On more suggestion I heard discussed at a festival. A new player was asking the workshop leader "how to hold the pick" and the leader replied that you should "choke down on the pick" until you have maybe a 1/4 inch or maybe a little more with the tip sticking out kind of at an angle rather than straight down and play that way. It would certainly limit the length of pick that would be entering the string area. Maybe someone else has some ideas. I love this forum - the sharing helps all of us. Linda
Forum Activity for @linda-i-vickers
I agree with Wayne about the pointless picks. I also was tearing my fretboard up with the way I was coming down on it with the herdum (sp?) picks and their "point". Since I changed to the pointless (round picks), I haven't seen that kind of damage. I also started ordering dulcimers with fret boards that have really hard wood overlay on the fret board for those I use for strumming. One thing to realize - it took me a awhile to get used to using those round picks - in fact it took a couple of weeks to really feel like I was as comfortable (hitting the strings like I wanted to) with the round ones as opposed to the pointed picks. But, I haven't gone back so that tells you something. One added note: David Schnaufer's model for McSpadden has a pick guard on the sound board because David wore a hole in his dulcimer from coming down on it with the pick so don't feel too badly. And, when Aubrey Atwater came to the Lone Star State Dulcimer festival in Granbury TX last year, she held a couple of workshops. The dulcimer she was using had two grooves worn in her dulcimer so deep it looked like someone had carved it out with a knife and the sound board had an 8-inch long crack in it. She explained the fret board as a result of her aggressive playing. Hope you find a solution to your quest. Linda
This is fun - I'm really enjoying the variety of playing and players. These are two of my absolute favorite videos: Josh Noe is a young player and extremely talented - love to see/hear the wonderful talent of our younger players:
Josh Noe - Indigo Out/Gary Gallier
And, I love this one because the tune/playing is great but also because the location is a great backdrop - enjoy:
Farewell Fair One at City of Rocks- Gary Gallier
Thanks Margie for asking -Linda :)
Anyone familiar with Gallier Dulcimers?
Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions
Vivian, The Gallier dulcimers are designed primarily for playing fingerpicking style (Gary fingerpicks). Last May I decided to order an A-Frame which is the smaller version (26 VSL vs. 27 VSL for the Starsong) of Gary's dulcimer. Gary designed it(you can read the specifics on his website) and taught his brother, Les, to make it. At that time, he quoted me this price for the dulcimer. The A Frame is $625 which includes shipping and handling, hardwood fretboard overlay, position markers, edge binding on the top perimeter, and strap buttons. There is an optional gig bag case that is $40.There are two tuneson youtube and can be accessed under the A-Frame information that areplayed by Josh Noe (The Trip Home and Indigo Out). My only experience is playing the A-Frame fingerpicking style and with its thinner wood and other Gallier design characteristics (see the website), it has an exceptionally pretty sound. The wait isn't as long for Les to complete a dulcimer but he is a full-time musician so there is a waiting period depending on what might be going on. He had a few delays with my dulcimer; I received the dulcimer at the end of September. Would I buy it again? Yes I would! If anyone has any other questions on the A-Frame they would like an opinion on - I'll glady share mine. Hope ya'll are having a great new year. Linda