Forum Activity for @nate

Is the strumhollow redundant?

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I saw a Stephen Seifert video where he showed a dulcimer made for him that had a strumhollow which went all the way up to the 14th fret (16th literally) and he explained it was made this way because that was where he preferred to strum. I have attached an image. What do y'all think of the idea of hollowing out one of the spaces between two of the frets low down the fretboard? For example, if there was a strumhollow between the 8th and 9th frets, another between the 12th and 13th and another just past the bottom frets? Then while playing the top of the fretboard you could use the top strumhollow, while playing the middle you could use the middle strumhollow, and when playing way down the frets you can use the traditional strumhollow. Maybe this would be structurally weak or ugly, but I would expect that it would be more practical for consistent sound quality with less effort and technique and also would maybe reduce the damage over time caused from the pick hitting the fretboard.

Dulcimer String Anchor Pins

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Very neat workaround. Definitely an aesthetically nice solution

What's your favorite tune or dulcimer to play this month?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Have been practicing on Ashokan Farewell trying to get fluid on it. Very fond of Dusty's performance and have watched it a few times for study!

Favorite Dulcimer to play right now is my 30" long dulcimer. Keep it between us, but i never bothered to finish trimming the frets down

Is the strumhollow redundant?

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

I built my first dulcimer before I had ever seen or heard any played, after reading a page in a homesteading book on how to build them. I sort of just assumed the strumhollow is where you strum. Once I watched a couple videos about antinodes I realized I should strum in the middle of the string, and once I watched some dulcimer videos I realized most players strum about 1/4 the way up the string from the bridge. Most players agree the strumhollow is just not the sweet place to strum. For a while I stopped adding them, and instead would just hollow out the channel on the underside of the fingerboard all the way down to the bridge. It worked terrifically and probably was much more structurally sound than a strumhollow due to the shape. Sometimes on quicker builds I will even just drill a few holes where the strumhollow would be, to reduce the mass of the neck without sacrificing so much structural integrity. What do y'all think? is there any value to a strumhollow other than just to reduce some of the wood off the fingerboard? Is extending the channel on the underside just as effective as adding a strum hollow? Is drilling holes like on this strumstick as effective?

Finish

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The first three dulcimers I made for practice were exactly identical in materials and dimensions, but one was unprotected craftboard, one had just enough of a poly stain mix to coat the surface, and the third had a heavy few coats of poly forming a shell around the wood. These three were all made from craftboard so not exactly identical grain or anything, but the difference in the three was stark. The bare craftboard has by far the softest most mellow tone, and the one with a heavy poly coat is very twangy and bright, while the one with a modest amount of poly falls in between. The one with the most poly is loudest, and the one with exposed wood is the quietest, also. My assumption has been that because the poly is stiffer than the wood, the more i add, the more the tonal quality resembles a stiffer type of wood. I dont know how this would translate to harder types of wood. Maybe if it were a wood that is stiffer than the poly it would actually dampen the sound?

What's the deal with Aquavinas?

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What's the deal with Aquavinas?

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

Sorry for the late response but I finally shot a quick video showing how the bundt pan sounds. Unfortunately I had to shoot it on my phone so the audio quality i a bit lacking, but here it is for those who expressed curiousity!

What's the deal with Aquavinas?

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

The best I understand it is that as the water moves around the pan, it alters the vibration in the places it is in contact with the pan. What I think this means is that to get the most effect you want the water to be moving around as much as possible. When i fill the pan nearly all the way it 'muddies' the tone and as it sloshes does not change the tone very much at all. Just enough water to go across the bottom has almost no noticeable effect. Putting about 1/2" of water at the bottom of the pan seems to have the most pronounced effect of any level. I have also noticed that the thinner the metal of the pan, the louder the effect is. 

What's the deal with Aquavinas?

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

At some point I found myself on the Wikipedia page for mountain dulcimers where I saw a description of a mountain dulcimer variant called an "Aquavina." The description given went as follows: "... essentially a variant of the Appalachian Dulcimer , but with a metal resonator body partially filled with water. The player would agitate the instrument while playing, resulting in a constant acoustic phasing effect within the instrument's  harmonics"

I had already made dulcimers out of things like coffee cans, cookie tins, and frying pans so immediately this seemed right up my alley. A bit of googling later I was only able to find indication of one actual song recorded by the inventor called "Naïades" which I was unable to find any recordings of. The only audio I was able to find at all was a video of a so-called "junk aquavina" which had very primitive design, two strings, was played with a slide, and seemed to have audio effects added on, as well as other instruments played over it. Basically I have no idea what this thing is supposed to sound like.

I figured if no one else knows what it sounds like, maybe I can find out for myself, and when I considered the definition I quickly thought of an idea that's been bouncing around my head for a while that utilizes a bundt pan as a resonator. Once I built it, I poured some water in the bundt pan and started playing and WOW. Very difficult to describe. The best I can articulate is that it's a lot like having a mild "wah wah pedal" electric guitar effect every time you slightly move the instrument. It adds a dreamlike ambiance. 

The first adjective I thought of was 'dreamy' yet the wiki page uses the term "eerie" and the 'junk aquavina' video also sounds quite ominous, though I am not assuredly convinced that either of those are definitive. I'd love to find out more. As it stands I've made a few using bundt pans filled partially with water. I'll include an image of one of them, and will make a video soon to show how mine sounds, but I'm very curious about what you guys know. Have any of you folks ever made any? Played one? Ever heard one? Seen one in person? Does anyone know where I can find any videos of them? Images? 

John Molineux uses a striker on a mountain dulcimer

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Very fascinating. I first started playing dulcimer using a colored pencil for a striker. At the time i was listening to a blues artist named eddie jones who played a diddley bow with a whittled stick and thought maybe i was bringing a new technique over to the dulcimer. Of course it makes sense that a great player has already thought of it and developed mastery with it. I gave up pretty soon on the colored pencil so it's awesome to see what a skilled version of what i was trying looks like. Personally I found it very difficult to utilize the percussion while still keeping the sound sweet and pretty and I made a striker wrapped in felt, which i found gives the dulcimer a sound almost like a piano.