Forum Activity for @strumelia

All-walnut Thomas-style dulcimore

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

Lovely, John! 

Please tell us what you mean by homemade strings. ? 

All-walnut Thomas-style dulcimore

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

An all-walnut J. E. Thomas replica dulcimore with just intonation and homemade strings.

one-of-a-kind Sam Rizetta mountain dulcimer

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I only know of Mr Rizetta by coming across his name in the dulcimer world.  People sell instruments for a variety of reasons-- to reduce possessions or to raise needed cash being a couple of them.  I hope if Mr Rizetta is selling for the latter reason the instrument fetches a good price.  

one-of-a-kind Sam Rizetta mountain dulcimer

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I don't think Sam ever sold any of his hammered dulcimers for that much. It is a beautiful instrument. Sam does excellent work. It would have to have a fantastic sound for me to pay that price. I buy and build dulcimers for their sound, not for ornamentation. Who knows, someone may bite on this.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

one-of-a-kind Sam Rizetta mountain dulcimer

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

That is a beautiful instrument but, wow, the price! 😄

one-of-a-kind Sam Rizetta mountain dulcimer

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Thanks, @susie.  I failed to click the "read more" to get the full story. I was wondering about lacewood since I have a lacewood Modern Mountain dulcimer, but portions of that Rizzetta looked like it was glowing a bit more. 

Interesting that the frets are mean-tempered.

Certainly a unique and beautiful-looking dulcimer.

one-of-a-kind Sam Rizetta mountain dulcimer

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

It's lacewood, which is beautiful. A work of art for sure!

one-of-a-kind Sam Rizetta mountain dulcimer

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Wow, that's a beautiful and unique dulcimer. It looks like the strap button on the lower bout is also a pickup jack, but that placement is kind of weird.  The angle just looks like a strap could come off it pretty easy.  Do you think the wood is koa?  It has that translucent, hypnotic look.

Anyway, if someone wants to buy me that dulcimer for Christmas, I would gladly accept it! Or, if that's too much, just get me one of Bob Stephens nylon-string dulcimers and you can save $7000. See how I'm looking out for your finances?

What is “My Posts”

Site QUESTIONS ? How do I...?

@traildad, you're full of inspiration:

I went down to the orchards,

The most plentiful in all of the land.

But instead of basket of fruit

I just got a bucket full of sand.

Down at the local tavern

The barmaid carried pints in her hand.

But when she brought me my order,

It was only a bucket full of sand.

I got to play the Ol' Opry,

Joining Dolly Parton and her band.

But the roadie didn’t give me my Martin,

He handed me a bucket full of sand.

What is “My Posts”

Site QUESTIONS ? How do I...?

@Strumelia Yes that does the trick also. Sorry for being a bucket full of sand. ;-)

one-of-a-kind Sam Rizetta mountain dulcimer

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

It's beautiful but wow what a price!

one-of-a-kind Sam Rizetta mountain dulcimer

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I thought it was cool just to see this highly customized dulcimer (which is for sale): 

https://reverb.com/item/37249604-sam-rizzetta-custom-lap-dulcimer

What is “My Posts”

Site QUESTIONS ? How do I...?

@traildad, remember, as is explained in the link that Strumelia posted, that you can choose to "follow" discussions both in the Forums and in the Groups, and then you can choose to receive an email notification when someone posts.  That way you don't need to check in to the site and look at "latest activity" to see if someone has added something. You can also choose to receive a notification when someone creates a new discussion in a Group to which you belong or in a Forum topic area that interests you.

updated by @dusty: 12/06/20 10:20:24PM

My voyage to the lute guitar (and mountain dulcimer as well)

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Wilkommen, Jost!  I don't speak much more Deutsch than that, though my last name is German (Knopf).

Your English is very good and quite understandable.  Danke for joining and sharing with us!

What is “My Posts”

Site QUESTIONS ? How do I...?

@strumelia I wasn’t asking a question. I had found “my posts” and “new posts” for the forum posts but nothing like that for group posts. The group section doesn’t seem to be organized chronologically and I haven’t been sure it I had been seeing all new posts. I’m just not used to this system. I confirmed for myself that the “latest activity” shows both forum and groups activity. I’ve been wondering, but I figured I’d work it out myself eventually. I’m glad to know I’m looking in the right place. Thanks for the help.

What is “My Posts”

Site QUESTIONS ? How do I...?

Traildad, I'm not sure exactly what you are meaning, but perhaps this prior discussion will help you:

https://fotmd.com/forums/forum/site-questions-how-do-i/18538/new-group-follow-features-added

updated by @strumelia: 12/06/20 07:31:06PM

What is “My Posts”

Site QUESTIONS ? How do I...?

I think I’ve figured out that the “latest activity” section on the home page shows recent forum and group posts. It doesn’t show my group posts organized together but it helps me find the most recent group postings. I’ve been wondering where to look to catch up and make sure I’m not missing new group posts. 

My voyage to the lute guitar (and mountain dulcimer as well)

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Hello Wilfried,

nice to see you here. I'm not just a big fan of your hummel videos but I remember now I saw your announcement of your master piece (lyra guitar) on the pin board of Musikschule Norden back in 2005. I was raised in Ostfriesland, but moved away for college and work 12 years ago.

I agree however I can't afford more instruments at the moment for lack of money and space in my appartment. The lack of money also means I can't move to a bigger appartment at the moment :)
This year I'l visit my parents during chrismast but not going anywhere else due to the pandemic situation. I plan another visist next summer though and will drop you a note then.

Best Regards, Jost.
updated by @jost: 12/06/20 03:41:59PM

My voyage to the lute guitar (and mountain dulcimer as well)

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

The Dulcimer is a nice instrument. I began my instrument making with this instrument ! In 1976 there was a book by John Pearse how to make a fretboard-dulcimer. Just a fretboard to clamp on the table. The table should give the resonnance. But on the cover of the booklet there was a nice hourglass dulcimer. How to make those curved sides ??? With this a great adventure came to me which ended in my master proof as instrument maker in Markneukirchen in 2005. I am still busy!

The first Dulcimers were built in USA around 1830. The history of the Hummel goes back to the 1500s. The sound of the drones was very impressive for people of the lower classes. It was easy to beginn with one finger on the fretboard witout confusing halftones ! The drones gave the nessecary ground for the melody. The luthe was an instrument for the noble man. As there were many people at the lower classes there were also many instruments like the hummel. In the small town Neukirch in Saxonie it is said that there was a Hummel nearly in each house and they had built the instruments by themselves.  That´s what they did in the valleys of Appalachian Mountains with the Dulcimer. Building a simple instrument by themselves. They had the accompaniment with the drones too.

Next instrument should be a Hummel !!!

best regards

Wilfried

btw.: My book "The Story of the Hummel" is still available !

My voyage to the lute guitar (and mountain dulcimer as well)

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Well technically  many instruments are lutes (even guitars), to quote wikipedia:
"A lute ( / lj uː t / [1] or / l uː t / ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted.

More specifically, the term "lute" can refer to an instrument from the family of European lutes . The term also refers generally to any string instrument having the strings running in a plane parallel to the sound table (in the Hornbostel–Sachs system)." ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lute )


Actually I talked about  the  baroque lutes like in this video of Focus guitarist Jan Akkerman playing Dowlands Fantasia on it It look's a lot like the one on the album cover of Ronn McFarlane.

It was developed from the arabian oud,  youtube has a video of a player doing a cover of a russian folk tune on an oud , also covered by Pete Seeger on banjo.

You can see in both videos, that these instruments used double courses instead of single strings. I freak out every time I see Akkerman doing his delicate picking on the double courses.

Thanks Richard. I'm happy to be here.
updated by @jost: 12/05/20 08:14:01PM

My voyage to the lute guitar (and mountain dulcimer as well)

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Thanks for  your post @jost. Again welcome to the forum. We'll help you along all we can.

My voyage to the lute guitar (and mountain dulcimer as well)

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Nice Dulcimer. The rosette on the lute is lovely. I guess when you are talking about being a simpler to play lute you are comparing it to the Irish lute?

My voyage to the lute guitar (and mountain dulcimer as well)

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Hello everybody,

in this post I will talk how I got to learn my main instrument, what's special about it and how doing it actually led to purchasing my mountain dulcimer too.
It's a kind of a long read so I can't blame you if you are dropping out right now or later
As you can see in my profile I'm from Germany so English isn't my first language. I'm not very good in it, so I'm happy about any feedback If something sounds odd or just incomprehensible.

I used to learn guitar during my teenhood years. I had a quite good Ibanez classical guitar (used from my mother during her times as volunteer for church youth work) and good teacher, but lacked practice. I think I never practiced more than one hour a week and as soon I know a song I would take another one, forgetting the old one. I'm  feeling sorry for my teacher now to be honest and appreciate that he was always a kind, nice and patient man.

When I moved out to go to college the guitar stayed at my parents  home and I never bothered to continue. That was more than ten years ago.

This year during the first lockdown I got kind of bored so I thought about learning guitar again, this time with a instruction book and an own instrument. Thus I went to a local store, got a student classical guitar and started. Since this time I actually practiced (comparing my play to the CD/DVD from the book) it worked somehow. I'm still not a very good player, but my neighbours are not complaining so I think it's bearable

However somehow I encountered a strange instrument, the so called  lute guitar (also called German Lute or Bastard lute) in some youtube videos.  It looks like a lute, but it's played like a guitar. And it has a quite unique sound, as can be heard t his medley a youtuber uploaded some years ago.

I quickly learned (some nice guy from Germanys musiker-board.de forum with nom de guerre "El lute" wrote a whole essay about it's history, how to get one and how to repair old ones) that it's actually not very old but a quite modern instrument, bending elements of guitar and mandora. The first lute-guitars first were actually built in the 1850's.

It was quite popular in the German youth movement Wandervogel at the beginning of the 20th century for it's look (just like a old lute) and sound (not quite lute, not quite guitar, something between).

It's easier to play than a real lute (since it lacks double courses),  much cheaper and louder than classical lutes (they were mainly for chamber or court music). Since the Wandervögel did a kind of early medivial reenactment (like todays Renaissance fairs)  they actually didn't realy recreate the medival age but their own version of) and thought of themselves as traveling scholars (like medivial students) for their love of camping, wandering around and collecting and singing old German folklore, this combination greatly appealed to them. A part of their song collections also included a lot of soldier songs, thus when world war one started they saw it just another kind of adventure, volunteered,  taking their guitars, lute-guitars and songbook Zupfgeigenhansel with them ( called "Der Zupfgeigenhansl" ). Many fell, including the editor of the Zupfgeigenhansel.

Although I have no interest in going to war any time soon I also got hooked by the look and sound of the instrument. However according to el lutes essay getting an used instrument via ebay can end with  a lot of trouble or loss of money, since it propably needs some work. Either by the buyer (if he is good in woodworking or from a luthier).  
This was out of question, I was never good in woodwork and I didn't wanted to buy a used instrument and pay even more money to get it working.
In the essay el lute recommended to go to an luthier for getting a playable used (the ones from the former GDR are surprising cheap since they are not so antique, but often actually more playable then the older from Wandervogel times) or commission a custom built.
Again: Out of question for lack of money and patience (you need to wait until some affordable appears in the online offers of luthiers)..
However: As a kind of compromise there are also new ones from companys, although el lute thought of them not so high "They are ok  for beginners, but if you want a good instrument you will need to go to a luthier" (roughly translated by myself)
I can  unterstand his point of view (he repaired  around 10 of older instruments including a beautiful ones with additional bass strings for drone sounds, these Basslauten used to be quite common but were never so popular like normal lute guitars. Some spanish (?) guy did  a nice video featuring one ). but since actually I'm still a starter in playing  I decided that one of these "beginner instruments"  should to.

In the end I bought  one from the German music store Folkfriends and I'm quite happy with it. The wooden head in my avatar is actually a part of the instrument. Here a full view:

I love the sound and look of it. And it's true: If you can play guitar, you can play lute guitar too after getting used to the lute corpus. I'm still struggling with holding it so I got myself a leather strap which fit's well with the pseudohistorical look of it

So I think I will have a lot of fun with it, as long as I don't do two things:
1. Using picks since (like classical guitars), it lacks a pickboard
2. Using steelstrings (again same like classical guitar). I kind of cringed when I read a review of my model at the store before buying it. A  LARP-roleplayer replaced the strings with steel strings and wrote something like "It's a great instrument, but has some damages. But that's ok I'm quite rough"  Poor little thing

Since I mostly try to learn folk tunes (mainly Irish and british folk but some american too) I look a lot of youtube videos. Somehow I encountered Jean Ritchies version of Nottamun Town and loved the drone sounds. I learnt, that she played a so called mountain dulcimer. I also learnt, that this instrument had it's origin in older ones, even one used to played in Northern Germany (Hummel). I was hooked by the drone sounds , even more when I saw more videos ( my favourite so far is a rendition of a poem by German poet Johann Wolfgang Goethe on a hummel ).
Now the question was how to get one? I didn't wanted one cheap for 80 Euro (since I guessed that it propably woudn't be good in a long term).
I found a  forum thread, where somebody  recommended building one in a building workshop of Bavarian luthier André Schuberth. It turned out, that Schuberts workshops are on hiatus due to Corona, but that he offers prebuild versions of his workshop kits. So I commisioned one, he said it would propably take to new year. Fine with me, a nice late christmas present.
So I was kind of thrilled, when this monday  I got a mail from Mr Schuberths wife, that my instrument is ready and she just sent out the delivery package.

You can understand how happy I was when it arrived yesterday and I opened the package:

So now the hardest (but most fun) part begins: Learning how to play the dulcimer in noter/drone style. The instrument came tuned to DAAA tuning, I changed it to CGGG according to Jean Ritchies Dulcimer book.  

I'm happy to be part of this community (got some welcomes on my profile already, thanks guys!) and looking forward to learn from.

Thanks for bearing my babbling, have a nice day

Ewing vs Gardener

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

Thanks, You are actually giving me the information I am seeking.

Ewing vs Gardener

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

Nathina, it's really hard to comment on dulcimers without seeing and hearing them.  And what one person thinks of as bright or mellow might not be what your ears here.  I would suggest listening to dulcimer music posted here and on YouTube and Soundcloud.  Most of us indicate the dulcimer we are playing and the tuning we use, and if we don't, ask.  Then you can hear for yourself which luthiers make instruments that appeal to you. 

For what it's worth, I have never played or even seen a Gardener, but I own two Ewing dulcimers.  However, neither is a full-size instrument. One is an octave dulcimer and one a 3/4-size instrument that Ron calls a "baritone dulcimette."  I love both of them for their balanced and clear tone and the responsiveness of the fretboard.  Ron's dulcimers are of very high quality and his baritones in particular enjoy a fine reputation.

Tab for "Hail Against the Barn Door"

Dulcimer Resources:TABS/Books/websites/DVDs

Hey Dusty,

I was able to track down a version of "Squirrel Hunters" that Jim Miller tabbed out in tabledit. It's DAD capo'd to A. The B part sounds right on, if it helps you. I'm unsure whether it is permissible to share it here, so I will just tell you it is on dulcimertabs.com. Thanks again for sharing your version and knowledge. I've about got it down!

Ewing vs Gardener

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

Yes, all potato chips have differences!  There are lots of small chip makers across the country who have their devotees.  :) However, what might be, say,  too greasy to one isn't too greasy to another's taste.  

The only way to compare tones between two/among several dulcimers is to hear them.  Though I play with a noter all the time, all my instruments were not made specifically for noter play-- some were just built for unknown players who wound up owning them.    

There's one listed on eBay right now.

Thank you for your reply!
Kevin

Ewing vs Gardener

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

I was hoping for a comparison in tones etc. Some are better for strumming, others are louder as Dusty says, some are more mellow even with the same woods. Some are specifically designed for noters having flatter frets. Even potato chips can have differences. Lays original, light not too greasy, Ruffles, more solid not very light etc.

Ewing vs Gardener

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

I agree with Robin, Nathina, that these kinds of comparisons are hard to make.  Not only is there something subjective about one's preference for a particular builder or another, but with older instruments so much depends on the condition of the specific instrument.

To illustrate how subjective this can be, I bought a used Blue Lion at a very reasonable price because the person who owned it didn't like the sound. She played mainly in a drone fingerdancing style and found the bass string was too loud and drowned out the melody.  But that loud, bassy sound is exactly what so many of us love about Blue Lion instruments.  (And now I have three dulcimers even louder than that one!)

Ewing vs Gardener

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

Nathina, the this versus that comparisons are very hard because it is all so subjective.  Mountain dulcimers are like potato chips. . . And comparing them is like comparing all the types of potato chips made by all the potato chip companies big and small.  Very hard.  

Double fretboard & 6 guitar strings

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

@marg That double dulcimer has such a great, powerful sound-- I like it lots! 

Homer Ledford in a short film from Woodsongs

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I happened to catch the film on YouTube, @ken-longfield , and thought others may like seeing like I did.  :)

Homer Ledford in a short film from Woodsongs

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Thanks for sharing this Robin.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Ewing vs Gardener

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

Is this a Tie or is one more recommended than the other? Both are good but which of the older instruments were better?

Here is a comparison I haven't seen between Ewing hourglass and a Gardener tear drop.Both are set for 4 stings. The older Gardener is probably Cherry top and I need to see the back pics yet,  the Ewing is Walnut. Both are older instruments. Both are good builders. The Ewing in old enough to come with a wooden case. There are no "abalone" inserts on ewing, the gardener has them. The ewing fret board is undercut at the strum hollow. The gardener is has no signature scallops under the fret board, probably dating it maybe it is 1991. 

updated by @nathina: 12/03/20 09:23:04PM

Homer Ledford in a short film from Woodsongs

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I only see original post in a discussion, not replies..?

Site QUESTIONS ? How do I...?

@paulpossinger You are welcome!  That is a lovely mountain dulcimer.  Another thought: if you'd like to address a particular person, note how I began this posting.  It is a way you can respond directly to another member.  

I only see original post in a discussion, not replies..?

Site QUESTIONS ? How do I...?

Dusty, you explained it better than I did.  (i didn't see your post until after i posted mine)

updated by @strumelia: 12/02/20 09:07:20PM

I only see original post in a discussion, not replies..?

Site QUESTIONS ? How do I...?

Hi Paul... that "comment Back" link is only available for comments left on someone's profile page comment wall .

What you are referring to are comments left on your Keith Young photo , here .

You should simply respond to Robin's comment right above it in the text box, as another comment on your photo. Think of it sort of like it's a little discussion going on about your photo. Robin will see your post.  :)