Forum Activity for @ken-hulme

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Welcome Marcel!  Sound like you're off to a good start with the dulcimer!  It is, of course, the American cousin of the Dutch Hommel/Hommeltje, and can be played in that traditional manner as well as the modern "Bing Futch" style.  Enjoy your journey.

Right now I'm cooking up about 15 pounds of green jackfruit (individual jackfruit get to 100 lbs) with the intent of making a BIG batch of BB Pulled Jackfruit -- the vegan/vegetarian version of pulled pork!!    I've cut it into wedges and have it boiling for about 30 minutes.  Drain, cool, and slice the skin off each wedge.  Then shred it out and finally sort of stir-fry it with the BBQ sauce until tender.  

I also got a pound of ripe jackfruit pips from our local co-op as a snack -- tastes just like Juicy Fruit Gum!!!  

You can buy green or ripe jackfruit in a can, but it's expensive and not nearly as much fun!

You'd be surprised where you'll find bamboo -- along streams, in weather protected areas, botanic gardens (ask permission).  It's all over the place down here in south Florida.  There's a stand of 6" diameter x 70 ft tall culms a couple blocks away that I didn't notice for over 5 years!  Finger diameter bamboo is everywhere, and most people will beg you to take a dozen culms!

Great idea, but those bamboo crochet hooks may be too small of diameter to make a good noter.  Worth the try anyway.  

Where do you live with no bamboo?  Alaska?  Almost every other state but Maine has some native or introduced bamboo.  Want some, I'll send it to you.  

Repurposed noters -- the malachite pestle of a mortar & pestle set that I picked up in Mexico many years ago;  ball point pens, of course; 1/4" Delrin dowel; glass swizzle stick; 3/8" brass tubing; a test tube; sea shell (worthless); shaft butt of a goose quill.  

Too bad you didn't make it to our Berea Traditional Dulcimer Gathering back in May.  Next year's Gathering will be in Berea, KY May 14-17, so mark your calendar.  LOTS of noter & drone players, no Festival fee, tons of hands-on, one-on-one playing, learning, and all around fun!!  Check out the flyer here from this year's Gathering.  To be put on our mailing list, send an email to:  berea.traditional.gathering@gmail.com  

Once glue joints are clamped, wipe away squeezed out glue, with a soggy wet paper towel,  all along the joints while the glue is still soft.

Glue your "maker's label" under a rear sound hole before you glue the top on!

Thanks for the link.  My lyre is not from Trossingen, but from a burial site called Oberflacht, grave #84.  Similar but not exactly the shape of the Trossingen.   I have also made a lyre from the Cologne site.

Well, chances are Larry himself did NOT make that instrument.  You might drop him a note and ask the significance of the double circle.  None of the currently pictures flathead dulcimers have a double circle on he flathead.

Beautiful, but too rich for my taste.  

Riksgewijs  --  Welcome to the group!!!

A Trossingen Lyre?  Congratulations!  Did you include all that wonderful kolrose carving found on the original?  Here's a photo of an Oberflacht 84 replica that I made, with kolrose carvings of a pair of Pictish Beasts.

I suspect for "under $150" that the Red Mountain kit is gonna be as good as it gets.  Not a great instrument, but a serviceable. 

Folkcraft kits are $260-275.

  McSpadden has its Sweet Song Kit -- flat head hourglass shape -- for $155 which would be a better choice IMHO than the Cedar Creek -- better sounding and lighter weight...

You KNOW serifed fonts are much easier to read at any size than san serif fonts!!!!

Hi Folks -- looking forward to meeting and playing with you next week.  We have a request for those of you staying in the dorms.  We need you to bring cash, not checks or cards, to pay for your lodging ($60 for the 3 nights, $80 if you plan to show up a day early). 

Since we don't have a "festival bank account", one of us hosts must write the College a single large check for the total amount of lodging; and by paying the Committee cash at registration, there won't be any risk.

Thanks in advance.  See you soon.

--Ken 

Over the years I've had several custom dulcimers built for me.  And build several other custom dulcimers for myself.  Either way a new made-for-you dulcimer is always fun to plan and anticipate, and finally learn to appreciate.  Enjoy!

Hi Mark -- the overall length and fretboard length don't matter when it comes to strings.  You need to know the distance between the nut and the bridge.  As KenWL says, then you plug that into the Strother's calculator  along with the desired open notes for your base tuning:  DAA, DAd, CGG, CGc or whatever.

Jean never talked about lowering string pressure for anything... I don't believe she even thought in that way.  Since she played noter & drone with a pick, the effects of string pressure just weren't all that important.  Many of the olde time dulcimers had VERY high actions by modern 'soft finger' standards.  

These days I play mostly in C --- Cgg or Ccc as the key of C fits my voice better.  Playing with a noter, the string tension is quite as important as it is for tender finger players.  I find that your ordinary D string set can usually go down to B without being too floppy, and up to E and maybe F for they get tight enough to break a bass string.

Two words Dusty:   Liquid Skin.  Works the charm for me.

Hi Garret;

You might want to check the list of Groups here and see if there are some groups aligned with your interest.  There are groups for 4 strings, baritone dulcimers, classical music, and many more that you may find of interest.

You can read some of a groups posts.  But to see everything and reply to posts you need to Join the Group by clicking on the button at the top of the discussion.

I take a chair yoga class twice a week, plus t'ai-chi twice a week.  The chair yoga class teaches all sorts of seated and standing stretches that are simple, easy, and keep you from cramping up.

You read here about our impromptu Gathering last year.  This year we're inviting every interested traditional player to have fun with us.  You can check out what we're doing this year at Berea College in Berea, KY May 16-19th at Dulcemore Dan Cox's website:

If you plan on attending, we need to know -- by April 30th -- how many are coming and how many are staying on-campus.  We have to give the College a head count on May 1st.   Go to the website and register ASAP, please.

A great many of the Seagull Martin instruments have had serious fret problems -- missing frets, grossly misplaced frets, etc.  They appear to be made 'offshore' by factory people who don't know and don't care.  The company apparently makes pretty good guitars, but their 'stick instruments are just not very good.  I've seen 3.  One only had 6 frets (!),  one had badly spced frets, and the third was just OK.

The sound was typical 'stick instrument, certainly not 'guitarish' like the OP is lookin for.

Bobby's Cittern has a diatonic fret scheme like the dulcimer.  American Cittern is a name that Bobby and I came up with for an instrument that he was designing and building.  He doesn't have anything on his site, but I'm sure he still has pictures of what he made.  Cittern is the name of an old Renaissance instrument with a diatonic neck that was not a proto-guitar, not a lute or any other instrument.  It has a nearly round body a couple inches deep and perhaps 14" in diameter.  

ANY dulcimer can be played "stand up".  Look at the videos of Robert Force,  the grandfather of modern dulcimer playing.  He and his partner Albert d'Ossche more or less invented 'stand up' dulcimer.

But if you absolutely need a necked instrument for ergonomic reasons and you want something that is less 'banjo-like' sound, that's a tough one. 

A.  Because if it has a neck it really is not a dulcimer any more -- it's a diatonically fretted stick thing. 
B.  Virtually ALL stick things have very little sound box, and it is the internal volume of a larger sound box that gives you the more mellow sound of a dulcimer rather than the tinny sound of a banjo or stick thing. 

One possible solution is an American Cittern built by Bobby Ratliff of Slate Creek Dulcimers.  It has a relatively large body (much bigger than the run-of-the-mill stick thing) that is a nearly round teardrop shape, with a diatonic fretted neck.   Contact Bobby here:

http://slatecreekdulcimers.blogspot.com/

or through his Slate Creek Dulcimer Facebook page.  Tell him I sent you, what you're looking for, and see if he's interested.  He built a couple of these a few years back.  

Good choice Ross!  

Glad we could be of help and that you got your issue sorted out so well!

Another builder of traditional style dulcimers is Bobby Ratliff.  His aren't copies of historic dulcimers, but they are darn-fine instruments built for traditional style playing.  I own one of his and one of John Knopf's Uncle Ed replicas and both are exemplary.

Bravo, my friend!   Well, done.   And a subject that many, many dulcimer folks will enjoy.  Kudos on your YouTube "advert for the book".  Nicely played and presented.  Best wishes for lots of sales.  Spread the word!!!

It's probably not the 2nd fret that's the problem.  Check the action height on the 3rd and 4th frets as well.   I suspect the 3rd or 4th fret has risen for some reason -- humidity usually.  Has the instrument had this buzz even when it was 5 strings?  

Contacting Mike is probably your best bet for speedy resolution, unless you have another pet luthier in your back yard!

Your terminology is a bit confusing -- dulcimers have a melody string and two drones - the middle drone and the bass drone.  So you've reduced the original 5 strings to equally spaced melody, middle drone and bass drone, correct?

That's GREAT Lisa!!  Has happened to me on numerous occasions.  Thanx!!

Dang John, that's just cuter than a bug's ear!  And I love the built-in tuning key storage.

Some builders actually build-in a bowed back -- the idea that the curve acts as a kind of projector for the sound.

Well, the simple thing to do is send a Question to the Seller.  He certainly seems to be well informed, and owns at least two other Ken Bloom masterpieces.   If by "octave" dulcimer you mean it is set up "higher in pitch than an regular Bowed Dulcimer",  I doubt it very much.  

The other option is to drop Ken himself a note.  I'm pretty sure he knows each instrument that he's built like mother's know their children...

I don't think I've ever seen one of Ken's Bowed Dulcimers for sale by owner... All manner of other $1000+ dulcimers for sale, but not one of Ken's

There are photos of two different instruments there... one with a walnut back, one showing a maple back with a thin walnut 'racing stripe'.  One with a maple fretboard, the other with a walnut fretboard.

Interesting marketing, that's for sure.  Personally, on the rare occasion that I hammer my MD I just use a wooden chopstick...

Outstanding!  I'd say you stole it!  Congratulations.

Welcome to our musical family.  Great purchase as a first instrument.  Here's  link to an article I wrote several years back for folks in your position

https://fotmd.com/strumelia/group_discuss/2316/ken-hulmes-i-just-got-a-dulcimer-now-what-article

The article is called I Just Got A Dulcimer, Now What?  It's an illustrated glossary of dulcimer terms, so we all talk the same jargon, plus answers to many beginner questions about tuning, playing, care and feeding of your new best friend.

Enjoy your journey -- you're in for a fabulous ride!

I don't see why it would.  The difference of distances between frets is pretty small.  So finger placement even with a 3" difference in VSL isn't  that critical, IMHO.  This table compares the distance between frets on 25" VSL with 28" VSL, and there seldom more than .2 difference in fret spacing between 25" and 28" VSLs.  

I saw a 16" VSL instrument tuned DAd once, but the strings were monsterously thick! Almost like an autoharp.   Not fun to play.