Forum Activity for @davisjames

On reflection-I still play,but would hesitate to record, the music of my youth(Ottawa Valley style).A lot of it has been recorded many times over,why do it again?

Well, John and Lisa, I've been building dulcimers for over 50 years now, and I've already made tens of dollars...

Jamie, I used to whack out a few Appalachian Old-Time fiddle tunes.  Mostly, I play slow stuff these days.  

Right after I make my 2nd million in instrument sales......[I've given up on the first]......

It's a nice looking dulcimer, but I don't have a clue as to who made it. I've never seen one like it.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I think the swelling member count is due to the free swag bags of merch being offered to new members. String sets, jars of "jam", and Turtle polishing cloths........

I remember when FOTMD was just a babe.  

Well Dusty right at the moment we have about 2700 members. However, because people often 'move on' to other interests, I like to now and then go in and remove members who have not logged in in several years, just to keep things current. Many times the member count has gone over 3500 and then I've done my housekeeping and gotten it down to 2500 again. Quality versus quantity!
I do however remember the thrill we had here back in the beginning of things when we were so new and small, and we'd reach another hundred members. Good times. And nice to remember members who were a big presence here, who've passed on.

That is one beautiful dulcimer. I hope you are able to learn more about it.

Wow.  2009? I think that's around the time I joined.  How many are we now? 2000?  3000?

@davisjames, I can't speak for other people, but as I was learning the dulcimer I would post videos of standard old timey fare as I learned the repertoire: Bonaparte's Retreat, Mississippi Sawyer, Cripple Creek, Whiskey Before Breakfast, etc.  But as I've advanced in my playing, I tend to record only stuff that's a little different, meaning originals or pop tunes or lesser-known fiddle tunes or Celtic airs or whatever.

I still play traditional, old timey music in jams, but I tend to no longer record the well-known standard stuff.  So the video and audio that I post is not reflective of the music I play on a regular basis.

Hello all, I wonder if anyone knows who made a dulcimer my stepmother just gave me. She told me this dulcimer was “made for her by some guy she met riding a train down the east cost of the US in about 1970.”  She does not remember much of the event, only that the man was very nice and upon learning that Jane (stepmom) was a music teacher, offered to make her a customer dulcimer.  Her choices for peg box decoration were a dog’s head or a woman’s head, and she chose woman’s head.  

The carving reminded me of some of Ron Cook's work, so I reached out to him and asked. He graciously replied right away, but said it wasn't one of his. He thought it was an "old style Tennessee version" of a dulcimer, and thought it was nicely made out of cherry wood with an oak head. I have examined the instrument thoroughly, going so far as to put an endoscope video camera into the sound holes in inspect the inside... but I found nothing.  

Any idea as to its provenance?  Anyone recognize the style? Seems like it was made by someone who knew their craft well.  Photos below. 

 Dulcimer-02 .jpg - 118KB

Fotmd member @randy-adams plays a good number of American oldtime fiddlle tunes. There are many others here as well, perhaps not posting as much lately.

(bump) ....from 2009, almost sixteen years ago.  

Few people seem to perform the old songs/tunes as solo pieces. They are most often found in the performances of dulcimer clubs or in jams at festivals. One person that consistently plays old time music, mostly from fiddle tunes, is Don Pedi. 

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Ok, I have moved this thread to the "general dulcimer/music discussions" forum.

I think a lot depends on what members are posting videos and audios. Some folks who post a lot of music clips like certain various music genres- like hymns, or early/medieval music, or original tunes, or international folk tunes. There sure are a lot of videos posted here on FOTMD over the past 16 years!

It's just something I noticed(the dearth of old time American music in audio/video).. I meant to create a new topic in forums.

James, did you mean to post this in the "For Sale" forum?  (Just wondering, either you are I can change the location of this thread if you like)

I don't hear much old time American music on the website anymore.I love that stuff but I have to go back in the archives to hear it.In the meantime I'm delighted by the creativity and cosmopitanism of the videos and audio uploads people make but I'd sure like to hear more trad music from the places where the mountain dulcimore was created.

Like Robin, I was able to identify them because I have a Blue Lion with those tuners.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Hey thanks you guys are the best. I’m sure glad I asked the question first before I started messing around with them.  I could have made things a lot worse, that's the problem about doing something that you don't know what you're doing 

@matt-berg The main reason I could identify the tuners is I have 8 of them here in my house.  

I stand corrected for misidentifying the tuners.

I can vouch for the quality of this type of Schaller tuner-- they were on a Blue Lion I came by used several years ago.  As has been suggested, the tuner screws on these rarely need attention.    

If the dulcimer is a Blue Lion as Robin suggested those are Schaller tuning machines. Here is a link to the Schaller website. These are very high quality tuners made in Germany.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Planetary pegs are probably the best type of tuning peg to use on a dulcimer.  They are also the most expensive, but consider how they're made:  There is a main shaft with a gear on it in the center of the peg's casing, with 3 planetary gears arranged around it that make the turning action smooth and accurate, and change the turns ratio from 1:1 to something like 4:1.

Yes just to clarify-  those screws are not supposed to function to 'hold' the string's tuning in place after every time you tune. They are just supposed to make it a little easier or harder to turn the tuning peg- tightening or loosening the tension of the tuning machine, not the string. As Dusty said, it might be only needed once in a great while. If you notice a tuned string slipping lower in pitch because the peg will not hold it at its note, then that might be a good time to tighten the screw of that peg just a little- only until the peg holds the string in tune sufficiently. If you tighten the screws too much they can strip/stop working.

The tuners in the photo @lilley-pad posted are of very nice planetary-type tuners and are not inexpensive.  In the photo, they're on what I'm pretty certain is a Blue Lion dulcimer.  The type of tuners pictured can be seen here on a Blue Lion: https://www.bluelioninstruments.com/Dulc.pix/IIW.jpg  

You should not normally have to do anything with those screws. Over time, however, the tuning pegs might get too stiff or loose and you adjust them with those screws.  You probably only need to adjust them once every ten years or so.  If you don't have a problem tuning your strings, don't mess with those screws.

Some tuning pegs have much tinier little screws, and sometimes they are on the other end of the post.

That is the same impression I got, matt. On very simple instruments you often see these types of screws that are meant to hold the tension of the string, and typically they cannot support more than 10 lb at most

Anything beyond that starts to dig into the plastic

Those appear to be ukulele tuners.  I tried them once, I thought they worked poorly and never used them again as they do not work well with steel strings.   as far as I could tell, you tighten the screws and then tune the string and hope the tuner holds.

Hi kids just trying to increase my education here I noticed a pair of tuning pegs. I was wondering what they are called and what are the little adjustment screws on the end for?Are you supposed to loosen the screw and then tune the string and then tighten the screw back down tight, I don't get it.  Seems like an awful lot of work if that's the case. Hope the photo was attached

 Screenshot 2025-05-05 2.17.35 AM.png - 332KB

Such wise counsel from Strumelia. That is a very special dulcimer and one to treasure. Like her, I think it must have been meant for you. Play it and enjoy it.

If it plays well (and i suspect it must), then if you intend to play dulcimer, even just a little for fun, why sell this at all?  It's a hassle to sell and ship a nice dulcimer that needs to be well protected during shipping. And also a hassle for a beginner to find and buy another dulcimer that might have problems that are not apparent to the seller. 
In my humble opinion, you are a lucky person. just start playing it and learning. Learning to play a dulcimer is not hard, and you can add to your playing skills as much or as little as you choose. It's great fun to play beginner tunes.
Maybe that dulcimer was meant to be with you for a while in its journey! 

My brother pointed out in the video link I posted that the 2nd fret played sounded flat. Of course it did. I played the extra 1.5 fret that I installed. Here's the scale played with skipping that fret.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/TfBKTuRxxdmPuRA77

I bought it at an estate sale because it was just too beautiful. However, I don't play! I am just a beginner and don't expect to get very advanced -- I prefer listening to others play and learning about the history and stories of the dulcimer. I am considering selling it to pay for a more basic dulcimer for myself, and get this in the hands of someone who can appreciate it more than me. Not sure how to price it, and would love to know more about it before I decide to sell.

(I am new to this forum and not sure how to reply directly to someone's comment)

Very nice!  One suggestion springs to mind, seeing all of that face carving:  Ron Cook of Ron Cook Studios in California.  Ron built many, many instruments (including dulcimers) in the past, but is now retired. 

He is famous for putting intricate carvings of faces on his dulcimers, and although THESE faces look somewhat different than Ron's faces, it's a possibility.  (On the other hand, I think Ron put labels in all of his instruments, so there's that).

Good luck in finding out more of your dulcimer's history!

What a unique and impressive dulcimer. A treasure for sure.