Forum Activity for @rob-n-lackey

Boy, that's a loaded question and it can depend on when you mean.  When (I think it was) John Keane set up the "Cluck Ole Hen" variants I had a blast working it out as a waltz kind of in the style of Carruli or Carcassi and playing it in other ways.  But for long time instrumental fun on the dulcimer it would have to be "Soldier's Joy."  Vocal fun, maybe "Me and Bobbie McGee" or (here's one for morbidity when talking fun) "Desperadoes Waiting for a Train."

Right now I love playing "Silver Dagger" with my girls singin' with me.  That's kinda morbid, huh?  LOL

Wish I'd hit mapquest before now.  Maybe I could have been there.  

YES, I love music of all ages, just about, but not HARD ROCK...I took a class at U of H playing all the sizes of recorders, but loved the sounds of viole de gamba and other early instruments. These have moveable frets. and wow, that's some tuner.  aloha, irene

Thanks Ken!  Just the info I needed. What a great forum.....!

Generally we use a small triangular file to cut string notches -- much better than a saw; notches only need to be string diameter deep.  Try using a heat gun or hair dryer on the bridge/fretboard junction for a few minutes to soften glue, then use a small hammer and a punch (small length of wood or dowel) and a sharp tap to loosen the bridge.  If all else fails, you can (carefully) sand the bridge flat and make a floating bridge from a small split of chopstick or very hard wood with string notches.  Set it on top of the flattened bridge and angle the bass string end a few millimeters towards the tail as you begin tightening strings.

Here's one example of an Alpine region 'zither/dulcimer ancestor type' instrument from sometime around the turn of the century:

Awesome Irene...I would love to see an example of the bridges that you make. I am at a loss as to why any manufacturer would make a fixed bridge anyway. In writing that however, most acoustic guitars have a fixed bridge but they have a compensated bridge...  As an aside, I just purchased a Pono Octave Mandolin that has a fixed bridge but that is perfectly in tune. speaking on tune' ness that is a whole new thread. as a lover of early muisc and playing the violin and viola those instruments are tuned in perfect 5ths but do not have frets so you compensate with ones ear but with my Mandolins I use a "sweetended " tuning with is a kind of best of all worlds tempered tuning. I attached a picture of my tuner..MUCH more versatile than a tuner that tunes every thing to A440.  sorry to ramble but I noticed that you had an interest in other instruments as well as the dulcimer and early music as well! cheers!

 Peterson tuner.jpg - 14KB

I have found that some dulcimers just have to have a FLOATING BRIDGE.   Either take off the strings or loose them up and then get that bridge out or sand it flat.  Then make another bridge and move it and you'll be able to get all the strings in tune by that method.  your strings might be high too....so check that problem.  I make all my dulcimers with a floating bridge.  When I repair dulcimers and loan 'em out to others, I get rid of glued in or fixed bridges and ahhhhhhhhhhh, IN TUNE.   aloha, irene

Hello all, I am very new to the dulcimer but a lifelong musician. I just bought an Apple Valley dulcimer and the bass d string is very sharp at the octave. The dulcimer is virtually unplayable at this point. I have seen posts of people lengthening the string by cutting into the bridge so that the string sits on the back of the bridge, closer to the tailpiece. Among my questions are: Exactly what tool / size saw / file do you chaps use to cut the notches in the bridge? I was also considering changing the bridge but it appears to be glued in or it is a very tight fit?? Any advice here?...Ideally a floating bridge would be great so that I can make the compensations there. I play the violin, mandolin and earlier in life I played Pedal Steel as well so I could usually fix the intonation problem by moving the bridge a little. I searched for a compensated bridge but I think I will need to work with the bridge I have; however it does seem immovable at present. If I mess up I want to be able to replace it. so sorry for my long post....very happy to be a member of this community :)

Tomorrow evening, Mark & I are to open for flatpicking guitar player Adam Schlenker at the Appalachian Listening Room in Logan OH.  It's been a few years since we've played 'out' anyplace.  Due to life circumstances, I have to meet Mark at the ALR, and return here to my folks' when the evening's done. 

Happy strumming, y'all! 

Last gig was last Sat. at Pattyfest here in Fairmont.  Opened the stage performances with "Ballad of Spider John" and went up and down from there.  Now I'm looking for the next gig.   Got some possibilities in Morgantown, so if they pan out, I'll post the data.

Lately I've been having fun playing Lay The Bend To The Bonnie Broom, a 19th century forerunner of The Riddle Song.

Memorial Day I played at the Altapass Orchard Memorial Day Picnic, on the Blueridge Parkway up in North Carolina.  Except for an Pen Mic or three, I'll next be at the Americana Community Music Association Listening Room on August 5th, opening for Nate Currin.

BTW, this would be a great  ongoing thread to post in our Gig Talk! Group . 

For a while now, I've really enjoyed playing the "Tavern Song" from the Israeli movie "Sallah Shabati"...it's quite a workout playing it noter/drone.

Steven

I have been asked to play "Down in the River to Pray" with a group at church, but I've not gotten full details yet.  I hope it pans out!

So, folks on the FOTMD, where you playin' at next?

I'll be kicking it up with my band, The Mound City Slickers on the porch of the Peers Store near Marthasville, MO tomorrow from noon until 3 in the afternoon. Come on by if you're in the neighborhood.

Now tell me about you!  

Just throwing this out for the crowd. 

What's the tune you've had the most fun playing? 

For me, of course, and I'm sure for you, it changes all the time. Right now, I'd have to say that I'm having a ton of fun playing Charlie Poole's "If The River Was Whiskey", a sort of old-time country version of "Hesitation Blues". I hadn't played if for years and years, but heard someone playing it on the excellent AMERICAN EPIC series on PBS. Now I can't get it out of my head or my fingers.

It's not that uncommon to see that kind of mixed diatonic/chromatic fret arrangement on folk traditional or older dulcimer ancestor instruments- Swedish hummels, French epinettes... The practice goes far back.  There are quite a few early mtn dulcimers with the arrangement, and J.J. Niles experimented with making such dulcimers as well.  Lots of musicians like having the option for those odd extra notes, without having a completely chromatic fretboard.

It helps to be fretting with the fingers rather than a noter if you want to be more nimble in getting the 'far' non-diatonic frets.  You can play tunes with any kind of accidentals in them, and you can play tunes that switch keys midstream without retuning... quite useful.

Hi George, there are lots of cool photos, videos, etc, about limberjacks here on FOTMD:

https://fotmd.com/search/results/all/1/25?search_string=limberjack

Interesting.  I don't have a stone pick, but I use a malachite pestle, from a Mexican mortar & pestle set, as a noter.  I do have a pick made from "vegetable ivory" from the Ivory Nut Palms on Pohnpei Island in the Federates States of Micronesia, and another made from polished turtle shell (found an empty shell in the woods years ago). 

George, you sit on one end of a long thin plywood paddle, put a dowel in the hole to hold the puppet, and hold it so that the feet just touch the paddle.  Now you go to thumping the paddle, and the feet of the puppet go flying, and the arms flip back and forth.  Talented folks can beat a rhythm to the song being played by another, and the puppet will appear to dance along with it in a comical way.  It's a lot of fun, especially for young kids.

Thanks,That was buried somewhere in my brain but couldn't dig it up, now i need to figure out how to "play" it, any advice on that would be great too!! Dusty, your knowledge of all things obscure musical is impressive.

I found this, by George Orthey Dulcimer, If I'm not mistaken they were used sort of like a set of "bones", A peg was in the hole in the back, A board of some sort was placed somewhere close to lap level, and the figure was made to "dance"? Or am I off by a mile and them some?

 wood1.jpg - 78KB

While I was patrolling a fenceline at an electric company substation (that's part of my job) I noticed this rock and I thought that might make a nice pick.I took it home and polished one end with various grits of sandpaper. I like the weight and feel of it. I'm always on the lookout for noter and pick materiels!! 

 IMG_1915.jpg - 112KB

There's a few on this page: http://www.davidbeede.com/octavedulcimers.htm

Take a look at the center dulcimer in that picture at the top right.  It looks like a royal pain to build and I see that David stopped offering that option.  If memory serves, he used to call it an "evil half-breed" fretboard.  I would love to have one just to see how people react!

I think the idea is that you can play the melody string without speed bumps, while accidentals are available on other strings if you need them.  In DAA (or any 1-5-5 tuning) it would make perfect sense to a piano player: white keys on the near string, both white and black keys on the middle string.  In DAd (1-5-1) you'd find the black keys shifted up a little higher on the fretboard but still the same idea.

Come to think of it, that fretboard looks a lot like a piano keyboard.  Short frets are the black keys.  It strikes me as a perfectly logical layout for someone who wants all the notes but isn't comfortable looking at (or sliding a noter across) a fully chromatic fretboard.

I have a Dean Markley transducer stick on pick up but sorry no volume, could check with the or sweet-water & see if there is one that comes with a volume.

Pictures, please!  If there's no photo, "it didn't happen"!!

I don't know if I explained myself correctly. I recently bought a small 1 watt amplifier that does not have a volume control button. It is small, about the size of a pack of cigarettes. What I need is a stick-on type transducer that has a volume control button that I can insert into my amp. I have looked at the Shadow stuff online, but their prices are more than double what I paid for the small amp. Someone also sent me a link to company that makes what I am looking for, except it has to be installed into the dulcimer. I need a stick-on type. Thanks for any info on such an accessory, if one exists.

Joe

Just saw a dulcimer that has chromatic spacing on the drone strings, and diatonic spacing on the melody strings. I've never seen this before. How is the chromatic spacing used? What are the limitations/benefits?

Thanks ken, I'm hoping as I get older my thumb doesn't start giving me more trouble in playing

Marg -- why not drop Bill a note, or give him a call and ask about loosening the bridge  I would suggest heating it a few minutes with your hair dryer before giving it a tap with a hammer and a wooden dowel

 (Action tended to come a little high on most of his instruments I've owned)

    Do you feel it is just a bit high on your Berg's?

I have one & using the nickel on the 7th fret it's good but I feel maybe it could go just a hair down.

    My problem is, seems the bridge is glued in. I tried lightly knocking it & didn't move, what could loosen it or should I just leave as is?

    It Plays fine but my thumb has been giving me trouble (I slide with it a lot) & thinking if it was just a hair lower, maybe I would have less pressure on my thumb.

Ideas?

Know it's been a while, but just noticed a post on Berg's.  I bought my first on Ebay in 2013, and they have been my primary concert instruments ever since.  Just bought my fifth Berg earlier today.  Of over 50 dulcimers in the 26 years I've played, McSpadden is the only brand I've bought more of, and that's just because there are more of them out there.

Bill makes great instruments: even the student models sound better than a lot of "upgrade" instruments on the market.  Action tended to come a little high on most of his instruments I've owned or handled, and could cause intonation to pitch slightly sharp in the upper register; lower the strings just a touch and it's right on the money.  

Because he doesn't have the name recognition of McSpadden or Folkcraft, used instruments usually fetch less than half their original new price, even in top condition; making second-hand Bergs possibly the best value in the dulcimer world.

That's  great, Gail! Congratulations!

Steven

My congratulations to Gail too- what a huge honor to win that!  

Way to go Gail! Congrats