Forum Activity for @staylor

Left handed playing

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I'm left-handed, too, and could never play right-handed on guitar, uke, banjo or mandolin.  My dulcimer was right-handed when I received it, and I thought I'd immediately take it back to McSpadden in Mountain View to convert it...but someone kindly noted that chords can be played as mirror images of themselves and suggested I try playing it as it was built.

Playing this way puts the bass string under my thumb, right where I'm used to playing bass strings on other instruments, so I mostly fingerpick and it's very comfortable and natural.  For al the other instruments, the obstacle was in my hands and what felt most natural doing, but with the dulcimer, it turned out the obstacle was my expectations before really trying!

No matter what, I hope your daughter finds joy in the dulcimer.  Music just seems to fall effortlessly out it!

Pick noise

Playing and jamming difficulties...HELP ME!

Thank you all for your replies.  For some songs, I agree that the percussive click adds a cool rhythm element, just like it does on guitar.  It made a really big difference when I switched from the thin, large triangular pick that came with the dulcimer to one of my thicker guitar picks, where I don't have as much of the point exposed.  As a new dulcimist, I wouldn't have reached those conclusions on my own this quickly without your help!

Last night, I realized I'd learned all but one chord to James Taylor's cowboy lullabye, "Sweet Baby James," so I looked up Bm and started playing.  Suddenly, it felt like I was back on the steps at my grandparents' home in south Arkansas in 1972, struggling to change through the same chords on my first guitar.  So my new-to-me dulcimer has already brought back some wonderful memories and enabled me to appreciate the joy of learning an old, old favorite--all over again in a new way. 

 

Pick noise

Playing and jamming difficulties...HELP ME!

I'm learning to play quickly after almost 50 years with other stringed instruments, but it feels like I may be developing a bad habit.  When I strum with a thin triangular pick over the lower bout sound holes to get a sweeter tone, I'm also getting a consistent click from the pick striking the fretboard. 

I watched a very experienced player recently and noticed some clicking from him, too.  Is that sound just inevitable, or is there a technique I should be using to minimize pick click when I'm not strumming over the scooped portion of the instrument?

Thanks for any advice!

 

 

Fair price for a 2003 McSpadden

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Thank you all again for your responses.  Santa--in the form of lovely wife and mother-in-law--genuinely surprised me by buying this beautiful dulcimer on the sly for $200.  That was a bargain for us, and our friends were happy for it to go to someone who'll actually play it without the hassle of shipping.

I look forward to spending some time here and learning more.  Happy new year! 

 

 

Fair price for a 2003 McSpadden

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Thanks for the advice on converting to left-handed--if this dulcimer becomes mine.  (The longer it lingers in my 'temporary' care while the owner decides its fate--and the closer it gets to Christmas--the greater my hope that lovely wife is scheming to obtain it at a price that fair to all of us!)

The nice folks at McSpadden say they'd be glad to do it, if I end up owning it, for about $10 worth of labor and the price of strings next time we're in Mountain View.

In the meantime, I'm keeping my fingers crossed...except when I'm playing it, of course.  Thanks again to all who've shared information in this thread.  I hope all of you will have a blessed holiday season.  

Fair price for a 2003 McSpadden

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

The dulcimer avoided the estate sale, and since I know a little about them and offered to help my friends learn its true value, I'm its current caretaker.  Which, of course, means I've spent less time lately playing guitar and banjo and more time playing this right-handed dulcimer left-handed.

Of course, it's beautiful and sounds great and I'm bonding with it.  I know it wouldn't cost much to convert it to left-handed, and--of course--I still don't really have the spare cash to give our friends what it's worth. They've been out of state and lovely wife will see what they want to do with it later this week. 

They could consign it to the music store in Mountain View, post it on this site or maybe make me a deal I can live with, guilt-free.

In the meantime, it's been a very pleasant addition to the music room in our house and, if nothing else, has confirmed that I really need to add a mountain dulcimer to our collection of stringed instruments!   Thank you all again for your help.

 

 

 

Fair price for a 2003 McSpadden

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Banjimer, that last reply pretty much summed up my own thinking, but I wanted to confirm it with others.  Thanks. 

It's a great instrument looking for a buyer, and that probably won't happen at an estate sale. If I had some spare cash, I'd make it mine and have it converted to left-handed at the shop where it was built.  But I can't offer them a fair price right now, and I wouldn't risk any hard feelings in a valuable friendship over a business deal. .

I play guitar and dabble in mando, banjo, uke and a little dobro.  I've loved McSpadden dulcimers and enjoyed playing them on trips to Mountain View for many, many years but never owned one. 

Thanks for the great advice, which I'll share with the owners. 

 

Fair price for a 2003 McSpadden

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Those are good questions about storage.  If they don't let it go through the estate sale this weekend, they might follow your suggestion about photos and offering it for sale on this forum...and I'll know some additional details to add!  Thanks so much. 

Fair price for a 2003 McSpadden

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Thank you both.  I'm not sure the young owner ever played it.  I can't find a mark or ding on it.  I've been visiting the Dulcimer Shoppe in Mountain View since the '70s and know their work....it looks like it just came out of the case for the first time ever, and it has one of the prettiest figured walnut tops I've ever seen from there.

Thanks for helping me and my friends. 

Fair price for a 2003 McSpadden

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

I'll appreciate your advice on behalf of my friends, who have a McSpadden SW12WW (all-walnut, beautiful flame top) dulcimer built in December 2003 with George Looney's name on the label.  It's in a hardshell case with a McSpadden sticker and looks like it came straight out of the Dulcimer Shoppe in Mountain View.  I don't think their son ever really played it.

They've asked for help in determining its value, but I'm not finding records of sales for the same model in similar years online.  I believe a new one with similar specs + pro case would be around $680 or so, including sales tax, but prices were much lower in 2003.

If they let it go through an estate sale, it feels like they'll get only a fraction of its value.  If it were yours, what would you ask, or what's a reasonable price to request, please?  What other avenues would you try to get the most value for a really, beautiful instrument that needs a buyer?  

Thanks so much.  I'm enjoying this site and look forward to learning more about mountain dulcimers here.