Forum Activity for @strumelia

Hi Fatcat, we're happy you found us too!! 

I hope your health improves to allow you to enjoy playing your music at home. 

Hi again Andreas, and welcome 'back' to the site again!  It's good to see you check in here.  I hope your health improves and that you continue to enjoy playing music on whatever instruments inspire you. 

I do need to mention that the email address you have set in your account settings here does not function and you need to go into your account settings and change it to a different, working email address, and then hit the 'save' button.  As it stands now with that nonworking email, you will not be receiving any emails or notifications from fotmd that would normally let you know about any private messages, comments on your profile page, friend requests, likes, or replies to your posts.  It'd be great if you can change to a working email address in your fotmd account- thanks!

I'm happy to hear you wound up getting something you like!  We look forward to getting a peek at what you are up to when you can.  Don't worry about not being an expert player- almost no one is anyway, we mostly play for enjoyment.   :)

With both dulcimers and banjos, I don't necessarily see it as all about the number of frets or non-frets, but more a matter of the style the instrument is played in, which is usually closely connected to the repertoire (but doesn't always have to be).

I have diatonic epinettes, mtn dulcimers with one or a few extra frets, a chromatic langspil, and both (chromatic) fretted banjos and fretless banjos.  They're ALL great for doing various things- playing in various playing styles, playing repertoire from different time periods or different music cultures and genres.  Each one has its own wonderful charms.  If you have diverse taste in music, it's great to have a selection of instruments/tools to get the effect you're after!

That can sometimes be attributed to a string that is not tight enough for the note it's being tuned to. With a slightly too slack string, your finger pushes the string right down to the wood much more easily, bending/pulling it to sound a bit sharp.  Also a slightly slack string will much more likely hit the frets when it's vibrating.  Again, for both these issues, I suggest you put on a wound bass string that is not so thin as your current .022.    Try a .024 wound.

I suggest you try a new bass string, and try one that is just one size thicker-  like a wound .23 or .24 instead of your .22 . That will increase the tension a bit so it won't buzz against any frets while vibrating. 
Also, the windings on an old string may have flattened out a bit at the nut or bridge area, slowly lowering the string by just enough to start creating buzzes.... a new string would solve that as well.  

Wound bass strings tend to be the first string to age and start sounding 'dead' anyway- so it's a good thing to replace the wound thick string on your instrument if it's getting old.

Well I know most folks here live in garden zones that ahead of me here in new york. 

But yesterday I was able to pick enough lettuce leaves for us to have a nice salad for dinner.  I also put on a generous handful of fresh alfalfa sprouts that I grow in jars in our kitchen all winter. Then added grated carrot and zucchini, sliced radishes, and a few little sardines on the side (yeah I know some of you would hate that, but hey it's healthy and we like it!)  We think of canned whole sardines as our own cheap version of English kippers or Norwegian or Danish herring side dishes.   

Anyway, it was a good fresh salad!

So true Sandi!   I try to make it a habit whenever I get up from my desk to do a standing stretch on each side- holding onto the chair arm with one hand while twisting at the waist and reaching the other hand up real high. So simple and quick to do that on both sides, it feels real good and I think it helps counteract the damage of sitting for long periods.
You're right that incorporating a little 'mini-action' whenever you have a moment, or in between doing routine things... it all adds up.

Love the rosy blonde color of that dulcimer, Jack!

Welcome to the site. 

Ah, the scene where they part after their wedding night! 

Juliet hates that the cursed lark is singing- because it means the break of dawn and Romeo must leave before he is discovered with her...

Sharon that's a great question. I guess it's hard to know for sure unless you have little kids or grandkids around to ask!

It's reassuring to read Dusty's reply, that many of the same songs are still taught today in school. 

If that's so, then you might find some good ideas in this old forum thread:

music-discussions/what-songs-were-you-taught-in-kindergarten-grade-school

Thanks Patty.  

I met Ruth over 20 yrs ago, she let me come and look at her Keith Young dulcimers before I ordered one from Keith.  She was very gracious.

Sad to know she's passed on.

The shorter you go, if you want to stay tuned to DAd you'll have to put on heavier strings so it won't start feeling floppy.  Personally, if I wanted to have relatively 'normal' gauge strings for DAd tuning, I wouldn't go shorter than around a 23" scale.

One way to break up any boredom is to take just one or two tunes you want to work on or want to 'refresh'- then play the tune much slower than usual, while trying to keep it sounding good.  Then play it just a little faster than usual, keeping it sounding ok.  Lastly, play it as your usual speed, but try to purposely put a lot of feeling into your playing.  I think this is a good thing to try out when playing/practicing at home, and will benefit all your tunes.  Particularly helpful is putting in the conscious effort to play with emotion and feeling... something a lot of people ignore even when playing for others.

Hey @kjb , you should talk with fotmd member @terry-wilson .... he is a big fan of playing harmonica for fun!  He plays all kinds of music on his harps, I think just about every day. 

Hi Bill!

There's a great discussion thread here on penny whistles, you might like to post there instead:

https://fotmd.com/forums/forum/adventures-with-other-instruments/3827/tinwhistle-penny-whistles

Wonderful to hear from you here again Jeannie, and to know that your love of music is inspiring you again in your new life journey. 

Hi Barlow45, I suggest you go to our Beginners Group and read a few of the threads there that have great advice about buying a 'first dulcimer' that's within your price range.  You have to JOIN that group in order to fully read the discussions in it (you can UNjoin any time just as easily).  You'll probably find all the help you need by reading those threads, plus other great tips for your purchase!

p.s. loved your post about your cardboard dulcimer, Lisa!

Oh my, that's too funny, especially at the end! 

She's bloomed in to such a pretty cat!

http://www.dulcimers.co.uk/index.html

https://revelsmusic.co.uk/

I second the recommendation for Robin Clark at Bird Rock dulcimers in UK.  He is also a dealer of McSpadden dulcimers, which are certainly long scale enough for bigger hands. with a VSL scale length of 28-29" inches.  The McSpadden fretboard is also plenty wide enough for chord playing. 

Sounds like you play chord style?  If so, best to avoid dulcimers that are specifically designed for noter drone style playing, as someone with big hands playing in chord style might find the fretboard too slender for comfort.

Anne, it's heartwarming to hear of a perfect fit between homeless animal and a kindly person.
Sounds like you and Bran are very happy together and appreciate each other totally.

The newer photo of Bran shows how sleek and glossy he is... like a minky otter!  SO handsome. 

I've often wondered what it would be like to have a black cat... never actually had one of my own but who knows one day?  Right now I have a deep red tabby and a solid grey... two boys... and I never thought I'd have boy cats OR a red tabby OR a solid grey cat.  Just goes to show!  All our cats come from animal humane shelters adoptions.  Once you go there it breaks your heart and you wish you could help them all.

You could also try contacting Butch and asking him if you could buy only his tab for Blackbird from him directly at some cost he determines. No harm in asking!

It's not so much about the material the instrument is made from. Two things here: 

1) Under high heat, GLUE is going to fail under the string tension in high heat. No matter what material you use for the parts, if any glue is used the dulcimer parts will come apart as though you had stuck it in the oven.  Maybe you could investigate glue that does not fail under high heat.

2) The sudden and drastic temperature change might implode/explode a wooden instrument if you: Bring it from a freezing cold car into a heated house....OR... Bring it from a very hot car into an air conditioned house.  Remember a dulcimer is a long narrow box that's under high string tension.

That's a copyrighted tune, so if you find Tab for it, it likely won't be free. Just saying.  :)

This dulcimer would be impossible to bow, no matter how you held it.  Even if you (ridiculously) tried to bow all 4 strings of each side at the same time (each set of 4 strings is laid out FLAT on its fret board half), if you look at the closeup, you'll see that because of the slanted fret board, an angled bow trying to bow it would be bashing into the lower body bout.  It's completely impossible to bow.

So- it's also not a courting dulcimer meant for two people- firstly, the fretboards are not in opposite directions. Secondly, even if the other player was a lefty, see how it would place the bass string nearer the lefthanded player's body and the two melody strings at far side of the player.  The odds of anyone playing this way and ALSO being lefthanded are almost non-existent.

This is simply a dulcimer someone made so that they could jump back and forth when they wanted to between a chromatic and a diatonic fretboard.  They could also have it tuned to two different keys if they liked playing in jams without having to retune or bring two instruments.  Maybe one fretboard was intended for playing old traditional ballads and the other intended for modern music/blues etc.  That would all also explain the electric pickup.
The two different slants for the fret boards enable one to angle the pick so you can play on one fret board while avoiding the other one.

I adjusted the thread title for you Richard, in case anyone else does a search here for the builder.  :)  Glad you could find some info on him, to help that lady.  

Thanks Dusty for the GREAT explanations and screenshots!

Here's a bit more of a dry 'technical description' on the two ways to add pictures to your post when you are on a computer, tablet, or laptop:

There are TWO ways to add an image to your discussion post. In both cases, the image must first reside on your computer or device and you'll be pointing to it. You can't insert an image that is just sitting on the internet somewhere.

1) Attach the image or file to your post: When typing your post, use the "Attach Files" button underneath the text editor box where you are typing your post. Browse to the image on your computer that you want to attach to your post. This will insert a small thumbnail of the picture into your post.
Note: When you see the thumbnail and text link for an attached image, it's when folks have used that "Attach file" button easily seen at bottom of text editor window. Click right on the thumbnail pic itself to open it right there to SEE it full size.  OR... Clicking on the text link will simply DOWNLOAD it to your computer.

or

2) Embed the image into your post.  That will create a larger picture right within your discussion post.
To do that, when you are typing your post you click on the little icon button that looks like an arrow inside a square ("embed local media")- that icon button is to the left of the Smiley button in the text editor window. Once in that window, select the SIZE you want the image to be in the left side dropdown menu...XL or XXL usually works well. Then you click the "Select an image to upload and insert" button to the right. When you click that 'Select' button, it'll take you to where you can browse to the image on your computer that you want to embed in the post. An embedded picture will not need to be clicked on to see it, it'll already be showing in the post, at the size you've selected.

NOTE for if you are posting from a cell phone:
You will get additional options when composing a post. You'll get the initial editor view that has an "attach file" button, but you'll also see a grey box with a little 'book' icon for writing your post. Click that book and you'll be in a text editor window where you can compose your post and it has options such as bold or italic text, adding a link, and also embedding an image right into a post so it shows within the post rather than simply attaching it. Once you are done composing, you click the Back arrow and you'll get back to the grey box where you can then see your composed text, attach a file if you want, and click to publish your post.

Yep, I was going to say Albert Hoffman as well, without seeing the other replies.

Charles, I think this is between 1925-1935 judging from the collars and clothes and the photo itself.

There was no bluegrass yet, but maybe they were doing some country/hillbilly/fiddle style stringband stuff of the time- it was popular on 78 rpm records. Also Jimmy Rodgers was big- 'blue yodeler'/country railroad blues.

What a nice job you did in cleaning and stringing that, Judith!  Looks like it'd be a perfect baritone dulcimer (30"vsl!)

A handsome dulcimer!

I find it interesting that no year date was put on the label.  How did you know it was made in 1980?

My hummel is fretted similarly:

The purpose is to do normal diatonic playing, while still allowing to be able to reach over and fret an accidental note on the next string over at any time.

Brian and I generally get pushed off the edges and have to sleep on the cold hard floor. 

At our house, Wintertime means... cats creating 'impact craters' on our feather bed. Or trying to turn over in the middle of the night but your legs pinned down by a ten ton cat.

Here's what I found the other morning when the sun was shining into our bedroom.
Our two big boys nestled in like Siamese twin pork roasts.  Rufus (the red) and Teddy (the grey), who grew up together and are like close brothers even though they're not actually related. When these two are not sleeping or eating, they're tearing around the house while hollering or happily doing body slam wrestling with each other. Boys! 

Awe, what a lucky dog Hazel is!  The hat is too much!  

Yes Callie is so pretty - her colors, and she looks like a sweetheart personality.  

Irene, that's delightful!

I love that description of the Grim Reaper 'film' Bob.  

I recommended that Lisa might want to look at Feather dulcimers, which come in various smaller scale lengths and are sturdy enough to take camping etc.  Again, all this is good info that can be found in our Fotmd's Little Dulcimers Group.

Lisa, you wrote me privately for advice on this, so I gave you my personal opinions on it already.  However, I'd encourage anyone interested in shorter dulcimers to join our  Little Dulcimers Group  and read some of the threads on it... lots of good info and recommendations, also @dusty-turtle posted a great list there comparing sizes and makes of short scale dulcimers!

-remember folks you need to JOIN a group in order to read all the replies to threads in the group, and see the comments.