Forum Activity for @derik-palmer

Here's my problem...

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

Thank you guys for all your pointers. Ken, I downloaded that essay and its told me a lot - many thanks. I retuned my dulcimer to DAA and had a play which was instructive but for now I've put it back to DAD because most of the instructional material I've seen seems to be for that tuning; I'll explore other tunings once I've got the basics under my belt. Its certainly making some very pretty sounds!

Here's my problem...

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

Thank you both! I never actually thought there was something 'wrong' with the dulcimer... much more likely that it's my lack of knowledge. Nevertheless I'm reassured that there's a workaround - this is all learning and thats what I want - I have a VERY low boredom threshold...

And its nice to know that I haven't wasted my money; after all, I parted with a hundred pounds for this lovely thing... including its polished wooden case... I think I got a bargain!

Here's my problem...

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

So, following on from my post in the 'Introduce Yourself' forum here is the dulcimer I bought earlier this week. Its beautifully built and I know enough about other instruments to recognise real luthier crftsmanship when I see it. According to the label inside it was built by Michael Fluegge in April 1983 and is an H6 model, no, 83.

I have had a look at Brett Ridgway's introductory lessons on Youtube to get me started. In the very first lesson he demonstrates how to play the tonic scale by going up the fretboard fret by fret omitting only the sixth; there should be two short frets before the octave - but I've got only one! The tonic scale is fine up to the fifth degree, the sixth is flat before I reach the octave at the double-marked fret. Cn anybody tell me where I'm going wrong please?

Introduce Yourself!

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Hello - I'm new!

Well to be more specific, the flesh is definitely past its sell-by date but although I play guitar, double bass, keyboards, autoharps and mandolin I'm very new to the dulcimer. I bought one this week and I'm still not entirely sure how it happened; it wasn't really by accident, probably because the lockdown here in the UK has got me looking for something new to do, and also because all my life (I'm 73) I have suffered from Oscar Wilde Syndrome - I can resist anything except temptation...

Anyway, I now have a very nice luthier-built dulcimer and straight away I've encountered a puzzle. Since there's a specific forum for discussing particular instruments I'll post the problem and some photos there. If you feel like heading over, taking a look and giving me the benefit of the hive mind I'd be awfully grateful...