Well crud and other sayings of a simular nature...looks like I stand corrected, huh?
However, I am a thumb, index, middle finger picker. That leaves out the thumb brace for me. More like resting the ring and pinky next to the fret board.
But as to pulling up on the strings? I would be afraid there might be a chance of the string 'slapping' the frets if string was pulled hard enough.
From Jean Ritchie's Dulcimer Book: "Brace the thumb of the right hand against the side of the fingerboard near the right hand end. Play, with a slight lifting or plucking motion, the melody string and second string with the forefinger, and the third string with the middle finger." Also The Best Dulcimer Method - Yet, (the only Dulcimer book I've seen in the past 40 years) repeats "Play with a slight lift in plucking motion." As far as string buzzing it hasn't been a problem, but my action is a little high. Not nickel and dime, more like a buck and a half.
Didn't know how to post that original quote.
Also sorry it took two weeks to respond, but, life..
Hobbyhorse... great job! I like that you were inspired by my epinette built for me by Michael King. 
That looks cool, Hobbyhorse-- if you were my neighbor, I'd be knocking on your door to ask whether I could borrow it. :) I've never tried to play an epinette yet would really like to.
The so called Pennsylvania scheitholt isn't really a scheitholt. It was called by its builders and players a zitter or zither. The term scheitholt is/was limited to a very small region of the Tyrolean Alps -- a smaller part of the country than the area in America where a dulcimer is called an Indian Walking Stick. Why Michael Praetorious identified the scheitholt as such in his 1618 book De Organographia we will never know. But most American dulcimer players who see tha sketch automatically assume that that instrument is the ancestor of the dulcimer.
Hobbyhorse is right -- his instrument is an Epinette, one of several varieties of epinette. The distinction has nothing to do with who drew up the plans. There are structural differences between an epinette and a scheitholt and a fretted zither.
I found some information suggesting that the Epinette evolved from the Scheitholt in France about the same time the Fretted (or Mountain) Dulcimer was evolving in the US from similar sources. That would make it a cousin, rather than an ancestor.
There is an interesting discussion of the épinette des Vosges on the web page of a Musical Instrument Museum in Belgium.
http://www.mim.be/epinette-des-vosges?from_i_m=1
There are additional references to FEUILLEE DOROTHEE VAL D'AJOL VOSGES on a French auction website
https://www.musicantic.eu/plucked-strings-instrument/zither/epinette-des-vosges-la-feuillee-dorothee_4022_uk_D.html
Jean Ritchie and her husband successfully tracked down a couple of the instruments in France about 1960.
Thanks for the comments Ken and Wally.
The plans were drawn by by a Professor Claude Blandet in 1981 and I suspect it was designed as a building project for school children, but certainly it came from the Vosges area of France. The drawing as such is readable but many of the dimensions are too small to be readable and enlarging the drawing actually made it worse .... I also struggled with the French language and words that were too blurred to read. The heading on the drawing reads Epinette Des Vosges.
It is a beautiful instrument. It would be nice to have a sound file posted.
Is there a reason why you call it an EPINETTE rather than a SCHEITHOLT ? Are the plans from a French source rather than an American-German one?
Indeed, it is a small world. You did a nice job figuring out what you needed to do. It looks like a very nice instrument.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Herewith an Epinette built from a rather poor quality plan dating from 1981 and as a result, there was a fair amount of guesswork involved. It is built from recycled Kauri and finished in oil and wax. Tuning at the moment is gggec and I am agreeably surprised at the volume and tonal quality of the instrument.
I saw the youtube clip of one built by Michael J King and was attracted to it and I am now awaiting the plan from him, but this will take several weeks to arrive and I built this as practice run. I have since found that the plan from Michael is in fact the one built for Strumelia ... it is a small world.
Buckeye67,
You are indeed very fortunate! The Dayton dulcimer club is probably one of the best clubs in the US. They have many events during the year. I have contacts that are leaders of the group and have other information about the club. If you want to send a PRIVATE MESSAGE to me, I will send information to you.
Since both of you are military, I am posting some pictures of one instrument that I recently built. A mother here in Ohio had me build this instrument to honor her son as he retired from the USAF. She was having a hard time deciding on sound holes. She decided on the "stars", since they are a prominent part of the USAF insignia.
Please see attached images.
Jim Phillips
Buckeye67,
You are indeed very fortunate! The Dayton dulcimer club is probably one of the best clubs in the US. They have many events during the year. I have contacts that are leaders of the group and have other information about the club. If you want to send a PRIVATE MESSAGE to me, I will send information to you.
Since both of you are military, I am posting some pictures of one instrument that I recently built. A mother here in Ohio had me build this instrument to honor her son as he retired from the USAF. She was having a hard time deciding on sound holes. She decided on the "stars", since they are a prominent part of the USAF insignia.
Please see attached images.
Jim Phillips
Buckeye67,
Many thanks to you and your wife for serving and protecting us.
I am also a “Buckeye”. I live in central Ohio - play and build dulcimers. I am also from Appalachia. Family was from Buchanan County, VA - maybe 50 miles from Pikeville. I have a son that lives in Cincinnati and I would be glad to send you information about playing. I know players who are involved in string clubs in southern Ohio. I think playing with a club is a great way to learn.
Jim Phillips
@Appalachiandreamer -- We've talked quite a few new builders through their first dulcimer in that Group. We can get you going with designs, materials, hand-holding help... whatever you want/need.
I see you're from North Carolina. You might be interested too see that I build a pretty rare North Carolina dulcimer style called a Holly Leaf shape. The original was built in Burnsville, NC around the time of the "recent unpleasantness" -- 1860s. It's a traditional dulcemore -- that is it's not suited for playing modern three-finger chord-melody style, but rather for traditional noter & drone style playing.
At the top of the Home Page click on "Groups". Then scroll down to the "Dulcimer Making" group and click on that. You can join that group by clicking the "Join" button. Once you are a member of the group, you can post your questions to other members of the dulcimer making group for discussion by clicking on the "+ sign" in the upper right-hand corner and creating a topic for discussion.
If you want to discuss deceased dulcimer makers, you can join the "Dulcimer History" group in the same manner and post your questions there.
Buckeye67,
Many thanks to you and your wife for serving and protecting us.
I am also a “Buckeye”. I live in central Ohio - play and build dulcimers. I am also from Appalachia. Family was from Buchanan County, VA - maybe 50 miles from Pikeville. I have a son that lives in Cincinnati and I would be glad to send you information about playing. I know players who are involved in string clubs in southern Ohio. I think playing with a club is a great way to learn.
Jim Phillips
Hey everyone,
I'm originally from SW Ohio, served in the US Army and worked in law enforcement nearly all my adult life. My wife is still in the USAF, which has had us move from Ohio to Texas and to Michigan where we currently live. This summer, we'll be moving back to SW Ohio and this September we'll be welcoming our first baby! My mom's side of the family is from Pike County, KY (she was born in Hardy), and having roots in Appalachia, I have an avid interest in the people, culture, history and music of the mountains.
I mostly play traditional Irish music (whistle and flute), but also throw in some Breton, Scottish and Galician tunes as well (Breton tunes would sit very well on the Dulcimer, I think).
I don't own a dulcimer yet, but plan on getting one and getting started learning to play soon. Doing research on them is what led me to the forums here.
Thanks for having me, and I look forward to starting this journey. :)
Hey everyone,
Here are my three Original Mountain Curs - Ben, Grace and their baby (who's bigger than both of them) Sam
Don, I use those Wedgie rubber picks on an acoustic bass guitar, and they help make the instrument sound more like an upright bass. But I don't think they make fingerpicks, do they?
If you can contact the folks at the luthiery in Hindman, Ky, they may be able to help you. I am sure that they have seen and handled many Amburgey dulcimers. Do a google search for Hindman, KY and Doug Naselroad. The Appalachian Artisan Center and the Hindman Settlement School are other things to look for. Hope this helps you.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Another way to think about it is- in the days before there were smart phones or tablets, everyone used to read newsgroups and forums on their desktop computer monitors. Once tablets and smart phones came along, every post or two took up an entire phone screen, and people really began to hate having to scroll through endless screens of their tiny phone screen to get to today's posts in a discussion they were following. People don't like having to scroll through a whole long discussion from start to finish every time there was a new post in it. That's really the reason why so many sites today make sure the most recent posts are first/top and older posts are below them in that order.
Some online forums are still set up the 'traditional' way. When everyone was doing their online reading on large monitors, it made sense to have threads read from start to finish in original order, like a book. Many of us got used to that and it's not always easy to switch back and forth when you follow various sites. But nowadays people mostly prefer to view the latest posts when they check in to see what's new in their favorite discussions.
I'm sorry that it can't be changed as an individual viewer preference... that's sometimes possible with simple PHP forum sites, but I'm afraid it's not possible on this network platform.
Your J Amburgey looks great, @appalachiandreamer! Thanks a million for sharing the photos-- I enjoyed seeing them!
Thanks Dusty! I do have Gorilla Tips - and when I use them on my fretting hand I wear a thin silk glove over them so I'm able to slide. I've not heard of the guitar gloves - I'll look them up! Another thought you reminded me of - when I (try to) play the harp, (same hand issues), I tape my fingers with paper tape. I'll try that on the dulcimer and see if I can finger pick that way. Thanks so much!
UPDATE: Just ordered the Guitar Glove. Will see if that is an option for my picking hand....
@Appalachiandreamer Yes, please post your Amburgey photo! Also, I misread your comment about MJAmburgey-- my mistake.
