Forum Activity for @nate

Nickel allergy--nylon strings on an octave dulcimer?

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

In general an instrument built for steel strings will have less volume and sustain when using nylon strings. This is because nylon strings are typically at a much lower tension, and dulcimers made for nylon strings are typically lighter, in order to be more responsive. The strings will eventually stop stretching and will keep their tune. If youre not happy with the tone you might be best off sticking to metal strings. I do like silver coated strings, as well as plain steel. I dont know much about nickel allergies and how careful you have to be, but I also used cobalt strings one time and gold coated strings another and found the tone nice for both.

updated by @nate: 09/28/23 11:07:51AM

Fiddle

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Thanks a ton to both of you for the positive encouragement! So far I've been keeping the headstock tuner turned on while I practice scales, so I can adjust. Ive never been great at knowing if I'm in tune so this will be a big challenge for me.

Fiddle

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Ken, I've become a bit of an instrument hoarder and I probably own more instruments than anyone could master in a lifetime, so I get what you mean. The fiddle is one that I feel more motivation for than other instruments so I finally bought myself a beginner model. I am hoping some stuff I learned on mandolin can transfer over

Nate

Fiddle

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Haha I like that dusty. I must be a fast learner because it only took me about 30 seconds to be bad at it

Fiddle

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Ive just started learning fiddle! It's the one instrument that Ive always wished I was really good at, if I could pick one. Guess it's finally time to get that ball rolling! 

Nate

Checking in

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Shooter, I built a cigar box guitar tuned DAD before I built any dulcimers. To me a 3 string CBG is the same as a chromatic strumstick. Cigar box guitars led me to building dulcimers, and I still like building cigar box dulcimers a lot. It's all a lot of fun

PS I recommend that new mandolin players start with 1 string per course while learning the chords, then add in the second string once you have the shapes down. Those strings can really shred up your fingertips and limit the amount of time you can practice when you're first starting, which makes a lot of people burn out on Mando 

Nate

Accompaniment

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of pickups because of all the added fuss of having to bring an amp and make sure you have power supply, plus I'm not someone you can trust with cords around their feet lol.

That's why I make some of my dulcimers really thin, really large in volume, with metal cake pans, and with really heavy gauge strings. They're SUPER loud and can hold their ground against other instruments when played acoustically. In fact I have to play very gently when playing with other dulcimers or I will drown them out lol.

I have only seen one real resonator dulcimer and it was even louder than mine, so a dulcibro seems like the ticket if you want to be louder than the banjo. In general some dulcimers are much louder than others, and are better suited to playing alongside loud instruments. 

updated by @nate: 09/13/23 06:14:32PM

Accompaniment

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

 
Shanon, most dulcimers are relatively quiet when compared to other instruments, and are easily "drowned out" by banjos, mandolins, fiddles, resonator guitars, etc. I don't like to think of it as 'drowned out' though, I like to think of it as fitting in nicely. It's not always that easy to discern a dulcimer when played with louder instruments, but the music does still sound fuller for having one. With modern tech you could make a dulcimer way louder than everything else if you wanted to, but if youre sitting between a banjo and a fiddle and it's all acoustic, your dulcimer isnt going to be very pronounced.

I wish I had the opportunity to play dulcimer with concertina, but I don't know anybody with one. Id love to get myself a concertina and learn to play but i already own a handful of instruments that I haven't learned yet so I think the concertina might have to wait a while
updated by @nate: 09/13/23 06:40:55AM

Maybe ive been in the dark but how cool is THIS?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I forgot to mention, you can find those built in pre-amps with tuners online for anywhere from 15-300$ depending on the quality. You'd have to cut a hole in the side of your merlin to install the display into, and youd have to cut a slot into your bridge under your saddle for the pickup to sit in. Nothing too complicated to do yourself, and definitely something you could get done by a pro if you wanted to. Just make sure you get a preamp small enough to fit in your instrument, perhaps a ukulele preamp.

Maybe ive been in the dark but how cool is THIS?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I have built a dulcimer with a fishman preamp that I recycled from an acoustic guitar. It had an UST or basically a pickup under the bridge and had a built in metronome, tuner, and tone controls.

Personally I am not a big fan of how amplification changes the tone so much, however I'm also not a big fan of the hollow, plunking tone that strumsticks often have. I have tried one of those little piezos, and preferred that, because the original tone was mostly preserved. In my opinion, many strumsticks players are also guitar players who want a more gutsy, guitar like tone, and install pickups to achieve that. 

When it comes to tuners built into amps, maybe this is just me, but I find their displays to be very unintuitive to use to tune. I have a headstock tuner but I mostly use an app on my phone. A modern smartphone has a very high quality microphone, typically better quality than you'll ever need for tuning, and also typically better than an actual tuner, plus the display is much bigger and has more details. The clip on can be handy in a group setting or anywhere noisy.

Nate

updated by @nate: 09/10/23 04:29:40PM

Confused about Sharps and Flats

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

To give a specific example of how key and temperament affect notes on the dulcimer, if you had 3 dulcimers built to be tuned (EBE) and
one was "equal temperament"
one was "mean tone temperament"
one was "just intonated"
G# would be flatter on the "just intonated" dulcimer than it is on the equal temperament dulcimer
G# would be sharper on the "meantone" dulcimer than it would on the equal temperament dulcimer.
That is not a common tuning, but it is an example of one where G# is quite different for each temperament, since you mentioned G#.

The Joy of Sharing Dulcimer

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

 
I think a tin whistle can be a really abrasive sound in the hands of a new player. When I started on tin whistle, I didnt have any breath control and would always waver in and out of pitch or blow too hard and hit the higher octave. Luckily it was just my cats who had to be there for that learning experience, but they made it very clear that they were worried about me xD

At least a plastic recorder, as much as I don't like the sound, is a bit quieter and less sharp of a tone. I can imagine that children who are genuinely interested could benefit a lot from learning tin whistle, but that the average 3rd grader, if given a tin whistle, would be a true menace xD

The Joy of Sharing Dulcimer

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

 
I find the idea of associating counting with musical notes to be fascinating for a developing mind, since they have different number bases (demical system being base 10, dulcimer base 7, 12 tone, well...12) 

It's my opinion that 'music' is just a series of numbers or 'frequencies' that can be combined into equations or 'melodies/progressions' that our mind finds engaging. I've always been fascinated with research on how early exposure to music affects both math and language skills. 

To me, it is very interesting that many mathematicians have suggested over time that a base 7 number system is more useful than a base 10 for some purposes, but we rely on base 10 simply because that is how many fingers we have. Well if a dulcimer is base 7 (with 7 notes to an octave) and they learn base 10 with counting, this might encourage children to have a more naturally elastic view of maths!

Information on luthier Larry Wilson?

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

Haha, well while I'm definitely no expert in the standard behavior of woodworkers, but I do know that a lot of people have a grandfather who built a handful of dulcimers for friends and family, and when those get sold, it can be almost impossible to find info about them. 

You do make a very good point. Dulcimers can come in different intonations (such as meantone or Just-intonated), or have a bridge setup for a tuning with a specific gauge of strings such as DAA, or AEA, so buying from an obscure luthier increases those risks.

Information on luthier Larry Wilson?

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

After trying to dig a bit, I came across several woodworkers with the name Larry Wilson, but couldn't find anything specifically about dulcimers from any of them. Whoever he is, he doesn't seem to have much online presence. I think it's somewhat common for skilled woodworkers to build a couple of dulcimers for fun, which then end up in circulation with very little info about their builder. I wonder if this may be like that.

updated by @nate: 08/30/23 03:08:49PM

FANS OF NATE

OFF TOPIC discussions

Okay backup plan. You are the minister of propaganda, all you have to do is comment under my songs that you enjoyed them. So far your service has been admirable!

FANS OF NATE

OFF TOPIC discussions

Well then its settled, Robin. You are the enforcer! Your job is to bounce the undesirables. I'll leave it to you to determine which shins you want to kick, and the full brunt force of FANS OF NATE (which I think is just us) will descend on them! 

Introduce Yourself!

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I am guessing the satisfaction of restoring your instrument only added to the joy of playing it!

Welcome

-Nate

I only see original post in a discussion, not replies..?

Site QUESTIONS ? How do I...?

 
Haha sucker, I didn't even pay yet! 

Seriously though that page got a big grin out of me

FANS OF NATE

OFF TOPIC discussions

Of course Robin, though we might need some treasure first. Sadly, I think this may be one of those times where the real treasure is the friends we made along the way....

I only see original post in a discussion, not replies..?

Site QUESTIONS ? How do I...?

 
I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a fansite today

I only see original post in a discussion, not replies..?

Site QUESTIONS ? How do I...?

I'm not saying you should convert the entire platform into a massive fansite dedicated to how cool I am, but......well actually that is exactly what I'm saying.

I only see original post in a discussion, not replies..?

Site QUESTIONS ? How do I...?

To be honest, I find the separation of Groups and Discussions kind of confusing. Im never really sure where I should be posting. I've also gotten confused a few times when I click on a group discussion from google search, and it doesnt show the replies because I'm not in the group. For non-members this is probably very confusing. For what it's worth I'm not great at navigating this site but I think it is very well put together considering just how much information is packed into this place!

A Test for Tone-Deafness!

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Hey Dusty! I noticed that I was able to improve quickly at the test, probably because it used the same tone each time. I also went from 28-31 after retrying. I think your math is right that 1-64th corresponds to 1.5 cents. Not that it matters for me. Being able to tell one tone is a cent and a half higher than another would be much more helpful if I also knew which one is the correct tone. XD

A Test for Tone-Deafness!

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

A test to determine how well you can discern subtle differences in pitch. I always assumed that I had poor pitch perception, but apparently I can detect a 1-16th of a note difference reliably! If anyone else would like to take this test, I'd love to know what you score!
https://www.themusiclab.org/quizzes/td
Nate

Frank Bond Dulcimer

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

On a serious note though, I am quite curious about what would compel someone to remove frets from the fingerboard...it strikes me that the frets are removed from the outer ends of the instrument. Is the dulcimer 'bowed' downward such that the bridge and nut are lower than the center of the fretboard? Maybe the frets were removed to prevent buzzing? If so, the repair might be a touch more complicated. Is the fretboard level for it's full length?

Frank Bond Dulcimer

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

Haha I found the misunderstanding about 'missing frets' amusing. Surely you guys must be aware that a  truly traditional dulcimer only has 3 frets to an octave. This was increased to 7 during an early surge in popularity known as the "vival" hundreds of years before the 1.5 and 6.5 were later also added during a period called the "re-vival."

How does your pet react to your Dulcimer playing?

OFF TOPIC discussions

My cat is very indifferent to the dulcimer, but gets very concerned when I play the harmonica and hates when I play the pennywhistle. More than anything, I think he doesnt like that my dulcimer occupies my lap when he wishes he did.

Just For Fun - sayings regarding the dulcimer or music

OFF TOPIC discussions

"Folk music is high-class music. There's a lotta low-class people singin' it. Matter of fact, most so-called folk singers don't even look like folk." -Abner Jay

Sustain volume when sliding to a lower fret

Playing and jamming difficulties...HELP ME!

When I'm making a long slide with my thumb, I often pluck the string partway through the slide. Sometimes at half the distance I'm sliding to, sometimes wherever it fits into the rhythm nicely, sometimes to emphasize a specific not along the way.

Sustain volume when sliding to a lower fret

Playing and jamming difficulties...HELP ME!

I dont know much, but from my experience, moving the noter across the frets as fast as possible makes the note noticeably more pronounced than moving it slower, when you are hitting each fret along the way. I think one technique tries to give the intermittent slide where each fret along the way is heard as it slides into the next, while another technique tries to slide along the string without touching the frets for a more consistent sliding tone. I feel that denser noter material allows the sliding to be heard better. For example, a delicate touch  passing over the frets using an actual glass slide or ceramic slide seems to be the loudest for me. When pressing down to 'bump' each fret along the way, I prefer to use a dense piece of wood hitting each fret hard to excite the string. I also will sometimes pluck the string mid slide, or will lift off and hammer down with the noter to accent the note I'm ending on.

Hope this was useful

Nate

Show Us Your Pets!

OFF TOPIC discussions

Bubba

Dulcimer Players News demise

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

By my generation, popeye and similar cartoons didnt even play on boomerang. The full collection of betty boop, woody woodpecker, sailor mickey, wile e coyote, popeye, etc were DVDs at the dollar store.

updated by @nate: 07/02/23 11:59:23PM

Dulcimer Players News demise

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Lol john it does in fact make you strong to the finish. I was told once that the decimal point was misplaced on a study about the iron content of spinach, thus it was considered a miracle food with 100x the iron it actually had. Personally, I like it with some ricotta, or in a buttered curry with some squash and chicken!

Dulcimer Players News demise

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Haha, Gordon, we ate a lot of spinach and poke in Arkansas, but never without sweating it down in some lard or bacon grease. They dont call it soul food cause it's good for the body!

Dulcimer Players News demise

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Strumelia, the strange thing I've noticed is that my generation will gladly watch a 5 hour video as long as its divided into 20 parts.

In truth I definitely did imagine a tiktok style video telling three minutes of dulcimer history, with a part 2 and 3 and an endless stream of new minutes, since as you said, there is a LOT to cover.

Short condensed videos could help to reach a much broader audience, the way a magazine once could. I know it has been said a lot of times, but I think a dulcimer could easily replace the ukulele as the definitive beginner-friendly instrument for folk music/singer-songwriter music.

I value DPN as it is quite a lot. It is a deep, deep well of information at this point. I wouldn't want to lose that just to make the content more digestible, but if there were a high quality source of digestible excerpts about dulcimer content a la an Instagram video, I suspect that would really help dulcimer to become more culturally relevant. Again, I feel the instrument has so much potential that it blows my mind it's not more popular. 

PS, I hope you are right that people who value self subsistence and traditional skills will help to revive the dulcimer, the typewriter and vinyl people I could take or leave. Lol

Nate

updated by @nate: 06/30/23 07:57:27PM

Healthy Living- healthy eating, exercise, weight loss, veggie gardening, etc.

OFF TOPIC discussions

Wow Ken, I'm envious! Sounds like you've put them to about every use under the sun. My grandfather had a few mango trees on his farm and they always seemed to grow more than the whole family plus the neighbors could use!

Dulcimer Players News demise

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

To the conversation about getting young people to engage, I myself am a young person (just turned 24) and I think it would be a huge challenge to get the broader audience of young people to read any sort of printed magazine, digital or physical. Most young people prefer short videos to written text. If dulcimer had an ambassador who could output short vlog style videos showing techniques, styles, tips, history, design, players etc, that would probably be the best bet. It would be a massive undertaking for DPN or anyone else, and probably wouldn't end up worth the time.

updated by @nate: 06/30/23 12:10:07PM

What to call your dulcimer collection?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Whenever I clean up, the couch becomes the temporary home of what I affectionately refer to as "the hoarde" as they are a horde I've hoarded. haha

updated by @nate: 06/24/23 05:36:54AM

Vintage Dulcimer

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

It took me a bit too long to understand what I was looking at. Such a neat design, good thing you found this dulcimer and not me or else I would have glued it together without even thinking twice haha