Forum Activity for @ginab

Introduce Yourself!

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

QuaranTUNE is awesome, there will be another one in December but registration will open some time in November. Their website is virtualdulcimerfest.com

The North Georgia Foothills Dulcimer Association festival is on November 17, 18, and 19. Registration closes on October 31 but the guy said they typically leave it open for a day or two for those that get paid on the first. Their classes are $11 each hour. 

Guy George is teaching 5 PW (penny whistle) classes, Scott Reeder is teaching 1, Lorinda Jones is 1 or 2, and Aubrey Atwater has 2. 

If you google the name, NGFDA.com it will take you there. I'm taking 3 or 4 of the PW classes. I was going to take a couple more but I have to pick between a couple of PW classes and want the Ukulele (UK) or Mountain Dulcimer (MD) class more. I think I'm going to register for 11 or 12 classes but I won't know if they're available/not full until I go through registration after I get my deposit.  

There are lots of things you can do for breathing. I find that if I blow to hard the lower notes squeak and sound awful. My Clarke is a really good whistle. I'm still learning for sure. The higher notes are easy for me. They just take a little bit more air. I bet you know more breathing exercises than me. By far! I do okay and I haven't played my clarinet in years but I do sing while performing on the Ukulele in my senior group. So that helps keep me remember to breath deep while practicing. I use a C-pap at night to help with my breathing and my pulmonologist says my lungs are really good. 

Do I keep it and fix it up or play it as is

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I searched FB marketplace for MD's for sale within 250 miles of me, in Oklahoma, and there were over 10 of them. Some were cheap things that I was advised to not purchase. I'm not sure about the smaller versions such as the Pudge and the Ginger, I think they might be too small for me. I might have to go to Arkansas to try one out, just window shopping at that point I think. I don't know if Branson has any music stores with MD for sale, but several of the ones I found on FB for sale were there. 

I think I have decided to get the estimate to see how much this professional repair guy will charge to fix this one up. I'd hate to try and sell it like it is. The person purchasing it would have to invest money in new gear machines, strings, and possibly more. The nails on the tail look rusty to me too. 

I'm going to see what happens with that and continue playing this one for now. 

Warren May Hourdrop Question

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

I have small hands and am short. I can strum my dulcimer mostly okay but I wonder about a shorter VSL. Will it bring both my hands to the front of my body? Will I feel hunched over? I have so many questions. 

My home-crafted dulcimer was made in 1993 by a man in a nearby town. He made more and sold them for a while too. But it's 36" long, 9 1/2" at the widest, and 4" from the counter to the top of the tuning buttons. I can't buy a bag for it due to the 4". Most bags are 3"-3 1/2". The VSL is 27". I'm short and round and have small hands so I wonder what my other options might be, other than a Pudge or Ginger. They seem to be very small. 

Do I keep it and fix it up or play it as is

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Thank you. I agree, I look at it and I feel like it just really looks old and worn out. I can play it okay, I do have to lean a little bit when I'm playing on the first fret but it's not awkward.

I was looking at the Ginger and the Pudge, but I want to strum one and sit with it on my lap to see if it feels okay. I'm short and have small hands. So maybe one of them would work better. McSpadden is about 6 hours east of me. New Harmony is a lot further away so I'm hoping to find one in a music store somewhere. 

I do think I want to get an estimate first then go from there. I just don't know what I'll do with that information yet. 

Do I keep it and fix it up or play it as is

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I'm new to the dulcimer world. I have a quandary regarding the MD that I bought. It's huge, 27" VSL, and needs work.

36" long, 9 1/2" at the widest part, and from the counter top to the top of the tuning buttons is 4". Most bags are only 9" wide and 3 1/2" tall. So my MD won't fit in any off the rack sort of gig bag. I sew, so I could make one and I do have supplies to make a sturdier sort of case for it eventually. If I keep it. 

It is very corroded and chipped up. I paid $100 for it and feel that was a good price to pay. The man built it, it's labeled 001. Then he built more and sold them for a while in the 90's. This one sat on a shelf for more than 20 years. It needs a lot of work. One of the strings broke while I was tuning it one day and the music store here in town tuned it to something weird. When I got home I couldn't find the pitches. I was turning the buttons and I eventually broke a second string, second melody D though so it wasn't important. 

I found someone that can do the work, a music store east of Tulsa. I think it will be a couple hundred plus. 

That would be at least $300 invested in this MD. I do think it will be well over $200 for the repairs and putting planetary gear machines on it. All new tuning parts. 

I can add a few photos? I'll try. The gouges on the front and chips on the edges bother me. They keep me from really loving this MD. I know that's silly but I want to really love my instruments façade.

My quandary is do I spend the money to have this one professionally "fixed up", with maybe putting a darker stain on the wood to cover up some of the damage, and refurbished or do I save that money to buy a smaller MD from either McSpadden or some other company that has a shorter VSL? 

What are your opinions? 

updated by @ginab: 02/13/23 08:34:22PM

Introduce Yourself!

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Sorry to ask random questions on your thread but I can't seem to be able to figure out how to post a question in a group. I also have uploaded a photo several times to be my profile photo but it's still a random dulcimer. 

Introduce Yourself!

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I'm in Oklahoma. Not UK. 

I just finished up QuaranTUNE 8.0. Took 4 Mountain Dulcimer classes, 4 Penny whistle, and 3 ukulele classes. Had a blast! I've played Uke about 3 and a half years now. I can play a lot of 3 finger chords but some of those others! WOW! I don't have 6 fingers! 

I saw an ad for a pennywhistle workshop when I was googling mountain dulcimer festivals. It was SCDH.org, Southern California Dulcimer Heritage. I wondered what a pennywhistle was and googled it. It has the same fingering as my clarinet upper register so I started researching them. I bought a Clarke D whistle then a week or so later I found a Generation C at my local music store. We have a strong Classical Conversations group in the area. They do pennywhistle as part of their curriculum. 

So I've been playing that for about a month now. I do okay with it. 

There are ukulele groups all around, one in OKC meets each month at least once at a banjo museum to jam, they use The Daily Ukulele as their basic music. Gasoline is so high right now that it's hard to travel for a few hours just to attend a jam though. 

Is anyone participating in any upcoming festivals? I'm looking at the North Georgia one, QuaranTUNE is doing a Christmas festival, then Dulcimoon in January, and QuaranTUNE 9.0 in February. 

Introduce Yourself!

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I saw a mountain dulcimer for sale on FB and bought it. It opened up a whole new world to me. I don't have anyone that plays within a hundred miles so I play alone. I'm looking forward to getting to know people.