Forum Activity for @ken-hulme

Your lesson should be about more than just a strap.  It's what some folks call "situational awareness".  Always be aware of where you and yours are in space at any given time -- what and who is around you, entering and leaving your space; what is near and far; static and in motion.  Use all your senses to hear, see and feel what is going on around you -- even while you are concentrating on playing dulcimer or talking or whatever.  

Fortunately, or unfortunately in this modern day and events, those who practice situational awareness tend to be survivors -- of dulcimer accidents and other things.

Celtic Diet:  Haggis.  Whiskey.  Tatties & Neeps (potatoes & turnips).  

The name of the tune was originally "Boil That Haggis Down", but it's a well-known urban myth that when the tune was imported to Amerikay, the name was changed to protect a guilty sheep-rustler named MacBaah.

Beat them with a hammer -- gently, of course.  They need to be "broken in" -- flexed -- until they get the "feel" you like.  I love a felt pick for slow ballads when I'm not trying to project across a bar room full of customers...

Well, I started this journey over 40 years ago.  I built a kit dulcimer so I could teach myself (only 1 book in those days and no internet) to play.  What you all are calling rookie mistakes were simply, for me, part of the learning process. 

Observations along the way:

-- collecting picks, noters and other paraphernalia is all part of The Game.  Part of the fun.  Part of the learning process. 

-- scroll heads that are open at the bottom are as easy to change strings on as a flathead.  I had a closed bottom scroll head once.  Got rid of it pretty darn quick in favor of open-bottom once.

-- buy the pretty dulcimer that sounds the way you like.  Having built over 300 dulcimers, my experience has been that all else being equal (and it never is), wood choice is so far down the list of factors which can affect the tone, that it's not even funny.

If you don't make mistakes, you never learn.  You would not be having nearly so much fun if someone had handed you the perfect instrument, two accessories, and taught you to play like Robert Force or Jean Ritchie in one afternoon.  The journey matters.

Oh gosh --- now Virginia is going to tell us about her pet Boa!!!

Aye Robin, it's true.  Those Big Bushy Feather Head Eagles were like the Spotted Owl -- they had a very limited natural territory around a place called Plymouth.  The first settlers that came over found out that not only did the head feathers make first class zither picks and strummers.  But the Brit settlers at Plymouth were the real cause of the extinction of the Big Bushy Feather Head Eagles-- they discovered, accidentally mind, that those eagles tasted exactly like Spotted Dick.  The species went extinct within a fortnight!!

Lately I've been using the solid wood case I made for my Knopf Thomas replica as its' "possum box".  Take out the dulcimer, latch the lid, turn the box over (latch side down), and I have a perfect sound box for the instrument.  I made the box from four lengths of 'craft wood' from Home Depot -- I think it cost me $15 all up.   

The Thomas has integral feet, which makes it simple.  You could do the same thing by attaching a couple of 'stand-offs' across the outside width of the bottom

Basically possessing eagle parts of any kind is illegal unless you are a registered member of one of the recognized NA tribes.

"The Eagle Feather Law provides many exceptions to federal wildlife laws regarding eagles and other migratory birds, to enable Native Americans to continue their traditional spiritual and cultural practices.  Under the current language of the eagle feather law, individuals of certifiable American Indian ancestry enrolled in a federally recognized tribe are legally authorized to obtain eagle feathers. Unauthorized persons found with an eagle or its parts in their possession can be fined up to $25,000."

Fair Flower of Northumberland is Child Ballad #9, and hails from the old English East March a.k.a. Northumberland, which is south of the River Tweed (at that point the border between England and Scotland).  My ancestors, lived along the north bank of the Tweed, in the Scottish East March.  John's rendition is quite beautiful.

Ayup -- sycamore.  Not "bird's eye" which is a specific pattern, but as Dan see "highly figured".

There have been a number of discussions about the Seagull over on ED, and in spite of the company's reputation as a guitar builder, the consensus is that the Seagull just isn't "up to sniff".  The fret pattern is 'strange' at the very least.  It reminded several people of the problems with the 'made offshore' First Act dulcimers a number of years ago...

John's got a good point.  I hold the pick between thumb and middle finger, not the index.  I dunno why; but it works.  Robert Force taught me his thumb-and-two grip, and I migrated from that to thumb-and-middle somehow.

Just have the Doc do a Pick Implant -- get that pick permanently mounted.  You'll never lose another pick down a soundhole!

Sad to hear of the passing of one of our treasured dulcimer players on the other side of The Pond.  He will be missed both there and here.

You know me, Dusty -- although I play a few Common Ground tunes, to another dulcimer player I'd play something that shows off noter & drone at its best -- long ringing slides; crisp notes; a fast dance tune -- something like that.  Maybe Maire's Wedding or Jock O Hazeldean.

Someone was recently asking about how to play grace notes.  That's one of those "depends" questions.  "Grace Notes" encompass a wide variety of musical ornamentation types. So, it depends on what kind of grace or ornamentation you're talking about.    In SMN grace notes are written in smaller notation to indicate that in many cases grace notes are 'fill ins' between notes used to fill up pauses or rests or sustained notes.

The most common dulcimer grace notes are those we use to cover the fact that the tune we're playing contains one or more 'accidentals' that aren't found on our fretboard in the tuning we're using.

As a traditional dulcimer player, I get the occasional 'accidental' when a Tab shows that I need to play a 6+ fret and my dulcimer simply doesn't have that fret. 

So how do you play a note that isn't there?  One way is to play the two notes above and below the missing note -- in the time of the missing note.  Say the accidental is a quarter note on the 6+ fret (and I don't have one).  In place of the missing note I would play the 6th fret and 7th fret as eighth notes.  Need a Bb and don't have it?  Play a B and a B# in the same time as the Bb is supposed to be.  If the tune is a familiar one, the listener will even hear the note that isn't there, because their brain expects to hear it.

We can also 'cover' a missing note using a grace note slide between the notes that are there, with the slide occupying the beat of the missing note.  A sort of syncopated hammer-on or hammer-off cane also be a grace note for something that isn't there.

I aspire to keep entertaining myself and others for as long as I can.  Sitting in a shady park, playing for myself and watching folks pass by is as good as it gets.  I enjoy Open Mics and work at getting better as a performer not just a player.  I guess my biggest aspiration is that I'd love to get invited to teach noter & drone at festivals.

I've only made one PVC "flute" -- in the style of a Mirliton or Onion flute -- a relative of the kazoo.  I've made any number of other things from PVC -- bows, quiver, potato gun,  bending jigs, atlatls and darts, etc.   I think 2" PVC would make a nice flute case...

You know of course there are flute bags, and there are Flute Bags.  Simple cloth bags to protect a flute inside that decorated PVC tube, and 'gaudy' bags for carrying flutes without a hard case. 

Those PVC Tubes can be decorated in many ways.  For a look at some, check out the Google+ site called PVC Archery and Crafting, where I'm a Moderator:   https://plus.google.com/communities/115443350092709812365?partnerid=gplp0     There are a variety of wood tones, dyes, dips, and painting techniques that can make a flute tube look absolutely amazing.

To a guitarist, Scale and VSL (or Vibrating String Length) are the same thing. A guitarist talks about having a 25" Scale instrument, and s/he means the distance between the nut and the bridge.  A dulcimer player talks about VSL and s/he means the same thing -- the distance between the nut and the bridge.

To many (if not most) of us in the dulcimer world, a scale is a series of whole and half steps that make up series of notes into octaves like the Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do scale we learned in grade school (which dulcimer folks call the Ionian Scale or Major Scale).  Other dulcimer scales are the other Modes -- Aeolian, Mixolydian, Dorian, Locrian, Phrygian and Lydian.

Try CGG for the tuning -- same tab as DAA since both are 1-5-5 tunings.

Looks like one of those Korean Hondo dulcimers, under a different name.  Not great, but not bad.  Worth maybe $50 total -- you can find them for that on Ebay.  Better than the rest listed there.

The foam in gun cases does NOT damage the finish on rifle stocks and pistol grips -- more sensitive finishes, often, than are used on dulcimers.

Bubble wrap and shelf liner (that have been known to leave marks on dulcimers) are completely different kinds of plastic than the material used to make "foam rubber".

Rather than Just Intonation, it could be fretted for Mean Tone.  John is right that none Equal Temprement dulcimers are often set up for  specific tuning that is usually not 1-5-8.

Ah!  I wondered why there were two addesses I found for Native Ground.  Thanx Steve.  Did I miss anyone?

Here's the shops I know of in that general area.

Native Ground Music -- 109 Bell Road, Asheville, NC 28805-1521 - 828-299-7031

Song of the Wood  --  203 W State St Black Mountain, NC 28711 - 828-669-7675

Fellenbaum Stringed Instruments at Acoustic Corner - 105-F Montreat Road - Black Mountain, NC 28711 - 828-669-5162

High Country Dulcimers --  8830 NC Hwy 105 South  Boone, NC 28607 - 828-963-TUNE (8863)

There are no missed notes... there are improvizations, or 'making the tune my own'. 

Nook and Kindle versions are available for $19.95.  I think the CD comes as an MP3 or similar media.  I have it on Interlibrary Loan request, but I'm tempted just to pop for the e-book.

My pocket tune changes pretty regularly -- several times a year at least.

I also keep a backpack list -- about two hundred tunes with melody line tab for the opening (or memorable) measure(s).  Six point type in two columns on a single sheet of paper.   I haul out the list on those 'dark and stormy nights' at the boat when I'm entertaining myself because the wifi link is snafu.

I've also got an open mic book of around 40 or so songs that I play regularly at the Monday night open mic at a restaurant near the marina. New tunes added when I work them up.

Marg -- you're probably not going to be able to capo from some tuning to DAd or DAA. 

Tuning Tip -- Never try to tune a "silent" string.  Pluck the string and while it's singing turn the tuner knob you that think is the right one 1/4 turn slack (not tight).  If you do not hear the singing string lower in tone, you're turning the wrong knob.  But since you slacked first, you won't snap it accidentally.

I do think players are not particularly concerned about the 'upper octave' frets, as a great many people don't regularly play above fret 14.

Homer was Homer.  His scales were unique. 

As a regular item I would only build with the 6+ and 13+  frets, but make other frets available at $X per fret as part of a build-order.. 

Personally I don' even want the 6+ fret, as I'm a traditionalist.

It all depends on what the current string gauges are, and the VSL -- the Vibrating String Length, or distance between the nut and bridge.  Unfortunately "extremely taut" is sort of subjective.  What's extremely taut to you might not be to someone else.

Tell us the VSL, and ask your f-i-l what gauges of string he had on the dulcimer when he gifted it to you. 

Once you know the VSL you can go to the Strothers String Gauge Calculator, enter the VSL and choose "d"  not "D" for the note you wnt to tune to.  The calculator will tell you what gauge the string should be for that note and that VSL.  Be sure to select "d" not "D".  Most people today write DAd rather than DAD, because that tells the reader that the bass string D and the Melody string d are an octave apart -- the melody string being higher in pitch.

Usually a melody string that can tuned to A can also be tuned to d, although it certainly will be more taut at d than at A.

John is a good guy, and a great luthier.  I have one of his Uncle Ed Thomas replicas.

The point is to not take them all off at the same tim so that the floating bridge gets loose.  You could certainly take two off to swap pegs.

With a floating bridge, you really never want to take all the strings off at one time.  Always change one, then the next.....

Those Hondo dulcimers were pretty good sounding instrument, regardless of who made or imported them.  We have learned a bit more about making a "good sounding" dulcimer since then, though.  I've played a few Hondos, and have played modern made dulcimers I've liked less. Nuts and bridges are inexpensive to replace.  IIRC those Hondos have uke-style metal friction tuners which are easy and inexpenisve to replace as well.

I've built a few banjimers over the years.  Made the first one because I sorta liked the sound I'd heard from others, and thought that it would be a good addition to my 'stable' of instruments.  Turns out that, for me, the banjimer sound only goes with a limited number of songs in my repertoire -- less than a dozen actually, out of a couple hundred tunes I play regularly.   I can't speak for a group appreciating the sound of a banjimer; groups are their own dynamic.

You can get a dulcimer built to your specifications for $350-$500 or so from a builder like Harpmaker Dave Lynch and some of the other builders who frequent here.