Not really needed. I make my staple boards with them on the Kentucky pieces because the old masters did. Like Bobby said, we strum about staple 14, a few inches beyond the hollow.
The wheel fiddle looks really nice Dan .... was it built to a specific plan?
No, just my own design, "keep it simple" two string, ten key.
Wheel fiddle I made out in the shop a short time ago, been working on an embellished Go Tell Aunt Rhody because it is an easy tune.
The CEO is buying us lunch today!!!
I work at a Medical Supply Distributor and when face shields or goggles come in we all stop, process them and right out the door they go! Other than that, blessed to be in the right job at the right time.
“We sometimes say they’ve taken out all the wrong notes, because it does not have all the sharps, flats, all the keys that a piano has, but we have enough notes to play in a particular key and play a song without hitting too many wrong notes,” Johnston said.
I love it!
Irene showed us how to do this @ the Berea Gathering!
Walnut is beautiful!!! Happiest Birthday to ya!!!
Yes.
I clean with distilled water, gently wiping with a soft cotton cloth (an old t-shirt) and Q-tips. Dry air is not good for any instrument so some sort of humidifier would be good. Making them playable would have to be determined by a luthier, depending on whether "you" are O.K. with altering them from an original state, maybe museum pieces?
Our beloved John Henry, thank you for sharing!!!
I greatly enjoyed this interview with my young friend Hunter Walker. I think Hunter was thirteen or fourteen when we met in-person at the Vandalia Gathering in Charleston WV. (First, we met online at Everything Dulcimer.)
Can't find credit for the young lady with him?
You are right @dusty-turtle, it will catch on and you will be able to order any color you want. I suspect any more than an overlay would start inherent problems with tonal qualities, but less is more! IMHO
It's on my calendar for 2020. I will not schedule any overseas trips near the date again. Originally my trip to Italy was to start on May1, but the tour company had to move the starting date to May 8 which meant coming back on May 19 rather than May 12. Had the original schedule worked I would have arrived home on Sunday and left for Berea on Wednesday. I'm looking forward to next year.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Wonderful to hear this Ken, we have you scheduled to teach the History class next Gathering!
I've heard the name, but don't know any thing about him. Google only had his Obit and it list him as a guitar maker?
https://www.hornbeakfuneralchapel.com/obituary/3012647
Sorry I can't be more help.
The first link says the exhibit features dulcimers made by Ernest Combs. I'm not familiar with this luthier. I could be wrong but from this bio he didn't seem very passionate about dulcimers
https://www.blueridgeheritage.com/artist/ernest-combs/
Still there is probably more to the exhibit and either way I am glad they are even doing a dulcimer exhibit.
I believe he made about 7 of them, no not a passion....
Various operating system securities won't allow some forms to be completed. Simply email your name and address to
berea.traditional.gathering@gmail.com
and we'll add you to the list!
I don't measure! I "feel of" the wood panel as I'm thickness sanding to the right thickness. Flexing the panel and from experience knowing the right mass I'm looking for for a particular tone. Harder denser woods can be sanded much thinner than a softer less dense piece.
As for sustain? Panel thickness is just one variable factor in a multitude of factors involved. String selection, nut and bridge hardness or softness, nut and bridge placement, over all mass of the piece, wood selection, possibly the finish, intonation, and so on.
If sustain is what you look for, I'd try harder more dense woods sanded to around .090 if you can, harder nut and bridge, and possibly a zero fret?
Some place to start....
Yes I know all too well about "ideas" gettin' in my head, I got a fire barrel chop full of great ones.... Wonderful work John, I'll play you a door chime folk tune at the Gathering!
I've ordered a piece of 6061 aluminum bar stock. I'm going to put together a prototype extreme dulcimer, (ED) this weekend.
Lisa, the old style traditional pieces with oil or shellac finishes hold up pretty good in the cold, but I don't know of anything that will be good in the heat. String tension against most plastics will win out in the extreme heat of a car.....maybe aluminum?
Difficult to say. Homer made mistakes and you know the registry if far from complete. Those are "special" tuners, maybe you can find a matching description in the time line?
Yes the term "dulcimer" was used in the KJV, it was a very popular instrument when that translation was written. (Hammer dulcimer)
DAN
Homer used Sherwin-Williams Sherwood Dull Lacquer.
DAN
www.dulcimore.com
For our first grand daughter, all smiles and love!!!
DAN
www.dulcimore.com
My purple 28 inch ultra-lite. It is what I'd describe as the most traditional....
DAN
www.dulcimore.com
I don't recall a discussion on the name of our group of dulcimores. I refer to them as a "clutch" , but would like to hear what you guys call them.... maybe put together a survey?
DAN
You are gunna' get a lot of differing opinions to "sound" effect by varying placement . I won't respond to that but will tell you the size is very important. Too much or too little can have an effect on tonal quality.
DAN
www.dulcimore.com
William Barney Davis (1926-1995) was Navy veteran, plumber, folk musician and dulcimer luthier from Benton County, TN. He apparently started building dulcimers in the late 1950s. He was the proprietor of the Bill Davis Dulcimer Shop in Gatlinburg, TN, which opened in 1963. He ran the store with his fourth wife, Jean, a folk musician with a fascination for the dulcimer. Bill and Jean organized a number of dulcimer-related festivals in Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and elsewhere in the Tennessee Smoky Mountains through the late 1960s and 1970s. These included the annual Southern Highland Handicraft Guild gathering, the Folk Festival of the Smokies and the Dulcimer and Harp Convention.
Is the piece signed?
DAN
www.dulcimore.com
You guys are the bees knees, I do good to get one track right!!! :)
