Steve there is a Group here specifically for asking/answering dulcimer building questions. Go to the Groups button above and find the Dulcimer Building Group and Join it -- you have to Join to be able to read/post. We've helped any number of people get started building or solve specific problems. Welcome to FOTMD!
Boy, this is a 'blast from the past'!!!
Nuts may or may not float, but bridges often do. Almost always it's better to change one string at a time, than take them all off. Less chance of nuts/bridges not going back exactly where the belong. Order doesn't matter, but direction of wind -- over the top or inside to outside does. Masking tape, rubber bands or a capo if you have one are all good ways to keep those pesky strings on the string-pins and running down the fretboard before you start tightening.
IIRC tuning instruments like that is a matter of how long the twangy bits are... each has a set screw sort of arrangement and can be slid in/out a tiny bit to adjust how much is flexible.
@Gstringer -- Notice how Robin's Kern has the smaller bout at the tuning end of things where yours is the reverse. Makes no difference, and it is unique; and if it plays well that's what matters!
Yep -- I've been a Personal Chef off and on for the last 20 years. It's another aspect of my creativity; and you can eat your mistakes (unless they're really bad)!
Irene -- can you not click on the words Array mbira in Ballad Gal original post? It's a link...
The image in your Avatar is still the standard FOTMD dulcimer...
However, I went to your page, and the dulcimer is there. Not being able to zoom in and pick up tiny details, I'll say this:
The only time I've seen the forward bout of an hourglass that is longer and wider than the rear bout is when someone assembled a kit dulcimer "backwards". The rear bout is almost invariably wider if not both wider and longer (waist to end) than the forward bout.
The diamond scroll sound holes are nicely done. The antiqued finish also well done. Best guess though is that this is a kit instrument that was accidentally assembled backwards. As long as it plays easily and sounds good, that's what really matters.
On another note, how are things at the Titan Missile Museum? The first time I was down that way it was still active (but we could no have talked about it then).
Yup -- Arry is the brand -- the maker company. I've made a couple of small kalimbas, but that 5 octave marimbula is really fabulous!
If you're going to spend that much $$$ of a dulcimer, play it before you buy it!
Welcome Lisa @fiddle! Well, we can certainly help you with dulcimer related things, but not many here play violin that I know of. Fiddle and dulcimer do go together well; many of the 20th century changes to the structure and playing styles of the dulcimer came about because folks wanted to play those fast Celtic fiddle tunes...
I fully agree that surgery should be the last of the last possible considerations, and that you should try a variety of other healing modalities for quite some time before letting anyone cut you for any reason. I've seen acupressure, acupuncture, salves, exercises, and other things work "wonders" on things of similar nature.
There's my Get Noterized booklet/article available here -- look in the Old Style Noter & Drone Players Group for a link.
Hi Susan -- yes -- post pictures, please. A good close up of the whole tuning head and nut would be just right... That way we can be certain to get our answer(s) right
What you're referring to as "fine tuners" may simply be ordinary geared tuners with much higher gear ratios -- it takes many turns of the knob to make one full turn of the shaft. That's a GOOD thing.
In general -- if you have 4 strings: With the tuning head to you left (assuming you're right handed) the bass string should attach to the far side tuner shaft closest to the fretboard. The middle drone string attaches to the other far side tuner shaft, farthest from the fretboard. On the side closest to you, the nearest melody string attaches to the nearest tuner shaft and the other melody string attaches to the remaining shaft.
The attached picture from Folkcraft shows where 4 strings should lead. Whether a flathead as shown, or a scroll head,the relative locations are the same...
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
Glad we could be of help and that you got your issue sorted out so well!
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?
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.
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.
