Forum Activity for @ken-hulme

Did it break?  Do you need to raise/lower the action?  Black & white is probably some sort of phenolic/plastic.

It's pretty easy to adjust that string height by sanding a tiny bit off the bottom of the bridge (and maybe the nut)  Start a new General thread about that, and we'll talk you through the process.   

The only one I own is the Pacific Rim Project; I was gifted a copy by Robert Force a couple years back when he came to the Mount Dora festival here in FL.  

VSL only affects the distance between the frets, not the sound

Dist from Nut

28” VSL..............26” VSL

1. 1-19/32........1-29/64
2. 3-7/64.........2-27/32
3. 4-17/32.......4-9/64
4. 5-7/8..........5-23/64
5. 7-5/32.........6-33/64
6. 8-11/32........7-39/64
7. 9-31/64........8-41/64
8. 10-35/64.......9-5/8
9. 11-35/64........10-35/64
10. 12-1/2..........11-13/32
11. 13-13/32.......12-15/64

We all slip once in awhile -- a reputable dealer will take it back and give you your money back.

Don't buy some sort of highly processed monk fruit sweetener, but just the juice without additives, or the dried melon itself.

Got my dream dulcimer -- a Bobbie Ratliff Virginia Hogfiddle with Holly back and sides, Butternut top, and 1" wide unbleached Walnut fretboard.   Three strings spaced for Noter & Drone play, staple frets,  solid block Walnut scroll head holding the autoharp tuning pins and a Walnut hollow D tailblock.  

There's a 17th century German cavalry song I've wanted to learn called Morgen Rot (Red Morning) referring to charging into battle in the 30 Years War

Sounds good to me!  Jump!  Jump!

Some great ideas there!  Strumelia is right -- one half of the duet really has to ignore the drones!   Lisa's counter-melody is is a wonderful idea.  And I never realized Stephen had done a JTJ Harmony book.   

My student has just snow-birded back North for the summer, but I'll work up some of these ideas for when she returns...

Duet books?  There are barely any noter & drone books at all!  

Something that could be fun is to work up duets using old and new versions of tune.  For example there are 3 progressively older tunes for Auld Lang Syne, and I play the modern version as the verse and an older version as a chorus or refrain.  The two tunes are similar enough they could be played together.

Generally "Beginner Dulcimer" means a less expensive instrument -- perhaps with a cardboard body, or a body made from birch veneer rather than 'planks' of walnut or maple or whatever.  Also a less expensive set of tuning machines, perhaps friction tuners rather than geared tuners.  Also, the action of a beginner may not be optimized for a particular style of playing.

The important factor is the precision of the fret layout, regardless of whether the body is made from Leggos, or cardboard or the finest lumber money can buy.  If the layout of the frets is not precise, you simply will not get the proper notes, and that makes any instrument worthless.

No reason a "beginner" dulcimer can't be just part of your suite of instruments.  I have one of Harpmaker Dave's Student Models which he slightly customized for me a number of years ago.  It has a deeper sound than I prefer these days, but otherwise works as good or better than any of the other dulcimers I've owned or built.

Here's the Hand Health article I put together 'way back when; from an exercise taught by my fencing master to promote wrist flexibility primarily.  I'm not sure how much effect it would have on the base of the thumb, but, as Salt Springs suggests, it might help:

http://www.everythingdulcimer.com/files/articles/28/hand_health.pdf

What style of right hand are you using -- strum, fingerpick, flatpick?  How many hours per day/week are you playing?  You say only 10 minutes a day, but if that's so, the injury is not related to your dulcimer playing.  If it persists for another few days make an appointment with at least your GP, if not a specialist.   If you are strummer, look up the Herco Thumb-Flat pick.

I really don't think you'll notice any difference between 27 and 26.5 -- look at the spacing tables, the differences are pretty tiny.  I prefer longer scales --27-28"; I've played a 32" and it was HUGE!  I've played a 20" and it was too cramped.

UserNo4 said "Another problem (perhaps) is that the luthier at the string shop said the 1.5 fret was installed too close to the 1 fret; it should have been closer to fret 2."

It may be called a half fret, but it isn't exactly half way between the 1st and second fret.  The location can be calculated if you know the exact VSL (distance between the inside of the nut and the inside of the bridge).  There are any number of fret-spacing calculators that will give you the precise location if you know the VSL.  

Using your electronic tuner you should be able to tell if the existing 1+ fret is in the right position. For a given open string tuning, you know what note that the 1+ fret should be -- check it with your tuner; it should be right on or perhaps a couple cents either way.

George, Bear Meadow does indeed have a "removeable fret system" called Flexi -fret.  It does require installing a permanent small brass channel at each fret position, into which a fret is slide when required.  You router a 3/32" groove across the fretboard at the desired location, and install his special brass channel in that groove   So if you want/don't want say the 1+ fret, there will be a flush-mounted brass channel at that position, which does not interfere with fretting until a fret is slid into that location.  Chck Dwayne's website for pricing.

UserNo4:  Post your photos in a discussion in the General Group, probably.

You touched on, not off, a deeply philosophical debate (not a religious debate)  There are indeed people who buy and collect truly old (pre-1960s), truly rare and collectible dulcimers because they are what they are: a piece of musical history. Those people look at their collection (and invite others to do so) as well as play them periodically -- in the manner intended by the original builder.  They want to keep the old dulcimers original, not "tart them up" with all sorts of modern innovations like geared tuners, extra frets, etc.

Then there are others who would buy the Mona Lisa and paint a mustache on her just because they think it looks, cool and hip and modern.

My feeling is that if you like the looks of an old collectible dulcimer, but want it to have all the modern bells and whistles, you (and the dulcimer community as a whole) would be better served by finding one of the many fine dulcimer builders here or elsewhere, and have a replica of the old instrument made with all those "mod-cons" like built in acoustic pickups, geared tuners, extra frets, etc.   The replica will probably cost the same or less as a collector's item, and being new construction will take the abuse of modern playing styles much better.

Post a couple photos in a new discussion and maybe we can help identify the maker(s)

Hi userno4;  the price for adding a fret can vary widely as you've discovered.  The number of strings your dulcimer has doesn't matter, but who made them could.  

Do you really play that much using the 1+ fret???

Th "tinny" sound you were hearing was probably caused by that raised 1+ fret.  If he re-set the 1+ fret that probably fixed the problem.  A fret that floats can sometimes be re-set with a drop of superglue to hold it.  If it doesn't stay down, he's right that it would require removing and completely replacing the 1+ fret and at least dressing it down to the height of the other frets.

Your local "stringed instrument shop" likely didn't want to 'mess around' with a dulcimer; they aren't very common, the sh.op makes a lot more money working on guitars.  The $200 he's quoting you is for a complete fret job including dressing all the frets to the correct height, and is actually pretty reasonable, as that is not a simple job.

Measuring to the nearest 001 inch is overkill, as you can't cut wood that accurately!  $100 for a single fret installation is outrageous.  My advice is find a real dulcimer maker/luthier. If you know the maker(s) -- look inside the rear soundholes to find the maker's label -- that is the person/company most likely to "treat you right" when it comes to repairs.

Looks good!  You don't really need the cork gasket though. 

D -- you just need to come over to the Dark Side!  I'll send you a noter so you can get started; it's free (and pain free), not a spendy silver wire magic ring . . .

Poor feller;  had to whittle his first dulcimer out of a Sycamore timber so he could learn to play...

Several places on line including Musician's Friend, Guitar Center, Ebay and Amazon carry one or more versions of the Remo(tm) 6" practice drum from $12 to about $25; some are tuneable, some aren't.  You don't want just the head to make a banjimer, you want the whole drum.

Lumber/Limber Jacks (tree choppers) are/were somewhat common here, but we still have fun with them.  You could always make a dancing Swagman/Bushranger/Ned Kelly!!!

You've got to make a "dancing kangaroo" limberjack!

I dunno, John, I kinda like the first version with the oddly spaced lines...  reminds me of some Nordic verse I've seen.

A 16 gauge string -- even a 16 wound guitar string is verging on too  "floppy" normally for a bass string tuned to D3.  As others have mentioned a 20 plain or wound to a 22w, 23w, 24w is the most appropriate bass string for for the common VSL dulcimers.  

Probably not a good idea to just throw on strings for which you don't know the gauge or provenance.

The solution is that you need another set of strings, although standard gauge strings for common 26-28" VSL should readily tune DOWN one note from DAA to CGG or DAd to CGc.  What gauges are you currently using??   If it's the bass string, as SKip suggests, just change it out for something on the order of .022-.024 which are the gauges usually found in the ordinary packet of dulcimer strings.

I don't play that style, but a number of years ago I had the privilege of meeting and watching Norris Bennett of the Ebony Hillbillies, a New York City string band, do his thing with a noter -- he basically used the noter across all the strings much like a slide guitar or a lap steel.  Very interesting technique when used with the right kinds of music.

Putting humidifiers in a closed case isn't such a good idea in dry climates (or any climates) as you've seen majajog.   Keeping a dulcimer in its case anywhere is not particularly good for them, either.   When you're in a dry climate like Arizona (I lived there for a number of years)  the best thing is room humidifiers, even if it's just a sponge in a bowl of water sitting on the coffee table. 

Having lived in hot-humid climates worse than Hawaii, and currently living on the water on the Gulf Coast of Florida, I can say this -- when you move from wherever you are now, you dulcimer will adjust to the new local humidity over the span of a few days to a week.

 There may be some minor issues -- I had a fret raise a bit when I moved from dry Colorado to ultra-humid Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific just north of the equator.  When I played my dulcimer in my air conditioned living quarters it sounded fine, but when I went outside, after a bit that one fret would rise and I'd get buzzing.  I eventually took it to the island hobby shop which had the fine tools necessary to pull and re-set that fret.

That's the problem if you live in the tropics and insist on deep chill air conditioning (which also de-humidifies the air) -- when you move from indoors to out (and back again) you really need to give your instrument time (at least half an hour) to adjust to the new conditions.  Keep your AC around 78-80F and those transitions are much less -- both on your dulcimer and on your own body.  Most Americans set the AC 'way too low -- 68-75 is 'way too low.  Learn to live closer to your natural environment and you and your instruments will be a lot healthier!

There are quite a few good luthiers here a FOTMD who might be willing to take on your re-fret job if you ask.  Start a new thread in the General or Building categories with a tile something like "Looking For Luthier to Re-fret Dulcimer and in the body of your message tell them what kind of dulcimer you have and re-iterate what you've said here...

Dusty -- a lower action wouldn't necessarily reduce fret wear if the play has "white knuckles" from pressing down too hard, but if the action is high, lowering it would certainly help the issue.  

From experience, I'm not sure that the average person could hear the difference between nickel-silver and stainless steel frets, or even bronze.  The material of the nut and bridge do affect the sound, but again, only if you have very sensitive ears.  Those sorts of changes readily show up if you use acoustic metering equipment to look at the sound waves produced, but often are barely, if at all discernable to the ordinary player.  The differences would be only a "cent" or two on a tuner, less than a tenth as much as say the difference between an F and a F#.

There are hundreds of luthiers who use a variety of fret materials, you don't have to have McSpadden replace the frets.  Ask around and see who uses stainless, and how much they would charge to re-fret your dulcimer. 

The Irish rune that I know as The Great Silkie is not the same as She Moves Through The Fair; although if the meter is right you could probably sing on with the other -- like people who sing Amazing Grace to House Of The Rising Sun...

Well, I gave the stand it's inaugural use last night at Open Mic -- by our standards it was chilly too!  Anyway, the stand worked great even though the plank floor where we play isn't nice and even!  Everyone remarked on how much easier it was to hear the dulcimer, how much better the sound was.  I'm always miked, but opening up the back to vibrate just gave a much better sound.  From my viewpoint (now much higher since I'm standing)  interaction with the audience was much better too.

What Folkcraft says about their six-string is:

"When we string up six-string instruments here in the shop, we use two .011 strings for the melody course, two .013 strings for the middle course, and one .011 and one .024W string for the bass course". 

"The melody strings are tuned in unison, the middle strings are tuned in unison, and the bass strings are tuned one-high (same as the melody string) and one-low (one octave below the melody string)."

The Mediterranean Diabetes Cookbook by Amy Riolo, published by the American Diabetes Assoc that Lady Sally picked up at a recent diabetes conference she attended as part of her PharmD Continuing Ed.

Ireland and Scotland both seem still VERY tied to their "folk" traditions, much more so that England and America.  Conversely, we seem to take great pride in smashing a lot of that "ethnic rubbish" as Ronnie Brown of the Corries once called it!

I stopped by a local restaurant supply place today and got the dark walnut 38" high tray stand locally for the same amount I would have payed for it through www.webstaurant.com, and didn't have to wait.  First impression is that this playing stand-up is going to be a fun experience!

Marg-- these are similar to a luggage stand (we have one for our AirBnb rental cabana) but much taller -- at least the height of a conventional table.

Val -- Thanx, I will try to get it recorded.   It's interesting to see how the wording and tunes changed as they wandered around Great Britain, across The Pond, and from place to place across the eastern US.  I'm going to give histories of, and perform one version or another of, Child #1, 2, 81, 84, 95, 204, 293, and Roud #2 and 140 plus A Newe Northen Dittye of ye Ladye Greene Sleves, which is not, a ballad, of course.