Forum Activity for @strumelia

Hi everyone. I thought I'd let you know that on tuesday morning April 18 we will be moving to a new server and there might possibly be temporary glitches on fotmd for an hour or so. Not to worry, it should go smoothly and this move likely won't even be noticed.  -the Management.  :)

Ah, that's cool Robin. It can be listed here even though it's an online event, there have been quite a few online festivals and gatherings in fotmd's event section during the past 3 years of pandemic. 
Last year's floods were such a terrible blow for so many in that area.

Sounds like a great gathering!

Maybe next year one of the organizers could plan ahead to post it in our main Events section here on FOTMD. There are a lot of noter players here who might be interested in going.

So much depends on the size of the peghead (or peg box), and the overall size of the dulcimer.
Choose pegs that don't look too big or too small for the instrument. Use your eye. 👁

My 29" vsl langspil was equipped with Wittner internally geared viola pegs:

It's an imposing instrument and violin pegs would have looked silly on it.

Or, the geared tuners in viola size. Violin sized tuners might only look natural on smaller dulcimers. Check the sizes of the tuners and the instrument.

Robin, that was a sweet box dulcimer!

Hi Keigh,

@flint-hill

Ken's FOTMD page is here http://fotmd.com/flint-hill
You can try contacting him through here, though he has not logged in here since 2015. He might get your email if you message him from here.

This is his Youtube channel page: http://www.youtube.com/@FlintHillVideo/videos

P.S. I just wrote to him from the only email address I have for him, with a link to this discussion.

It's got a 6.5 fret slot, so it's not likely to be from before the 1970s.

Here's a couple of good online measurement descriptions of 1970s McSp kit dulcimers.

If I'm not mistaken, Gary was making wonderful and modestly priced box dulcimers at a time when almost no other dulcimer builders were making box dulcimers or Tennessee music box reproductions.

I hear there are tens of dollars to be made in dulcimer magazines and websites.

This is indeed sad news. I'm wishing comfort for his family.

BTW Nate, I appreciate the fact that you are obviously using the site's search feature to pull up relevant and interesting discussions on topics you are interested in, rather than simply starting new and possibly redundant discussions.
This is one of the good things about a site that keeps older content easily accessible, as opposed to a FB type site where everything prior to the current week gets impossibly buried.

Good point Nate.

Another weird thing- If you play a lot, your fretting hand will actually be able to stretch more than your strumming/picking hand. Due to making stretching moves thousands of times to fret on fingerboards, while the strumming hand does not.
I've played stringed instruments for decades. Both my hands appear to be exactly the same size and length. But when i stretch my hands out to create the most distance between my thumb and pinky tip, and place my palms together, I see that my left/fretting hand can stretching over 1" more from thumb to pinky than my right hand. It's like the way a gymnast or dancer can perfect doing a split with longtime practice.

Shootrj, if you've ever starting singing a song and found it too high or too low for your voice, and started over to sing it a little higher or lower to be more comfortable, then... what you actually did was change the key you were singing in.

I mean like for several examples-

--If i was playing dulcimer in an oldtime fiddle jam session, they usually play in the keys of D, G, and A. I used to use my slightly shorter scale dulcimer for tuning up to key of D, and I'd keep my slightly longer scale dulcimer for tuning lower to the keys of G and A. Changing tunings too often or drastically can wear the strings and make them break faster. For example changing from a DAA tuning to DAd back and forth too often is something I try to avoid when jamming.
--When I'm at home and trying to sing with the dulcimer, the key of D is too high for me, so I might go to a lower key for that as long as i don't have to consider what keys others might need to play instruments in.
--If I'm playing a lonesome/sad tune it would usually call for either an aeolian or a dorian type of tuning, as opposed to a 'happy' sounding typical DAA or CGG ionian-friendly tuning.

I've made lots of long blog posts on my noter blog about how I myself deal with all these things, I can't really summarize or condense them here. Your question is pretty broad and covers a lot of ground. My blog does have an index to sort posts by subject matter, so maybe you can find something helpful there in addition to other folks' fine suggestions here.  :)

Go for it!

To me, scale length has been hugely important dependent on what tunings and keys I want to play in. If you're a singer it is critical. This matters less when you plan to play by yourself, but becomes super important if you plan to play with other people, especially if the other folks are not only playing dulcimers.

My dulcimers and banjos have a certain narrow range of scale lengths because I have always played them with other people on other instruments, or have sung with them. On the other hand, my custom langspil I was able to have made in a longer scale to tune a key or two lower, because i knew i would only be playing it by myself and wanted a lower key 'mournful' sounding instrument.

That said, learning to be able to play in more than 1 or 2 tunings, or using a capo, will enable one to play in more keys on an instrument of any scale.

@hugssandi , so good to see you post again here on fotmd! 

Robin and KenL both said it so well.

I hope David is at peace, and that he will be remembered in the beautiful sound of hundreds of people playing his dulcimers for years to come. My wishes for comfort go out to his loved ones.

John Henry is a truly wonderful and amazing person. He and his family are in my thoughts and loving wishes right now.

Those strings should work ok, but if the .012 strings for the melody course feel too stiff or are hard for you to press down, try using .010 melody strings, especially since your scale length is almost 28".

Ken, I assume you mean Richard Latker.

Richard is a member of FOTMD: @pristine2
Though he has not recently been active on this site, he might respond if you send him a private message here.

I seem to recall that Bruce Ford mentioned that he would not be saving or archiving the vast discussion forums of ED. I do recall reading Bruce's post about that and thinking Well that's a shame to lose all those years of discussion, but perhaps it's for the best anyway.  I believe what was archived and made available were the Tab section, the Festivals section, and the Articles.
In any case, I think one would need a forum or php software framework and a hosted site in which to actually import/read/interpret an archived php forum. It's not like a text file that you can just open and read.

Dusty is right that you might try the internet Archive. However, it will be limited in terms of 'drilling down' into discussions from the past. You might not be able to get to all the replies or be able to search it the same way as a regular website. It won't function the same way as a real original forum.

Hope this helps.

Mike Seeger most likely learned Georgia Buck from Elizabeth Cotten:

In the early 1940s, Cotten had moved to Washington, D.C., where (as a domestic) she began working for the legendary Charles Seeger family and caring for children Pete, Peggy, and Mike.

(also we should note that her name is spelled Cotten)

Dusty, how nice that you whipped that together so beautifully!

After providing a service for many years, sometimes you just need a break.

Well they were days all right.  

Oh this is indeed sad news. Thanks for letting us know, Ken.

Well stated Ken.

Wishing all the best for the folks involved. Times have really changed profoundly. Sad to see this worthy magazine come to an end. What a noble run it had though!

Oh my, what a wonderful tale!  And how truly kind is @John-Gribble for making a dream come true.

There are two diff ways to add pix to a post- you can try either 'attaching' one, or 'embedding' one. Check out the little buttons available in the editing box when you are typing your post- there is one for embedding pix or media.

CGB = cigar guitar box? 

Dumb question maybe, but what is CGB?

What an amazing body of work you and Wayne have produced.

Make sure to include the height of the dulcimer's fingerboard & bridge when calculating how 'deep' the case needs to be overall. You do not want the lid to be mashing down on the bridge when the case is closed. 

You look as though you haven't aged a day, JP.   

Yikes! What year was that?

Yes.

@erthling - yes you certainly can play a chromatic dulcimer exactly the same way you would if it had no 'extra' frets at all. Many people however will find it visually hard to know which fret is which at that point- this is exactly why many chromatic stringed instruments (banjos, guitars, mandolins) have a few fret markers of one kind or another, to help them get their bearings when playing. 

That's strange, Ken! I thought us New Yorkers were supposed to be rather rude, but almost everyone here says ThankYou when you hold a door open for them. Or they wave thanks when you let them into traffic in front of you when driving.

Those sound like positive developments and omens, Leo.
I was surprised to see a huge bald eagle flying over my village a few weeks ago. They sometimes hang out at the Hudson river which is near to us, but are seldom seen actually in our village. I saw one in a corn field here about 15 yrs ago while riding my bike. Snowy owls are equally majestic! I think i read there was one in NYC's Central Park last year.

I'm wishing positive new things for all FOTMD friends for this new year!