Ken, so many sounds comes from these lyre's of different countries. I'm learning so much...thank you. I LOVE learning the history of anything, especially musical instruments. I'm sure you would play it differently as well. One Lyre I saw on youtube was as tall as the woman playing it. yep, only 5 or 6 strings. aloha, irene
VERY interesting. This leaves much food for thought...and I've not even had breakfast!! Thank you for showing the tuning key. In the gravesites, were most of them all wood? or were some covered with a "skin" like some banjo's were? I'd be very interested to hear the sound of these. hummmmmmmmm. gonna look on youtube. aloha, irene
GREAT POST and I'm smiling while reading all of them. When I lived in Hawaii so many years ago, I'd travel to the elementary schools by request and show and tell of the instruments I had. One of the first times I held it up and asked the children if they knew what this was(my dulcimer) ...........one cute little Hawaiian guy said, "I think it's a squashed guitar". One dulcimer that I rescued from a shop on the Big Island, it was written up in the DPN....I was told that this dulcimer was used as yard art and then taken to the dump. I restored her, and have named her, "Lilly from the dump." This last dulcimer that I've just finished #25....I did some different things to the lower sound hole...and used a viola floating bridge...my she's loud...sounds more like a banjo...so she's named SUSANNA. I've been reading all day APPALACHIAN DULCIMER TRADITIONS by Ralph Lee Smith. Totally enjoying reading by the fire while the high outside was 15....Thanks for mentioning this book on this site!! Got it used on ebay. aloha, irene
Ken, this really is a beautiful instrument. AS I look at all the pictures again, I don't see a sound hole. and interesting how you tell of the wrench that tunes the pegs. I wish I could see a picture of that too. When I first worked with Myrtle wood....looked like packing crate material...but putting on a varnish........wheeeeeeee. Maybe I'll get someone to send me some Myrtle wood. You're and inspiration. aloha, irene
ahhhhh, way cool. If you look on this photo, next to the banjo above it is a lyre. And that is what I use it for as well. I just chord it and sing a song. When I show my Lyre to friends, I'll say, "this is a Lyre, and I'm telling you the truth." I know, bad joke, but I have fun with it. aloha, irene
I loved working with Myrtle wood when we lived in Ashland, Oregon. this is an interesting instrument. Do you know how to play it? aloha, irene
yep, I'm also a weaver, and yep, that a bobbin and it looks cool to use as a noter. aloha, irene
I say that this "slight separation" isn't enough to worry about. Just enjoy playing her. aloha, irene
this is going to be exciting to see in the making and in the future playing. I've made one Lyre and I say as I tell folks about it in my presentations. "now this is a Lyre, and I'm telling you the truth". aloha, irene
She's a PRETTY BETTY for sure. I love it's the old style. tell us more about the wood used and who made her.
aloha, irene
Cool words when the Eclipse of the Sun tomorrow across the USA. Do Galax leaves have a shape of ellipse? "a closed plane curve generated by a point moving in such a way that the sums of it distances from two fixed points is a constant: a plane section of a right circular cone that is a closed curve".... It's sooooooooo interesting how things are named and where. I love the history of it all. I'll have to read up more on the Galax Dulcimers and their history. aloha, irene
oh I ment to add....I made the folding legs of the now wooden dulcimer table to a very low position that it's at "lap height" for me. I know I SHOULD play the dulcimer on my lap and knees, but I love the sound of it on a table. I have some little "stick on" little feet and the whole dulcimer vibrates nicely. I think she's happiest on the table. That table is 23 & 1/2 inches tall. aloha, irene
I use an 18 inch tall stool I made a long time ago, but I put my dulcimer on a table that I got from Walmart, took off the plastic top and put on a nice wood top. I have it so it folds up. I'm looking for a chair that folds up too, but would like a comfortable wide one. I've repaired and made some very cute cushions for those piano stools. Sold one for $175.00.
I read this early this morning and got right to my dulcimer and played it right smack up. I love that song and had not sang it in years.....I used to have my pile of kids in a big van and we'd sing going down our bumpy, muddy road to Kamahamaha Hwy. Kids can't argue when they're singing so we sang all the time in our big van. aloha, irene
I have a dear friend that used to sing in the Mormon TAB. Choir and she said that a woman's voice doesn't reach it's peak in singing quality until after 40. aloha, irene
YES, I love music of all ages, just about, but not HARD ROCK...I took a class at U of H playing all the sizes of recorders, but loved the sounds of viole de gamba and other early instruments. These have moveable frets. and wow, that's some tuner. aloha, irene
I have found that some dulcimers just have to have a FLOATING BRIDGE. Either take off the strings or loose them up and then get that bridge out or sand it flat. Then make another bridge and move it and you'll be able to get all the strings in tune by that method. your strings might be high too....so check that problem. I make all my dulcimers with a floating bridge. When I repair dulcimers and loan 'em out to others, I get rid of glued in or fixed bridges and ahhhhhhhhhhh, IN TUNE. aloha, irene
I loved this whole little movie....thank you soooooooooo much for posting it. aloha, irene
Long ago in Hawaii, I was taking a class in Early Music with all sizes of recorders. One cool old guy from N.Y.C. came to visit and his son was in our class. He said that when we learn a new instrument, the things we learned on our former instruments come with us.....we can learn faster often with that former knowledge of the other instruments. He somehow gave me permission to learn as many instruments as i wanted to learn. recorders, harp, dulcimers psalteries banjo organ....others for the joy of it. It keeps our spirits high and our minds learning and we'll not get Alzheimers. Healing with any musical instrument can happen. aloha, irene
PILGRIM A biography of William Brewster. I found out lately that he's my 12th great grandfather that was the leader on the MAYFLOWER. I find this very interesting. I have other books too that I have stacked up and read snippets but this one....way cool. aloha, irene
WOW, WHAT AN EDUCATION.....and how many master's in Music Education know this cool stuff? thank you for something to really think about. I've found 5 old dulcimers, not by famous makers....and some didn't sound right while playing them after i strung 'em up. NOW I KNOW WHY. However, until I learn another style, I prefer the noter and drone style. thanks everyone for what is written here. aloha, irene
WOAH, this was some hard news. I FINALLY have one of my 14 kids that works for the airlines.....and I'm going next month down to Palistine, Texas in March for the music festival there with my banjo playing brother....he lives only 1/2 hour away and I'm soooooooooo excited. I'm going to be taking my new TMB. I can see that I better check that...BUT.....I'll be on standby. ooooooooooops, I wish I had a better car, I'd drive there. A few years back I took some flights to Hawaii and it was cheaper to send my things in the USA mail then to check 'em at the airport. When I had little kids and wanted to show them off to my parents in the Mainland, I used to fly United for free while DHL would attach 10 huge bundles of stuffs to my ticket. ahhhhhh days of old have all passed away where customers were treated kindly and all hoped to "see you again". I've taken harps, banjos, ukuleles, dulcimers autoharps....all just getting on and mostly with a happy smile. All to and from Hawaii when I raised our big family there. aloha, irene
SACRED HARP and other books related to this kind of music as I'll be presenting how to read shape notes and then have as many that will sit in a square and sing this great music of Early America that came to us via English, Scot, Irish, German. I love this music. Many of our Appalachian tunes we play on the dulcimer come from this age. and when I'm done with that next week, gonna look into some of your books that you're reading. aloha, irene
OH WOW WOW WOW....I'm going to look this up on Google. Never heard of it before...but in Hawaii for 30 years....a lot of stuff I didn't learn about, but other stuff I did. now off for learnings. how fun, a whole parade playing banjos and looking like this? aloha, irene
thanks Ken on the naming of the "weeping hearts". cool. These are on a book that I got years ago on Dulcimers. aloha, irene
the bottom hearts look very much like a dulcimer that I got at an antique store in S.L.C. for $40.00 and fixed it up and put banjo tuning machines on it. It was his first one. I've got that on loan and I'll see her tomorrow and see who it's made by. I also got another one at the same place for same price, it was the maker's #4......it's not as good as the first one. Finding old dulcimers is soooooooooooooo fun!! aloha, irene
Being a wood worker, I thought that I'd cut a LITTLE CIRCLE from my sticky sandpaper. Then I take off the thin paper, fold that little circle of sandpaper on one edge of the pick and that pick NEVER flys away. aloha, irene
I also have been finding dulcimers and fixing them up and loaning them out so I can get a dulcimer club going here. SUCH a beautiful dulcimer. cone on, give us a tune!! aloha, irene
this is SUCH a beautiful well made dulcimer. I love the carvings, the shape and the lovely top. I wish I could hear it played. You have a jewel of an instrument there. aloha, irene
ahhhh, cool and wise comments. My hand is not cramped up at the higher "shinny frets"...(loved that phrase)because I set my dulcimer on a Walmart T.V. tray table and that makes it easy to work any frets. keeping the noter straight on the two or one wire is MOST important. I saw in so many books that the early dulcimer players used little tables to set their dulcimers on. I see on this site where the new builders are putting little "feet" on the bottoms of their dulcimers and I am doing the same thing. the sound is so much better with it off the laps and on little feet on a flat little table. At least that's what I've found for me. aloha, irene
This is where a "floating bridge" come in handy. Often it's out of tune just a fraction, but sounds more out of tune as you go up the fret board. If it's a little sharp, then move that floating bridge a tiny bit away from the nut...if flat, then go closer to the nut. If you have no floating bridge, then do as Ken Hulme says to do....and to encourage yourself to play more up there.....PLAY your strumming IN THE STRUMING AREA....and your struming won't get that "flap flap flaping" against the fret board. love playing Christmas music now a days.
I'm so glad for this post as I've wanted to write about it. (someday I'll learn how to put photos up, I lost the post that someone told me how to do it and so it's late at night and I'll just write about it now without photos.).............ha, that was a long sentence, sorry. Okay, soooooooo I found this kit type of dulcimer ($50.00) that must have been made in the 70's, but it looked pretty good and played sorta in tune and I knew I could fix it. no name or date and the carving for the sound hole was not so good. I covered it up with an abalone heart and made another sound hole that I used to make for my bowed psalteries. It looked good. yep, had a fixed bridge and WAS NOT IN TUNE....so put a piece of wood in that slot, sanded it down and made my own floating bridge. That slot was wayyyyyyyyy off. It might have been in tune when first made, but time and air and other factors change wood. I LOVE A FLOATING BRIDGE....and it's sooooooo easy to tune it. I use these "fix up dulcimers" for loaners as some of the folks that live in Nauvoo, Illinois are missionaries and are only here for one year or two. Follow the video above and that's the way to tune just right. For the builders out there, you don't KNOW where your dulcimers age going to live....wet, dry, humid or whatever.......but all wood moves and it's a blessing to the owner of a dulcimer to be able to tune it with the movable bridge down the road of wood and instruments moving. aloha, irene
OH MY MY MY....such a DARLING case for a DARLING dulcimer. I'd love to hear her played...BY YOU. On the airplane, they would think that was a long purse. oh too cute to the MAX. aloha, irene
laughing hard at some of these comments. love it. and Aldi's gonna go look for some stuffs to buy to make a pick. yeah. beautiful guitar photoed. and woah, my husband is always losing his picks on playing autoharp. I doubt he'd try this...but that's really innovative. aloha, irene and I'm going to bed smiling. thanks
DARLING DULCIMER BAG HANGING ON A LINE WITH WONDERFUL FOOD GROWING IN THE BACKGROUND. woah. and little pockets. love it. With as many kids as I had in Hawaii, I made most all their cloths and for 10 years on a treadle sewing machine. soooooooo I make bags for the instruments that I make now. when I went to Hawaii last month, I took my dulcimer with me as we were playing for our granddaughter's wedding. (oh fun of course) but on crowded planes.....and I ask stewardess or steward, "do you have a closet for my dulcimer?" and then they want to see it and I pull it out and oohhhhh and ahhh and they take care of it right away with no problems. Last flight at 10:00 p.m. on 8 August leaving Kona, Hawaii, loading up our 4 big bags .....we were last to board, and we were an hour early....WHAT???? I was worried about the dulcimer and did my deal, "oh do you have a little closet to put my dulcimer that I made"....I show it...no closet, but she MADE SURE it was in a safe upper compartment and I put my husbands autoharp in the same overhead bin and she slamed that compartment and said nothing else is going in there. (happy face here) and it was a full to the max plane because of the DELTA deals going on all over the world. When I'd take my harp back and forth to the mainland, I'm upfront about it all.....I'd not even cover it....they could see what it was, treated like little jewels.....so travel with home made bags, let 'em know what's inside, offer a tune....and all will be well.
I have TRULY missed this happy site. and this post cracks me up. I've been in Hawaii with three grown daughters and family and lots of DRAMA for one month....and yet of course it's beautiful and had only my phone...sooooooo here it is........I'm home and this the first site i go to and LAUGHING AND LAUGHING. thanks so much. yep, I've got four. I'm half way through making a T.M.B. with more decorations and all. gonna be fun...but gotta replace my bowed psaltery as i sold that sweet baby #88. aloha for now, irene
thanks sooo much for this info. I went on line to see if they still sold these kinds of tuners. nope. but would like to see what you have FOR SURE. We'll communicate some more on this. aloha, irene
I WOULD be interested in those lovely pegs....if not too much...and if they still work. thanks.
hummmmm, wooden pegs. two of the dulcimers that I rescued had hand carved, (not so good) wooden pegs and they were terrible to fine tune. gerrrrrrr. so I replaced them with banjo tuners and like these A LOT!! I do see those other little holes and most likely they were wooden pegs. but these banjo pegs are lovely with the wooden part on the ends and using the metal parts to do the turning. There IS someone that sells the wooden part for ONE...I think he said for $30.00 each. that's a little steep. but sure looked better then the white plastic. I've seen some yellow plastic (old looking ones) that looked lovely.
that is a great treasure....and LOVELY TUNING PEG...I'd love to find a place that sold such nice looking ones like that!! I was looking at a dulcimer on ebay last night said it was "not in working order"...but the tuning pegs were worth the $49.00 he was asking for. When I looked at that site this morning...."SOLD". OH WELL. It's fun to rescue beautifully made dulcimers. I do however, love a movable bridge. many of the older dulcimers have a slot for the bridge to go in and it makes it do the bridge can't be moved for fine tuning. aloha, irene
