Forum Activity for @overdrive

Pick noise

Playing and jamming difficulties...HELP ME!

Exploring the world of plectra is almost a hobby all by itself! I love my collection of picks, and I'm sure I am not alone in this. So many different materials, shapes, colors and thicknesses.  I sort them into different little Altoid tins.  There's even a tin in my desk drawer at work to fidget with while I'm on the phone or in a Zoom meeting.  Brings me calm comfort and joy. I have hand-made ones from buttons and coconut shell and coins.  I have an off-brand green cellulose pick that sounds the best on my dulcimer, but awful on my other instruments. I may never get used to thumb picks, but I have a few. Experiment and find the sound you want!

How Many Dulcimers Do You Own?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I guess it's time I took some photos!  Notice the "floating tail" and the bent bicycle spoke clamping the strings for a better break angle.

How Many Dulcimers Do You Own?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I only have *one* dulcimer, but I made it with my own two hands forty years ago in Tennessee. The walnut wood came from my high school civics teacher's backyard sawmill.  Dad and I helped him feed the wood through and used it for the staircase in our farmhouse. I kept a piece of the newel post and carefully sliced thin pieces using a bandsaw we had built ourselves from a kit. The nut was made from a PVC drainpipe scrap. A tailpiece was snipped from A/C duct. Our town library had a xeroxed pamphlet with detailed instructions on bookmatching and steam bending and using the right glue and precise fret placement.  It isn't symmetrical, but it came out looking so beautiful!  5 strings, I didn't know how to play or tune it, and it honestly sounded bad.  Well, one string sounded okay.

Two years ago, I determined to make it better. Better tuners, a new bone nut, a brass (key)bridge. Just 3 strings for now. Adjusted the action. After coming this far, I had to do the work myself.  Finally, I love the way it plays and sounds! I'm learning to play chord/melody style in DAA.  Now I realize it would be great to have another dulcimer to work on different tunings and string gauges. One that I would be able to take to lessons and festivals without worrying.

Reasons NOT To Get a Chromatic

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

Whenever I take up a new instrument, it gives me a fresh perspective on the other instruments I play. Somehow, it took me a lifetime to realize that the A minor scale is the same as the C major scale, just starting in a different spot. And it's called "Aeolian Mode". Suddenly I'm a music theory genius!  (Many thanks to Strumelia!) The diatonic dulcimer locks in the pattern that opens up all the modes for you. I feel like the chromatic dulcimer promises more but delivers less as a creative tool.

I bought a Sunhearth!

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

My dulcimer hung on the wall for years and years because of how frustrated I would get with those "dreaded" friction banjo tuners.  I committed to replacing them with a set of 5-star planetary tuners as a present to myself last Christmas. They were spendy, and took some modification to install, but what a joy it is to be able to finally play and try different tunings. I don't miss the money at all!