I believe river cane makes the best noter. (Historically correct and indigenous) Bamboo is very similar being high in silicon content that makes them last a very long time and slide quite nice.....
You aint' got none posted for sale yet? I'll take one....
How to make $20 by selling dulcimer buttons:
Start by spending $70 to make and mail a dozen of them.
Well, maybe I could invest the tens of dollars I make with Dulcimore making and start me a button making empire? lol
I really think there should be a button one could wear that just says: bim bim BOM.
You aint' got none posted for sale yet? I'll take one....
[quote="RoyB"]
[quote="ocean-daughter"]
I think some of the dulcimer renaissance pioneers developed their own ways of thinking and talking about theory and dulcimer playing. For instance Force and d'Ossche playing the dulcimer with it "sideways" on a strap, though they still fretted and strummed "overhand" like lap players would. And I've heard people refer to tunings as "AAD" or "CAD", treble to bass.
Thanks, I'm starting to figure that out, as I read more about the dulcimer, especially from older sources. I did note that Jean Ritchie, for one, would indicate GGC, where today we'd say CGG.
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And Jeans daddy Balis, "you tune her like this: Bim - bim - BOM."
No there is no off the shelf peg for your dulcimer. Each maker had his own way of making pegs and the pegs were "fitted" to it's own hole. If you can find a local luthier learned in historical dulcimer making, they can "make" you a peg and "fit" it.
The Kentucky and North Carolina pieces were usually around 28 inch VSL. (29 inch was common) The Virginia pieces were closer to 26 inch VSL. (Many shorter than that!) With that said, there were pieces in all regions that fell longer and shorter! Basically the Kentucky would have been a few inches longer than the Virginia in VSL...why? I have no idea. VSL is just one variation, the Virginians also pushed the nut farther up the staple board where as the Kentucky kept it agin the tail piece. Very different tonal qualities between the two methods, personal preference I suppose.
"possum board" is a regional term for a tapered board used to stretch animal hides while they dry. I don't know if anyone knows who, when, where or why it is called what it is. I was raised in what is now Louisville Metro, Kentucky and the coon hunters there called them possum board as do the folks in Anderson County Tennessee and the surrounding areas.
Yes you will get a little more volume from an instrument if it is allowed to vibrate freely. (give your instrument a good strum and lift it off your lap)
Hey John, what say you?
I've made several of these pieces. The only ones I can sorta play are the two strings.
I'm left handed but play right handed. Some folks can't! I let her try right handed for awhile....
I remember that day he tried to play fiddle...brought tears to my eyes too!
To fret or not to fret, that is the question...yes it will make contemporary play much easier. I am a traditionalist and simply retune, but I realize retuning aint' for most folks and the 6+ is the way to go. IMHO
P.S. Please tell me it aint' a hundred year old piece you're fittin' to add a fret to?
I. D. Stamper used banjo strings on his 36 inch VSL pieces! I seem to recall Jean Ritchie making reference to using banjo strings in one of her books? (Page 17 in the Dulcimer Book) You will find a very different "timber" using a wound bass string verses the solid music wire. I guess it's going to be how "you" define old time sound, but yes very different between wound and plain string. (I use solid wire for most my pieces.)
..and from Steve Carney...
How many do we need for a consensus, can we just stop and agree at the conspiracy level?
P.S. You'ins do know the Black Sheep will refer to this as "Dulcimore Day"...just sayin'
What is a 0+ fret? Sounds like an "odd fret"! 
Chromatic fret between the nut and the Traditional 1st fret.
Not to detract from Jean's fame as a popularizer of the dulcimer, I suggest March 19 as that is the birthdate of James Edward (Uncle Ed) Thomas who built the early hourglass style mountain dulcimer. Didn't Jean's father play one of Thomas's dulcimers?
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
I agree wholeheartedly, but "our" James Edward Thomas wasn't born on March 19, his cousin was......the only documentation is the 1900 census that has it in April. Now if we could figure out what day......
The lower part of the dulcimer top looks to be a crotch, don't know the species.....hard to make out from the image.
I say go to the master, Don Pedi.
When I click the donate button it comes to a screen that says Lisa Sullivan. Is that the correct recipient for a donation to maintain the website? Thanks
Yes, Lisa is the wonderful young lady who coordinates all this.
I took the liberty of converting it to mp3
I have number 6 and I think it sounds wonderful!
The "false bottom" or Galax bottom" is what we call the bottom attached to the instrument.
"Possum board" is one of the names for a tapered thin board used in the stretching and drying of animal hides in some regions of Appalachia. Hides were skinned out complete for more money than the belly cut hides nailed to the side of an out building. There are those from outside Appalachia who believe we call them Possum Boards to be cute....
Thank you sir. One of those tunes I know, but I couldn't place it!
I know this video has been around a time or two, found it again the other night and can't quite make out the tune for the second segment on Edd Presnell, (time 9:24)
Thank you in advance.
Don't know there is any thing exact in the tradition. Some (I included) use the term Dulcimore to differentiate the traditional pieces from the contemporary pieces. "Dulcimore" was just one of several regional names assigned to an Appalachian folk instrument some 150 year ago? Hog fiddle, scantlin', music box, harmonium to name a few, and those had varying regional mountain pronunciations too! There will be several sages to enlighten you to the origins of the terms!
You might be better suited to ask the difference between the traditional piece and a contemporary?
@ken-longfield the site is open to the Berea section only. Bobby can probably open the Traditional Zoomers section so they can look, but they would still need to register to post.
I'll be there with mask and vaccination card...don't forget to bring any necessary paperwork, folks...and a few dulcimores! Now I gotta get the oxen and wagon ready for the big trek...Wagons EAST!!!
You taking the scenic route, I thought it would be north?
I'll be there with bells on, and a mask!
The ‘dulcimore’ is a unique survival of antique musical instruments, and needs explanation. It is oblong, about thirty-four inches in length, with a width at its greatest of about six inches, becoming smaller at each end. Three strings reach from tip to tip, the first and second ones tuned to the same pitch, and the third one forms the bass string. Two octaves and a quarter are marked out upon the three-quarters of an inch piece of wood that supports, and is just under the strings on the top of the instrument. The Mountaineer “toilers pickin'” it by means of a quill, with which he strikes the three strings at the same time with his right hand, over the gap at the larger end, at the same time using in his left hand a small reed with which he produces the air, or his “single string variations.” The music of the dulcimore resembles that of the Scottish bag pipe, in that it is weird and strange. Under its spell one finds himself mysteriously holding communion with the gossamer-like manes of the long-departed souls of the palace of Lady Rowena Trevanion, of Tremaine. The dulcimore is rapidly becoming a thing of the past, because the Mountaineers are becoming ashamed’ of the musical instrument that stands, with many other things, on the dividing line between two civilizations. Only a few of them are extant. Within a few more years and this strange old relic of by-gone days will pass…..
The Kentucky Highlanders from a Native Mountaineer’s Viewpoint
by Josiah Henry Combs
J. L. Richardson and Co.
Lexington, KY 1913
...hope this helps!
The image doesn't show ball end or loop end, some hitch pits will work for either. I believe KenL knew George, he may have a better insight to what string was originally used, if not, VSL, tuning and personal preference will all factor in.
Diatonics isn't missing notes. Each mode has its own notes and if you have an accidental, it's probably in another mode.....
If you give us an example of how you are tuned and what note you are "missing" we can direct you to the tuning you need to be in....
help-with-identifying-a-schnaufer-tune-forum-file.mp3 - 1.4MB