Forum Activity for @skip

You almost have it! Instead of high to low, dAD, use low to high, DAd, it is more conventional for MD. For the other part of your question, always pluck the string just before turning the knob on the tuner. That way you know when you tune in the correct direction. As far as the F# A d, that would require a string change. You may be thinking of DF#A which needs different strings also. If you are tuned to DAA, just tune down, loosen, the middle string to F#.

Hi Dan,  I’m not sure how to answer that.  I believe that I’m in mixolydian when tuned dAD.  I’m trying to retune the melody string to F# and don’t know if I should tune up or down to the F#.  Does that put me into a different mode?

Maybe if we could get the mode you are trying to get to?

Hi Dulcimer Folks,

When you are retuning from to dAD (hoping I wrote this correctly) to dAF# to play a different tune,  if you have not already heard the tune, how do you know which direction to tune the string, up or down in pitch.  Hope this question makes sense.  Thx.

Hi Dusty,

Thx for your response.  The answer to your questions is :  All of the above.  Additionally, I have smaller dulcimers with shorter VSLs but a full sized dulcimer with a shorter VSL is intriguing to me.  Best wishes for the holiday season!

Debi, I've never played a Blue Lion soprano, but I have a standard Blue Lion (an old IC) and I have a dulcimer by Ron Ewing that is similar to the Blue Lion soprano in that it is generally tuned a fourth or fifth above a standard dulcimer.  

The smaller dulcimers are fun to play and also enable you to play in different keys.  I love playing fiddle tunes since the shorter scale length makes it easier to play fast.  And sometimes it is easier to sing in F, G or A instead of the C or D of a standard dulcimer.

Sorry I can't share a sound clip of the Blue Lion soprano, but I can definitely vouch for the quality of Blue Lion dulcimers in general.  Janita and Bob do great work.

Why are you interested in a soprano?  Is it for the shorter scale length?  The higher tonal range? Just because they are so darn cute?

A real beauty,  congratulations! 

Hi Folks, I’m very interested in getting some info on the Blue Lion soprano dulcimer .  Does anyone here have one or have experience playing one?  I would love to hear one, if possible.  The waitlist is over a year at this point so I’m trying to do my research in the meantime.  Thx and Happy Holidays to all!

As of this past Thursday, 2. Christmas came early this year. While I still love my vintage Berg dulcimer from Mountain Made Music (the teardrop shaped one on the left in the first pic) and play it with a noter regularly, I was finding the VSL (vibrating string length, the length between the bridge and the nut) of 27+ inches to be too long for my hands to manage chords. So, on the advice of my dulcimer teacher, I started looking into shorter VSL instruments. 

After much research and discussion, I got on a zoom with Joe Collins at New Harmony Dulcimers and expected that I would be waiting 3 months for a new dulcimer as they build to spec, usually. But they showed me this one just as an example of what the short scale Pudge Pro (24”) looked like and the second I clapped eyes on it I knew it needed to come live with me. It was originally set up to be a baritone but they just changed the strings for me to be a standard DAd tuning. The back and sides are Peruvian walnut and the top is swamp ash and it’s just gorgeous. And I can make chords with it far better than with the Berg. My goal is to have a couple of songs ready to go on stage next summer at Ferry Beach, right now I’m mostly working the basics of scales and chord shapes and stuff like that. Y’all might get a video in the new year!

 IMG_0269 Medium.jpeg - 72KB

Gorgeous collection of dulcimers, Kendra. How cool that you love and play them all!  
I also am impressed at how precisely and carefully they are mounted on the wall. Good job!

Wow, a beautiful display! I bet it will bring joy to your heart every time you walk in the room.

Looks like it works great Kendra. It is so special that each one has a special place in your heart. Thank you for continuing to play and teach in the traditional way. To my ear that is THE sound I think of when I hear "mountain dulcimer."

Impressive collection, Kendra!

I think you found a very nice way to display them. They really fit well together on the walls. Good job. I wish I had the wall space to do something like that. Thanks for sharing the photo of your collection.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Been working on a new way to display my beautiful traditional mountain dulcimer collection. Bob and I installed slatwall and it is perfect! I could not get my whole collection on the walls (I have several more)…but the slatwall will allow me to easily rearrange them, or add something new.  I am keeping the dulcimers that I regularly tour with and teach with in their “ready to go” bags. 

My oldest dulcimer belonged to my grandmother, made in 1894. All the others have a very special meaning to me and are not just “collected.” I am personally connected to each and every dulcimer I have, and I play most of them regularly so they continue to sing their beautiful songs. 

The mountain dulcimer is a part of my soul and I have been playing the dulcimer now for six decades. I will continue to preserve the traditional way of playing and teach others about the history and the importance of this wonderful Appalachian instrument until the day I die.

Fantastic powerful voice and incredible energy. She was deservedly inducted into the R&R Hall of Fame this year (2025).

The dulcimer...  "everybody who played this is dead"...

She picks up her dulcimer at 1:19:00

I've made quite a few noters for "special needs" hands...Instead of the usual 3/8 diameter, using thicker and sometimes longer noters help a lot. I have some customers that have found a great help by sizing up to 7/16, and some that are even using 1/2 inch diameters. Varied lengths as well to help in the holding and leverage. A thumb/ finger notch is also an added help.

 The thicker noters can be a bit more tricky as you go down the fret board, but the trade off of being ABLE to play seems to be worth it...

Was just now on Reddit and had a person pop up in the Mountain Dulcimer community there with questions about playing the Mountain Dulcimer with health issues in his hands that he’s working on a diagnosis for. I wanted to share the answer I gave him here, and would welcome any other insight folks might have for future reference:

” I’ve got some kind of general connective tissue disorder that runs in my family that resembles hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome but comes with a side of Dupuytren’s contracture, which I have in my right hand, so far not in my left but I suspect it will arrive eventually. I also have congenital MCP joint lock in the thumbs of both hands. So, my hands have reduced strength and flexibility all around and yet dulcimer is a dream instrument because it matches my ergonomic needs better than any other instrument I’ve tried. Some info I’ve figured out as a still beginner player:

Picking/strumming hand: I’ve got a whole collection of different picks as I’ve tried to find what works for me, as my hand flexibility decreases over time. I find I like a pick with good flexibility as it compensates for my lack of same. Dunlop nylon .46 mm are my go-to for flat picking, but they might be too small for some folks. Blue Mountain blue thumb picks for finger picking are great, and I’ve been playing around a bit with Oud picks for fast strumming, which isn’t something I do much of, as their length and flexibility makes for less hand/wrist strain for me.

Chord/noter hand: Set up of the instrument is key. I had a previous dulcimer with high action, among other problems, and it was a complete life changer when I got a dulcimer with lower, easier action. Depending on your playing style you might find a three string (no doubled melody string) easier to manage. VSL is also key - don’t overstrain your hands by trying to play an instrument that’s VSL is just too long. My dulcimer at the moment has doubled strings and it’s VSL is a little too long for me to chord easily so it’s going to be my noter/drone dulcimer and I’ll be getting a New Harmony Pudge Pro soon, which has the VSL and three string setup I need, on the advice of my dulcimer teacher.

Hope this helps!”

Sadly, we do not have Thanksgiving or an equivalent in the UK. Nevertheless happy thanksgiving to all of you.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone here at FOTMD. And thank you, Strumelia, for linking to The Welcome Table. Gotta go and start peeling potatoes.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Happy Thanksgiving, yes!  To all friends here and their families.
Perhaps a good time for me to post a link to a dulcimer song and (free) tab on my blog, called The Welcome Table . 
If you like the simple tune and learn to play it, you can always have fun with it and invent some new verses that make it meaningful to you. You can tune to DAA and play the melody entirely on the melody string, in drone style.
I hope folks get to spend time with people they enjoy today!

Yes, indeed, Happy Thanksgiving to all of us here.  There is so much to be thankful for.  I think of the old hymn "We Gather Together" every Thanksgiving.  It's a good one to play on the dulcimer.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my dulcimer friends. Have a wonderful and thankful day.

Strumelia, so, he really could say he plays the banjo.  

Dusty, the fan has perfect pitch.  

I'm just trying to figure out how you tuned the fan to begin with.

I love when those cool coincidental things happen, Robin.

Sound vibrations are funny. My husband sometimes sneezes so loudly that the two banjos on our living room wall actually resonate and 'play' their open string chord in response.  

I had a funny thing happen.  The attic fan was left running while recording a tune-- the attic fan created a drone in tune with the mountain dulcimer.  

https://soundcloud.com/robin-thompson-5/awake-early-solo-mountain?si=794db22eec7d4e6d8154e6fff81875fe&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing  

Wally, Wow! that's pretty precise fret work. The black marker process is a great idea. I will use that on two of my instruments. I have filed frets before but never thought about rounding them back again after. I wonder if sanding the frets without polishing them could be detrimental to the life of the string after extended use. Very helpful info. 

Very useful information. I found out about frets and fret boards the hard way. I purchased a kit that was partially built. The owner lost interest (if you can imagine losing interest in a dulcimer) I had trouble from the start after assembly until I noticed the fret board had a noticeable warp. I had to remove the frets and block sand the board then recut some of the slots. 

another antique instrument I bought had some frets cut by a chimpanzee, I filled the some of the slots with Durham's and recut them. I seldom play it but soon will need the fretboard completely rebuilt. Probably add a thin piece of mahogany on the top and recut.  

I just finished lowering the nut and bridge on my tear drop. Wow! what a difference. Problem solved thanks to the pros at FOTMD group. 

I spend a lot of time with a straight edge on the frets, making sure they are the same height. I learned to make sure all my fret boards are stored in a dry place on a flat surface. I am always open to any suggestions about building and tuning. 

That is an interesting experience you had with the frets from one part of the country to another. That kind of info will go down in the archives as, things to think about in the future. 

I'm 83 years old and still stick to my same motto, try not to go a day without learning something weather it's the easy way or OOPs! the outcome is still useful to me or someone else.

You have constructed an attractive instrument. That is only Part 1 of making a fine instrument. Even a very well made string instrument needs "SET-UP" after construction. "Cheap" instruments are often discarded simply because no one has done that. It usually requires less than an hour of informed action.

As Ken noted, you may need to level the frets. You might find it insightful to read one of his earlier posts on leveling - 
https://fotmd.com/forums/forum/instruments-discuss-specific-features-luthiers-instrument-problems-questions/37078/leveling-of-frets-why
 
Most of the on-line information on leveling is by guitar folks. This video is good in terms of basic technique,
Fret Leveling - The Easy Way // How To

As the video notes, you start by making sure the FRETBOARD itself is straight. Many guitar necks have a metal rod which can be used to adjust the curvature. We don't use such a device. We can usually compensate for a small bit of un-straightness in the stick through leveling. 

We also don't typically use a crosswise arch on our frets.

Another cause of buzzing is the fit of the strings in the slots in the nut and the bridge if it has slots. Too tight and the strings bind. Too loose and the strings buzz. Also make sure you are using the correct strings for the VSL and tunings your are using. Thanks for the photos of the dulcimer. You really did a great job on the eagle.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thanks Ken. That may well be the reason for the buzz. My strings are set much higher. I have tried several different remedies. I learned one thing. You can't ignore the buzz and pretend its not there. Even the slightest bit distracts what I'm playing.  The pic shows the tear drop I'm having difficulties with. As I mentioned, this one is tuned CGC. I love the tone and reverberation on it when it's set up correctly. It took me longer to make that the others so I want it to sound good in this key.

 Dulcimer Patriot tear drop.jpg - 119KB

A rule of thumb for good string height is to place a dime next to the first fret on the second fret side and have the string just touch the top of the dime. Then place a nickel on the top of the seventh fret and the string should touch that. If you get buzzing after that then you need to level and dress your frets. Now this is good for general playing and finger picking. If you are playing noter style you can increase the height of the strings a little bit. Oh, and you will be adjusting the height of the slots in the nut and bridge if it has slots otherwise you adjusting the height of the bridge.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

There seems to be some differences of opinion on bridge and nut height from fret board to string. One builder says 3/8s" One of my dulcimers is tuned AEA and one CGC. I sing bass and DAD is just out of reach for many songs. Consequently, 3/8s" is not and option. lots of buzz and I don't know how to sing in key of "buzz". Any suggestions on nut and bridge height?

I've liked this video for some years and am glad you shared it, Alex! 

Apologies if this is old news to all of you, new to me and very cool:

Check out this article  that Lil Rev wrote in Dulcimer Players News about a year-and-a-half ago. He's got pretty simple tab in a DAC tuning.

Hi! Does anyone have a tab (or know where I could find one) for the song Swannanoa Tunnel? I know it from Paul Clayton's dulcimer album, but apparently there are other versions with different names- Swannanoa Town and Asheville Junction. So if you have a tab for a song with any of those names it's probably what I'm looking for!

Thanks in advance folks!