What an amazing meeting and photo. It doesn't even seem real! I think you guys should also have swapped places and gotten another picture that way, too. 
John, I envy you the stops you are going to be visiting on your trip.
I often have inner conversations with myself about what instruments I 'need' vs. what instruments I 'want'....because the two are sometimes the same, but not always.
If I bought instruments based only on owning my 'dream instrument' I would have many wonderful instruments that might not get played much. There is undeniable pleasure in owning such things, but neither do I want to feel like I'm buying only for the sake of owning something special. And I dont really want a house full of instruments that aren't played much. I certainly can't say that about my dulcimers.
I find i have had to consciously discipline myself against impulse buys, because I could easily get in over my head. In the past I bought a few instruments just because they were tempting, but I later sold those that I didn't play much. Like when trying to lose weight...it always seems far easier to accumulate than to shed. lol!
I really try to consider any purchase in practical terms now- will this instrument allow me to play in some way that my other instruments are limited by? Scale length is the first thing that comes to mind- for playing in various keys. Other practical factors might include: fretless/fretted, steel/nylon strings, volume/punch/tone for solo/outdoor/group playing, arched bridge for bowing, number of strings and/or frets, travel weight/size, ...stuff like that.
Good thread, CD. Always nice to see the spread.
By the way, some folks migfht be interested in seeing the thread on the same subject started 3 1/2 years ago by our own dear departed Rod Westerfield. It's fascinating reading!: http://mountaindulcimer.ning.com/forum/topics/how-many-dulcimers-do...
I still get by ok with my two steady playing dulcimers...my Keith Young teardrop and my Ben Seymour Galax. Not that I don't covet more...I do...I'm only human!
I'm not so sure this is as complicated as it seems, nor does it call for unusual or minor tunings. The whole thing can be played in plain old C ionian tuning using no extra frets and the drones sound good all through the tune.
Walter is in a normal (not minor) fiddle tuning- hear him check his tuning in the beginning. He's playing it in the key of C, even though it modulates in the 'low part', which he starts out playing first.
Tune to C-G-G (C being your bass string) and the tune's 'home base' is located on the 3rd fret, ionian mode.
Walter starts on the modulated 'low part'. That's what is confusing people, because it 'sounds' minor, leading one to think a special mode tuning is needed, but it's not. Try playing that first/low part by starting frets 5-7-8, 5-3-4... etc.
The high part goes back to the root C major feeling, and he plays in the upper octave starts by using frets 10-11, 10-11-12...etc. You can also play it in the lower octave, starting on fret 3, but then it will sound yet lower than the other part. It's kind of nice with that real high part, gives it some punch.
Some folks might choose to start the tune on the high/major sounding part, and if Walter had done that it would have probably been easier for people to figure out. It would have been a more 'predictable' way to play this tune. But it's pretty cool and more fascinating to start it on the modulated quirky sounding low part.
The advantage of folding canvas chairs and stools is that they are lightweight and easy to haul around at a festival or campground, for jamming. They are great for walking around, stopping to visit and sit and jam for maybe an hour and then moving on again. But they are seldom comfortable for long periods of time- for hours of sitting, you really need a sturdier flat-seated chair with more support. Some folding chairs with metal frames and plastic seats are a little heavier and more awkward to carry- but are better if you need to sit more than an hour at a time.
You could go to a large camping/sporting goods store- they have all kinds of folding canvas chars that are designed to be comfortable but lightweight to carry. The chair you linked to would not work for me, since it puts my knees higher than my hips and I need a fairly level lap to play my dulcimer. We find this type of chair to be convenient for traveling/camping/music playing, and to carry when walking around at fairs and festivals while impromptu jamming in different places:
If you aren't going to be walking and carrying the chair very much, then a simple folding chair that is sturdier would be more comfortable- a metal or wooden folding chair that has a level seat and good supportive back is best. It doesn't have to be specifically designed for musicians- I think that's more of a marketing ploy than anything else.
Ellen, that's wonderful news! Sounds like you found a good support system in your friend. Walnut is a wonderful choice of wood- a very warm and resonant sound. We look forward to seeing pix. You are on your way down your musical journey!
Ellen, Walnut Valley is not a generally well known maker. Frankly, I feel that $400 one you link to is quite overpriced. I would not myself buy the one for $280 either, if the strings are shot and I couldn't hear somebody playing it well first. With tax, that's going to be around $300. There are many dulcimers available out there to buy that are in the $150-400 range that are made by highly regarded makers, which you can buy with more confidence.
Everyone's different. here's my own journey-
Long ago I used to buy real inexpensive bargain instruments as a first instrument. I usually found I wanted a slightly better one only a couple months later, and I then I'd avoid the hassle of selling the cheapo one in order to buy the next level up. Repeating this pattern, I wound up with too many cheap instruments that were a pain in the butt to resell. And some of them had 'issues' that I didn't feel good about passing on to the next person. My personal epiphany came one day when I wanted a really awesome banjo (after playing for two years), but I felt overwhelmed and discouraged by the fact that I had EIGHT cheap Ebay impulse buys hanging on my wall- gathering dust and not very playable for one reason or another. I buckled down that year and sold ALL of those cheap problem banjos. I learned that for me at least, it made way more sense to buy 1 quality $350 instrument during the first two years than three $125 ones during that same first two years.
From that, I learned it was a better plan for me to first do a little homework online, and then to buy something that wasn't the cheapest level. Buying a mid-range instrument is not only easier and nicer to play, but it's also actually easier to re-sell without taking a loss, should you either give up playing or want a more custom instrument later on.
That's just my own experience.
I'd like to also mention that Lark in the Morning is I believe run by Larkin Bryant and her husband (is it still?) and they are good people. If you can possibly go try out what they have in person, it might be a smart way to comparison shop before you plunk any money down. I know it's hard to not go for instant gratification, but sometimes a couple weeks of shopping around can pay off bigtime, with benefits that last for a long while to come.
Fotmd received your donation- thanks so much Pamela!
Thank you so much and hope you sell your dulcimer quickly. :)
Please read before posting an item for sale:
For Sale forum listings must be for an actual currently existing item for sale (a CD or book, a specific single instrument, a music stand, photos of some specific dulcimer wood pieces for sale...) and the ad must include a photo of the item being sold. In other words, no open-ended, ongoing listings like "I make dulcimer stands", "I will make you a custom dulcimer", "Music lessons available", "I make bamboo noters", "Selling various wood for building", etc. It needs to be the actual existing item for sale, with its photo and price. Large items like instruments are limited to ONE item in an ad- small items like noters or earrings can be 5 items per ad...with photo and set price of actual items for sale. For complete details of what is or isn't allowed in the For Sale Forum ads, see the site rules HERE .
For years this site has provided a: For Sale forum ... free to use for all members. Over the past few years, our site maintenance costs have slightly increased, and our total member donations have slightly decreased.
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Thanks so much,
-Strumelia
Beth,
First, this post in my traditional playing Blog may help you tune:
http://dulcimer-noter-drone.blogspot.com/2010/12/what-notes-do-i-tu...
I will try to answer a few of your questions:
And, I understand it, the melody line is played on the string closest to one's body when held on the lap. And, that is string gives the highest notes. (Or those two strings if one has double melody strings.)
Correct.
Now, If I'm right in this, the other two strings are both lower than the melody string.
Correct.
Here is my problem. If I tune to DAaa, the aa strings are my melody strings. I have a very limited range left in my voice. a below middle c to c above middle c is the best I can stretch on a good day.
Is it possible to get strings for the melody that will tune to low A? And would it have to be a wound string?
You will actually be tuned to DAA (or DAAA), not DAa or DAaa. The melody string(a) in this tuning will be tuned to the EXACT SAME note (A) and in the SAME OCTAVE as the middle string A.
Most importantly- if tuned to DAA you will usually be playing and singing in the key of D , not in the key of A .
People normally dont put heavy low wound bass strings as melody strings.
Or should I just tune to DAaa and sing an octave lower than the notes I'm playing?
Tune to DAA (since double melody strings are usually tuned the same as a pair, we usually just give them one letter, not two, when naming the tuning) and you'll be in the key of D (the melody will be based around the THIRD fret, a D note, not based around the open melody string which an A note). Sing in the key of D, in whichever octave suits your voice. Or sing a harmony to what you are playing. Or, tune all your strings DOWN one step from DAA to CGG and you'll be playing and singing in the key of C instead of D, which might be easier on your voice. Lots of us do this. I suggest you just start in CGG and learn to play a simple song like Hot cross Buns or Frere Jacques, rather than trying to transpose guitar or uke music right off the bat. You need to understand the very most basic simple concepts of tuning and playing the dulcimer, without worrying about what you do on other instruments ...for now.
I give a lot of this kind of advice in my noter-drone traditional playing dulcimer Blog, here: http://dulcimer-noter-drone.blogspot.com/
Beth, I don't know what the norm is on pianos, but I can say that on dulcimers and banjos, a lower case note letter is in a higher octave than an upper case letter. Thus, a standard banjo tuning of gDGBD shows the shorter "g" drone 5th string as being an octave higher than the middle string G. You should also know that these days it is customery to name/write out the dulcimer tuning starting with the low bass string first. So- for example a dulcimer tuning of DAd means the first "D" is the lowest bass string, and the last "d" is the highest melody string which is tuned an octave higher than the bass string D.
Becca, that's a big decision that only you can make, but remember you can always wind up starting with one and then playing both instruments later.
Here is the best place to learn more about how to play BP's and what beginner tools to get: http://psalterystrings.ning.com/
If you tune your BP strings properly, you cannot play 'out of tune' since there is no fretting done- all strings are played open. However, with either instrument you can play wrong notes! LOL.
Being that you have access to more direct learning support in your area for mtn dulcimer, my first impulse is to advise you to get a mtn dulcimer and take a few lessons. Perhaps you could borrow/rent one for a couple weeks before you buy, and get 2 lessons?
Helen, also keep in mind that in learning something new, you never have to completely change everything all at once. Continue doing as you usually do, then take a few minutes at each practice to experiment with the new technique. Over time it will seem easier and then you can decide whether you want to incorporate it into more, or all, of your playing.
Yet one more video about where to put in extra strums, or not: http://dulcimer-noter-drone.blogspot.com/2010/01/video-tips-for-beginners-where-to-add.html
Ultimately, as others have said, you should do what makes you feel good , whether it's learning new stuff or continuing what you are doing now.
Gail Webber said:
I guess that high silvery sound is really what I am looking for.
Gail, if you are looking for that sound, then you'd most likely find it in a fairly narrow and shallow soundbox. I can second Ken's recommendations of three people who build this kind of dulcimer here on FOTMD: Bobby Ratliff (Slate Creek Dulcimers), Kevin Messenger , and John Knopf. All three are dependable, high quality builders who specialize in traditional style dulcimers with that kind of sound.
Of course, to really bring out a 'silvery' effect, you'd want to try playing with a noter- that's where the bestest zzziiiiiiiiing! comes from. 
Descriptions of sound are subject to variation based on people's definitions of things. To one person, a 'traditional sound' may mean bright and high...to another it might mean sweet and quiet. So rather than my attempting to define what is a 'traditional sound', I simply say that soft soundboards (spruce etc) and larger/deeper soundboxes usually produce rounder more mellow tones, while shallow/smaller soundboxes and hardwoods tend to produce a crisper brighter sound.
I know exactly why I myself sort of have to look at the fretboard when i play dulcimer ... when I play banjo, not only are my fingertips pressing on the fretboard, but my left hand or at least my thumb, is curled around the neck and thus giving me a physical reference point , a sense of where 'home' is for frets 1-5. Much the same as when folks plant a pinky when flatpicking across strings on mando, guitar, bluegrass banjo, and dulcimer too. Without that pinky plant, it's much harder to pick individual strings accurately when not looking- the pinky tip is the reference point. even with clawhammer banjo, most folks at least have their thumb on the back of the neck and it works well as a reference point. I can play banjo pretty well without fretboard looking, but not dulcimer.
With a mtn dulcimer, we don't have our left hand wrapping or curling around the neck for a reference point, once you go up and down the neck either fingering notes or using a noter, it's hard to know where the frets exactly are anymore. Of course this is a skill that can be developed and improved (look at highly skilled hammered dulcimer players), but most folks use the eyes becasue the physical reference point is not there as it is with necked instruments.
I know I have a terrible time when we play at night while camping, if we are playing by low lantern light and my fretboard is not getting any light at all. 
A good exercise is to try playingh for varying time lengths with your eyes closed....quite an education!
All that said, I'll look at my fretboard if I please to! :)
Happily, most players of those instruments do eventually learn to incorporate melody lines, to one extent or another.
Ken Hulme said:
One of the things I personally never cared for with guitar (or banjo, mandolin etc) was the fact that every player I knew only knew three chords (as it were) and could not play melodies.
Paul said:
If you play using drones, you effectually make every song a one chord song. This is another possibility you may want to consider. You then can demonstrate the same song using chords, and discuss the difference in how it sounds. These are both just different ways to approach a song.
I think Paul was not saying they then become one chord songs- he said it 'effectively makes it' (in effect, in practice) a one chord song- meaning you can play it without playing/fingering any changing chords. :)
Does your daughter play any instruments currently? is she very young?
I am excited about your folk fiddle project and I want to see pix and know how it turns out!
Kay, you might feel a bit better if you read my blog post on the frustration of not sounding better more quickly:
http://dulcimer-noter-drone.blogspot.com/2010/08/why-is-it-taking-so-long-for-me-to.html
Dusty, you are a gold mine of info.
Robin, I didn't have a chance to listen to your clip until now- it sounds so rich and old style- really great. 
There are some folks playing guitars of the 1800's in the Minstrel genre groups, they are amazing and lovely smaller parlor guitars, but must be kept tuned lower as the banjos also were low tuned during the 1800's. They were just not built to withstand modern high steel string tunings. Robin, your guitar was built a little later on, was yours originally strung with gut or steel strings, do you know?
This original 1850's Ashborn guitar is now strung in Nylgut (originally strung in gut), and is regularly played in lower-key minstrel style sessions:
Though I have my own personal feelings on situations like this, I can certainly empathize with both views.
I think this discussion has thoroughly represented both sides of the issue at this point. So before it gets into further back and forth, I'm going to close it to new responses and leave it at that. Others can read it and hopefully make their own informed decisions. Thanks everyone.
Hi Rich,
Perhaps my dulcimer-blog lesson on fretting finger tips would be helpful to you:
http://dulcimer-noter-drone.blogspot.com/2012/07/lazy-fingers.html
That is a real beauty! Looks all original and mint condition to me- I wouldn't change a thing except to put fresh strings. But also worth writing down the gauge of the strings on it first, or save them in a little labeled bag...as they look like they might well be the original strings put on by Mr. Glenn. It's a lovely gem and so nice that it hasn't been tampered with, after all these years.
To me Rhody has always sounded like a simple lullaby that a mother might typically make up while singing to her baby. I used to make up such melodies myself as a young mother trying to get my babies to sleep, but I can't remember now any of the tunes I invented so long ago. Many were somewhat rhody-esque in one way or another. Other lullabies I sang were in Spanish and had the same simplicity as Rhody too, these were in Puerto Rico where my babies were born.
Hi Stephen, I wouldn't conclude that Aunt Rhody came from a hymn, based on a 1930's 78 recording. I'd be much more likely to guess the hymn on the 78 was built around the old melody, since traditional melodies are so frequently borrowed and new lyrics are applied, and vice versa of course.
The current familiar Rhody song with melody was written down in books already in 1913 and 1918 in appalachian ballad collections, and had already been passed down for a while by then, but the melody was also apparently included in a 1752 folk opera by Jean Rousseau, and was sung by a shepherdess character. Perhaps Rosseau was the Aaron Copland of his time, incorporating traditional rural folk tunes into his musicals... 
Stephen Seifert said:
The melody of Go Tell Aunt Rhodie is from an old hymn. I've got a recording of an old 78 (maybe from the 30's) of a guy playing and singing Go Tell Aunt Rhodie to the exact melody of the hymn (I can't think of the name right now) and the form is AABA.... Could someone help us find the hymn?
Tina, if you are in Daaaa tuning, you will be able to play any tab in my noter blog that is labeled as being in ionian mode, just as is . Don't worry about the keys I suggest for the songs, or about 'reverse' tuning- as long as you are in Daaaa you can play all the ionian tabs without making any changes. That will be enough to get you started at least! The only numbers in my tabs are for the melody strings, so you won't have to worry about making chord shapes to play them.
Tina Carlson said:
Thanks for your help! Strumelia.. I've been reading through your blog while waiting for my instrument to be finished. I'm excited to now sit down and PLAY through your blog.
