Forum Activity for @john-c-knopf

Thanks, everybody.  

Dan, the existing holes were carefully tapered with a violin reamer, and the new pegs shaved to fit with a violin peg shaver. Ken, I think they are old banjo planetary tuners, as you said.                                                                                        Jim, the planetary tuners were installed slightly cockeyed, with large external-tooth lockwashers.  I'm quite sure that John Tignor originally equipped his dulcimers with the walnut pegs I reproduced here.  And whoever restrung this dulcimer put 3 wound steel strings on it.  When the correct strings were mounted, the action was very high throughout.  The string spacing is consistent with the old J. E. Thomas and Amburgey noter/drone dulcimers.  They put the drones close together, at the far side of the fretboard, so it would be easier to play the melody string alone.

Here are before and after photos of the Tignor pegs:

Volha, that's a very beautiful dulcimer!  And a very big crack, too!

If the wood is still all there, it can be glued with Franklin Titebond wood glue (or a similar woodworking glue) and clamped well.  It shouldn't be a difficult repair to accomplish, even though it looks very bad right now.

Hope it goes well with you and you once again have a wonderful instrument!  Happy Easter.

Great story, Jim.  There are several ongoing mysteries about dulcimers and their builders.

I called the owner of the Tignor, and he said it would be OK for me to deepen the existing string slots, so I did, and it was a big improvement. That dulcimer sings sweetly now with a normal playing touch.  He has yet to pick it up from me, but I'm sure he'll love it now.  I'm sure the late John Tignor would approve as well.

Well, Ken, at least it'll SMELL good, even if it doesn't loosen the glue!  

That sounds like the same sage advice I gave somebody here a few days ago!

Unfortunately the nut has been re-glued with what looks like Gorilla Glue... might be a job to remove.  Thanks, Dan!

A young couple came to my home yesterday with a beautiful old Tignor dulcimer that had some problems.  The fist thing I noticed is that it bore a striking resemblance to an Uncle Ed Thomas dulcimer.  I think John was a protege of Jethro Amburgey, wasn't he?  Anyway, I brought my latest Thomas upstairs and laid it next to their dulcimer.  Apart from the Tignor being a couple inches longer and slightly wider, they looked like twins.

The 3 tuners on it were shabby-looking planetary models, inexpertly mounted by somebody, and all 3 strings were the wound steel ones we use just for bass drones.  I found reference photos of what Tignor pegs should look like, and set about to reproduce them in old-growth black walnut.  They came out very well.  I then went to string the dulcimer with the proper gauge strings, when I noticed the "mile-high" action.  The tone is nice, but pushing the melody string all the way down to the staple fret really stretches it out of tune!  I'm not sure if I should lower it or leave it as-is.  Any thoughts, my fellow historical luthiers?

It really is a beautiful dulcimer, but it strikes me as a non-Stanley Hicks instrument.  It seems to me to be a dulcimer built in the Stanley Hicks style by somebody else (David Love).  The Stanley Hicks label inside the soundhole seems to be out of place somehow.  Maybe Stanley acquired it from Mr. Love, and put his label of ownership in it?   There is plenty of room inside the heart cutout to affix a label after the dulcimer was completed.  Just my musings...

You could make a new nut and bridge, carefully knock the other ones out, and cut the new notches any way you want.  This is assuming that you're handy with tools, measurements, etc.

Dan the Man!  It would be great to see you and the others in Berea or Hindman (or the Museum of Appalachia, for that matter).  The Dinner Bell restaurant has the official "Kentucky Hot Brown", which I learned about down there.  

I'm flexible as far as dates and times.  There are several inexpensive motels around there that I know of.  The big question is if we can find an indoor space somewhere to inhabit for a while.

I'm currently planning to still go down there personally, to see the guys at the shop. 

Berea can work for me.  I always look in on Warren May when I go through there.

It doesn't ring any bells with me, unfortunately.

Well, it's official now... I'm heading to Hindman!  

I can't miss the opportunity to see you fine folks again, as well as some of my wonderful customers!

Don't know yet if I'll be a vendor -- I don't seem to fare too well at dulcimer selling there.  I plan to bring my newest walnut Thomas though, and a black poplar one if I can put one together in time.  We'll see.

Ken, you did it!  Fabulous job on that lyre.  (The pegs look good too)!

Hope to hear you play it sometime.

Why hasn't this weekend been listed with the upcoming events and festivals yet?

At least post the dates for folks to set aside on their calendars.  Time's a-wastin'!

Maybe it's a slot to lose your pick down...?     No?  Then it's probably a soundhole. 

Virginia dulcimers in particular were bad to have small round soundholes drilled all over them.

But I believe Jack Lyle is/was a dulcimer builder from Waynesville, NC.  I visited him in his Balsam Gallery many moons ago. 

He had a thing for maple leaf soundholes and red stain, which were beautiful.

It helps to heat the fret with a soldering iron, if you're set on removing it.  Heat melts any glue that might have been used, and also gets the wood to "let loose of the fret" easier.  Fewer splinters occur.  But maybe just leave it in?

Kusani, just slap some black paint on it like Mr. Thomas did.  Paint covers a multitude of errors.

I've been using words from the Bible, usually the Psalms, as names for my new dulcimer builds. 

It's getting more difficult to find words that can be names also! Mephibosheth? Maher-shalal-hash-baz?...

Richard, David Bennett has posted videos of himself playing his walnut Thomas replica on his page here ("Down in the Valley", "Holy Manna", "Send the Light") , and Robin Clark posted a couple with his poplar Thomas replica on his page, including "Coleman's March".  Robin also did some soundtracks with it ("Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss", etc.)

Another possibility would be Richard and Denise Wilson of Manitou Beach, MI.

They did a variety of soundhole shapes and inlay work, including seagulls.

A real note of congratulation and appreciation for your virtual opened doors!   

Thank you for creating and maintaining this important dulcimer forum, Lisa.

 A sharp-looking group.  But where are the madding crowds thronged around to listen?

Their loss, I guess.

Sounds from the wording like the reply came from "offshore" somewhere, like the phonecalls I sometimes get!

I just went to Cedar Creek's website, and they list sassafras as an available soundboard wood.

Could be that.  Does it seem like dense, heavy wood or is it lighter?  Sassafras is relatively soft and light.

George, you sit on one end of a long thin plywood paddle, put a dowel in the hole to hold the puppet, and hold it so that the feet just touch the paddle.  Now you go to thumping the paddle, and the feet of the puppet go flying, and the arms flip back and forth.  Talented folks can beat a rhythm to the song being played by another, and the puppet will appear to dance along with it in a comical way.  It's a lot of fun, especially for young kids.

Hi, Tom!  Welcome to the site.

It would help if we knew what kind (or make) of dulcimer you have and what tuning you'd prefer, but a good starting point would be a set by C. F. Martin, D'Addario or GHS.  The strings tend to be plain steel (.012" - .014") and wound steel (.022" - .024").

An intriguing puzzlement!  I would not have believed that Homer Ledford would leave one of his dulcimers unmarked.

Probably just another "dulcimer history mystery"...

There is some sad news from New York.  Legendary luthier Dennis Dorogi, 82, passed away Tuesday night at his home in Brocton.  Here is a link to the funeral home in charge of the family arrangements:

http://themorsefuneralhome.com/obituaries/

George, put on your swim trunks, pinch your nose and jump in!  Fortune has smiled upon you, my son...

Foxfire 11.  Finally assembled the whole set a couple years ago.

Of course we all know what's in Foxfire 3.... and Foxfire 12.  Don't we???

It looks like cherry in these photos, but it could be walnut with reddish lighting when the photos were taken.

Cherry looks deep orange or orange-red, and sometimes has small black "pitch pockets" here and there in the wood.

Walnut usually shows more grain, and can be medium- to chocolate-brown in color.

Bill Davis made kits for this style.  I know, because I helped a lady repair hers.  The head on his was different though-- it had chip carving on the sides of the scroll, and the end was larger.  Too bad there's no label in it.  Chet Hines wrote a book on how to build a "masterpiece dulcimore" like this.

Jennifer, she's a beaut!  Looks like a Mike Clemmer ("Wood 'N' Strings", Townsend, TN) from here.  If so, snap it up!

Bill Davis from Gatlinburg, TN and Jean Schilling from Cosby, TN popularized that particular style, with its violin shape, its 5 strings and its large size.

Baltic birch plywood is of very high quality, and I've used it a couple of times with great results.  It's relatively expensive.  I got mine at my local Woodcraft store.

Solid wood and plywood can weigh about the same.  If you can see the edge, you can see the plys in plywood.

Plywood in a dulcimer is not always a bad thing, except in cases of the use of inferior pieces of cheap plywood.

It's cool, and it looks pretty old, but using the guitar-style frets is a relatively modern twist.  Looks like a few frets are missing from their slots.  

Maybe the restaurant manager will let you carefully remove it to try it out?  They probably stuck it to the wall with screws driven through the soundholes.  

That's how an old John Maxwell dulcimer was attached to the wall of a T.G.I.Friday's, before they tore it off and sold the wrecked dulcimer on eBay.  I won it, and carefully reglued the splinters back together.  I should think somebody would have had the sense to look for screws attaching it to the wall...

George, it looks like kind of a rough job to me, not from a well-known maker.  The overall form is chunkier than that of the luthiers you mention.

I don't see a close resemblance to any others I've encountered.  I would guess a hobbyist made it.

Ken, it looks like "Uncle Eddie" came out of the display window for a personal appearance at the Homecoming.  

Did you all get to play it or anything?

Thanks for the great article, Ken.  I wish I could have joined you all this year.