Forum Activity for @ken-hulme

Val - look inside and see if you can see a maker's label or signature. Take a photo of the fretboard for us to see. Measure the exact distance from the inside of the nut to the inside of the bridge and put that here with the photo of the fretboard. Next measure the distances between the tops of the frets, to the nearest 1/64th inch or 1/2 millimeter, and then we can compare them to the actual measurements that are given in fret space calculators like the StewMac one Howard mentioned.

This is the sort of problem that, unfortunately, some beginners run into (you're not the first, don't feel too bad) bybuying an instrument online when they don't really know what they're looking at. We'll do our best to get things figured out for you. If the instrument is not built correctly we'll help you file an Ebay complaint against the seller and get your money back...

Adding pictures is easy Bill. To add the one below, I started typing this and then in the Reply Window Toolbar I clicked on the icon to the right of the LINK icon. Up popped a window that asked where the photo I wanted was located - on my computer or at a URL like a Photobucket account. The photo of these noters was on my computer as a .JPG file, so all I did was click on the Search My Computer button, find the picture and click on it. After a minute or two the picture appeared in this Edit window. It was 'way too big. So I clicked once on the picture, selected Edit and reduced the pixel width by half. And here you are....

We expect pictures when you're done!

But those Perfection violin pegs are $69 for a set of 4. I have very little problem tuning with classic wooden pegs.

Another place I've used isLuthier's Merchantile International:

http://www.lmii.com/CartTwo/Results.asp?searchtext=violin+pegs&Submit=Quick+Search

Violin pegs (PE1) are $2.20 each

Phil - unless you have sophisticated audio instruments, you'll never be able to tell any difference between wormy and non wormy chestnut if you made matching instruments. Even if you could hear a difference it could most probably be traced to something different like different amounts of glue on a given joint. If you've got chestnut of any kind, slice some up and send it to: Ken Hulme 1300 Lee St....

Hi Pat;

Ignoring all the Biblical folderol what they mean is:

1. Don't show up at a jam to impress others with what you think is your skill.

2. Keep the beat - the rhythm - set by the song starter, whether you like it or not.

3. Sit in a circle. Keep your eyes and ears open so you can anticipate what the others will do.

4. Don't play louder than the singer or soloist, or if you don't know the tune intimately.

5. Tune it or DIE! An out of tune instrument is inexcusable.

6. Watch and listen for the start and end of the song. See #3. Start and stop when everyone else does.

7. Pay attention to how others are playing a tune so you get the sequence right. If you screw up just jump back in where you can. .

8. Know what key everyone is in, and play many tunes in that key before changing. Don't change keys arbitrarily.

9. Never disparage or insult other players favorite genres of music.

10. Don't just start playing something while others are tuning or deciding what to play. Especially if it's some tune the majority probably doesn't know. Unless you're asked or are teaching that tune as your turn in the circle. Be considerate.

That's it Kristi - the Seiko was the one I saw. I see it on Ebay foor $19.95 with free shipping. Heading my way soon! Thanks.

John - I looked at that one, and several others similar. That's not displaying the octave, 5G is the 5th string G note...

iphone? I barely have a cell phone!! Thanks for the note Christian.

Yeah - this is beyond a battery job - one too many drops onto hard floors I think. You can get the Snark from Amazon for under $15, my local store sells them for darn near full price - over $25...

Oh yeah. I don't need an octave display, but it would be nice if it were $20 or less. I'm looking at the Snark clip on and the new Korg small clip-on too. Both are under $10 if you shop the 'net.

That could have been the beast, but I don't remember that big triskele dial. Price little sucker at $69 Amazon price, isn't it!

OK, so my third Korg CA-30 tuner is biting the dust after 4 or 5 years - displaying B# when I know I'm near D...

What I want is a tuner that displays the octave that you're in, not just the note -- D3, C4, A4 etc, not just D, C, A.

I've seen and used one, but can't remember where or who it belonged to (Senior moment?) Any ideas who makes such a critter and how much it costs?

Yes, Ivan, I'm well aware that the melody line and the tune is Ionian. In both Ionian and Dorian Modes the drones are tuned to the same notes - D and A. It's the G tuned melody string which gives the effect Folkfan has noticed. I've never said that this tune is anything but Ionian. I am simply saying that - right, wrong, or indifferent - it can be played with a Dorian Modal tuning. Many Ionian tunes can be played from a Dorian modal tuning to give them a unique and different mood.

Here's the melody line that I worked out.

3..2..1..3 - 4..3..2..0 - 1...2...33 (repeat)

sleep my child - and peace attend thee - all through the night

Guardian angels He will send thee - all through the night

6...5.6.7.8..7..6..5

While the drowsy hours are keeping

6..5..4...3-5..4..3..2

Hill and vale to-gether sleeping

3..3..2..1-3..4..3..2..0 - 1...2...33

I my lo-ving watch am keeping - all through the night.

All Through the Night may not technically be a Dorian Mode tune, but it sounds pretty neat that way....

Lisa's playing of Aunt Rhody in Dorian Mode has brought up interest in one of my favorite Modes.

Dorian is a minor Mode with the 3rd and 7th notes of the scale flatted* and the 6th note of the scale sharped* -- when compared to the major Ionian Mode scale (mi-flat, la-sharp, ti-flat). Dorian is identical to the full minor Aeolian Mode except that the 6th note of the scale is sharped in Dorian but flatted in Aeolian.

Dorian is most commonly heard in Celtic music and early American folk songs derived from Irish melodies. Dorian mode sounds a little melancholy because the final note (re) doesn't quite resolve itself. The song may be over, but the singer is still unsettled.

The Dorian scale starts on the 4th fret and runs to the 11th. Traditionally it was tuned in D -- DAG, but a 1-5-7 tuning will give you Dorian mode in whatever key you choose -- CGF for example or GDC. To get to Dorian mode from Ionian, tune the melody string down -- DAA to DAG for example.

Here's a list, in no particular order,of Dorian tunes that I've compiled over the years. Some of these can also be played in other Modes, and there are tunes like Aunt Rhody which can be given a new interpretation by being played in Dorian. Give it a try!

Clinch Mountain Backstep
What Do We Do With A Drunken Sailor
Star of Munster
Star of County Down
Shady Grove
Cluck Old Hen
In the Pines
Black is the Color of My True Loves Hair
Dear Companion
Little Sadie
Pretty Polly...
Over the River, Charlie
Wedding Dress a.k.a. Little Doney Gal
Bachelor's Hall
Nottamun Town
Over the River Charlie
Drowsey Maggie
Cindy, Cindy
Cripple Creek
Sovay
Swallowtail Jig
Hughie The Graeme
My Little Welsh Home
The Mist Covered Mountains of Home
Motherless Child
All The Pretty Little Horses
All Through the Night

Modern:
Scarborough Fair (Simon & Garfunkle)
Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (Gordon Lightfoot)
City of New Orleans (Arlo Guthrie)
Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia (Vicki Lawrence/Bobby Russel)
Summertime (Gershwin)

Hymns:
Wondrous Love
Be Thou My Vision a.k.a Banks of the Bann

Rounds:
Hey Ho Nobody Home

Rock:
Moondance (Van Morrison)
Smoke on the Water (Deep Purple)
Light My Fire (The Doors)
Oye Como Va (Carlos Santana)
Eleanor Rigby (Beatles)
Along Comes Mary (Association)
Knockin' on Heaven's Door (Dylan)
This Diamond Ring (Gary Lewis & The Playboys)

** Note that flatted and sharped are not the same as flat and sharp. If the natural note is F# for example and it is flatted, it becomes an F. If F# is sharped it becomes a G.

We all were beginners once upon a time...

Ed - neither friction nor geared tuners should "be an issue". Those are not wooden tuning pegs, which occasionally can be an issue if you aren't used to them; they are top of the line metal pegs nearly as quick and accurate as geared tuners.

John - most Galax set up players don'ty try for anything except Galax tunings: ddd or ggg etc. As you've discovered those thin strings just aren't suitable for more common Modal tunings. Now you know why so many of us have multiple dulcimers. If I were you. I think I'd opt for a second dulcimer in cardboard. Leave that one with conventional strings.

Check out whatever local hobby shops there are where you live - especially those dealing in model airplanes. They will have 1/8" Baltic Birch ply, which makes really good sounding dulcimers. Using the Fretboard from a cardboard dulcimer, you can surely make a box shaped dulcimer for under $25.

I've only ever posted two videos here - BanksoftheBann and RosintheBeau. I didn't like them... the viddedo/audio sync was terrible. Got a better way to do it now, using my digital camera's video mode, but just haven't taken the time. I'll have to post some more one of these days.

N ah, Jim... I'm still playin' Noter & Drone. I've always been a bit shifty - willin' to re-tune that is

Regardless of key (C, D, A, G) Bagpipe tuning does - for those of us without 6+ frets - what DAd tuning does for those with the 6+. It lets us play both Mixolydian and Ionian tunes without re-tuning, and sounds pretty darn good with both.

I've been a DAA/Ionian Modal tuning player for darn near 40 years. Just recently I've taken to exploring Bagpipe tuning, and I must say I'm really hooked.

Folkfan's right Barbara - Bagpipe tuning has the same bass string D as DAA or DAd. The other strings are tuned tuned to the d of DAd - that is Ddd, not DDD. We most often use the lowercase d or c or whatever to indicate that it is an octave higher in pitch than the bass string, which is why you see us write DAd not DAD.

All of my dulcimers get tuned to readily to a variety of tunings - Ionian, Mixolydian, Dorian, Aeolian. Sometimes in the key of D, other times in C or G. I have 3 single instruments and a courting dulcimer that I built close to ten years ago.

None of my instruments have 6+ frets. I prefer pure diatonic arrangements for the kinds of music I prefer to play - Scots Border Ballads and Corries type folk tunes, Irish folk music not fiddle tunes, American popular music from the 1890s to 1940s and '60s Folk Revival tunes.

Each instrument that I own tunes most comfortably in a particular keynote and sometimes tuning. My Nik Hambas custom prefers D in particular the Bagpipe tuning - Ddd. My vintage Ebay find sounds like crap in D but is sweet, high and silvery in Gdd. My slightly custom Harpmaker Student model loves D but prefers D Ionian - DAA, and the courting dulcimer likes any Modal tuning in the key of C.

Changing gauges a bit should help.

Remember Klaus, this is NOT a guitar you're fingerpicking. It's not going to feel the same. You can certainly change the strings a gauge or so in either direction, but the optimum gauge is dictated by the note you are tuning that string to, not how you play that string. If you go too far outside the range, the string will be too floppy and buzz , or much too stiff and risk breakage.

BTW - 12, 12, 12, 22 is not obviously for DAA. I've played DAD using 12, 12, 14, 24 of decades. And I have a 3-string that uses 11,11 and 18 plain.

If you go to the Groups area and ask this question in the Fingerpicking Group, you might get more answers.

Nancy - that's certainly sounds like one of those "stick instruments" which I've taken to calling American Citterns as it is more descriptive of what they are. If it has a neck, it's NOT a dulcimer, by international definition, no matter what people may say. Calling a lump of coal a diamond in the rough does not make it so...

"Banjammer" is one of several names for a banjo/dulcimer hybrid which usually involve a small tambourine or other drum with a 'skin' head embedded in the middle of a regular dulcimer body.

Cindi - if you read my post of page 2 of this thread, you'll see that VSL, shape, number of frets or number and size of soundholes among other things are not part of the definition of a dulcimer. It is a fretted zither (strings across the top of the soundbox) with no neck, but with a body-centerline fretboard. Stick instruments have necks, therefore by definition they are not dulcimers.

By organological (science of musical instruments) definition, the dulcimer belongs to a class of instruments called Fretted Zithers.

The body shape, number or arrangement of frets is not part of the definition of Fretted Zithers in general, but can define variations in type. Baltic Psalteries like the Kantele vs southern European Plucked Psalteries for example. Location of the frets (central to the body as in the Dulcimer vs on the near edge top as in the Hummel) is another example. Dulcimer tradition calls for 3 courses of strings, each course can be single, double or even triple stringed.

All Zithers (fretted or not) have their strings running across the top of the sound box rather than at right angles to it as a harp does. Psalteries (plucked or bowed), Kantele, Gusli, Autoharps, Hammered Dulcimers etc. are all local/regional names for Zithers. No Zither has a neck - anything more than the tuning head extending beyond the body.

Guitars, mandolins, banjos, "stick instruments", Waldzithers, lutes, etc all belong to the Lute class of instruments. Violins, violes etc. are yet another class - necked and unfretted.

So if you take strings off of a guitar you have a guitar with fewer strings. If it has a neck it is not a zither/dulcimer, by internationally recognized definition

Banjmo, banjammer, there are about as many spellings as there are people making them. All basically have a small drum head or tambourine imbedded in a dulcimer body, and diatonic fretboard that stops short of the drum so that a banjo type bridge can sit on top of the skin head. Can certainly be the perfect instrument for that special sound if you don't want to take up banjo, but don't necessarily sound great on all kinds of music.

I'm techno-challenged sometimes. To me "midi" files are soundfiles. But Wayne's right. They aren't a real instrument playing, more like a synthesizer. Not every soundfile at ED Tab is a midi, most are quite good in fact.

Jessica - we can certainly share sites that contain music or tabs. There are restrictions here about sharing recordings of music not your own and not known to be public domain...

freetabs.org has an interesting "dulcimer" collection, but a great deal of it is tab for the Hammered Dulcimer, not Mountain Dulcimer. To use any of that site you also need to download the free program called TEFView if you do not own TableEdit.

Gila Mountain - my dear friend Kerry Coates - has not kept up with changes on her website for several years, so her links may or may not be valid. I think, for example, she still lists me as running a dulcimer club in Prescott, AZ, when in fact I haven't live there since 2002 and she was at my going away party. Kerry no longer makes her fabulous dulcimers, either.

www.contemplator.com for Anglo-American folk music midis including most of the Child Ballads

Tull Glazener's website:

http://www.tullglazener.com/Current%20Free%20Tab%20offered%20by%20Tull%20Glazener-mountain%20dulcimer%20performer%20and%20workshop%20instructor.htm

Do NOT crank the tuner on a non-vibrating string, any time you tune. Always pluck the string, and while it's singing make the change.

If it breaks, so what? You've got at least one spare set of strings, right?

Nick - "he plays Ddd..." I told ya so Because Ddd has the D drones and the Mixolydian scale starts on D it plays well in that key D. And because the Ionian (major) scale starts on G it plays they of G well too. I far prefer it to DGdd.

Nick - you might also want to give Bagpipe tuning a trial - Ddd. I find it works quite well for D and G tunes.

Gabe - thanks for the testimony. Sounds like Mr. Gillian is a fine craftsman.

I've not heard of that maker. A "Thomas" dulcimer would be one modelled after those hourglass dulcimers made by "Uncle Ed" Thomas a well known builder back around the turn of the 19th to 20th century - Uncle Ed was born in 1850 and made something like 1500 dulcimers in his lifetime. A number of contemporary builders make replicas of Thomas dulcimers...

I can't find a thing about Gillian Thomas as a dulcimer maker. Gillian is a woman's name, of course. And if she's built more than a couple of instruments, she apparently does not have an Internet 'footprint' - no website or mentions. There is a nurse practitioner named Gilliam Thomas who lives in Winston-Salem. though .

Sorry I can't be of more help.

If you can contact the seller by phone, have him/her play the scale from fret 3-10 for you on the melody strings. If the scale sounds 'right' that's some indication that the fretboard is pretty accurate. Getting an unplayable Dulcimer Shaped Object is always a problem when buying on-line.

If this is your first dulcimer, I strongly recommend that you buy an instrument from a recognized maker - we can give you some names. AMong other reasons is that they will welcome a phone conversation so that they can play you some of their instruments so that you can hear what they're like. Aesthetics is the second reason to buy a particular dulcimer. Sound is the first.