Forum Activity for @randy-adams

I've seen this quote from Jean Ritchie before and have always wanted to see the context. I choose to believe she meant you lose a little something if frets are added to the diatonic fret pattern. 

Never met her she appears to be a kind and gentle person who would not summarily dismiss a person or a dulcimer. 

When this quote is used as some kind of proof that Jean Ritchie thinks a couple frets disqualifies a dulcimer in a black and white manner .....no I don't believe it.

And a video or two Robin. The vid 'carving the scroll' is worth the price of admission. 

Ok I'll say it out loud. Dulcimers built by Dwain Wilder have far surpassed the level of craft and are in the realm of art.

Those Sunhearth dulcimer are top quality instruments.  Have real good rep

Real life Lisa! : ) Yeah the chorus does say 'befriend ' someone  huh?

This is a good resolution John not too hard to keep. : )

If I  may? In my hometown Lincoln NE we almost invariably: hold the door for the next person even if they're 15' away, and they'll thank you for it. Let you merge lanes at rush hr. Put grocery cart in corral or back inside. 

These small everyday kindnesses set the stage for a more general teamwork atmosphere and make for a better place to live. 

Practice

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Wooden friction pegs get polished slick and hard. Unpolish the pegs and the holes by scratching/roughing with sand paper. Don't sand any wood off! I forget what grit I've used but 80 or 100 may be good to start. If you are industrious and patient  and work with finesse you can refurbish the pegs.

Every noter player has already mastered the skill of playing do mi, sliding the noter by, and not sounding, re.

Don't be leery of what you already know.

My wife had a Bougainvillea houseplant and set it outside in the summer. It did well and I took a casual interest in it and we would talk about it occasionally.

I was in Mexico with friends and we would walk to breakfast. The first day I noticed a Bougainvillea plant climbing a fence beside the road. A few blocks long.

The second day someone said look at that beautiful plant on the fence wonder what kind it is?

Nobody spoke up so I said "it's a Bougainvillea".

I felt so knowledgeable!.

Ok.... I don't know nothing about nothing except for this. I made a dulcimer and set the frets by gosh and by golly. Strived for pure 5ths and octaves and 6ths, etc. like whatever I knew sounded good. I tune it DAA, DAd, mostly DGC. Every time I change tunings or change pitch much I have to move the bridge back or forth so things are right. Usually have to compromise on the 1st fret and here and there. I get over it! I jiggle it until I get it to where I can live with it. I can set an equal temperament by ear on a piano but I'm not as particular with the dulcimer as I used to be... and that's a good thing to be free of.

You have always explained things so well Robin.

That's a funny name! I prefer the 25" - 26" scale for whatever style I play.

Quote: Well, fast forward to Spring and yes , we've got the new 14 foot square back kitchen screened porch lined up, in the works!  The workmen are set to start tearing down the old porch in a couple of weeks, and once they start it shouldn't take more than 3 weeks to finish up.  I can't WAIT!!!    

 This is going to be a major upgrade to our at home lifestyle.  I am envisioning sitting out there enjoying Summer salads, playing music, sipping ice tea in the shade while overlooking the beehives and the veggie garden, lanterns and crickets in the evenings (and screened, so no mosquitoes!)... 

That's nice Lisa. 14' x 14' is a good size. You'll enjoy it!

My dulcimers are EQ and pass my ear test, sounds sweet to me!

When this subject comes up and several N/D players start singing the praises of the JI I think it's important for someone, in this case me, to pipe up and say that the JI is far too limited a scale to hold value for me. ....for reasons I've posted before.

Ken

If I was gonna play this tune I'd play it something like this. No tab but you can see the frets?

Tuned EBe. Key of E right? I use octave high bass string.

Sorry I'm not centered in the picture...I'm a pretty piss poor videographer

I  sure like the sound you get here Bob. That's a heckava good tune 

I understand your reticence. When you do an interview you have no control over the final content and the author may not understand the subject well enough to present a good look. 

This reporter knows what she's talking about and does a nice job.

Did the price of Prichard repros just go up?... : )....Ha! ....glad I got mine before you got famous!

Nice article Kevin...f'sure...

Lisa....that's John playing the dulcimer there...I'd recognize that index finger anywhere!

John came up with his own way of explaining and simplifying the sometimes wild and deep talk about modes.. made superb sense talking about "home fret" and "gapped scales"....playing 2 or 3 or 4 modes in one tuning.....clarified my thinking f'sure...

I mess up on every tune at some point Robin!

Other tunings of the same ilk are:

AEAB - which is the equivilant to double C tuning tuned down to A

AEAc# - open C tuned down

AEAC - A minor

You are probably familiar with these tunings?

Robin

I assume you're tuning down to AA'EAe right? Tuning down to A gives enough room on the top end to get that e note....w/o changing strings.

I use the tuning. I can't remember if I started using it on the dulcimer first or the banjo but it works with both. Good drones!

Here's a tune I posted a few years ago tuned AEAe

There are a minority of people who can tell the difference of sound between different woods used in musical instrument construction and the different shapes used....what percentage I don't know...10%?...20%?...5%?...

Whenever this subject comes up the majority, who can't hear the difference, claim there is 0%...... : )....

Me?....I used to be in the minority when I was younger and willing to put forth the effort to listen and concentrate intensely....now I'm in the majority... : ).....

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Almost everyone can agreed that different woods have definite tonal characteristics. For one example  https://www.taylorguitars.com/blog/guitars-more/tone-talk-rosewood-mahogany-and-maple

Yet when someone in these dulcimer forums asks what kind of wood they could use to get such and such a sound the standard response seems to be "just pick out the wood you find pleasing and the builder can make it sound any way you want." 

Shouldn't a dulcimer be made to focus on the tonal characteristics of the wood with which it is built?

my 2 cents....I never use peg dope/chalk/soap etc on my wooden pegs. They work good with nuthin. If they started acting up I'd try a remedy....if they were slipping I'd rough 'em up a little with sandpaper....if they were sticking I'd polish the pegs and the hole. Tried a substance 20 years or so ago and didn't like it....felt spongy.....once you use something you gotta keep using it....you never know....I'd use a substance if I had to....

There's only 2 strings to tune right? One of the three is already in tune!