Forum Activity for @alex-lubet

A piece from my new album with vocalist Victoria Vargas.  Amy Levy Songs of Love and Loss:

Hi All,

I hope everyone is enjoying their respective holidays.

I was fortunate to receive the gift of two new reviews of my latest album, with vocalist Victoria Vargas,  Amy Levy:  Songs of Love and Loss :

https://www.jwvibe.com/single-post/alex-lubet-featuring-victoria-vargas-amy-levy-songs-of-love-and-loss

https://wruv.wordpress.com/2025/12/23/alex-lubet-amy-levy-songs-of-love-and-loss/

Please consider checking them out, along with the album.  Much of my music (much of it for duclimer) streams on all the usual sources:  YouTube, Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora.

Thanks and Happy New Year,

Merry Christmas to everyone on FOTMD!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our mountain dulcimer friends.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Merry Christmas to one and all and a Happy New year. Blessings

I LOOOOOOVE YOUUUUU, STRUMELIA!!  Thank you.  💚

You are amazing, Ken!!  Thank you.  

I don't think it's a citera (Hungarian).  Citeras always have a horse motif, especially old one's like this.  I think it's Austrian.  There are plenty of Austrian Alpine zithers (as opposed to concert) which have similar stepped drones.  

"HO, HO, HO!!!   MERR-R-R-R-R-Y CHRIST-MAS-S-S-S-S-S!!!"

You are welcome, Sandi. Let me know how it works out. If you need any help along the way I can give you my phone # or we could Zoom.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

THANK YOU, ROBIN!!

KEN!!  YOU ARE AMAZING!!  That was super clear instruction, and I a think I can do it.  I am so grateful for you and all of the dulcimer community, even though I have not keeping up so well.  No better people on all the planet, surely!  THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!  💚💚💚

Hi Sandi, it's great to see you stop by!  

Sandi, yes you can fix it yourself. You will need to replace the nut (correct name, it is not a bridge). You will need a piece of hardwood the same length, height, and thickness as the broken nut. You will then need to cut slots in the nut for the string. If I were closer, I'd do it for you. You could remove the old nut and send it to me and I could make a new one and send it back to you. It might take a couple of weeks to work it out sending between VA and PA. If you tackle it yourself, first take the old nut off of the instrument. Hold on to it as it will serve as guide for where you should cut the slots for the strings. You will need a way to cut a piece of hardwood to the size of the old nut. You might be able to take it in to a guitar store and see if they have a nut blank of the same dimensions. If the old nut is glued in you may need to knock it out. A sharp rap with a hammer may dislodge it. If that doesn't do it, try a little heat directed on the nut with a hair dryer. That may help soften the glue. Once it is out you will need to clean the slot of any glue residue using a file, chisel, or sandpaper. The next step is fitting the new nut. Then hold the nut up to the new one and mark the spaces for the string slots. Use a narrow blade saw or v shaped needle file to make the slots. Don't cut too deep or the strings will buzz from touching the frets. Put the nut back in the slot and restring the dulcimer. I don't know how clear these instructions will be to you. It is easier for me to tell it someone than it is to write it out. Let me know if you have any questions. I hope you are able to get the dulcimer into playing shape.

Oh, and I forgot to say that I think it is worth giving to someone to start learning to play mountain dulcimer.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Sandi, I have no advice on how to work on the instrument yet hope some knowledgable person chimes in!  

*MERRY CHRISTMAS!*  🎁🎄🎁 

Someone in our neighborhood's Buy Nothing group asked for a mountain dulcimer!!  And I have a beat-up First Act.  It needs new strings, and the top bridge is broken.  Is this something I might can fix up myself that will be a worthy instrument?  I sadly don't have any resources to pour into this but so desperately want to meet this request.  TIA for any advice!!

Just the two, my Hickory Ridge & my McSpadden.   SO FAR I've managed to avoid the temptation of gingers and bass dulcimers ... but I GOTTA QUIT LOOKING AT THE PRETTY PICTURES!!! lol

There's a Mountain Dulcimer facebook page, several of you may be on it, but I've been directing friends from that to here, as some are new/beginners to dulcimer. 
Then I found this, from a completely different page, with a neat summary of Jean Ritchie...
If I may... 

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17YFkX9t4n/

Wow! Bingo! Thanks! I'm finding many references to the Hungarian zither, a direct family resemblance to the instrument I've been restoring.

Much obliged, Luigi

I use the Peterson tuner and have one upstairs and one downstairs.  :) 

John, the Peterson clip-on is indeed a great tuner.  I just watched the NPR Little Desk concert with Billy Strings and his band, and they all had Peterson clip-ons on their instruments (well, except for the double bass player).

You don't have to set it up at all.  It is called a chromatic tuner because it can detect every note, not because you can only use it with a chromatic dulcimer.  Turn it on and pluck a string and it will detect the nearest note and tell you whether you are sharp or flat.  It may take a few minutes to figure out how to read the strobe, but rest assured you'll get it.

Word on the street is that the Peterson is the most accurate tuner on the market.  You made a good choice. 

Howdy kids first I just wanted to say I hope everybody has or we'll have a good holiday day.

 I have a question about my new tuner its a Peterson clip-on. First, it's a super cool tuner. I highly recommend it. My question is how to set it up. One preset option is to set it up for standard tuning. It says standard tuning is for chromatic I know we have diatonic does it really matter as far as tuning goes. The other tuning set up that makes sense is the D.A.D Acoustic guitar mode D.A.D.G.A.D tuning with optimized fifths 

Anyone out there have one of these tuners and what is your suggestion 

It could also be a Hungarian zither. They don't usually have a bottom, though.

A client recently brought an antique musical instrument in terrible shape, asking me to refurbish it. I think it's a variant of the epinette des vosges. I saw one with some of its features long ago on the internet, but did not capture it and cannot find it again. It is very heavily built, with top, bottom and sides about 3/8" thick. The top and back have major cracks, probably from wood drying (cannot be drawn together).

Cannot find anything like it in L. Allen Smith's "A Catalog of Pre-Revival Dulcimers."

The VSLs are:

• Fretted course (5 strings): 30.625"
• Sympathetic courses:
  • a (2 strings): 30.5"
  • b (1 string): 30.857"
  • c (2 strings): 22.5"
  • d (2 strings): 16.875"
  • e (2 strings): 11.0"

I've completed refurbishing (somewhere between curating, re-fitting and some repairs and hardware replacement) and looking for an insurance value for shipping purposes.

 Epinette in Case.jpg - 42KB

Merry Christmas and may everyone find time to spend more quality time with their dulcimer(s) more in the new year! 

Sending all good wishes for light, love, and lots of music-making in this season and in the coming year!  

Happy holidays, Merry Christmas, gentle Winter Solstice, and a joyful new year to all -   may the friendships and good will we forge here grow and branch out to touch the lives of others in many meaningful ways. What a wonderful group of people!

A very cheap psaltery is actually sold as a Music Maker.  Look for lap harps for examples of a simple diatonic plucked psaltery.  You can also find these pretty cheap on shopgoodwill.com.  That said, they are the charming cheapie, typically not a great instrument.  There are a number of other makers of "lap harps" that are actually just plucked psalteries in a trapezoidal shape.  Being a fairly simple instrument to make, even really good makers often don't charge all that much for them.  James Jones makes one, for example.  

It looks like you already found your solution, so I only mention it here because there are times I find good information from many years back and someone in the future may be looking for ideas for an inexpensive simple psaltery.  

And I was wondering why I’d let Ron Ewing talk me into a 1.5 fret on the beautiful dulcimer he just made for me…now I know how to use it!

Steve, thanks for the clarification. I wondered because I remembered re-subscribing recently due to the loss of your database. I appreciate all the work you do to create the tabs and share them. 

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Oh my, I copied and updated a previous post when we lost the database, but I didn't catch that.  And I can see no way to edit the post...  No, if you're already receiving the newsletter (and I don't think many have been longer than you have!), you don't need to resubscribe.  I should have said something like, "If you don't already receive the free emailed newsletter and would like to, click..."   Thanks for catching that, Ken!

Steve, I'm already a subscriber. Are you saying I should subscribe again?

Thanks,

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I first encountered Steve Smith's TABs when someone passed one out in a dulcimer workshop. The Western NC Dulcimer Collective website lists too many to count, and they are free to download. They are impressive because they include "everything" needed for a group:

• Melody in Standard Musical Notation
• Chords
• DAaa and DAdd note numbers for both noter-drone and chord-melody playing
• Note names (as letters)
• Lyrics
• Sound files (.MP3 format) to guide you on unfamiliar or tricky numbers

His .PDF files may be a bit too inclusive for easy reading by folks my age, but a group leader can use them as a source for creation of "just number TABs" and so on.

There is certainly no other single website which offers as much music for lap dulcimer players.

Thanks for the website update. I've been going to wncdn.org for years and I encourage everyone to check out this outstanding website.

The Western North Carolina Dulcimer Collective website Newsletter Request and More Information options are working once again.  If you've tried to request the newsletter or more information and I didn't get back to you, please try again.  (One character changed in error in coding can really mess things up!) 

If you would like to receive the free emailed newsletter (or start, if you never did), click on the "Our Newsletter" and "Click here to subscribe to our newsletter" buttons at   https://wncdc.org/   .  The next free newsletter will be sent in early January.

(All newsletters from 1990 forward are also available on the website, as well as all tab and recordings of the monthly tunes.)

Thanks!

Steve Smith, WNCDC

"You can use a straightened out paper clip for the extra fret if you don't have one.  Back in the stone age, before I had 6 1/2 and 1 1/2 frets I used to use a paper clip which I attached with rubber cement so I could come off easily."

This simple statement sums up SO very well, what being a Friend of the Mountain Dulcimer is all about!

Thank you

I do understand the purist mentality though my experience and research have taught me that the "folk" never paid much attention to the view that there is a right and a wrong way to play.  A lot of folks in the past did a lot of experimenting and ended up playing whatever they felt sounded best, although there were certainly strong traditions in style which only changed when someone well respected contradicted them.  

I play Gaudete in D-A-D with a capo on the 4th fret, but you can get the melody with no problem by playing across the strings with a capo on the 1rst fret.  The easiest way to play it in noter/drone is to tune C-G-D (D in the bass), but this requires that your dulcimer has a 1 1/2 fret (so now you've had to break tradition again).  But you might want to try it as it sounds really nice.  You can use a straightened out paper clip for the extra fret if you don't have one.  Back in the stone age, before I had 6 1/2 and 1 1/2 frets I used to use a paper clip which I attached with rubber cement so I could come off easily.

Thanks for sharing! Sounds fantastic.

I’m very interested in early music. I know this sounds silly, but I feel somehow “wrong” playing it on my mountain dulcimer. I feel a bit of the “purist” vibe that I just should stick to noter and drone. I only ever play chords in my larger dulcimer group when absolutely forced upon me! They’re very accommodating otherwise and let me miter away while they struggle with complicated fingering, god bless them 😉

I know music and instruments are organic and ever evolving, and I needn’t put them in specific boxes. That being said, I’ll prob buy the psaltry from hobgoblin within the month!

I have never tried playing Gaudete (16th century), but it's pretty syncopated, so you'll have to be nimble. Plus there are two parts, which are significantly different from each other. Most versions of Gaudete are sung, but here's an instrumental where the melody is fairly easy to hear:

If you need sheet music, maybe one of these images may be of help for the version you want to play.

It suggests to me like it has enough minor notes that it'd be best played in either Aeolian or Dorian mode on the dulcimer.

Hobgoblin and Song of the Wood are just two companies that make accessible plucked psalteries. You can find other nice ones on Etsy. You may have to decide whether you want a diatonic or a chromatic one. Also the shape is varied depending on the maker, including 'hog-nosed' shaped psalteries.

Hope this helps.