Well, just goes to show that any assumption that this little 'ole island I live on has some sort of monopoly on interesting historical snippets, just ain't correct ! Nice one Randy, would be good to hear them, and interesting to know who made the instrument ?
JohnH
(and would'nt you just know JK would be in frame somewhere's ???)
So right johnp, until I made my TMB (with timber sent to me from the USA) the only poplar I had experienced was that 'orrible cotton wool like timber obtained from them gurt long thin trees you see so many of in France , lol. There has been an increase in the use of t'other stuff this last twenty or so years, see a lot of it used for 'fancy' flooring these days ?
John
Me, I just enjoy the good old fashioned Carols that I grew up with sung with feeling, but not necessarily "the same as". Hence one of my 'first to reach for' CD's is 'A Tapestry of Carols', (Maddy Prior with the Carnival Band, Saydisc) Should always be remembered tho' that what many people regard as 'trad English' carols are in fact neither English or traditional, but have in many cases been highjacked from elsewhere.
JohnH
Chuckle, Robin, how you doing, I might have guessed you would come back at me (I have actualy done a refurb on a Ledford , JohnS purchased a very beat up instrument, reminiscent of one of Charlie Chaplins shoes, bad case of glue failure for some reason, it looked like hide glue to me ?)
John
$76, and I'll do the refurb for free?
an onlooker
Huh ! for starters that thar wall ain't big enough to take more, and in any case the sun/light will only aid the timber to bleach its true colour a tad, and just what in tarnation is that Jim doing letting you run riot in such a fashion, time you came to heel gal! (hasty signing off !!!)
Good on you
John
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
John
A point of minor interest re 'Nonsuch for Dulcimer'. It was produced showing only tab, abeit a complex tab , showing hammer ons , pulls, slurs and slides, and with a detailed explaination of how to use same.
JohnH
Thanks Ken ! I have learnt something today ( and found a pic of my son and I from way back!!!)
John
Hello Jon, I have a copy of Roger's 'Nonesuch for Dulcimer', Scratchwood Music, dist. by EMI Music publishing Ltd, 138/140 Charing Cross Road, Lindon WC2H OLD All that info is NEARLY AS OLD AS I AM, SO CANNOT VOUCH FOR IT !!! I personally know of no other published stuff, but there are at least a couple of members on this site who may know more, ie John Shaw and Dave Kirpatrick (sp?)
come back to me if you get absolutely stuck
JohnH
Hey David, well done !!! You have done something I never will, congratulations ! 
JohnH
Steph, no hospital, definately 'the doghouse' Thank you Goschi for raising this post and thus promoting some interesting answers.
John
One Hundred percent correct Dana, she took it kinda personal 
!
John
Wow ! Every now and again this site throws me a 'curved ball', and I worry about whether I am clever enough to be here 
! Four wartime years of school in England left huge holes in some of my early educational basics, and I have been playing catchup ever since, as evidenced by my shortcomings on this darned machine 
!!! The forgoing makes interesting reading tho, and back to the original premiss, I am with Ken in that my dulcimers are 'it' rather than 'he or she' 
. If I talk of them then it would be my 'Baritone', my 'English Walnut', my 'TMB', the 'Purpleheart', or my 'Virginia' (whoops, exception to the rule there, tho' with good reason !) Just once did I make the connection between dulcimers and gender 
! At the start of a performance at our church where the audience in the main had never heard or seen such an instrument, I made the mistake of holding an hourglass in one hand and a teardrop in the other and jocularly liking them to progressive stages in the female form. Yes, my wife was in the audience !!!
I repeat, definately 'it' for me !
JohnH
(how could anyone resist not referring to 'my sweet little Ginger', Carrie?)
Interesting and informative post Robin. Having made HD's for many years before dropping back to my first love, MD's, I am well familiar with piano wire ( have got miles and miles of it) but have never considered its comparitive merits with 'shop bought' guitar strings ! Any chance of sharing how you 'make up strings' from it for use on a MD, as I am sure there are others here who use both instruments !
John
Robin Clark said:
That's a pretty accurate summary Paul of the guitar/banjo string industry.
There are a few exceptions, Newtone Strings here inthe UK being one. Malcolm Newton who runs the company (and physically makes most of the strings!) worked for a wire rope firm in the Midlands and learnt about wiredrawing, plating, winding etc from there. Malcolm is very particular about the wire he uses, and his strings are always in short supply as he won't make them if the wire is not perfect. I buy about 1200 strings from Malcolm a year for my guitar business but the wait can be frustrating!!! I doubt you'll find them in the US.
Strings do make a differnce to tone.
For my Ed Thomas replica I use German piano wire from Heckscher, who started up in 1883. It seems likely from what I have readthat steelpiano wire was available quite widelyin the US from about the time of the Civil War and it appears as a mail orderitem in the earliest Sears & Roebuck catalogues I have been able to research. I know that John Mawhee used piano wire for his dulcimers made just after the civil war (guage #8 on a 25" scale tuned right up to G,d,d) and on my Ed Thomas Imake up the strings from Gauge #8 wire for the bass (0.020") and gauge #4 for the middle and melody (0.013). Piano wire feels slightly softer than modern guitar strings and so perhaps settles to pitch at a slightly lower tension - though I don't have the ability to measure this. The tone is different - is is a little morebass and top with less mid - like a telecaster twang! A number of my most recent recordings of my Ed Thomas replicahave beenmade using piano wire strings (you can find them in varios posts in the Old Style Drone & Noter section).
Although there has been plenty written about early dulcimer design, woods and building technique unfortunately little focus has been placed on the strings used - and yet they are an element that would have had significant impact on both the tone the instrument produced and the tunings selected. I have only been able to pick up snippets of information from here and there - and I'm always on the search for more if anyone has any!
Paul Certo said:For the record, it's the music wire that is made by only a few companies. It is used by a lot of companies to make strings, and some of these string makers make strings for other companies to package and market. I doubt if strings sold under an instrument brand name are actually made by those companies. Gibson, Fender, and Martin all sell strings, but I don't think any of them make strings.
I agree with Robin, most timbers change their characteristics as they age. Oak for example, becomes extremly hard, I have a piece which came from Bristol Cathredral School which I know to be at least 400 yrs old, like iron !, and some spruce which I abandoned during a build because it was'nt working nice, but have just planed up, went like a dream ! As for instruments, I regard them in the same way as I might my favourite walking boots, 'orrible when new, but a delight to wear now that they have settled down and relaxed into doing the business !!!
JohnH
Hey Geekling, its about time you left your foray into stripping, and gave a us a tune with your 'J bow' ?
John
Geekling said:
Gayle, in addition to Bucko Futreal's terrific electric dulcimer videos, John Keane, magictime, and I have posted videos featuring our Yocky electric dulcimers. The ones by magictime and me were played noter/drone. Of course, noter/drone is always going to sound best on an acoustic dulcimer, but an electric dulcimer sounds pretty cool played with a noter. In fact, it's kind of fun to mash up the traditional with the modern. For my House of the Rising Sun video, I fingerpicked my electric dulcimer while again playing it noter-style. And now that I think about it, I really should try bowing my electric now that I've gotten better at it. That's right, it'll be electric noter/bow!
PS: I've been using a special bow designed for mountain dulcimers called a JimBow. Robin uses the real kind!
Gayle ! I echo what Brian has said, particulary the bit about seeing some videos from you, from my experience they will be well received, those who post are very varied in ability and allow great learning potential !
JohnH
ps. I am afraid that there is at least one photo of me wearing a tuxedo posted here, please do not hold that against me 
Hey Carrie, cottonmouths, snapping turtles ! Stop moaning ! It could be Sam in his skivvie's.............
John
Thanks for posting Sam, I would have to go a long way to see anything remotely approaching that view, but ! it looks pretty darn cool there, not sure that skinny dipping would 'enhance my ego', if you get my drift...........
John
Cysytal clear indeed, hence head and shoulders only Carrie !!!
John
Hi Dana ! I was thinking exactly that, but my inherent sense of 'English' decorum stopped me asking what might well be an indelicate question ! I suspect that the camera settings had a lot to do with things, (or , how to extract ones self from a potential minefield
)
John
Well, I did offer to come and help you Sam , lol, that water sure looks clear!
I am sure that this comment should be somewhere else, but it is more or less connected ! For the first time this year I have just eaten my breakfast outside, no rain, perfect summers morning, not a cloud to be seen, temp. already in the high 70's, and I am wearing shorts, also a first this year !!! Question is, am I awake, or is this a dream ?
JohnH
Keep coming back to these pics, 'the more you look the more you see' It took me a while to pick up on that 'D' end tailpiece which has a heart shape to its cutout !It's a bad enough job towork a nice cleanly finished inside to a typical 'D', lots of endgrain, me fingers ache just thinking about working that heart ! Just wish I could have handled it !! Lucky you seeing 'em Robin
John
John Henry said:
Sorry Bobby
, its already gone ! ( I've made a couple 'near to' that pattern, be great to have the 'proper job'!)
John
Sorry john, I should have said so!! I have of course used other types of finish on instruments over the years (egg whites?) but seem to have settled on the method I have described for its speed, ease in use, and a finish which goes on improving as it ages. You have handled some of the results!
best wishes
John
(was that bookshop signing story true...........?)
Exactly what I would do Lottie ! More power to yer elbow !
John
Lottie Miller said:
You could always use one or two coats of shellac, to seal the wood, rub it down with wire wool and use a wax as a finish it will have a smooth, matte sort of finish. This is my first one though, but I've used beeswax on other wood projects in the past and it had lovely results, a really subtle lustre, and it smelled good too.
john p said:I've got one to do at the moment.
Flame Maple (Like the one in the FOTMD banner), bare wood.
Any reccommendations ?
I'm not keen on very shiney finishes so french polish is out.
I've used Tung/Danish oil before, which is semi gloss. It's not as labourious as French polish, but can take a fortnight to complete.john p
Ken Hulme said:
"Suitable preparation" - hire three guys at 50 pounds per hour, eight hour minimum.
I like tung oil as a non-glossary finish - takes about 4-5 coats over a day or two.....
Ken, if that is a serious comment, you must have more money than I had thought!!! Sorta like me getting in three guys to cook me up a B- be- Q ??? Surely suitable preparation must be something that is as applicable to cooking as to anything that requires a certain outcome ?' Horses for courses I suppose, but after a long time of working and finishing wood I am always ready to concede when someone can offer a better method than the one I am used to ?
My regards
JohnH
john, if you still have 'ripple marks' from planer or whatever, no matter what you put 'on top', they are still there ? 'Sand and Seal' describes a process exactly, get rid of surface imperfections (sand) and then (seal) to provide an impervious surface. Easy to describe and easy to execute, IMO ?
John
john p said:
Thanks both, I'll look into that.
I don't like the way you put suitable preparation in italics John Henry, whats involved here.
Never come across 'sand and seal', is it the same sort of thing as button polish ?
john p
After suitable preparation , two or three coats of 'Sand and Seal' ( shellac based) , light rub with 0000 grade wire wool between coats to remove nibs, use the same used wire wool to apply a good qualitiy paste wax, buff with soft duster, and repeat until desired finish is achieved. Almost instant, more or less fool proof, (depending on the care exercised during preparation), almost instantly renewable, and completly natural looking , IMO ! ( I use 'Liberon products)
JohnH
Many years ago I worked for a High Class Joinery firm which employed a dozen or so men in its polishing shop, all of whom, having worked at their chosen craft for many years, showed distinct signs of acholisim !!! Meth based finishing products, and no real concern by the firm concerned for basic Health and Safety ! Out of interest Lottie, what is the trade name of the 'ready to use' product ?
JohnH
Ken Hulme said:
French polish? You are as sucker for punishment, aren't you! That's a lot of work! Good luck. Most of us just paint on a couple coats of something and call it good.
Advice - find some location that is as lint/dust/everything free as possible that has superior ventilation so you aren't inhaling too much shellac aroma.
May I suggest that it's to time to stop printing this nonsense!!! Some of these 'little messages' are getting to feel as if they are aimed straight at me 
"when you can't remember how old your kids (read grandkids) are but you know..." 
JohnH
Can't wait for verse 4 Jim !
JohnH
? (and it makes a great camping 'breakfast' table when turned upside down?