for removing sticker residue once you've decided to remove longtime stickers. However, few people take into account that wood darkens over time when exposed to light- even normal room light while playing. If you leave stickers on for a year or more, when you remove them you may find that the wood is lighter colored under the stickers, thus you are left with unsightly 'ghost' marks where the stickers used to be. These marks don't even disappear when you rub oil on. I've seen these poor dulcimers on Ebay with their ugly light colored rectangles up and down their fretboards. So, consider removing fret board stickers after your initial learning period, before they create permanent cosmetic damage.

Which brings up the existential question... if one were to put a fret marker on every fret- what purpose would it serve?

That's way nicer than most cigar box guitars I've seen and heard, Bob. Niiiice!

Thank you Ken. It's a deep loss for the dulcimer world. Ralph Lee Smith has given us all so much.

We're talking about fret markers, not fret placement.

Sounds like he's not very experienced in dulcimers and diatonic instruments. He may be a good luthier at other intruments, but I don't think he understands how the concept of modal scales applies to mtn dulcimer fret patterns in particular. He's defensive because naturally no one who presents themselves as professional likes to have their lack of knowledge pointed out to them.   Still, you have done him a favor because future clients will have a hard time with his strangely placed fret markers as well, if he doesn't understand a diatonic scale with its half and whole steps and how they are used in tuning and playing. 

Well that solves the mystery. You helped improve things for the next person who buys a dulcimer from him!  Still gotta wonder though why he didn't do two minutes of simple google research or just looking at online dulcimer images before inlaying the markers.

I suspect fret markers were invented for chromatically fretted instruments. Guitar, banjo, mandolin players really need them. Sometimes they have tiny inlaid dots on the side of the necks as fret markers rather than on the fretboard itself.

I agree with the others that on dulcimers, the distinctive fret spacing patterns serve as a good visual map.  If someone wants fret markers anyway, the 3/5/7/10 placements would not cause objections form players. Other placements such as 4/6/8 don't make much sense to me and would cause confusions for many players.

Other practical problems with converting/selling this Galax dulcimer into a baritone:  First, people looking for a baritone mountain dulcimer usually don't want wooden tuning pegs . Also, most people looking for a baritone dulcimer will be chord style players , and this Galax is a real traditional wooden pegged dulcimer with no 6.5 fret. It's daunting to play a diatonically fretted dulcimer in chord style without a 6.5 fret. Baritone players are not going to want to retune in order to play various tunes. They want to stick with standard baritone tunings. And to play chord style in typical baritone tuning means you'll need that 6.5 fret.

Though not a precious museum antique, this is nonetheless a lovely traditional vintage Galax dulcimer (and such beautiful naturally blonde wood! ) though it seems to lack a double back. There is a substantial market for traditional Galaxes. It would be a bit odd to market this as a "Galax Baritone" since Galax dulcimers weren't made as baritones. There is also a good market for baritone dulcimers, but most folks who know dulcimers and are looking for a baritone dulcimer will avoid a wood peg dulcimer without a 6.5 fret that is obviously a Galax dulcimer. They'd want a more modern large scale dulcimer with 6.5 and 13.5 frets, and geared tuners.

And if for no other reason... I'm pretty sure you would get a better price selling this as a traditional restored Galax and not a concocted Barilax. (sounds like a Barium enema, hahah). If someone who loves vintage instruments did buy it, they'd probably immediately turn it back to a traditional Galax stringing anyway. Why not bring out its own natural beauty and appeal in what it is? Just my two cents. 
Do take another look at the gorgeous droolyworthy Galaxes shown on Ben Seymour's site. They are so wonderful!  I'm extremely lucky to have a custom Galax made by Ben. But this Delser has heaps and heaps of charm, especially if you let the beauty of that blonde chestnutty-poplary wood come through. 

I can't blame you. That would be somewhat distracting if you play more than one dulcimer. I suppose you could get used to it, but yeah I think you did the right thing.

If i were to retrieve the thread you deleted, then there'd be two. Since you have added a bunch of stuff to this new one, it creates a dilemma. Which thread would you want to keep? I could lock this new thread and then you could copy/paste the new posts from this thread to the old thread and I could then delete this one. Wanna try that?

Our dear FOTMD friend John P. passed away a few years ago, but
this Christmas Songs thread of his is worth bumping up - it's nice to read over again! 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Season
to all FOTMD friends, every one!! 

I'm so glad this worked out so well Traildad!  Thanks for the happy update! 

I agree, I have a kit dulcimer from the 80s that looks very much the same, just slightly different peg head shape. Something about the thinness of the wood, and the 'cut' appearance of the edges.

Awesome!!!!  So excited for you!    Those look nice and bright, fresh.

Now be sure to measure how many seeds you start with in the jar, they should almost fill the jar when done. I find that 4 level teaspoons (meaning 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon, all level not rounded) will fill my entire quart jar nicely without being so tight I can't pull them out.

For lunch today I had a sandwich made with two thin slices meunster cheese and a BIG handful each of mung sprouts and red clover sprouts, on peasant bread with a little butter and mayo. Yum!  Basically a sprout sandwich.

There comes a point on a 27-28" vsl where the strings required to reach a very high note become so thin that they will probably break by virtue of their own thinness. I found this out once with .008 strings, tuning up somewhere around high f. Went through 2 strings before I decided I probably needed a shorter scale length.  ;D

How Jimmy Stewart's WWII experiences shaped It's a Wonderful Life... and how this affects us today.

Zu Zu's petals...

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/19/entertainment/its-a-wonderful-jimmy-stewart-world-war-ii-service/index.html

old joke-
How can you tell if the stage at a bluegrass concert is level?
-the banjo player is drooling from both sides of their mouth.

As far as I know, a dulcimer having feet doesn't specifically suggest WV.  Galax dulcimers are traditionally tuned in unison all high ddd or equidistant dddd stringing. BTW we have a Group here on fotmd for Galax dulcimers- might be some fun threads in there to check out for fun.
Maybe the 1/2" action was an experiment to use it as a lap steel, with a slide? Obviously one cannot fret a 1/2" action. Maybe they clipped on a pickup. People do things weird things with dulcimers they find. Do you think the bridge and nut were replaced with high ones? Can't say much without pictures.

Agreed, that bass string someone put on is way too heavy. And yes someone might have been trying it out as a baritone. Wrong dulcimer for a baritone experiment, IMHO.  ;)

I have had some antique banjos and mandolins that absolutely had to be strung only with a slightly lighter gauge set than normal. Older instruments deserve a little love and tenderness I think.