Forum Activity for @strumelia

Wayne, a 28" or 28.5" nut-to-bridge scale length is about as long as it gets and still be considered 'standard scale length' range.  So it seems to me this instrument was designed with a scale length in mind that is several inches longer than that.  Whoever laid out this fret board with the nut positioned where it is now had the goal of making this longer dulcimer have a 'standard' length scale. 
If you replaced the current fret board and put the nut where it would 'normally' be expected, this dulcimer would likely have a scale of 31" or so--  really a bit too long to comfortably tune up to the usual dulcimer key of D, and such a long scale would also make for difficult-to-reach finger stretches while making chords.  So, somebody made this dulcimer have a 'normal' scale by the easiest way possible- by having the nut moved up by several inches.

How long is the overall length of this dulcimer?  I assume it did not come with a case?  Might be a little fragile and expensive to ship because of its added length.

About the Merlin, I can't say much because I feel like it's comparing apples to oranges.  Instruments are tools, and much depends on what your own personal goals are for your playing. Choose a tool that will help you get where you want to go.  :)

Someone laid out the scale a little differently by starting the nut higher up the fret board than usual. That shortened the scale overall.. which actually might make it easier to play if you have smaller hands.  As long as the frets are placed so that it plays in tune on all frets, you're good to go!  (use a tuner to fine-check the fret placement, but at first glance it looks to be generally correct)

I'd be interested to know the scale length of this arrangement- what's the length in inches between the black nut and the bridge?  Perhaps the instrument itself is extra long, and the owner decided to shorten the scale to a more standard length, to make it easier to play.

I'd say that if it plays in tune and comfortably, you can enjoy having this dulcimer that didn't cost much! 

Thanks Dusty!  :D

Tatts, I'd like to also mention that in this "How do I.." forum (and thank you for posting your question in the right forum!), there is a thread about how to change your profile/account picture.  That thread may explain further details for you that might be helpful:

https://fotmd.com/forums/forum/site-questions-how-do-i/15152/change-upload-your-avatar-member-profile-picture#r21272

Gorgeous Thomas style walnut dulcimore, John!   The matching possum board is icing on the cake.

Some additional points beyond what Ken L went over:

Victoria, are you trying to post a profile/avatar picture of yourself that replaces the generic one of the tan dulcimer?...one that will show to the left of your posts?
If that's what you're trying to do, then you need to go into your Settings to replace the generic image.   

There are two easy ways to get to your account Settings:

1) go to your Profile page, and click on the GEAR icon at the right top corner to the right of your large name. Once in your Settings, notice that there are two tabs: one for Profile and one for Account.  Go to both those Tabs and follow the directions to upload your picture for your avatar (one pic will show only on your Profile page, and the other will show next to all your posts elsewhere the site. They can both be the same picture if you like).

2) the other quick way to get to your member settings is to hover over your name at the very top of any page here, on the right... the drop down menu will appear and just click on "account settings" - it will take you to the same place in your profile settings where you'll see those two tabs for Profile and Account.

If you see a bunch of weird code- it may be a bug of some sort in the site coding. If it is, I'll need you to tell me exactly what your steps were that make the code pop up, and a screenshot of the odd code you see would be invaluable to me in tracking down the problem and fixing it.  If you're seeing an error message, then I'd need to know exactly what the message says, and what steps you did that produce the message.  If I can't reproduce a bug or get detailed descriptions of how it happens, then it becomes very difficult to track it down and fix it.  Thanks!~

I liked your video too, David... loved your elderly neighbor chuckling there at his own limberJill playing 

Robin, you and mark do such a wonderful duet dance between your two instruments... terrific porch playing!

@ken-longfield , is that an old collar stay pick?... and a hollow reed noter? 

Um, when you are making a note of what each strings was tuned to, be careful: 
I'm thinking that someone inadvertently REVERSED that paper naming the notes for each string.  The notes should be going LOWER, not higher, as the strings get longer. Your slip of paper is currently oriented the opposite way.  --> Try taking the paper out and putting it in the opposite way.  Starting with the shortest string, it would then go: C, B, A, G, etc...

It slides off laterally.  Either towards the head stock or away from it, depending on how it's orientated. Sometimes they are very tight and you need to wiggle it a little while sliding it.

Like I said, swan head armchairs and rocking chairs were made long ago in the Victorian era mostly, but then there were also reproductions of them made later on like in the 1930s-70s.  The repros tend to be more simplified (less refined and less complex carving) as the original era antiques. Your dulcimer's headstock fits that style.  The later repros are now of course vintage 'antiques' themselves.

I just gotta add, about tuning wrenches:

Having used both the T shaped cheaper ones and the L shaped slightly more expensive ones... I urge people to get an L wrench-  you get way more control for fine tuning the zither pins- the fulcrum range is much wider. Truly, it's like twice as easy to fine tune by very small increments, and also the L wrench is much much easier on the hands.  It's almost like the difference in ease between plain wood tunings pegs that are sticky, and simple geared machine pegs.  My advice is to pay the extra couple of bucks and get an L wrench... it'll make your life easier!    ;D

When i saw the pictures of this dulcimer, I immediately thought that the maker used the carved swan head arm from an antique chair for the head stock.  Such carved swan head chair arms were fairly popular both long ago and again in later reproductions of Victorian furniture. I suspect the swan head was recycled from an old discarded chair, the rest of the dulcimer having been built at a later time than when the chair was made.  In my eyes, the smooth stylized mahogany swan head doesn't really seem to match the whole rest of the instrument which is decidedly more rustic. Look at some of these vintage and antique chairs for typical carved swan head arms. One like this one could have easily been cut and adapted as a head stock.  I also think the 'wing' decorative element might have come from recycled furniture, and the fretbord may have been a mahogany piece from furniture as well.  I think whoever made the dulcimer was into using old furniture wood for thier projects.

Ferrator, can you post here a photo or two of the entire instrument?  It's hard to tell anything from just a few closeups, without the 'big picture'.

I've been saving up ripe tomatillos from my garden for the past 10 days, and had a giant bowl of them ready for today.  I made my first green sauce!

After husking and washing the tomatillos, I cut them all in half, then quartered two onions and halved a large red italian pepper (also from my garden) and tossed all with a little olive oil and salt and black pepper.  (I can't eat too hot spicy so I didn't use jalapeno hot type peppers. Mild hot is ok for me though.)
I spread everything out on a big broiling pan in one layer and roasted it in a 425 oven about 20 minutes til everything was soft and a bit of charring of the tops. That was more than enough cooking. Removed some of the liquid with a turkey baster, because there was really way too much liquid. 

Spooned it all into the food processor and buzzed it just enough to to chop up the bigger onion/pepper pieces.  The resulting chunky sauce all filled a 2 quart pyrex pitcher.  I add a tablespoon or two of hot cilantro chutney, stirred that in, and then ladled into canning jars to keep in the refrigerator.  Recipes say it should be good for like 6 or 8 weeks... plenty of time for us to eat it all up!  It is reeeeally yummy!

There are way more green tomatillos still out there that are not ripe yet.  I think the next batch would be accumulated and ready in a couple weeks.  At that time I might make another batch but actually 'can' it with a hot water bath and seals so I can store it on a shelf for longer time, maybe give a few jars as Christmas presents.

These scruffy little pooches are so cute!!

Lois, you could create and name a new photo Gallery and then use the gallery's "+" button to add photos to the gallery.

BUT if your goal is to ask if people know who made your dulcimer, then you'd get a lot more responses if you just ASK that question in a new discussion in our Instruments/luthiers Forum:
https://fotmd.com/forums/forum/instruments-discuss-specific-features-luthiers-instrument-problems-questions
Notice that that forum has quite a few discussions asking who might have made a particular dulcimer.

Many people don't notice descriptions in a gallery or a photo. But a forum discussion, with pictures, WILL get more reads and more replies. A photo or photo gallery is not a great place to try to start a discussion or ask questions. Mostly people will just say "beautiful dulcimer!" when they comment on a photo. Discussion are easiest to conduct in Forums.

I suggest you create your new discussion in the appropriate forum (as I linked above), and then read the following thread for instructions on how to add your photos into your discussion posts :

https://fotmd.com/forums/forum/site-questions-how-do-i/33874/how-do-i-attach-photos-to-a-post

Thanks for the timely reminder, Robin! 

The answer to this mystery is described here:  https://fotmd.com/forums/forum/site-questions-how-do-i/35300/mystery-solved-comment-walls-not-indexed-in-site-searches

Comments in Comment Walls are not indexed within site searches.

Discussion threads in Groups and Forums ARE included in site searches for phrases.

Thanks SaltSprings!  That explains the mystery-  the word phrases Anne was searching this site for weren't actually used in that fotmd discussion... but rather they appear on the other site... the site that was linked to by Greg.  That's why they didn't turn up in any searches of this site.

Anne, I'm not having luck finding those terms either.  I also did a search of Greg's activity feed for those terms and had no luck doing that.  Not sure what else I can do!  Are you positive that it was here on FOTMD that you read that post? I'm thinking that the post was actually a COMMENT on an item like a video maybe, and it's possible that Comments don't show up in search results.

Special thanks to Dusty Turtle and Robin Thompson for contributing/donating to the prizes and expenses of the contest. 

A big Thank You to ALL wonderful members of Friends of the Mountain Dulcimer... for making this site so much FUN and so rewarding to be a part of, for a whole ten years now.    

I especially want to extend a hug to those members who have been here since our first year- how terrific it is that you've been here for so many years of sharing and friendship and support.   :)

===========

To the five contest winners-  please send me a private message with your postal address so I can start the process of making sure you receive your PRIZE(s) in the mail !!!   

Here is the chart by which the winners were calculated.  The LUCKY NUMBER was 407 .

1st Prize....  @larry-goodwin  !!!

2nd Place Prize:  @hugssandi !

3rd Place Prize:  @dulcinina !

4th Place Prize:  @jan-potts !

5th Place Prize:  @lois-sprengnether-keel !

And the winners are......(drum roll please)...

Entries now CLOSED, winners announced this evening. 

--> TODAY is the last day you can enter this pickled dulcimer contest!!   

Entries will be closed at midnight tonight Wednesday the 31st!

--> TODAY is the last day you can enter this pickled dulcimer contest!! 

Entries will be closed at midnight tonight Wednesday the 31st!

--> Last 2 days to enter this contest before entries are closed!

Terry, I'm very grateful for the blessings I have in life, at least at this point in time.   :)

Still picking tons of blueberries.  I'm making a blueberry cobbler (8x8 glass pan) almost every day.  The bushes look like maybe another two weeks to go. Somehow my husband and I are just managing to keep up with eating them without having to preserve any.  I guess we can get back to less fattening stuff after the blueberries finish.  That's when the tomatoes kick in.  :)  We feel like bears during berry season, gorging ourselves. 
I'm also having bowls of yogurt with our own blueberries and raspberries, topped with walnuts.  Eating extra yogurt to recover my gut from having taken doxycycline for 5 days after a tick bite.  Dang ticks ruin all the fun!  We never walk in the woods or fields anymore due to ticks, but sometimes they get us even in our small backyard, like when I work in the veggie garden or pick our raspberries, or work near the beehives. 

I went to a Cajun 2-step dance party at a local pub, with pretty good cajun band.  A new experience for me, a little outside my comfort zone. I didn't expect to see more than 1 person I knew, but several people i know, and also a few contra dancers I know showed up.  I guess we were all there in order to get some dancing in.  They gave a modest lesson beforehand for a few minutes, and it was all real casual, so I didn't feel too embarrassed.  Everybody danced with everyone there...all nice folks.  It definitely wasn't as much movement as a zumba class (or as contra dancing either) but it was more fun than zumba for me, and my pedometer claimed i did about 6,000 steps during the dancing.
I'm going this Saturday to an all day outdoor festival that features a huge dance tent with contra dancing almost all day and night.  I'll get there before lunch and leave around 11pm or so like last year.  HUUUUUGE workout, which is why I'm trying to get a few zumba classes and other dancing under my belt  beforehand.

TODAY July 29th, 2019 is FOTMD's 10th anniversary!!!!

Only 3 days left to enter the contest- don't miss out!!  FIVE chances to win prizes!

(please enter only ONE time)

Unfortunately it seems the ED facebook group continues to be secret/hidden from public view. It's been almost two months now. 

Beverly, a couple of closeup photos would really help here-  one of the bridge with the strings in the slots... and another of the nut and including the first three frets.

Are the strings ancient?  Sometimes really old strings can sound a little out of tune when fretted.