Forum Activity for @strumelia

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?

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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.   

Dusty's right- there is no room for fine tuning beads or any kind of fine tuners behind that bridge. But if the wooden pegs are well fit to their holes, and a drop of Peg Drops applied and let to cure, then the pegs 'should' turn smoothly and hold well... as they are supposed to do.

People who buy dulcimers find out pretty quickly if they like wooden peg tuners or not. Some people won't buy vintage dulcimers by a known maker if they've had their pegs replaced with geared tuners. Other people won't buy dulcimers unless they have geared tuners. Those people aren't usually that interested in an antique or collector dulcimer. Don't worry about it, because you can't please everyone.

In general, it's best to keep an antique dulcimer with its original wooden pegs if at all possible. There are thousands of geared tuner dulcimers all over the place to buy if one wants or needs geared tuners. And only a finite number of pre-1970s dulcimers in their original configuration.
You can take pride in preserving an old instrument in a way that is faithful to its maker. Remember the word 'restore' means just that- to restore something to the way it was. Your Maxwell has a huge amount of charm and grace and should be a joy to play when strung up. I can tell you care about it. Maybe you can record a simple tune for us on it soon.   :)

The string spacing is interesting. What string arrangement are you going to use?

Probably a sign of intense concentration in the music. Lots of musicians do weird things with their mouths and their faces while playing, btw. I suspect that's why oldtime fiddlers like to sport beards so much.

If you can remind yourself periodically to close your mouth it won't matter if you're drooling.
hahahah!   :)

I found this to be really interesting. What is it about Christmas music that gives us a "Christmas/holiday feeling"?

https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/what-makes-christmas-music-so-christmassy/

That's a nice looking dulcimer, and looks to be in fine shape.  :)

What's the scale length?

googling "dulcimer fine tuning beads" yields THIS .

I agree, Ken. 
I think you meant "Peg Drops" and behind the bridge, not the nut...right?   ;)

Warning- biased opinion ahead!:
I'm a big advocate of keeping vintage/antique collector dulcimers in original configuration. There is not an unlimited supply of antique dulcimers, and some we think of as not terribly valuable today might be precious and rare 30 years from now. Whatever your personal preferences, it is true that any collectable dulcimer will be diminished in value if you remove its wooden pegs and replace with geared. Or add extra frets, etc. I usually just suggest that if one wants geared tuners (and most folks do..they are convenient!) one should just buy a more modern dulcimer that has them already rather than alter an antique.

Nina, I'm excited for you- you GO girl!  I look forward to a few pix later.
I'm convinced that sprouts that are truly fresh (grown at home) are a real powerhouse of healthy nutrients.
Remember to keep them dark while growing, until the last day when you set the jar next to a bright window- so fun to see them get so GREEN within a few hours of being exposed to light!