Unfortunately, my tech skills are medieval. My various websites have been ravaged by time and circumstance and no longer are current. I am, slowly, reluctantly, trying to update everything. Bear with me.
This is not exactly a sale but a query. I bought a walnut 3-string dulcimer from Edd Presnell in 1984 and asked him Not to fret it because of previous intonation problems. I had intended to fret it (with old-fashioned staples), or have it fretted professionally, but never did.
This would seem to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a serious collector-player. Is there any interest in having a vintage instrument from a famous maker which could be realized in perfect intonation (of your choice) or is this just an unfretted Presnell?
Serious inquiries and responses should write me at curt at bouterse dot com.
1=tonic, 5=dominant. I never pay attention to absolute pitches.
@strumelia. It is 1 3/4" deep. I love the soundholes too: I figured they might jog someone's memory. The pegs stay perfectly in tune over long periods. If you mean the fretless in the pic, it is my copy of the Wm. Sidney Mount pic. [All - but two - of my almost hundred banjers are fretless.]
[I thought the little flap on the shoulder might be diagnostic, too.]
@marg. The strings came with it; the tuning is 1s and 5s.
I've been recording a lot lately and falling in love (again) with my beautiful cherry, 7-string American épinette. I have always bewailed the fact that I didn't know the maker; the man from whom I bought it only could offer that he had gotten it, used, in Virginia. I will, once again, reach out to the Internet dulcimer and other instrument community for help; if you have any information, please let me know. I am eager to know and, as I wind things down, and begin my instrument de-acquisition, I'm sure the next owner will appreciate it as well.
[It can be heard on several of my albums.]
My files are all too big. See my Facebook post for pix.
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10224215474392337&set=a.1860687234702
Dusty, That's a good idea. Thanks. In the flesh, so to speak, is always preferable.
After passing my 81st birthday it seems prudent to consider dispersing my dulcimer collection. I have more of them than I do years on this earth - neither situation was planned, they "jes' growed!" I welcome practical suggestions. (I can also be contacted at my email: "Curt" at "last name" dot com.)
How many, what frets does it have?
Somehow I ended up with quite a collection of Ledfords. Most are identifiable from the master list (which, naturally is not complete). I have several early ones including two before he started numbering. Recently, however I acquired one which did not have a number assigned. [There is one on the list unnumbered.]
It has staple frets (long 3rd), early style hearts, and an unusual construction for the fine tuners. It was made of yellow poplar (very dark brown) from 150-y.o. church pews, which locates it from 1969 to, perhaps, 1979. The label also has "Winchester, Kentucky" spelled out.
I'm trying to zero in on an approximate date; does anyone else have one with a dark poplar top and/or a "Kentucky" label and/or the tail plate with fine tuners.
No label, hence my question...
A closer view may clarify. The scroll is not a spiral but a concentric ring; it tapers dramatically from 36mm to 6mm. I will defer to your experience but I have not seen one anything like this.
https://www.banjohangout.org/photo/230369.
[I tried loading pix directly but when I tried both JPEG and PDF it said it had to be in JPEG or PDF format. IOW, it didn't recognize my formats.]
And now, the contrarian viewpoint. Traditionally, the nut and the bridge Were fixed and, on most stringed instruments still are; string gauge and height are always variables. But, to answer the original question: why measure from one end rather than the other? The answer is, like most things in life, convention (tradition and culture).
Why do we say the average man's voice is lower than the average woman's voice? Convention. Some cultures describe a man's voice as "higher" because most men are taller than most women.
I recently obtained an unnumbered Ledford dulcimer which came from a thrift store in Midland, Michigan. It looks identical to the Ivyton TN dulcimers on the Ledford site.
[ http://www.backroombluegrassband.com/hlccweb/instruments/storiesandpics.htm ]
It has walnut sides, scroll, fingerboard, and endblock, with pine-like top and back. The pegs, end pin, and perhaps the two nuts, are a lovely, light butterscotch-colored wood which seems to have a slightly mellower grain than maple. The scroll is slender and untapered; the whole instrument is light and responsive. The frets are wire staples under the first two strings only, however the placement is faulty: mostly flat until the upper notes which are sharper. I was able to render it playable, at least in the lower range, by shortening the string length with an additional nut at the distal end, though the first fret is still Very flat. It is signed under the lower left diamond soundhole, in pencil, directly on the back: [Made By/ Homer C Ledford/ Winchester, Ky.].
I sent all the information and pictures to the site but, considering how infrequently it is updated, I thought I would mention it here and see if anyone else has additional info that would help me place it in time. There is, evidently, a log book of Ledford's dulcimers and the woods and style should narrow it down; if Midland MI was the home of the original owner that would cinch it.
