Forum Activity for @strumelia

Looks like a great price for this!

It looks more like about 15-20 years old to me. -based on the very modern/current tuning machines, the zero and 6.5 frets and the heavy fret material, the wide chording fingerboard, the commercial inlay strip along back, the rounded 'shop' edged peghead shaping, the mixing of wood types, the soundhole shaping, and other little style touches. This is not a forty year old dulcimer.

Fairly well made, and in great shape as far as one can see.

What is the VSL/scale length, from zero fret to bridge?

No marks or labels inside at all? Is a label perhaps unglued and rattling around inside?

Lucky buy!

Yes Babs, its an 'extra' step, but help prevent the softer metal of say, a chromium plated screw, letting you down ! And for what its worth, IMO the pozidrive offers a tad more protection against the screwdriver slipping and thus inflicting a scratch/dig into your pristine instrument !

JohnH

We shall have to stop meeting like this , folks will talk ! I'll get me bike out next time and come up and do it for you, lol!

Good on ya Gal ! I forgot to mention that I always run a standard screw of similar size to the fancy ones that come with the button in first, sorta 'belt n braces' and helps prevent any possible shearing And if you are following Dusty Turtle's advice and using soap, go for the most expensive, sweetest smelling stuff you can find. It does not help the process at all, but does show that you have good taste.

best wishes

JohnH

Hi Babs,

The dims. could be the size of the box/blister pack they come in perhaps.

Regarding pilot holes, do a couple of tests first in scrap wood.

When you come to the real thing take care that your pilot hole is straight and not at an angle.

Bit late to the party Babs, but when you buy buttons/screws together, they can be consider a match. The supplier usually knows what he is doing, and its worth thinking about 'collateral' damage that may occur should your shorter screws pull out !

That 'small' pilot hole you mention should not be too small. Even with soap/tallow on the screw, it does not take too much to shear the screw shank, this you do not want to have to deal with !

A minor point. Bearing in mind that your instrument likely has a polished finish it is useful. once you have decided where the screwhole is to be located, to make a small indentation at that point (I use a centre punch, but a suitable sized nail or the actual screw would do) just to ensure that your drill does'nt skid all over the place.

good luck

JohnH

the proper screw is usually supplied with the strap buttons. as far as the scroll end i always used a rawhide loop on

the end of the strap....slipping it over the scroll. this allowed the strap to fit any dulcimer or at least most.

if you have to come up with a screw i would find one about 3/4 of an inch long.

Babs, remember that guitar straps have to hold up the weight of the guitar, but a dulcimer is going to be supported by your lap, even if you hold it in place with a strap. If the screws that come with the strap buttons seem too long, feel free to use smaller ones. I have done that on two of my dulcimers.

A couple of other pieces of advice: as Jan suggests, put some soap on the screw before you screw it into the pre-drilled hole. It will make it easier. And screw by hand; don't use an electric driver. Just take it slowly and you'll be fine.

Also remember that you might not need a strap button on the head of the dulcimer. You can just loop underneath the strings and around the head. That way you can avoid drilling into the body of your dulcimer. There are lots of inexpensive products you can buy to facilitate this. Chech out this Planet Waves quick release or this leather device by Martin . And some straps come with leather strips to attach to the headstock instead of a hole to attach to a strap button.

Babs, I just put 'buttons' on a Honea dulcimer I bought a couple months ago. Little lap and the big dulcimer...(love it)... would walk around. The set of buttons I bought had very long wood screws. I pre-drilled the holes and ran the screw threads over some soft bar soap to help them slip in easier. Made it far easier to slowly screw them in. Make sure your screw driver sits firmly in the screw head...you don't want to bugger the screw head with the wrong size screw driver. Take your time and you will have a job well done. Hope this helps.

As Dusty mentioned, lot of us are posting our memories of and inspirations from Jean in the: Fans Of Jean Ritchie Group here on FOTMD. I'd love to keep our discussions about Jean's passing together in that section of the site, only so that folks can find all our heartfelt posts about Jean more easily in the future. thanks!

i met Jean and her husband George at Larkin Bryant's first festival in memphis. they had a booth across from

me and during the slow periods i became well aquainted with George. Jean appeared several times at the booth and

i can tell you the room lit up when she did. i'm so grateful i had a chance to meet her and to see her perform on

stage with pictures taken by her husband in the background.

Jean will live on in our hearts and minds

A national treasure indeed, marg. In many ways, anyone who plays the dulcimer today is one of Jean Ritchie's heirs.

Strumelia started a discussion in the Jean Ritchie Fan Club group devoted to remembering Jean.

Jean Ritchie,December 8, 1922 June 1, 2015

Very sad news and to some degree we are all connected through our dulcimers. She was and will always be anational treasure.

That would be very sweet if you tab some of the songs. I play for some other seniors but not ones from Holland. Maybe you could start an international children's group and post your tabs there and others could maybe post some they know.

Good luck with what you decide to do but again, it is nice of you to offer.

I just received the Lets Jam book from David Haas. You will enjoy hours and hours of fun and playing from this. I've been playing for 9 months(newbie). Enjoy.

Martha E said:

Dave Haas also has a book of jam tunes called "Let's Jam!"

Dave Haas also has a book of jam tunes called "Let's Jam!"

Hello! One great resource for learning a lot of new jam tunes is Stephen Seifert's Join the Jam Book 1 in DAD tuning. He has a second book, Join the Jam Book 2, with even more jam tunes. They're available from his website and from the Folkcraft and McSpadden websites.

There's a lot of free tab for jam tunes on the Three Rivers Dulcimer Society website, too: http://www.threeriversdulcimersociety.net/html/ourmusic.html

Here is a link, Nancy. http://www.jerrywrightfamily.com/products.htm

A bluegrass picker told me this one:

"What's the difference between a puppy and a singer-songwriter? Eventually the puppy stops whining."

"Q: What is the difference between a dulcimer and a fish?
A: You can tune a dulcimer but you can't tuna fish."

Sorry, but this doesn't make sense as you "can tuna fish". As in:

Q: What's the difference between a bagpipe and a fish?

A: You can tuna fish.

Implying of course that bagpipes are always out of tune.

Terrible area for crime this. I left my dulcimer on the back seat of the car this afternoon, when I got back someone had broken the window and thrown two more in.

What's the difference between an Appalachian dulcimer and a hammered
dulcimer?
A hammered dulcimer burns hotter; an Appalachian dulcimer burns longer.

What's the least-used sentence in the English language?
"Isn't that the dulcimer player's Porsche?"

Minimum safe distances between street musicians and the public:
* Violinist: 25 feet
* Bad Violinist: 50 feet
* Tone Deaf Guitar Player who knows 3 chords: 75 feet
* 15 year-old Electric Guitar Player with Nirvana fixation: 100 feet
* Dulcimer player: 60 miles

Not for telling but this landed in my inbox today!

You might be a dulcimer redneck if:

Your idea of the ideal honeymoon is going to a dulcimer festival!

How about....

I went up to see my friend in the hospital the other day. We chatted a bit, then I played a couple songs on my dulcimer. When it was time to go, I said "Well, I hope you get better!" My friend said - "Yeah - I hope you do too"!

You could modify some of the classical musician jokes, like...

Q: What do you call a dulcimer player without a girlfriend?
A: Homeless.

Q: What's the difference between a dulcimer player and a large pizza?
A: A large pizza can feed a family.

Q: What do a mountain dulcimer and a lawsuit have in common?
A: Everyone is relieved when the case is closed.

Q: How do you make a mountain dulcimer sound beautiful?
A: Sell it and buy a violin.

Q: What is the difference between a dulcimer and a fish?
A: You can tune a dulcimer but you can't tuna fish.

Marriage is like playing the dulcimer. It looks easy until you try it.

Q: What does a dulcimer and a baseball have in common?
A: People cheer when you hit them with a bat.

...

Yep! Ken is right on - he is so musically gifted! A way to think about it is, when you place your capo on fret 3 for the key of G, that now becomes your new "0" fret. Go on up to the next fret "4" which now becomes your new "1" fret, the next "5" fret becomes your new "2" fret, etc. Just know that now you will play fret "6", not the "6+" as in the standard DAD scale played from fret 0. But, your ears will tell you that when you strum the scale! Just know that if you find written dulcimer tab in the Key of G, it will use a "0" number for the third fret and the other fret numbers will be same as without the capo - i.e. "0, 4, 5, 6, 7".

A capo is my best friend when I play with 'hotdogging' bluegrassers, as I have to be prepared to quickly get to different keys. Key of G is their favorite, until some fiddlers show up for Key of A. For keys that I can't get to without retuning the dulcimer (C, F, B flat) I will play partial backup chords or hit the dessert table!

Have fun with it!

Gwen

You can call it G or Z or Q.. But it will be in the key of G no matter what you say say. Gdg tuning with the scale starting on the open 3rd fret.

thanks, very helpful!

Notches only need to be a string diameter in depth. The best tool is a small triangular jewelers file. I got a whole kit of such files from the local Ace Hardware for under $10. Height will need to be adjusted no matter what -- It's a matter of cutting slightly over-tall then sanding down to Nickel/Dime action height or lower.

Thanks Ken I will measure it and see if I can get it out this weekend....The issue will also be making the notches and the height right.. I agree that It really is a nice looking old girl!

What Rob said - The bridge will need to be made to fit. Not hard to do. You just need a small slice of hard wood like Maple. Let us know how thin the wood is and someone, or several someones, will probably send you useable bits of wood.

Does the piece of bridge in the slot come out readily, or is it glued in? If glued, run your hairdryer on high a couple inches from the broken bit for a few minutes, then use a small slice of wood like a popcicle stick as a 'punch' to try and drive the the broken bit out sideways.

Back in the 60s and early 70s many makers used a single dowel as a string post like that. If the post is small enough you can open up the loop of loop-end strings and they'll slide right on. Or you can use ball-end strings and run the tip of the string through the ball end and make a loop to slip over the post.

Not having a 6+ fret means you'll probably find it easiest to play this dulcimer in Fingerdance or Noter & Drone style, and not try to play everything from the DAd tuning.

Really nice looking dulcimer. You've got a keeper there!

Paula, I'd say the bridge would have to be made to fit. If you have some wood, sandpaper and a knife edge needle file you're good to go. Can't say I've ever heard of that maker. It looks really nice tho'. Good lines, craftsmanship (from what I can see in the pics) and no 6 1/2 fret.

Hi,

The wooden bridge is broken and I need to get a new one... I wondered if I am going to have one

hand made? I am sending a picture or two as well. The bridge is one piece insert. I showed the top nut just for reference.

Also, there are no string fasteners at the bottom, only a big round post... Did they wrap strings around the post?

Secondly anyone know anything about LW Moody, LA California? That is one the label... #10

Thanks for any input you can give! Paula

Just before boxing this dulcimer up to ship I played one last tune... Simple Gifts or some variation thereof... Robert.

Thanks Lexie. I was pondering buying the one that Cynthia bought - guess I pondered too long!

Gail, I don't have a JI from Robert, but bought one made out of Buternut and can highly recommend his workmanship.

They are great to play noter/drone or chord and the sound is that silvery old time sound. Mine is my most lovely and a treasure. Robert models after A.W. Jeffery's and it is a gorgeous design.

Also Robert is a great person to work with, very kind and considerate.

Also Cynthia Wingington bought a JI from Robert recently and she seems to love it, she would be a good person to talk with about it.

Good luck with your "Sweet Strings"