Hi, Matthew! It's good to have you here on this site. Lots of info and music to be learned. If at some future date you'd like to try your hand at playing a historic reproduction of early noter-drone dulcimers (some of us call them "dulcimores"), there are a few builders of them on the site. Have fun!
And now the "circle" has rejoined! What a fine development from Randal's inquiry 6 months ago! Hope things work out with the repairs.
I believe that George Looney's name appears on one of my McSpaddens as well! Looks like yours has the scroll end, before they switched to flat tuning heads. Congratulations !
The difference in size between the M-8 and the M-12 will be in the body width/size. I believe that they both use the same fretboard and scale length. Both are beautiful to play and hear.
I'm putting together a McSpadden kit right now, and the laminated sides are very substantial, high-quality plywood. McSpaddens are well-designed instruments. I'm not aware of any of theirs being solid wood.
Patty, check out the stuff on cbgitty.com They show simple pickup set-ups and diagrams. They could probably help you out.
Sorry, the only dulcimer luthiers I've come across named "Wilson" are Richard and Denise Wilson of Manitou Beach, MI. They did phenomenal work. He built the critters, then she did the beautiful inlay work. Don't think they're doing this any more.
I'm a cobbler gobbler! When I can find one, that is... Best is blueberry or peach, but I'll settle for whatever you've got!
Yes, you're correct, you'll need those slots filled with frets. Frank didn't put any "extra" frets in on this dulcimer. If you can measure the size of the fret-wire on this, you may be able to have the missing frets added back in. You could also just replace ALL of the frets at the same time, practically guaranteeing an accurate fretting job. That's an attractive dulcimer you have!
Put mine in some spanakopita, a quiche, or veggie lasagna, or just cook it with a lil' ham or bacon! Yum - o!
So, Strumelia, are you, by reason of consuming so much spinach, now able to repeatedly punch big galoots into submission, bust loose from being tied to a chair by heavy ropes, and generally wreak havoc, trying to make the world a more just and equitable place? There was a feller in the Saturday cartoons a long time ago that answers that description. The carnage was always preceded by the playing of a jaunty hornpipe.
Don't be lickin' them dulcimores, Dusty! That's a bad habit to get into. (Don't ask me how I know).
Thank you all! I had secretly wondered if that was the type of paint Ed would have used, but never tried it until now.
My customer wanted me to paint one of my poplar J. E. Thomas dulcimers with milk-paint, so here is the result. Two coats of black paint still don't obscure the wood grain underneath. Otherwise, it looks a lot like my other black dulcimers. I'm not sure what type of paint Uncle Ed used to paint some of his dulcimers.
Mr. Templin died at age 65, and his obituary described him as a "folk instrument builder". He was buried from Usrey Funeral Home, Pell City, AL.
Looks like this dulcimer had a floating bridge, which is missing. This type of bridge can be a challenge to deal with, but if you need help, one of us can walk you through the procedure. You are truly fortunate to have found this beauty! Best wishes.
Randal, that's an eye-popping dulcimer you bought! Such beautiful wood, graceful lines, and walnut shell soundholes, to boot. If it sounds half as good as it looks, your $3.99 was WELL invested! Works out to about a 99% discount, or so! I don't recognize the design or the builder, but obviously he or she has a lot of talent. Good for you! PS: Look for labels inside the soundholes if you can.
Michael, it's an encouragement to small-time luthiers to hear from our satisfied customers from time to time! I know Terry appreciated that phone call.
You are forgiven, my son.... go forth and dulcimorize!
Ken, that looks like the wrench I made for you, to go with the pegs I made at the same time.
Nate, the "pencil sharpeners" you speak of are called violin peg shapers and used to be very expensive, as Ken said. They're typically used along with tapered reamers, which also were very expensive. Used together, they make the forming of pegs and their accompanying mounting holes easy to deal with.
Yes, the manufacturers offer different sizes. Just select ones that are the proper size. I know of three manufacturers-- Knilling (Perfection pegs), Wittner (Finetune pegs), and Pegheds, which are made in South Carolina!
I have had good results using Perfection geared violin pegs by Knilling. The tuning action is very smooth for those suffering from arthritis or other hand conditions. Any violin repairperson should be able to install them in a dulcimer. They look amazingly like wooden violin pegs. They are available from several online dealers.
The Revels Music site shows a good contrast between the different McSpadden kits. The earlier ones had what McSpadden termed a "leprechaun scroll" on the end of the peghead and used Grover banjo-type pegs, while the newer models had a flat, two-piece guitar-style peghead with Gotoh-type machine tuners.
Nate, you have a treasure from the 1970's or so! This is a wonderful McSpadden/The Dulcimer Shoppe kit. If you can dis-assemble the joints carefully, and reassemble it per the directions, you'll have a dandy dulcimer. If the glue used was Elmer's glue, or other wood glue, you might be able to warm the joints with a hair dryer or heat gun and pry them apart slowly with a knife. Anyway, yes, this was a good-quality kit originally. It's all as old as it looks, too!
Nate, listen to I. D. Stamper's long dulcimer for a possibility:
It sounds like what happens to new chrome car exhaust parts when first subjected to very high temperatures.
Several of the members here (including me) specialize in reproducing old dulcimers. They are very different than the ones you see and hear today. Some make replicas of certain historic builder's dulcimers, while others make replicas of other builders' work. And some now make dulcimers inspired by the old ones, but with original twists to the designs.
Hi! Welcome to this musical crowd, ShootRJ! We've got a lot happening on this site, as you can see!
OK, sir, them's yer marchin' orders! (Just kidding).
I think it would be interesting if somebody (not me) made a chart linking known, historic dulcimer-building-family members. There would be Glenns, Hicks, Presnells, Proffitts, Meltons, Russells, Mawhees, Graves, etc. included, with dozens more, I would guess. Just a little project to pass the time away...
ErthLing, I built a chromatic dulcimer for a customer and was quite excited about the project because it gave me a chance to explore the possibilities before I shipped it. But after playing diatonic for 50 years I found the extra frets a distraction. But give it a try. A lot depends on the type of music you want to play... Robert.
And, Robert, you may have noticed your fretwire supply dwindling twice as fast as usual! I've built just 2 chromatics and started getting anxious about having enough fretwire to finish the projects!
I've always used "mean-tone", though "mean-tempered" may be OK, too? Reminds me of a crusty old feller's disposition...
Dwain, we'll welcome you to the fold of just-tempered and mean-tone dulcimer/dulcimore luthiers if and when you cross that bridge!
Hello, Marlie!
It seems you have a very common type of inexpensive tuner on your dulcimer. These are called friction or "Grover" pegs, and are used quite a bit on dulcimers. They work on the theory of squeezing against their mounting holes. The smaller the string gauge, the less they have to grip the hole. As you get to the wound bass string, more tension is required to stay put, thus more gripping action is needed. Usually all one needs to do is to tighten down the end screw until the peg grips well enough to stay where you put it.
I would take the damaged screw to the local hardware or home center near you, and show them what you have. Maybe somebody there could find another similar one for you. Or a guitar repair shop (such as Guitar Center) might be able to find a similar one that would work for you. The main thing is to be sure to reassemble the peg properly, with the little fiber washer in there that gets squeezed when you tighten the screw down. I hope these ideas will work for you. Good luck!
I'm thankful for a warm, well-lighted home to live in, family and friends, a meaningful job, the dulcimer that has brought joy and peace to thousands of folks worldwide, and like Richard, this Christmas season, I'm thankful for Christ stepping down from Heaven's splendor to be born as a baby, to show us God's love and the gift of salvation.
This sounds like quite an opportunity, Curtis! I've never heard of such a thing before, unless you count the dulcimers that John Jacob Niles commissioned which had no frets per his request. I personally think he ruined them by fretting them his way, but that's just me talkin'..
Thanks, Michael! I derived my music box design from that very article. That's the type of article I just eat-up and refer to over and over-- the history, the mystery and the revival of these old forms! So many dulcimer folks these days have never seen or heard anything about these primitive dulcimers. Including ME, several years ago! I want to preserve them with my work.
I make old-fashioned TMB replicas, Michael. You can see some of them on my Facebook page under "John Knopf". They're patterned after ones made in middle Tennessee in the late 1800s.
