Forum Activity for @ken-hulme

Nate -- build a dulcimer out of 1/8" plexiglass...  I played one once -- sounded decent anyway.  

At the risk of making light of a serious situation, a dulcimer full of muddy water sounds like something I'd like to try playing. I have been wanting to try to make a dulcimer that is entirely coated in a waterproof finish, inside and out, and let it "soak" to see if anything happens.

The only laminate dulcimer that I've seen de-laminate was one that didn't quite survive last year's Hurricane Ian.  And that was a combination of being submerged for a week in water who's temperature was approaching 100F.  Several years ago I acquired a 'no-name' laminate-body dulcimer, and had passed it on to a student.  She called about three weeks after we were hit by Ian, and wondered if it was recoverable.  Their house had more than 4 ft of water trapped inside for over a week before they could even get back onto Sanibel island and think about beginning recovery.  They had to empty not only water but organically stinking mud from inside the instrument.  The water receded and things began dry out -- in temperatures also around 100F with no A/C -- no electricity.  It started de-laminating wherever there were bare plywood edges.  The finish had crackled enough to let water under the 'skin', and of course the inside was not protected at all.   I salvaged the tuners and that was it.

Other than that I've not heard anything a laminate dulcimers not standing up to normal use.   One that Harpmaker Dave made me out of Baltic Birch, lived aboard my un-airconditioned sailboat for a decade, and had no issues at all in our het and humidity here in Southwest Florida.

@mooddancer -- I understand you have an acquaintance who builds and plays -- why not get him/her to build you are shorter scale dulcimer which I understand is what you're looking for?.  That would no doubt be better than any McSpadden ever made.  

That's good to hear, feel free to share your fiddle performances here.

The difference in size between the M-8 and the M-12 will be in the body width/size.  I believe that they both use the same fretboard and scale length.  Both are beautiful to play and hear.

I am remembering that maybe the change over from laminate to solid wood was about 1996. It seems I remember the McSpadden having to send too much of the plywood back due to poor quality and it was slowing down production. I have had 2 McSpadden's with laminate bottoms with no trouble at all.

If I recall correctly the M-8 is about the size of the kit John is building. If, as you say, it well cared for, you will have a fine dulcimer to play. I do hope you are able to get it. I look forward to seeing it.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I'm putting together a McSpadden kit right now, and the laminated sides are very substantial, high-quality plywood.  McSpaddens are well-designed instruments.  I'm not aware of any of theirs being solid wood.

The wood laminates that McSpadden are of excellent quality. I wouldn't hesitate to buy one. I've never heard of one separating. I think they were three ply with the outer layers being cherry or walnut and the inner ply either birch or poplar. I'm not sure when the changeover to all solid woods was made, but it was probably sometime in the1990s. BTW, the reason the Schnaufer model is no longer made is that the cherry laminate from which it was made is no longer available. David specified that only the cherry plywood could be used for the body of his signature instrument.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Does anyone know what year McSpadden switched from laminate to all solid wood builds?  I’ve found several early 80s dulcimers in my price range  that looked very well cared for, but worried that time and the elements might weaken a wood laminate build.  

Thanks, John. I found some wiring instructions for a mini-humbucker that may be all we need. (Not really sure yet!) The diagrams I found were for Piezo, but it might not be all that different--just two wires!

Patty, check out the stuff on cbgitty.com  They show simple pickup set-ups and diagrams.  They could probably help you out.

Hi, My husband is going to make me an electric dulcimer, and I picked up a humbucker pickup & bridge recommended by a former builder on the web and am ready to buy an output jack, but we really are clueless about wiring the pieces up. Can anyone recommend a book (there are two for guitars on Amazon) or anyone who sells diagrams for dulcimer? We'd like to go as simple as possible on this first one.

Thank you very much shanon! I'm already having a lot of fun with it :)

Good luck on your journey.

William Duddy from Belfast, Northern Ireland is a trustee and active member of the Nonsuch Dulcimer Club over here in the UK. I had a chat with him recently about how he got into music, his dulcimers and the folk scene in Belfast. Here's our conversation in my blog: Conversation with William Duddy

I realize this topic is old, but I tabbed out Jerusalem Ridge if you are still looking

I believe so. Good luck on your journey.

No, it's pretty well integrated.

Thats pretty interesting. Does the red rub off on your finders while practicing?

ahhhhhh, Time for thank you.   Thanks Richard for the Stewmac place to get the bone bridge and nut.   Steve, thanks for THE FABULOUS LIST of all your instruments.   way cool.  I have much of the same things and I so enjoyed making many of them through the years.  One person came in my house and asked, "Is this a music store?"  ha.  not......but that's how I got into making so many instruments for others.  Way fun!!!  But my husband played instruments and so do all my children.  aloha, irene

Irene Stew-Mac has bone bridge and nut material

https://www.stewmac.com/search/?q=bone+nut

They feel like plastic, but with a matte texture. If you run your finger along a string there's a slight sound, like with a wound string except much softer.

Susie, Thank you. I didn’t mean to ruffle any feathers when I explained that you can’t sell your handmade flutes as “Native American Flutes “ if you are not Native American. I do own a High Spirit flute. I have many flutes from Erik the Flutemaker. I met him at the Texas Renaissance Festival many years ago. I have a McSpadden dulcimer from Mountain View, Arkansas and a Dulcimer Factory dulcimer that was made in Kerrville, Texas. Martin D-35, Taylor nylon string, Martin ukulele. Several Harmony ukulele’s.Deering Goodtime 2 banjo, Deering banjo/ukulele w/ resonator. A Martin Jr. Cajun accordion, met him and he signed my accordion . 2- autoharps( Oscar Schmidt), Cooper bodhran. Many Horner harmonicas. Skinny Bass foot drum. Yamaha electric piano. Fender Strat. Thumb harp. Wood tongue drum. Did I miss anything? Oh yea, several Irish tin flutes. You can say ,” I love my music.” It is true that “ Music soothes the beast “. It hurts me when someone butchers a song. Bob Dylan is not a very good singer, but he has written some of best songs, ever. I believe he is a genius when it comes song writing. I sorry, I’m just rattling on and on. When it comes to music, I could play all day. I go to several jam sessions a month. Time to go. Steve.

Thank you for that explanation. I see that on the HS website. I understand and agree with the distinction.  That said, I think in causal conversation, when we speak of our flutes, there's no harm in calling the HS flutes, Native American Flutes. I know I do. I'm thankful for such builders who are responsible and respectful and build quality flutes. In doing so, they are still honoring the Native Americans, the instrument, and the music.

Thanks again!

That is super cool Salt. I couldn't find one that was Hupa or Wiyot, but this Yurok flute may have been similar to the ones my ancestors heard, since there was a lot of cultural overlap.

 DCM_1_0775_379_lg.jpg - 67KB

I hadn't heard of the

"Aquila 11B red series" but the product description says "Nylgut made firstly elastic and then added with red copper powder in order to increase the density to about twice that of standard white Nylgut"

which I found really interesting. Id be curious to know whether they feel like metal or plastic to the touch.

If you are going with nylon strings, I really would recommend Nylgut brand, their set for "classic" banjo. Dulcimers and banjos have similar scale lengths and sometimes tune to the same octaves and notes. I've used both steel and various gut and nylon strings on all my banjos for about 25 years. I've found that on banjos, other brands and types of nylon strings feel overly bouncy, take a long time to 'settle', and tend to break too often. The worst in my experience were fishing line, and the Aquila nylons. The Nylgut strings have a nice tension, settle within hours, and very seldom break for me. They were a game changer.

Whenever I change steel strings I manually stretch each one repeatedly over the first few hours of play, re-tuning with each stretch.  It helps them "settle" faster.  I assume the same technique would work with nylon.

Nate,  I found a catalog that has pic's of a variety of Native flutes by tribe.......you and others might be interested in those pics, especially if you want to make your own.

https://flutopedia.com/fcat_old.htm

I'm now on the "Aquila 11B Classic Banjo Normal Tension Red Series" and I'm really liking them. They sound and feel about right to me. The only downside so far is they take a few days to settle into their tuning.

Pretty much.........I think the last paragraph of the Smithsonian article link sums it up..............I always found that the Drumhop site with the songs that each tribe used and the stories behind them were fascinating to hear.  Granted it can be a pick tricky to use but well worth the effort.

Thanks for sharing salt, these are cool. To my sensibilities, different tribes had different flutes and "Native American flute" is just a general term for one style of flute that some tribes made, which has been adapted into a western instrument.. Obviously pre-colombian flutes were not in A440, so that makes most "native American flutes" I've seen "cultural appropriation." The flutes I've seen in tribal museums, as well as the Musical Instrument Museum were often visually and functionally very different from each other.  If it were built traditionally, I would expect the name of a tribe and not just "native American." 

And Irene, I really look forward to seeing that dulcimer!

A great site too:

https://drumhop.com/music.php?page=97