Forum Activity for @dusty

Hey @kevin63, I'm no expert on friction tuners, but there are products called peg compound or peg dope that you might try.  Since it appears you want to put on new strings (something we should all do more often), you might take off the existing strings first, then use a tiny bit of that stuff and work on the tuners before re-stringing. I'm sure others with more experience will chime in. 

To determine string gauge, you need to know the vibrating string length (distance between nut and bridge).  The age of the dulcimer really has nothing to do with it.  Neither does whether you have ball end or loop end strings.  You can use the Strothers String Gauge Calculator to get an estimate.  That tool errs on the light side, but it seems like that's what you want to do anyway.

No tuning is necessarily tighter than any other, but some tunings may be tight for certain string gauges.  What I mean is that whether you want to tune DAA or DAd (which would be the most obvious choices) will determine what gauge you choose for the melody string.

Since that dulcimer has no 6+ fret, it was probably tuned most of the time to DAA or CGG.  So plug one of those tunings into the string gauge calculator, indicate the vibrating string length, and see what comes up.  You will probably want to experiment and see what works best, but the calculator will give you a safe, light point to start with.

Coincidentally, @lisa-golladay, I recently asked Strumelia that very question.  FOTMD first went live on July 29, 2009.  So this summer will be lucky 13 years!

As someone who has many years of labor ahead before retirement, I would suggest that were we to pick a specific date, I would not be able to do anything special for International Dulcimer Day most years since I will be working.  That's why you won't see me at Kentucky Music Week or any of the fine dulcimer events that complain about not attracting younger people but still schedule themselves during the work week.   And if we choose a specific date, the question will always arise about why that date was chosen, which brings us full circle to the beginning of this conversation when a few of us suggested Jean's birthday.  It will be pretty lame if we have a date and no explanation for it. 

I think it important that we choose a Saturday.  If the first Saturday of spring seems too confusing to people (seriously?), then we should just choose perhaps the second (or third or first or fourth) Saturday of a particular month.  I suggested the spring because it is a celebratory time of year and marks the beginning of the festival season.  And unless you give up music for lent, I don't know why Dulcimer Day would conflict with that 6-week period of time. Maybe I'm missing something.

So it's agreed then: International Hog Fiddle Day will be celebrated the second Saturday after the first Monday after the first full moon after the summer solstice.

Robin Thompson: @dusty-turtle is who got this conversation on a designated dulcimer day started. I'm curious about what are his thoughts now?

Seriously, I love how much enthusiasm this topic has generated.  It was just a thought I had when I read about National Guitar Day, but clearly the idea resonates with a lot of us.

Some of what we are debating I don't believe to be too important.  Why is Black History Month in February?  Well, it used to be Black History Week and it was dated to the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.  But choosing the date based on those two individuals did not somehow rob the designation of the ability to celebrate Ida B. Wells or Martin Luther King.  Similarly, were we to choose Jean Ritchie's 100th birthday as the first Dulcimer Day, it would not rob us of our ability to celebrate Uncle Ed Thomas or Loraine Wyman on that day.

Nonetheless, in the interests of not alienating any of the fine members here, I have another suggestion for the day: How about the first Saturday after the spring equinox?  It would mark the beginning of the dulcimer festival season but would not be tied to any specific date or any specific individual.  Any thoughts?

When Pritchard marketed his "American dulcimer" he was clearly trying to take advantage of the nationalist fever that dominated the golden age of folklore (1870 or thereabouts to 1914).  But I agree with those who think that name strips away the regional roots of the instrument.  "Mountain dulcimer" does indeed seem to be the most commonly used term for our beloved instrument, but I would be OK with either "Mountain" or "Appalachian" dulcimer.  The Wikipedia entry uses "Appalachian" dulcimer, and that alone might be a reason to choose that term.

So my new proposal: International Appalachian Dulcimer Day, the first Saturday after the spring equinox.

Folks, if we decided on Jean's birthday, the first National Mountain Dulcimer Day would fall exactly on the 100th anniversary of her birth.  That's too cool a coincidence to ignore.

I wasn't trying to start a debate about dates. Every day is dulcimer day in my life.

I do wonder how those "national" days get formalized.  I bet if we just decided on a day and then created a Wikipedia entry on National Dulcimer Day, it would become a thing.  We could encourage instructors and luthiers to offer discounts.  Maybe Quarantune could organize a concert on that day. Who knows?

That's exactly what I was thinking, @steve-c ! 

February 11 is National Guitar Day. When is National Dulcimer Day?  I vote for December 8. Anyone know why?

I would love to hear him play that instrument, which has partial frets such that the middle strings are chromatic but the bass and melody strings are diatonic.

Thanks for sharing.

I own one of David Lynch's student model dulcimers and used to suggest newbies get one for their first instrument since I think it was the best value on the market. But I haven't heard from him in a few years.

Ron Gibson dulcimers are a great value, too.  I used to have a Barbara Allen baritone he made which I sold to help finance a more expensive dulcimer.  It was very nice and I miss it.  I also played a used Jenny Lind at a music store. I was impressed with the action and went back to get it the next day, but it was already gone.

My general advice for beginners looking for an upgrade is to be patient and develop your preferences before spending a bunch of cash.  Maybe you will find you like an ebony overlay on the fretboard, or an extra fret, or the strings spaced a certain distance apart, or an internal pickup, or . . . The list just goes on and on.  You have to play a while to develop those preferences, so you might want to stick with a dulcimer that's "good enough" until you know exactly what you want.

Of course, if money is not an issue, go ahead an buy several dulcimers, including a bass dulcimer to give me .

You might consider joining the Florida Sunshine Dulcimer Group here and posting your question there.  The groups sometimes go dormant for a spell, but often it just takes one new person to drum up some activity and get things humming (or droning) again.

@gennaro, before we can really help you, we need to figure out what exactly is up with that middle string.  If it's not out of tune, and it's not buzzing on a fret, what could it be?

I have one idea. I had a dulcimer that had a minor problem with one string. It would kind of ring out louder than the others with a very faint buzz.  The problem was not the frets, but something else a repair guy at a guitar shop diagnosed right away: the slot in the bridge and/or nut was too flat, allowing the string to vibrate.

Basically, as the string goes through the groove or slot in the bridge and nut, you want it to sit on a single point in the wood or bone or whatever the thing is made of.  Is that slot is too flat, it allows the string to vibrate and kind of ring out louder than the other strings and make a noise that is not exactly a buzz, but something less obvious but still annoying. This happens more often when the nut and/bridge are made of wood rather than a harder substance like bone.

The guy who fixed my dulcimer that had this problem did so in about 5 minutes.  If you have a really small file to get into those grooves, you might just run it at an angle on either side of that groove in the nut and bridge, trying to create a single point on which the string will sit.  If you don't have such a tool, any guitar shop should be able to do this.

I don't know for sure that this is your problem, but the difficulty you have describing it sounds really familiar, and this is my best guess.

@davisjames, I took the liberty as a Moderator of moving your question here to the Forum on specific features of dulcimers and instrument questions.  The "Site Questions" Forum is for questions about how this website works.  I hope you understand.

Ron Ewing is often credited as the one who basically invented the dulcimer capo several decades ago.  I have a much fancier capo that cost about three times what one of Ron's does, but it doesn't work any better.  I'm sure Terry's are great too. I play one of his dulcimers but haven't bought a capo from him.

The David Schnaufer instructional video may not be available on YouTube.  I think I bought a DVD of it years ago.  My memory is that it was put out by Homespun Tapes.  You can find a few videos of him playing though, and lots of videos of Don Pedi playing.

For one example, here is Don Pedi playing Sally's God Mud Between Her Toes . As Dan and Ken have said, he is the absolute master of the fingerdancing approach and is a font of information about traditional tunes. His website is http://donpedi.com/ .

Jimmy, there is no single way to do this. What works best for you is what's best.

And I think you are right to work on one thing at a time.  Don't think about adding chord strums until you have figured out the left-hand fingering.

In David Schnaufer's instructional video, he demonstrates how he uses three fingers (no pinky or thumb) to move up and down the fretboard.  As he moves higher than his hand position he uses his index finger, and as he moves lower, he uses his ring finger.

Personally, I use all my fingers since I need all the help I can get!  Most of the time I approach the fretboard the way guitarists and violin players do, where you try to minimize hand movement and keep your hand in one position as long as you can, with each finger assigned a fret position.  Each position is named for the lowest fret.  So if you use your pinky on the first fret and your ring finger on the second fret and so forth, that would be called first position.  If you use your pinky on the second fret and your ring finger on the third fret and so forth, that would be second position.

However, whereas on the guitar or mandolin, each fret is of equal size, the dulcimer is missing some frets, so you might sometimes skip a fret. In second position, I might use my pinky on 1 and my ring finger on 2, but then my index finger on 3, skipping my middle finger.  Find what is comfortable for you.

Some people use their thumb a lot on the melody string, turning the thumb to the side a bit to be able to use the edge of the nail and slide around like a noter. I do that occasionally out of chord positions, but not most of the time, since using your thumb comfortably means the other fingers don't line up on the melody string as easily.

However . . . and you may not want to do this . . . once you are using your fingers you are no longer limited to the melody string, and "My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean" is a good example of why.  The song begins with a big jump from 4 to 9, and even goes down to 2 on a couple of occasions.  That's a big jump. It's fun with a noter, but not so fun with your fingers.

But if you are tuned DAd, then any note on the melody string is also found on the middle string three frets higher.  So the first note of the song could be the 7 on the middle string.  That 2 on the melody is also the 5 on the middle string.  The whole song can be played between 5 and 9, which is a much easier stretch, isn't it?  Attached you'll find the melody of the tune using both melody and middle strings.  Give it a try and see what you think.

My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean (melody only).pdf - 238KB

@jimmy-g, there are three left-hand techniques that can be used: hammer-on, pull-off, or slide.  They all involve moving between notes on the same string.

A hammer-on is used to move from one note to a note that is higher.  Strum or pick while fingering the first note and then push another finger down cleanly and deliberately to get the second note.

A pull-off is used to move from one note to a note that is lower.  You have to have both fingers in place first first, but then you strum or pluck while fingering the first note and then you pull off that string, plucking it slightly with the fretting finger as you let go.

A slide is used to move from a note to another note higher or lower. Fingering that first note, you strum or pluck and then literally slide your fretting finger from the first position to the second, holding your finger against the fretboard the whole time.

I think I once made a quick video explaining these techniques. If I can find it, I'll edit this post and add the link.

Edit: here is a video demo I made some years ago:

Obviously, my camcorder was not up to today's standards, but hopefully the video still has some value.

By the way, I consider these "legato" techniques rather than "slurs," but I think we are both talking about the same thing: how to smooth the transition between notes rather than rely on a new strum or pluck with the picking hand.

If you are playing with a noter, you can obviously employ the slide.  You can also employ the other techniques, too, if you rely for one of the notes on an open string.

@dtortorich, my wife uses that word all the time.  She will just ask me, "Are you dulcimering this weekend?"  She should just know that if I'm smiling, the answer is yes!

@amairano, there aren't a whole bunch of us playing Rick's dulcimers.  I think he only makes a few a year.  I think of his dulcimer as two dulcimers.  The box is plenty large and the bracing plenty sufficient to allow it to be strung as a baritone as well as a standard dulcimer.  If you compare my videos, you'll notice that I am playing in two tonal ranges with my Probst dulcimer. Rick's dulcimers have such a distinctive sound that I don't think wood choice will have a profound effect.  I would choose wood based on looks.  Mine is made of figured cherry with a Carpathian spruce top.

Thanks to those generous members who have made donations. Without you, we wouldn't be here!

I think some of the Sunhearth dulcimers used to have fine tuners as well.  They were smaller than the ones on this dulcimer, but they worked in the same basic way.

Sorry, I never heard of Mr. Titus.  I do know where Edith Street is, though. It's by MLK Middle School where I once heard Ricky Skaggs perform but which is better known as the school where the kids maintain a garden that sells fresh veggies to Alice Waters and Chez Panisse.

That's a beautiful looking dulcimer.  I can see why you guys chose bocote wood.  How special is that!

By the way, I do the same thing with my pinky.  I tend to anchor it when I'm doing really tough flatpicking stuff, but I let it move around on the soundboard when I strum.  On one dulcimer with a red cedar top I put on a clear pickguard so you can still see the wood grain underneath.  I also try to keep the nail on that one finger super short.  That pinky scratching seems to show up more on cedar than on spruce.

Just a quick comment here that fretboard width and string spacing are two different things.  My personal preference is for the strings to be no further than 1 inch from bass to melody (on a 3-string instrument), but I still like a 1-1/2" fretboard since that provides more room for bending strings.

Cherry and butternut sounds like a nice choice.  I think I agree with others who suggest that wood choice has much less of an effect on sound than many other aspects of building.  I usually choose wood based on looks and the builder based on sound.

It's a tastefully done video. My daughter and I watched it together a few times yesterday.  We both appreciate how it moves to the exact beat of the song, doesn't try to do too much by adding meaning that is not there in the audio, and how it captures the sad tenor of the lyrics.  It's so nice.

My understanding is that Graham Nash had proposed to her and she declined ("I made my baby cry") leading to an end to their relationship ("I made my baby say 'Goodbye.").

Several songs on the Blue album are just so honest and personal.  It feels a little awkward to know those emotional details about someone I've never met.

Lucky Dave, that's really wrong of UPS.  Very disturbing.

And I'm not in North Carolina, but Northern California.  Only about 3000 miles away! 

Sad story, @dulcimer-dave.  What a shame.  It's a good lesson in why we should always insure our dulcimers when we ship them.

I saw a video once which I can't seem to find now that showed the boxes the New Harmony Dulcimer Company builds to ship their instruments. They use a wood frame inside the box, and in the video, someone stood on top of the box with the dulcimer inside, demonstrating how strong it was.  The box design was similar to but less bulky than @bob-stephens's very carefully designed boxes.

That's a Ukrainian tune called Фриендс оф тхе Моунтаин Дулкимер.

No not at all. I'm joking. It sounds Celtic to me, too, but Ken may be right that there are pieces of a couple of tunes there.  Part of it is a melody I know, and I may pop in in the middle of the night when I remember it's name.  But I don't recognize that descending ending/turnaround.

By the way, that Cyrillic up above just says Friends of the Mountain Dulcimer.

This red fox positively loves clawhammer banjo music:

Sunhearth dulcimers are indeed special.  They were the direct ancestors of the Bear Meadow dulcimers and are known for their exquisite intonation and warm tone.  Although my personal preference is an instrument with geared tuners and a 6+ fret, I would not suggest making any major changes to that beautiful dulcimer.  It looks to be in great shape.

Hooray!!!

Ken, maybe I am misunderstanding something.  @studentofrhythm appears to be tuning to a G ionian, which would either put him in the baritone range or in the ginger range.  Ken H concluded that studentofrhythm was tuning to a "high Gdd," meaning the G below middle C and the D above middle C.  I could obviously be wrong.  It has happened before. 

In any case, it appears you and I don't really disagree on the appropriate string gauges; we are just not sure how  studentofrhythm has his dulcimer set up.

@ken-longfield, I think you mean .012 and not .022 for the D strings. Is that correct?

Hey @studentofrhythm, the first thing I would ask is what gauge strings you are using and what the scale length (measurement of the bridge to the nut) is.  Tuning GDD is common for baritones and some 3/4-size instruments such as the Ginger.  But it's not common for standard dulcimers.  So let's make sure the string gauges are right for the scale length and tuning. Longer brad nails might be OK, but let's figure out string gauges first.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I am so grateful that I have mountain dulcimers, mountain dulcimer music, and friends of the mountain dulcimer in my life.

Someone with mild arthritis shared with me a trick she does before she plays.  She heats up a towel and then slowly kneads it with her hands.  The movement and the heat loosen up her fingers quite nicely.

Calvin, I assume this is the song you're referring to.  It was made famous by Glen Campbell, but Carl Jackson wrote it.

The bad news? The song is under copyright, so you won't find free tab anywhere.

The good news?  The song is definitely do-able on a dulcimer with a diatonic fretboard.

The version I link to above is played in the key of E.  My advice would be to tune your dulcimer to EBe.  You will still be in a 1-5-8 tuning, so all the chords and fingerings you know for DAd will still work.  Then you can play along with the song.  Once you have the basics of the song down, you can tune back to DAd and play it just the way you had been.

You can probably find chords and lyrics by searching the internet.  I just did a quick listen and the chords in the key of D are D, G, Bm, and A.  The structure of the song is simple, with a verse and a chorus.  The melody seems to have no accidentals, so you'll be able to get it on the dulcimer.

If we could meet down at the pub, I'm sure we could figure it out together.

A beautiful fall day.  Sunshine. Crisp wind.  It was a joy to spend a few hours raking leaves.

There might be two kinds of "soreness" we're talking about here. One is a function of the friction of the metal wire against your skin.  The second is muscle soreness from having to push down on the string.

For the first kind of soreness, I would suggest first that you use new strings.  New strings are softer and less like hard wire.  Second, I would suggest turning your thumb sideways a bit to use the edge of your nail.  Using your nail will allow you to slide up and down the string much like a noter and won't cause any pain.

For that second kind of soreness, lower the strings as @ken-hulme has suggested and rest assured that the muscles in your fingers will get stronger over time.

If you are playing mainly in a drone style, though, I would suggest using either a noter or your fingers.  Either of those techniques will allow you to play faster and also avoid the soreness that seems to be a hurdle for you now.  (I sometimes use my thumb like a noter in the way it appears you are trying to, but I am a chord player who sometimes just breaks into drone style for a verse or two. It is not my primary playing style.)

"Buzzy Strings" would be a good name for a musical act.

P.S. I also have a 12-string guitar with a cedar top and it sounds great.

Hey Paula.  Traditionally, dulcimers were usually made entirely of local hardwoods and there was no difference between the sides, bottom, and the top. A lot of people still prefer dulcimers made entirely of walnut or other woods.  But more modern makers began using soft tone woods such as spruce, cedar, and redwood on the top to produce a softer, more guitar-like sound.

Most guitars have a spruce top.  Spruce is a little harder than cedar and resists scratches and nicks a little better.  But cedar produces a similar sound and usually much quicker. What I mean by that is that it sometimes takes a while for spruce to fully open up, which is a main reason guitars getter better with age.  Cedar usually gets that sound much earlier in an instrument's life.

I have dulcimers with spruce, redwood, and cedar tops and they are all great.  The sound differences between them are due more to other aspects of instrument design.  Don't shy away from a cedar top if the rest of the dulcimer has what you're looking for. It's a highly respected tonewood.