Good job with the photo this time Crazie! I really like your unusual sound hole shapes. The ducks are particularly innovative. And being the occasional "knife assembler" I like that shape a lot too. I am currently hilting a custom seax blade forged for me with maple burl and walnut.
Derek -- this essay I wrote years ago may help: I Just Got A Dulcimer, Now What?
https://fotmd.com/comment/download/comment_file/151539/I%20Just%20Got%20A%20Dulcimer%202016.pdf
One of the things I love about living here in SW Florida is that what Northerners keep as house plants down here are yard plants. We have a Schefflera across the street that is 20+ feet tall, 75 ft tall ficus, and air plants bigger than basketballs among other good "indoor" plants.
Dulcimer Crossing has this list of Pennsylvania dulcimer clubs Dulcimer Clubs in PA (dulcimercrossing.com) but shows nothing in Somerset. There is a Mountain Craft festival there where various dulcimer players of both kinds have performed.
Your Attached image -- with the file name opens up just fine. It's when you try to Embed the image that things go wrong.
When you click on the Embed Image button above what numbers do you see?
This image of my recent NC Holly Leaf Pattern shows as 1200x378px , but with a Display Size of 256-Large selected
This is the same 1200x387 image but I've changed the Display Size to 384px-Xtra Large selected.
Another factor might be the file type which you are importing. I notice yours is a .PNG where my images are always .JPG.
You're right Dusty. Very few actually carve/cut a Celtic knot soundhole. Most use a laser-cut rosette for that sort of intricate work.
In addition to the things Ken mentions, some builders use card stock or heavy paper, even thin goatskin; basically anything that doesn't have grain like wood -- or if it does, you run the grain at right angles to the wood grain. I've also seen builders saturate the wood with glue on the underside of the top to harden it up
Celtic knots as sound holes are very difficult to pull off well, unless you have a laser engraving rig and computer set up! They don't really have that much hole space that doesn't depend on other parts of the design.
There is usually some ability to adjust photo size in your phone. Or better yet, download your phone pix to a graphic editor where you can crop, adjust color. size, and other attributes.
If the cracks really bother you, wick a drop or two of slo-set Superglue into them...
No problemo, I just couldn't see! Thanx Lisa.
I would say YES you need more sound hole area to get good volume. I would center the knotholes on the length of the instrument, and add 4 more round sound holes about the same size, half way between the knotholes and the ends of the instrument. Generally speaking you want at least as much sound hole area as 4 US quarters -- about 2-3 square inches.
Well I don't see any knotholes in the pictures as you posted them. The photos are far too large. Try reposting them smaller so we can see the entire picture.
All I see is a portion of woven basket, the butt ends of two planks that appear to be walnut, and one end of what appears to be a glue up of walnut and something else troughly trimmed to a dulcimer head or tail shape.|
Those look like good quality tuners, whether original or not. It's true Bob like his wooden tuning pegs, but that doesn't mean he didn't fit these pegs to that instrument. I would certainly go ahead and use them. If they have trouble holding tune, there is a tiny screw in the end of each knob which can be tightened say 1/8 of a turn at a time with a small screwdriver to tighten things up.
Dewey -- If you join the Beginners Group as Strumelia suggests (you have to join the Group to see more than a question or two, and to create posts), one of the first things you'll see there is an essay I wrote years ago for beginners like yourself called I Just Got A Dulcimer, Now What? which is an illustrated glossary of terms -- so we all speak the same jargon -- like nut versus upper bridge and fretboard versus neck (dulcimers don't have a neck). It also has answers to many beginner questions about the tuning, playing, care and feeding of your new acquisition.
With your 28-5/16" VSL compared to the Roosebeck's 25.5", you should be alright in using them. The String Choice Calculator suggests .009, .012 and .019 wound for strings where the Roosebeck set has .012, .014 and .022 strings. The calculator usually presents "light" gauges and we often suggest going up one or two gauges from the calculation.
However, I recommend buying at least one more complete set of strings (just to have extras around should you break one during tuning). You can probably find single strings at a local acoustic music shop. I would suggest buying .011. .014 and .021 wound strings. While you're at the store, I also suggest picking up a tube of Peg Dope, a liquid used to help wooden tuning pegs hold their tuning. Not something you use very often, but worth having should you need it; and head-and-shoulders better than any home remedy.
When you get strings and are ready to tune, start a new post over in the Beginners Group, and we'll talk you through the process.
Beautiful instrument. I'll let others speak to the wood.
The 5 strings are arranged as two pairs and a single. The pair closest to you are the Melody strings. The outer pair are the Bass drones, and the single is the Middle Drone.
Since the dulcimer is a vintage design without the 6+ fret common these days, I would suggest you learn to play either Melody-Drone or Noter & Drone style, where you pick out the tune on the Melody strings, and the others drone along as accompaniment. Trying to play chords without the 6+ fret you may find challenging.
Tuning
Those Roosebeck strings have 1 wound bass string and 4 plain steel strings. The two thinnest -- .012s will go on the melody string pair. The wound bass string will go on the outer side of the Bass string pair. The other two will go 1 as the Middle Drone, the other as the inner Bass string.
However, those strings may not be appropriate for your dulcimer. The gauge of the string depends on both the open note you want to tune to and the VSL -- the distance between the nut and the bridge. The Roosebeck 5-string dulcimer has a 25.5" VSL, if your dulcimer's VSL is much longer -- say 27+ inches, the Roosebeck strings may break if you try to use them.
If you tell us the distance from the inside edge of the nut to the inside edge of the bridge, we can use a string calculator to see if they will work. If not, you'll have to buy five single strings or a dulciemr set of 4 strings plus a single to make up your own set.
All that aside. Two good tunings would be DdAAA or DdAdd, where d is an octave higher in pitch than D and the As are 5 notes higher in pitch than the D --- D..E..G..G..A If you want to tune a bit lower, then CcGGG or CcGcc would be good choices.
Well, I just tested 8 dulcimers of various VSLs and tunings, and I can say YES -- at the very end of the sustain, the needle wiggles a little to either side of 'spot on', usually less than 10 cents worth. I suspect it's an artifact of the volume of the sustain falling off as much as anything.
Traildad -- exactly right -- string gauges calculators give you as usable string gauges
String gauges are like many, many things "dulcimer", there is no such things as "the one and only" answer. You've seen several times now that there are no hard and fast rules, no "best", no absolutes.
Each of us approaches the dulcimer differently, with clusters of people in several different (sometimes wildly different) groups.
The proper answer to most questions is usually "Whatever works for you."
How do I choose strings for my instruments? VSL, the open tuning I want to use, and years of experimenting and experience. That's what the builder of your second dulcimer used -- his experience with various gauges of strings to produce a sound which he likes. If you are not experienced in such things, the recommendation of the builder is always a good place to start.
You asked "Now I’m wondering if there is more to choosing string gauges than running the string gauge calculator." Yes. Of course. But that's the part which comes from experimenting and experience and deciding what sound YOU like to hear. Not me. Not Chuck, or Mary, or Jim. What YOU like to hear.
All my existing dulcimers are strung the way I like them, I don't experiment much any more -- I know what I like. When I finish a new dulcimer, I start with a string calculator, of course. My personal preference is the Strothers calculator, which is known to be noticeably light in its recommendations. So I step up at least two gauges -- 10s become 12s, 12s become 14s etc. My preference for bass strings is plain steel not wound for a more traditional sound.
I/ve built a couple "scheitholt" type instruments with split bamboo frets. Softer sound than metal frets, and quieter too.
Sure ocean-daughter, ask away. Best to do it in another thread, not this one. If you Join the Dulcimer Building Group, I have a thread there called Sawn-Frame Dulcemore which details how I started the construction. You have to Join to be able to read and write comments on the threads. You can ask questions there if you like.
Hi Mary:
I'm about 400 miles south of you in Fort Myers. Our county sucks at getting out the vaccine(s). I'm trying to get it through our local VA, and even they haven't gotten to all the high-risk and vets 75 and up yet.
Welcome ocean-daughter. Bud & Donna were my intro to the dulcimer too; over 40 years ago. I too built a kit and have gone from there. Sounds like you're having a nice dulcimer, journey,
One of those white "kitchen erasers" should remove the residue easily.
Kusani -- make sure that your two shapes have the same interior volume (cubic inches), even though that means they will be different sizes. That's the only way to ensure that any tone differences you get will come from the shape not the volume. We KNOW that interior volume differences cause differences in tone -- large volumes = more bari-bass response
Thing to watch out with Sniff.numachi is that most often their tab is listed "backwards" by modern standards -- they list DAA for example as AAD, which gets lots of new players in trouble... Try www.Contemplator.com for those kinds of tunes.
Didn't Robin Clark up in Wales do some trapezoid dulcimers?
That's how his mother taught him to play. Jean Ritchie never played and sang melody. She invariably played soft harmonies or counter-melodies and sang the melody.
"So I’ve read the recommendation to get one dulcimer in the 30” range and one in the 26” range to help this issue."
Not sure who recommended this, but IMHO it's not a useful recommendation -- Either VSL can easily give you ALL of the tunings you want with more than adequate ease of play -- simply by selecting the right strings.
"I’m pretty sure it’s not impossible to use 2 30” VSL dulcimers instead."
True -- or two 26" VSL instruments.
"I guess I’m trying to figure out how much playability I’ll lose going with two 30” dulcimers."
IMHO -- not enough to even bother thinking about
"Is the benefit of having one shorter VSL worth making an extra effort to find one or is it splitting hairs?"
IMHO -- "Splitting hairs" is putting it mildly. 'Not worth even thinking about' is closer to reality. IMHO there is NO benefit to having a shorter and a longer VSL instrument.
After you've been playing for a couple years you will decide which VSL you prefer, and gravitate towards instruments of that size. Decades ago I built and played 28" and 30" dulcimers... over time I have come to prefer short scales... these days I build and play 24"-27" VSL dulcemores.
We need to know three things to help --
1. the VSL of the dulcimer(s) involved,
2. the current string gauges on each instrument,
3. the tunings you are trying to reach on each instrument
You said " I think a melody string E is the highest note." which makes no sense. Any string can be any open note. It all depends on the gauge of the string.
A string particular gauge of string cannot necessarily be any note -- notes too high for a particular gauge will break a string as you try to tune up.
Welcome to the world of dulcimers! The other Ken has given you a good answer about depth of sides and factors influencing sound. I'm going to suggest that you all take a gander at the essay I wrote years ago for new players. It's called I Just Got A Dulcimer, Now What? . It's an illustrated glossary of terms, so we all speak the same jargon, plus answers to many beginner questions about tuning, playing, care and feeding of your new friends... You can find the article in our Beginner Players Group (you just have to "join" the Group), and download it free:
Ken Hulme's "I Just Got A Dulcimer, Now What?" Article - Strumelia | fotmd.com
IThe link is in the first post at the bottom of the Topic...
Can't tell you what wood the side are the top appears to be spruce. The fingerboard and tail cap appear to be walnut. Not sure what the fretboard and tuning head are they could be birch.
Is she playing this as "four-equidistant" or "doubled melody" strings? If the latter, the melody strings are too far apart. True diatonic fret layout -- no 6+ or 13+ fret>
A Deering dulcimer should have a maker's label inside the bottom, visible from the left (nearest) rear sound hole. Deering instruments, including the banjos, were started by Greg Deering.
Welcome Nate! As Dusty says there are ways to keep the dulcimer more stationary. Another option besides a strap is a stand or lap-height table like a TV tray that supports the dulcimer so that you do not have to.
I prefer quartersawn wood, with the grain running at close to right angles to the FB.
I also hollow using a Forstner bit, but with holes leaving 1/4" or less on either side, and nearly touching down the line, and I seldom get any warp. I've had solid boards warp in almost every direction possible. I think a flahysawn fingerboard glued up before drilling holes helps with stability.
Bill -- they're all glued to the top. It's just that floating FBs have the area under the bridge separated. IIRC floating a dulcimer fretboard does not have "significant" effect. Whatever "significant" means; almost no one builds floaters these days. That was one of the post-revival ideas of Howie Mitchell I think. These days many builders offer arched fretboards which significantly reduce the amount of FB-to-top contact while still supporting the fretboard for its entire length.
If you can find the archives of EverythingDulcimer, I believe that Richard Troughear, from Australia -- who for years had an on-going series of Experiments which he posted there -- did an experiment with the same body with different FBs including a floater. Almost no other builders conduct true scientific investigations into various aspects of dulcimer construction; rather they give us quantitative, not qualitative comparisons -- feelings not numbers.
Best or cheapest? You can make a perfectly adequate capo from a couple dollars worth of materials from your local DIY store -- a 1/4-20 bolt, a wing nut, a short piece of rubber/plastic tubing, and a couple scraps of wood. Or you can spend upwards of $30 plus shipping for a capo that looks sexy and also holds the strings down.
Lisa has it right. Too many fret markers, like Matt apparently does, are no longer meaningful, merely decorative. The original intent of the fret marks is/was to indicate to the player significant points in the fret pattern, not just decorate the bare spaces between the frets.
R.I.P. Ralph.
My greatest regrets as a dulcimer person are that I never had the chance to meet and know Ralph and Jean Ritchie.
