Forum Activity for @ken-hulme

Well, when I get this one put together I'll see what I can come up with for a sound clip or two...

Would love to eventually hear a clip of these lyres playing a simple tune or just hearing them being plucked, Ken.

Fun!

Betty is just gorgeous!         Dan made another winner.

Dan makes very nice traditional instruments.  Does this one have feet on the bottom?  Either way, play her using a possum board and you'll be amazed at how much volume you'll get.  If you go down to Home Despot or Lowe'st you can find a poplar plank the same width or just a bit wider, about 1/2" thick, and make a matching possum board very easily...

Pretty Betty is made of all poplar, a traditional and very locally available wood to our dulcimer ancestors who built dulcimers in the Appalachian area (Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia). She was made by Dan Cox a member here on FOTMD also known as Dulcimore Dan. The voice is bright and silvery like the traditional instruments. She is not overly loud, but the older dulcimers were primarily played in the home or on the front porch, perhaps in some of the many small churches which dot the land in Appalachia. She sings a beautiful song.

She's a PRETTY BETTY for sure.  I love it's the old style.  tell us more about the wood used and who made her.  

aloha, irene

Yes.  It sounds like your tuners need tightening.  Tighten the screw a quarter-turn, tune up the string, and see if it holds.  If not, try another quarter-turn.  If you've tightened it too much and the tuner becomes hard for you to turn, loosen it again just a bit.  I've met loose friction tuners that needed a 360-degree turn or more to get them working right.

Properly-adjusted friction tuners should hold tune just as well as geared tuners do.  They'll need tightening once or twice a year.  Sometimes loosening, too, if the humidity changes.  I have a little blade/phillips screwdriver on my keychain and it goes everywhere with me.  If I'm going to play a gig and I won't be able to tune between songs then I'll give the tuners an extra twist just for insurance.

If the tuners are really old and corroded or the screw is stripped, then they'll need replacing.  If the wood in the head stock is damaged, that's a whole different can of worms.  Know that the folks at the Magic Fluke company stand by their products and will do repairs, usually free, even if you bought it used.

Will taking a screwdriver to them make the tuners actually turn without bouncing back?  Because that is what they are doing, making it impossible to tune.  Right now it is in the corner of my office, looking at me reproachfully.

Just got this dulcimer which I named Pretty Betty, made in the older more traditional style.Nice and bright and silvery sounding.

My DAD [Dulcimer Acquisition Disorder] is now in remission but its hard to say when I may have a relapse and it comes back again.

I know someone will ask for a sound clip. I do not have the knowledge/technology to produce one and get it on the computer

 Dulcimer Pretty Betty.jpg - 53KB

These are/were 6 string lyres -- "Pentatonic+" as it is thought of ...  I tune them in the simple pentatonic do, re, mi, sol, la, Do.

Kolrosing is such an easy (for values of 'easy') way to add really intricate decoration.  You do have to be able to follow the lines though!

That's very cool, Ken!

My recently commissioned epinette in pearwood has kolrosing designs as well.  It's a wonderful way to decorate wood items and instruments.  My future Langspil will feature kolrosing as well.

How many strings are these two lyres going to have, Ken?

I was recently gifted with some beautiful wood to make a couple of lyres.  I have Myrtle and Maple for body planks and soundboards, as well as Port Orford Cedar for soundboards.  Lyres have "carved" bodies about an inch thick, hollowed out to a 1/4" or less thick back, and a soundboard applied over the top. 

The ones I'm reconstructing here are based on instruments found in an archaeological dig near Oberflacht, Germany, before WWII.  The graves are from a "pre-German"  or Allemanic site dated to the late 600s AD.

This one will have a Myrtle body and a Port Orford Cedar soundboard decorated, as you can see, by "kalrose carved" designs.  Kalrose carving is to wood as scrimshaw is to bone/horn.  The designs were taken from some standing stones I visited while in Scotland.  The "Celtic knotwork" type designs were popular all over western Europe and the British Isles.

 Mock up of Oberflacht Lyre.JPG.jpg - 51KB

Thanks, Ken.

I checked with Don Pedi  since the owner's manual has his picture on it.  Don has a dim recollection of the family perhaps selling Green River Dulcimers after Bill Walker died tragically and it could be the new owners named it New River Dulcimers but he was not sure.

Song of the Wood did not have any information. I checked with them in September when I was by there. I'll check with the Dulcimer Shop in Blowing Rock.

Interesting, and obviously home made fine tuners.  With that VSL, the builder could have intended this to be a baritone or bass dulcimer.  And with that VSL it would be hard for many modern players to use for Chord Melody style. 

The New River in NC was designated a Wild and Scenic Waterway back in 1976... Beautiful waterway north of Blowing Rock.

Contact The Dulcimer Shop in Blowing Rock, NC.  I'll bet they have some information.  Likewise Song of the Wood, in Black Mountain NC, where your friend bought the instrument may have more info.

I have a friend who has a mountain dulcimer with the name New River Dulcimers (Asheville, NC), serial number 118, and crafted by Oliver in December, 1996.
My friend has asked me if I could find a bit about this instrument including its value.

The dulcimer appears to have walnut fretboard, with walnut bookmatched top and back with cherry sides. Bridge and nut appear to be bone. Cosmetically it appears to be in good shape with few signs of much use. It appears to have been well kept if not played much.  No signs of abuse, improper storage etc. My friend purchased it used at an instrument store in Black Mountain, NC a number of years ago.

Voice is guitar like. It has tuners which appear to be  Grover Sta-tite banjo machines. It has some "fine tuners" unlike any I have seen heretofore on a dulcimer. VSL 29.25". Overall length 37". Pictures attached.

Internet searches do not provide much information.

Anyone with any knowledge of this brand, value used etc?

 New River fine tuners.jpg - 120KB

Hearts of the Dulcimer Podcast - Episode 29
The Driven Wendy Songe

  http://bit.ly/hotdpodcast

In this episode we feature dulcimer player Wendy Songe who is an award winning singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, poet, performer, teacher, and nationally touring musician.

Hearts of the Dulcimer Podcast can be found on most podcast apps.
Here's the link to Hearts of the Dulcimer on iTunes:  http://bit.ly/hotdpodcast

Don't use a podcast app or iTunes? You can listen to all the podcast episodes directly on our website:  http://dulcimuse.com/podcast

We also have a resource page for every episode, where you can find photos, videos, and song lists. Here's the resource page for this episode:  http://dulcimuse.com/podcast/resource/029.html

Yeah, I've been trying to get some vinyl of dulcimer records that have not been put on cd.  Some I didn't think I'd want back in the day; others I didn't know about.

I've been working on re-building my vinyl collection the last few months.  In the mean time I've been using the free version of Spotify and  listening to all sorts of Mountain dulcimer music........there really is a great selection available there if anyone is interested and you can save the albums to a playlist too.

Though I don't have a working turntable now, I hope to someday!  

PS- The record on the left is from the Fuzzy Mountain String Band.  

Tillmanator, you are to be admired for all your musical energy and enthusiasm for teaching! And thank you for supporting FOTMD. 
Folks, Tillmanator has just purchased a new Banner Ad in our FOTMD ad slideshow on the site's main page, to promote her project of bringing several mountain dulcimers into her students' school music program. Half of the students at her school are underprivileged and have very limited opportunities to learn music.  To take a peek at her site describing the project, just click on her ad.

Welcome to FOTMD. It is a great community of wonderful people. Go glad you joined.

Hi Tillmanator!  Glad to see you here!  There are a lot of wonderful folks here that are very helpful!  You have come to a great place

A taller seat/stool or standing with the MD on some kind of stand?

I help out with a beginner's jam - a tall gentlemen was having trouble finding a good position for his dulcimer, so he could strum without hitting the strings or holding his arm up high.. 

Suggestions: stretching his leg out to lower it, having most of the dulcimer on a sharp angle with little resting on his right leg (so he is strumming toward the end), loosen his strap & out from his body some,  sitting up straight, etc. 

I know he will find a position that works but does anyone have any suggestions that he could try?

How is that Ginger Nellie?  I used to have one and i loved it.  It went to a new home - a really good friend of mine who had some physical issues and had trouble playing a full sized dulcimer.  She was really happy with it, as I hope you are!

Happy strumming, Nellie! 

Actually, I've been eyeing the banjoleles.  They are on the "someday" list.  Which is sort of ridiculous, as I'm still at the green beginner stage on the ukulele, though I've made a little progress.  What brand/type of banjolele do you have?  

I've started playing the uke on a few songs in my dulcimer group.  

And, yay, I finally realized that there is a button for the quote function.

Very nice.............this link might be helpful to you.  Strings are available on ebay and amazon too.

http://www.jamesjonesinstruments.com/misc/yangqin.html

Sorry, folks, I still don't seem to have the quote function down.

Well I made the plunge 3 months ago and bought a Kala Ziricoat Tenor and couldn't be happier. I actually have learned more about music since I've had this. Yes I still put many hours on my Folkcraft, but what fun the Uke is.

My next uke purchase may well be a baritone, but that will have to wait until tax refund time.  I've been eyeing the ziricoat Kalas, but unfortunately, they don't make in a baritone.

Hi, I have a magic flea. I think it had aquila strings but had terrible time keeping  in tune so sent it back the and got i think were planetary tuners. They did not charge me for labor which was amazing as i bought it used and told them so.

Wow, that is pretty amazing. I should contact them, as my Fluke is sitting on the floor, untouched at the moment. It needs some love. I mostly alternate between my long neck soprano and the tenor.

Ditto on 'grain pattern'

That's certainly NOT "wear dirt".  That's just natural changes in the wood's grain pattern and density!

You might try a Budist temple for information on that instrument. I know my granddaughter is part Laotian and danced at the temple and they had those hammered dulcimer type instrument and others.

Nellie -- without seeing the pictures you are looking at we simply cannot tell anything about the instrument.  Post the pictures here so we can help.

You said: "Is wr walnut and redwood? If that is true than not plywood so should not darken?"

Plywood does not darken compared to solid wood in any scenario I've seen in over 60 years as a woodworker.

could be just the picture... it's hard to take pictures in the house is my experience... you can't really go wrong with a mcspadden.   

Don hasn't been in the shop for about a year, but he will always be my hero dulcimer maker.......

I'm sorry to hear that.    But thanks for passing on the news.

I have just been in touch with Don's wife, via email. I was hoping to discuss his building a true replica of a TMB a few years ago.  She replied "He isn't building anymore due to health problems." 

The bridge and nut may be set up....just be sure he installs 4 tuners so you have that flexibility.