Forum Activity for @davisjames

I have a folkroots I've turned into a baritone (A E a)...low A and E,wound,high a,some thick unwound string(017?)...it took a couple of months for it to settle in but it still has a few notes on the wound strings that are sharp on the first and second frets..I just work around that a little bit in my choice of melodies and fingering.. I'm pleased with the result but then I have 4 other dulcimers I can play while seeing if it works.It's pretty cool but I'll probably switch it back to Dadd after recording some music that lies well n AEa...I miss the jingle jangle.Others could explain this better than I but there is a correlation between body shape and string tension.

I have a beautiful David Lynch baritone dulcimer that doesn’t get much use.  Can I restring as a standard without affecting intonation? Thanks!

So I didn't know what strings were on my new 22" mountain dulcimer and when I checked the tune it was not DAD. Then in my research to find out what it should be I found it was suggested D5-A4-D4 and the bass and middle were not holding and the melody snapped. This is when I reached out here and on FB. It is now D4 .12, A3 .14, D3 .22 from D'Addario and it sounds great. What an adventure! Thank you everyone for all your input!

12's / about 13.8 lbs each [d-4]

14 / about 10.5 lbs [A3]

.024 / 14.7 lbs [D3]

Hello Misty,

   If you are who I think you are......?

Your dulcimer is currently strung with 2- .012's [d]

1- .014 [A] and 1- .024 [D].    

Thanks Ken !   I'm about 3 hours north of Williamsport but wouldn't know where to look.  Could be an interesting trip.   I'm going to try locally first but finding vertical grain will be interesting.  I'll keep a drive to PA in mind if all else fails.

I'm lucky here in central PA where there are many saw mills. Sometimes you can find short pieces that won't sell to well because they are only 3 or 4 feet long. You can get them for a really good price. Gotta love those Amish saw mills.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Another option if it isn't an historically valuable dulcimer is to cut the dowels off and use #2 1/2 inch or 5/8 inch brass screws.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Take your loop end string and run the plain end of the string through the loop thus creating a larger loop that will fit over the dowels. If it is a four string dulcimer, two strings go on each down. This system isn't very convenient if you break a string, but it works.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

John, I knew about CBGitty but not about Ocooch so will check them out.   THANKS !

You could try looking up Ocooch Hardwoods for thin, very good quality wood.  They cater to laser engravers and scroll-sawers, but will cut to the sizes you want also.

Hi all, I just purchased a vintage Cripple Creek dulcimer on eBay. I was looking at the tail end and noticed there are no pins like I'm used to—instead there are two thicker dowels (attaching the image). 

What kind of strings would you recommend for this apparatus? I've only ever used the loop end ones before and am a little stymied. 

Thank you for your wisdom and expertise!! 

Hello, Jack!  Welcome to the party!

You could try looking up Ocooch Hardwoods for thin, very good quality wood.  They cater to laser engravers and scroll-sawers, but will cut to the sizes you want also.

CBGitty has many inexpensive parts to choose from.  They cater to cigar-box guitar builders, but us as well.

Have fun!

Thanks Shopdad, My poor Dad was a master electrician and dabbled in woodworking.  I'm a retired machinist/modelmaker.  My first dulcimer build will have a ukulele type head with cheapo machine tuners.   I plan on a fretboard that stops just beyond the frets with a separate bridge/saddle that rests on the top.  Wood seems expensive and hard to find in long lengths.   Next week I'll be looking locally for walnut, butternut, and cherry with vertical grain which will be a challenge.  I have Kimball's book and am looking at stuff online.      Shop is left over from a small business.  Have a couple of benches in the basement along with mill, engine lathe, laser, printer, home made CNC router as well as too many hand tools. Band saw, tablesaw, and home made thickness sander are in the garage.  I have a "go-deck" made for ukuleles that I will try to convert for dulcimers.  Been through tough times physically so going will be slow due to only standing for short time and then have to rest.  Brain says go and body says NO! LOL.

Hello Jack, Welcome to the Friends of dulcimers group. I am somewhat new myself. I have been playing for almost two years and working on my third build. I have learned a lot from experience even though others have been a great help. I have also learned there are a lot of great folks on this site that are willing and capable of helping with questions about playing as well as building. These comments are from a retired Floridian familiar with wood projects as well as metal. raised in a Body shop since I was a young boy. 38 years as an electrician and years of music background in school and college. I also do a lot of fossil digs and guide for school, boy Scouts and church groups. I started carving my own decoys for duck hunting back in the 70's then went into carving other types of decor. Married for 60 years with 4 great kids. Sounds like we may have a few things in common

Thanks for letting me in the door.   I first learned of the dulcimer in the 1970s via Foxfire books.   I'm not really musically inclined but do enjoy listening and want to try dabbling both in building and playing.   So far, I've been spending time on YouTube and reading.  Now gathering some materials.  I'm equally comfortable in working wood and metal so dulcimers look straightforward to build.  This is a beginning for me.  Located in upstate NY a short walk from Lake Ontario and retired with my wife.  

What we haven't mentioned is higher tension requires more finger pressure.

I would suspect that the taller end goes under the bass string as well, for the reason Wally mentioned.  A lot of times, I've found that the bass string has more wobble, and buzzes against the frets more easily, so I avoid the problem by setting it just a smidge higher and adjusting the bridge placement accordingly.

Your current set up has about 19-23 lb of tension per string. Strings that would give you a similar amount of tension at 22" would be ~0.030, ~ 0.019, and ~0.014.

Excellent suggestion, Ken.

Warren's phone number is on his website https://www.warrenamay.com/contact-us/

When you get the answer, please let us know what he says. I'm sure several of us who do our own maintenance will be interested in why a "bridge" might have different heights for melody and bass.

Why don't you email or call Warren and ask him? 

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Even though, as Skip pointed out, the Strothers calculator tend to suggest strings on the light side, I would go with those to begin with. If you find them to be too loose, you can always move up a little the next time you change strings. You didn't say whether this dulcimer uses loop or ball end strings but strings in the sizes suggested should be readily available as singles.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

According to the Strothers string gauge calculator, .012, .016, .024. The calculator has a tendency to be a little light [~.002 or so]. It will be the same octave, D3, A3, D4.

The ones you have on the 27" seem a little large, 

https://strothers.com/string_choice.html

I would think the bass string might have been set higher to avoid the string buzzing on some of the middle frets. There were no standard "dulcimer string" sets in 2006 and he may not have found a really good size of banjo or guitar would string.

I've been learning how to play hymns on a 27" VSL mountain Dulcimer, tuned D3 bass, A3 middle, D4 melody, strings are 12,15, 24. I just received a 22" VSL mountain Dulcimer which my hand definitely likes. My question is what gauge strings should I get and I want to stay in DAD, what octave, same as my standard mountain dulcimer?

Full photo

 warren-may-hourdrop-question-forum-file 2.jpg - 233KB

Hello everyone!

I have a 2006 cherry Warren May hourdrop, haven't spent too much time with it yet but noticed it has a floating bridge that is wedge shaped. I restrung a few days ago and I'm assuming the "lower" end of the bridge goes under the heavier bass string- is this correct? What's the advantage to this wedge shape vs a flat-top bridge? A have a recent May that has a floating bridge that's even on the top. 

if it matters, it's tuned to DAA and has no extra frets 😉

 IMG_3491.jpeg - 105KB

You might also find  Gates of Song  useful.  

https://www.transcontinentalmusic.com/PDS-Gates-of-Song-(Congregational-Edition)-75907

It is published by Transcontinental Music, a major published of Jewish music of many kinds.

My primary interest in "Jewish Music" is to be inclusive in performances during holiday periods like Christmas/Chanukah and Easter/Passover. I have a number of things like The Dreidal Song in my crank organ collection along with Jingle Bells.

I wasn't surprised to find that there is a book called Union Hymnal for Jewish Worship available as a .PDF at archive.org. This was produced by American "reformed" congregations, and as a result, all lyrics appear to be in English, and some of the tunes are by non-jewish composers like Mozart. 

At a first glance you would be hard pressed to tell from a single page that it wasn't from any American protestant hymnal. They are four-part arrangements.

https://ia801507.us.archive.org/34/items/unionhymnal00cent/unionhymnal00cent.pdf

Hymnary.org has several listing for books with lyrics in Hebrew and Yiddish. One example is
https://hymnary.org/hymnal/CZNS1909

Brown University has a page on Yiddish sheet music with a lot of sheet music.
https://library.brown.edu/cds/sheetmusic/yiddish/

I found that via the Hebrew Union College page on music resources.
https://huc.edu/libraries/free-online-resources/free-online-resources-music-resources/

The resources are there.

I posted mine & Mark's contribution for PMOTPD on the main video feed.  I'll just include a link here in this thread, too. 

https://youtu.be/x-7Qkd8lQOk?si=T1S9dTdNu47q5nW8

@randy-adams I'm glad you were able to work in drones-- love it!  

@david-bennett I enjoyed your Amazing Grace!  

Happy strumming to all! 

My entry

https://youtu.be/bUqqfYr9lk4?si=cj2weKOFh8enIECK

Here's mine Robin hot off the press. 

I think Burt Kahn who is a contributor of dulcimer songs on dulcimertab.com has a number of Jewish songs available.  I think he lives South Florida.

Joe Besse

Just for clarification... I'm assuming that you mean "tabbed for dulcimer", as opposed to written for (composed for) dulcimer.

The request was for "Jewish worship songs." A lot of the common "Jewish songs" are holiday or folk tunes.

If you are looking for TABs for music for temple or synagogue, some of us here might be able to able to make them from sheet music, but we wouldn't have that or know what to look for.

I busked in the Toronto subway stations for years(fiddle).Amplification was allowed but I was a purist-so much so that I needed physio every couple years to alleviate the damage from playing too hard in order to be heard above the din.One quickly finds out which are the quieter station spots(corridors away from the trains) that may also have a nice echo.Fiddle projects way more than the dulcimer,both sound wise and appearance wise.I would advise a pickup and a lightweight amp you can carry in a knapsack if amplification is allowed.In Vancouver I finally bit the bullet...using backing tracks I made myself played through a small amp which I could also plug the fiddle into.It became much easier and I tripled my money. There were so few paying jobs for me at least in Vancouver that I had to do something to survive..there went purity but I had a ball making the backing tracks....Schatten in Kitchener Ontario makes a really good contact dulcimer pickup.  and there are many cheap good quality small amps that run on batteries.P.S...I dubbed all of the backing tracks onto a Mini Disc player which I then plugged into the amp.Perfect small technology.

Hatikvah (The Hope) is available in tab form on a few websites and well as in a few published tab books. I think there are few others out there, like the dreidel song, but you can do an internet search for specific songs to see what's out there.

Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Hi,

Thanks for your email.

As far as I know, there's no collection of Jewish music for dulcimer, but I'd love to see one.  I know Jessica Comeau is among players who has at least one Jewish song in her repertoire.  My setting of Hinei Ma Tov is my album Three Strings and the Truth:  New Music for Mountain Dulcimer.  It's out of print (the label folded), but it streams on many sources.  I've performed other Jewish songs as well.

I'm a composer (and Jewish) and have composed and performed a great deal of Jewish music.  Thanks for asking about this.  I hope someone rises to meet the challenge.

Best,

Is there a collection of Jewish worship songs written for dulcimer?

I think the loudest acoustic dulcimer I have is my Tennessee Music Box (TMB). It is home-built, and I described it in the thread

https://fotmd.com/strumelia/group/42/box-dulcimers

With the 1/2 inch plywood faces it is substantial enough to survive a lot of rough treatment. It might be used as a shield It has a screen door handle on one side so it doesn't need a case

There are very few dulcimers available with proper pickups installed for electric amplification. The piezo types - either built in or attached - will pick up both any bump on the dulcimer or sometimes other sounds not associated with the instrument such as passing trains.

John Knopf built a hybrid TMB about a decade ago. If you are buying, not building your own, at least exchange messages with him.

https://fotmd.com/strumelia/group_discuss/1018/electric-hybrid-tmb