Happy New Year to all my friends here.  My wish for each of you is whatever you wish for yourselves.  

Happy New Year My Friends!

I will pop in occasionally this month. I have been staying at my Mom's during her hip surgery and recovery. It is closer to go to the facility to see her and an easier drive. Mom is doing her best to get up on her feet, she has some troubles still but is doing a little better each week.

I am always happy to see and hear from you all; Wishing you all a prosperous New Year.

Blessings to each of you. I have missed you! 

Happy New Year friends.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I got to spend New Year's Eve with a few friends in a cabin up in the woods a few miles above our village.  A lovely place to see in 2016 !!!!

Happy New Year to you all

The guitar was my first instrument, circa 1960.
Since we had only one guitar for a short while, my brother and I both learned mouth harp to play some Sonny & Brownie tunes
I bought my first mandolin in the mid sixties.
I built a dulcimer in the early seventies and bought a better one at a yard sale in the early eighties.
I quit smoking 40 years ago and put the money aside.  I used it to buy my first five string banjo.
I learned to play Autoharp on one that belonged to the school where I taught and bought a few of my own later.
I also play tenor banjo.
I have played at piano accordion, button accordion and English concertina, but have neglected them lately.
My newest instruments are the Filipino banduria, The ukulele and the tiple.

My wife says, "The concept of enough hasn't gotten through to Jim."
I'd probably be a much better guitarist if I'd stuck to it only.

Happy New Year!!!! 

Mine was an old Ruggs and Jackel Folkroots that someone didn't want anymore and they gave to me. I played it for about 10 years, and then donated it to an organization who uses dulcimers in their music therapy programs for rehabilitative purposes. It had such a BIG voice!

Kerry was a real Lady.  I knew her pretty well.  She'd come over to Prescott and Phoenix a couple times a year during the years I lived there (2000-2003) and we'd jam.  Fabulous player, beautiful voice.  I miss her a lot.

Happy New Year!   Went for our Polar Bear Splash this morning.... the pool was 89F!!

Happy New Year fotmd. God bless us every one. 

Indeed.........Happy New Year to all!

Yay!  happy new year to all friends here...     

Here comes 2016 -- a brand new year, with no mistakes... yet!

Happy New Year to one and all.

The first dulcimer I owned was built by Kerry Coates, Gila Mountain Dulcimers.  I either emailed her or called, I can't remember and we decided on the shape, wood and design.  I had her paint two Carolina parakeets, Ike and Izzy, the last two in existence from a painting I found of them.........she did a magnificent job, using the sound holes as wings........perfect.  Kerry stopped building shortly thereafter.  She told me that she was having health problems that she thought were related to the materials she used, so she was going to stop and get back to playing, as she put it, "the darn thing."   We more or less stayed in touch for a few years since she was a great teacher and helped me learn to play that great dulcimer she built.  Sadly, Kerry passed on April 29, 2014 after a heroic struggle.........now that dulcimer sits in a corner of my office out here in the forest........a treasure built my a master craftsman and grand musician...I play it every now and again and always remember her wit and creativity.........that dulcimer has the sweetest ring of any I own and I hope will bring my grandchildren the same pleasantries it brought me.  When they are a bit older I will tell them the story of the last two Carolina parakeets and about the artistry of a lady who was an artist in the truest sense of the word.

Happy New Year to all my FOTMD friends. You all are special!!!

Hope everyone's New Year is better than you thought it might be!

Staying home tonight with my son and the girls. Not sure they will make it to see the ball drop, we shall see. Having a great time with movie night.

Hope everyone has a very Happy and Blessed New Year.

Thank you, dear Strumelia!  I hope those same wishes are met for you throughout the coming year. 

Here's hoping all members have a safe, healthy, and productive new year for 2016...full of personal joys like music and also the joy of kindnesses to others.

Happy New Year!!!!

Another option is a Jerry Rockwell dulcimer.  This one has a lovely warm tone as well, which may be what you are looking for. It's not really all that deep of a body either. I still own this one, but it doesn't get the attention it deserves:

I owned a Ewing dulcimer, which had a lovely warm sound. I sold it, since I was pretty much only playing my Aeolus, but I think it's one of the nicest sounding of the mid-range priced dulcimers I have played.  I have a couple videos of me playing it here, that may be close to the sound you are looking for. It's not very large or deep body, but is till a lovely warm sound.:

Thank you Dusty and Annie for your input.  Sorry I piggy-backed on the string discussion.  I realized my error after I posted.  Warren May's studio is in Berea and I plan to visit soon.  I thought he might be out of my price range but since I have such a great resource so close I'm definitely going to check it out.

Dusty, you gave me lots to consider and I appreciate the details.  After reading your response I've decided my "scrunching" problem is due to instrument position. I do use my thumb a lot and some pinky.  I've tried angling the dulcimer as in your video with little success in the past.  As I said, the action on my dulcimer is high and I really have to press hard to get the note/sound.  I am able to play my instructor's dulcimer with much more ease. 

The search is on.  What fun. Nina

Jane -- Warren May is an individual.  Here's his website:

http://www.warrenamay.com/dulcimers/

Warren does not build anything he calls a baritone, but his "wide hourglass" and "hourdrop" models certainly have the warm, rich characteristics we've been discussing and are designed for conventional D tunings. 

To be honest, I don't think you need a baritone dulcimer.   Baritone dulcimers do not usually come set up for conventional DAd, DAA tunings, but rather deeper -- AEa or AEE -- they need different strings to be tuned conventionally.    I think you need a conventional dulcimer that is a bit wider and deeper than most.  I think the only way you're going to find the instrument to suit you is to play as many different makes and models as you can find.

I find that it's not really the strings but the dulcimer itself that either does, or doesn't give you the warm mellow sound, the type of wood also plays into it in a big way, such as comparing Cherry to Walnut or red cedar. tuning is the next big one, for me personally anyway, I find the CGC tuning to be very warm mellow sound, but have also found it doesn't always "work" on all dulcimers, it really depends on the personality and voice of each individual dulcimer.

 I just picked up a couple Warren Mays, and find that they overall have a very mellow voice.

 I'll be posting a new forum at some point highlighting the Warren Mays, I got a lot of great feedback from folks here at FOTMD about Warrens dulcimers, and I'm not disappointed in the least, some of my favorites to play, and they handle the CGC tuning like a champ!!!

Thanks so much for providing the Tab for this!

Dulcinina, doesn't Warren May build dulcimers in Berea? Might be huge fun to try his out, or maybe you have already. Wish I could!

Thank your comments, glad you like it!

@Rob: I use TablEdit for my dulcimer tabs.

Thanks, Peter, for the tab.  What software did you use to create it?

Hey Dusty, thanks for all the great info. I'm looking forward to checking this out when it gets here. supposed to be delivered on Saturday.

 And yes Ozark Lady, that is a picture of the one I'm getting, I like finding the older harder to find dulcimers, over Christmas I actually found 3 Warren Mays!

 From 1982, 1986 and a much newer one, the two later ones look to be virtually unplayed and came with case, noter and pick, the hang tags were still attached even.

Thanks for listening John!

Wow, thanks Joy!

Still listening to it, and still lovin' it!  Great stuff!

Thank you for playing this carol and for the tab. I had not come across it before, you made it sound really good.

I just tabbed my arrangement of this old Austrian Christmas Carol that has become popular in Germany also.
You may use these tabs freely for personal, non-commercial use. Enjoy!

You can find the video recording of this song here on FOTMD: http://fotmd.com/peter-w/youtube/1961

EDIT:

German text:
Der Heiland ist geboren,
Freu dich, o Christenheit!
Sonst wär’n wir gar verloren
In alle Ewigkeit!
Freut euch von Herzen, ihr Christen all!
Kommt her zum Kindlein in dem Stall!

Translation:
The Savio(u)r is born,
rejoice, Christianity!
If not, we'd all be forlorn
to all eternity.
Rejoice with all your heart, all you Christians!
Come here to the child in the stable!

DerHeilandIstGeboren.pdf - 55KB

Howard Rugg, who has started building again and even has a website  now, is a member here at FOTMD . You might consider contacting him directly with any questions.

The History page of Howard's website provides a broad outline.  He and his brother Michael formed Capritaurus dulcimers in 1969 and Steve Jackel started working for them in 1972. Over the next few years, they developed a second line of dulcimers called Folkroots which were produced more efficiently (I won't say mass produced since they were still handmade by a small number of people) whereas Capritaurus concentrated on custom builds. In 1975, Howard and Steve formed Rugg and Jackel Music and made the Folkroots dulcimers while Michael stuck with Capritaurus.  By the late 1980s, it all came apart.  Howard and Steve sold the Folkroots brand to Folkcraft Instruments and all three of them moved on to different professional and personal endeavors, but about three years ago Howard began building dulcimers again and has incorporated some new innovations into his craft. 

Nice playing, Robert.  It makes sense that the larger box and longer VSL of a baritone would produce a richer, deeper sound with more sustain.  I think that was Strumelia's point above.  I know Blue Lion has a model called "Acoustic Jam" which is a standard dulcimer put on the same size box as their baritone and bass models.

Hello ozark Lady, Mine just shipped out, hoping to get it by the weekend, real curious to get an up close look, I have no details about it and virtually no info on line as to materials used, date and so on. I'll let you know when it gets here!

Here is a sound clip I uploaded that might give you a rough idea of what a baritone dulcimer can sound like tuned up to C. Deep bodies and long VSL's will give you the sound your looking for... Robert.

Dulcinina, you ask several questions here, and you might consider posting them separately as their own discussion.

I am not sure what you mean by "scrunching to reach the 9th and 10th frets."  Are you having trouble reaching from one fret to another, or are you having trouble just playing up the fretboard? If it is the latter, the issue is how the dulcimer is positioned on your lap.  Sit with your lap flat but you legs apart (you can't be "ladylike" and play the dulcimer!).  Assuming you are a righty, Put the head of the dulcimer out over your left knee and the bottom of the dulcimer in tight on your right thigh.  The dulcimer should be angled out towards your left, so that you can reach the low frets and the high frets equally easily. The exact angle of the dulcimer will be influenced by factors such as the length of your arm and whether you use your pinky or thumb, but you will want to angle the dulcimer at least as much as Mark Gilston does and perhaps as much as Guy Babusek does .  Most likely, you'll be somewhere in the middle.

A beginner or starter or student dulcimer is just a less expensive dulcimer intended for someone who might be interested in playing but is not yet ready to commit to buying a more expensive instrument.  I don't know what dulcimer Jane has, but I bought a student dulcimer made by David "Harpmaker" Lynch.  It cost a mere $125.  To make an instrument in that price range, David uses birch ply instead of more expensive tonewoods, spends only a minimal amount of time putting an easy curve into the side instead of more elaborate hourglass shapes, only uses simple circles for soundholes instead of fancier shapes, uses plastic instead of bone for the nut and bridge, only offers a flat head instead of an elaborate scroll head, and so forth.  Because David is a master luthier, the intonation is dead on and the dulcimer has a lot of volume. The action is also very good.  As I said above, I have one which I keep on the east to play when I visit there.  Here is a video I posted a few years ago , if you can excuse my vocals.

A compensated bridge is merely a bridge that has been adjusted for the specific strings.  Without getting into the physics, basically the distance between the nut and the bridge should be slightly different for strings tuned to different pitches.  If you buy a dulcimer from McSpadden or Blue Lion or whoever, it is good to indicate if you will tune primarily in DAA or DAd, for they can adjust the bridge to compensate for that tuning.  To be honest, I change tunings on my dulcimers and don't notice the change in intonation, so the difference is probably only noticeable to the most discerning ears.

As I stated above, I strongly recommend playing for a few years before making a big investment in an expensive instrument.  While I personally don't believe the type of wood to be a major factor in the tone of an instrument, I do prefer softwoods such as spruce or cedar for the soundboard rather than an all-hardwood instrument. I also really like an ebony overlay on the fretboard to allow for easy fingering and resist damage by my sometimes careless flatpicking.  I prefer a flat head for ease of stringing. Although shorter VSLs are more comfortable, longer ones usually mean more sustain. Now that I sometimes play in public, I want an internal pickup on any new dulcimer I get.  I could go on, but the list of my personal preferences is no guide to anyone else except for the general principle that there are a lot of variables in dulcimer building and you have to play a while to discover what your preferences are.

By all means, try out as many instruments as you can and see how they feel and how they sound. Also pay attention to the videos of dulcimer players you enjoy and whose dulcimers sound nice to you and ask about them.  Be patient.  The longer you wait the more you will know exactly what kinds of variables matter to you, and the more your next dulcimer will really be the ideal dulcimer for you.

I've been enjoying the Hearts of the Dulcimer podcasts and look forward to each episode. Thank you for compiling historical pieces and preserving the present for the future. The dulcimer community is enriched by your efforts.