Forum Activity for @mark-gilston

to get chromatic or not

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

It's important to remember that any dulcimer sounds very different from a guitar, so the comparison of a chromatic dulcimer with a 3 string guitar is completely spurious.  In my opinion, a dulcimer is far more versatile than a guitar in terms of varying tonal qualities.  I've played both instruments for well over 60 years, and I can do far more with a chromatic dulcimer than with a guitar.  On the other hand, the dulcimer is easier for a beginner to pick up than a guitar is. 

Another important point is that many of the dulcimer like instruments from Europe are also chromatic and date from at least as early as the 15th century, so the precedent for a chromatic dulcimer is far older than any diatonic American instrument. 

to get chromatic or not

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

I love my chromatic dulcimers and tend to play them the most out of my collection but I still like my diatonics. I see the chromatic as an evolution of the dulcimer. Just as other instruments have evolved and developed sub-types, so have the dulcimers as I see it. How many types of guitars are out there - do folks question those different types? I am not sure that is an equivalent comparison but maybe close. If you like traditional diatonic, great, play those and have fun. I don't see those going away as they are wonderful, but I hope folks will be open to others playing different types of mountain dulcimers. My newest MD is a chromatic Dulcivox from Folkcraft. It has a nice sound, lots of volume and resonance, and is a lot of fun to play. 

Different strokes for different folks....

updated by @gale-a-barr: 01/14/25 07:12:15PM

String Gauge Combination Questions

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Assuming I wanted to stay Ionian but three strings only, would 22-10-10 be a concern?  I haven't looked elsewhere, but the only Ionian string set sold by McSpadden for a standard mountain dulcimer is 22-12-12 (with an extra 12 if I stay with three strings).  Similarly, if I wanted to go Mixolydian would there be a drawback to 22-10-10?  The McSpadden Mixolydian string sets have a 23-14-10 (with an extra 10).  It seems that they consistently want different gauges on the 2nd (middle) and 3rd (melody) strings for Mixolydian, as opposed to, matched gauges for Ionian.  Is the higher gauge on the middle string intended to be more compatible with the increased tension in the 10 melody string when it is tightened to reach D?  Is there a consensus that a 10 middle -10 melody is not good for for Ionian?  I don't think so, but I thought I would ask.  The 10 is easier to fret in Ionian, so I hope the answer is "No"!  Thanks!

to get chromatic or not

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

The chromatic dulcimer is one of the most contentious topics ive noticed surrounding dulcimer. The traditional significance and cultural value are some of the most interesting aspects of the dulcimer, so it makes sense to me that people dont want that to fall by the wayside in an attempt to turn dulcimer into a 3 string guitar.

Its hard to balance the unique characteristics that make dulcimer interesting with the standardized characteristics that make it modern.

to get chromatic or not

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Thanks, John. And thanks for asking.

The album is available at edelstondulcimer.bandcamp.com/album/making-waves , and you can even preview it to see if you like it.

to get chromatic or not

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

No insult intended....just my attempt at humor.

And where, pray tell, is your album available?

to get chromatic or not

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

s11141827 spoke accurately. Chromatic dulcimers are more popular than they used to be.

For people who choose to play only diatonic tunes - and especially those who choose to play only melody over drones - chromatic frets would be as useless as a third pedal on a bicycle.

However, for those of us who play contemporary music or Tin Pan Alley or jazzy stuff or classical, chromatic frets can be valuable. For those of us who get together with musicians who play chromatic instruments - such as guitarists who capo into keys like Bb and Eb - a chromatic dulcimer gets us into the room. For somebody coming to the dulcimer from guitar, chromatic frets make all the sense in the world. Personally, I believe that more chromatics will help dulcimers to become more widely known.

I released my first album last year, and half of the songs required a chromatic dulcimer.

Please don't insult something just because you aren't interested in using it. There's no reason we can't all be friends.

to get chromatic or not

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Perhaps Beef liver, or poison Ivy rashes......

to get chromatic or not

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

"Chromatic Dulcimers are becoming more popular" Than what?

Many, many more new violins are purchased each year than dulcimers. Probably many millions more.

I play 3/4/6-string noter-drone dulcimer for simple fun even though I'm about as comfortable on the violin. I'm not aiming for mastery of either, just my own amusement.

to get chromatic or not

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Chromatic Dulcimers are becoming more popular

Dulcimer music tab for rounds

Dulcimer Resources:TABS/Books/websites/DVDs

I recall Music Alone Shall Live as a 3 dulcimer round at our local folk club back before the turn of the century.
We used DAA tuning.

Music Alone Shall Live   -   German folk song

1 - All things shall perish from under the sky.
2 - Music alone shall live, m usic alone shall live,
3 - Music alone shall live, and never die  die.

Back to the Bowed Psaltery

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

That's a beautiful psaltery, Susie. Of course, I wouldn't expect anything less from Masterworks. I am sure it will give you many hours of enjoyment. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

The Drifting Thread...

OFF TOPIC discussions

hahaha Dusty!

This particular spot has very gourmet coffee, and not all that cheap. They do prepare exotic drinks like turmeric coffee and 'golden milk', etc, they do offer decaff espresso which i appreciate (after having already had my coffees at home).

Dusty, I bet the young folk listen to their playlists and also spotify on their phones with bluetooth speakers when out and about. But perhaps some of them like to leave their always-connected techy jobs and have their apartment to unwind in, all retro and low key and mid-century-modern... so they enjoy the tactile feel and sound of playing vinyl records that spin around all old-fashioned like ...and pretend to not have the constant pressures of work for an hour or two. Some of them are also into writing with typewriters, and keeping leather journals.

Back to the Bowed Psaltery

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

After selling my bowed psaltery several years ago, I decided to get back to it. I knew I wanted a Master Works, so I took the plunge. I ordered it in November and just received it about a week ago. This time, I'm learning it right....without the use of note guides. With their inlays at the C and G notes, it's going really well, and it's going to be more enjoyable doing it right. I'm loving its tone and feel. I knew I'd love a MW BP, since my sister had one years ago. This makes a nice little travel instrument too. So, here she is. Zebrawood top, Alder back, and Maple sides. 

updated by @susie: 01/13/25 03:17:46PM

The Drifting Thread...

OFF TOPIC discussions

Did you remember.."Going in Circles" and "Grazin' in the Grass" by the Friends of Distinction?

The Drifting Thread...

OFF TOPIC discussions

Just one correction, Strumelia: the coffee place was not hip until you arrived.  Wherever you go to grab your morning joe is the hip coffee place.

I find the current interest in vinyl curious.  Personally, I miss listening to an album (scratches and all) while slowly reading the liner notes.  With Spotify you can't even figure out the musicians who play on a given track.  But why young hipsters would prefer to buy big bulky albums rather than click a button on Spotify is beyond me.

Happily, I live in a place that has a lot of small cafes.  Some of them are enjoyable places to hang out. Each one has a slightly different vibe.  Some are genuinely social spaces, with lively conversation, local artists' work on the walls, poetry readings, open mic nights, and the like.  Others are quieter, clearly conducive to students and others getting some work done.  But I also share Ken's predicament of only wanting plain drip coffee.  The baristas are all disappointed when I don't order a lavender latte with almond milk or something like that.

The Drifting Thread...

OFF TOPIC discussions

Sounds like a fun time. It certainly brings back memories watching the Sam the Sham video. Although we have a small coffee shop in our town, it is not much of a hangout. It can seat about 10 to 15 people if that. While the owner roasts his own beans, you really can't get a cup of coffee there. If want a latte or espresso, that's fine, but ask for a cup of black coffee and the wait staff looks at you like you came from another planet. And decaf, no way. Needless to say, I've only been there once since it opened three years ago. Now if they had folk music, I might venture in, but what would I drink? Thanks for sharing your wonderful experience, Strumelia.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

The Drifting Thread...

OFF TOPIC discussions

Yesterday my husband suggested we go to a hip coffee place that recently opened in our village. They also sell old vinyl records.
Lots of millenniums and hipsters with children go there because it's a happenin' place and they get to hear and browse 'vintage' music while sipping coffee and watching their toddlers play. Some of us seniors village residents like to go there as well, because it's relaxed and cozy, and the music choices are sometimes what we grew up with.
Yesterday, the owner (who usually makes their excellent espresso drinks), overheard a little table of us Old Folk mentioning songs we remembered, and the subject of Wooly Bully by Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs came up. Next thing we knew, the owner had secretly punched it up from behind the counter on the sound system from his phone, in all its thumping glory.

So everyone in the cafe got to see a group of grey haired Boomers doing the frug from our seats and belting out along with the song- "Matty told Hatty, 'bout a thang she saw...." and of course we all chimed in at exactly the right time (because every word and note is seared into our old brains) with "Watch it now, watch it watch it watch it!!"
We Old Geezers must have been quite a sight -but we didn't care! Which of course made it even more fun.
I imagine the owner, a wise young man in his 30s, must have felt like a cosmic puppetmaster, making us all sing and dance with a simple click of his finger on his phone, and bringing everyone there obvious joy.

2024 Folkroots dulcimer hand made by Folkcraft. $890.00.

FOR SALE:instruments/music items/CDs/Wanted to Buy...

Price reduced to $890! Thank you for your attention.

Any body have an idea what this is ?

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Hi Nate, appreciate your comments about my oddball find. Yes I do still play dulcimer. Never been a good player but like the nice feeling it's sound gives. Still have my Romanian dulcimer made by Hora. Also have a Red Kite made by the Hagan family in Missouri. Also have a 1970's Homer Ledford instrument, which is a dream.

Though I have to confess I haven't been playing them much lately as I have been putting some time into learning 5 string banjo old style. I have a great instrument from ODE in Boulder Colorado . But I still love the dulcimer and played it at Melton Christmas Folk Festival in the UK where I had several requests to explain ' what's that you're playing, sounds sweet ! '

updated by @mick-mclaughlin: 01/11/25 07:12:41AM

Hammered Dulcimer EXR

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Great story, Jim. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Hammered Dulcimer EXR

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

That's an awesome story Jim. Thanks for taking the time to share it.

updated by @nate: 01/11/25 12:30:26AM

Hammered Dulcimer EXR

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Balalaika, the most Russianist of Russian instruments

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

My brother Bob has a yard sale balalaika that he got a few decades ago.  Since he had no idea how to play or tune it and he got it before everyone had Google, he tuned it like the first string courses of his mandolin.  He figured that not many fiddle tunes utilized the 4th string anyway and he was right.

Bob's Balalaika

Any body have an idea what this is ?

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

 

It can be really confusing to navigate all of the European zithers and their nuances. The huge variety of different styles of dulcimer can make it difficult to parse through. While stylistically the instrument resembles some European predecessors, functionally it is much more similar to an Appalachian dulcimer than to any other instrument.

Glad to hear the instrument found a home, it sounds like it may have needed some maintenance before playing. Out of curiosity, since this post is several years old, do you still play dulcimer?
-Nate

Any body have an idea what this is ?

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

I have heard, and tend to generally accept similar things. I almost never play in the second octave unless it's with a noter, and the frets have to be so dang precise when they're that close together, so I often just don't bother adding many extras to it. 9/10 times if I need an extra fret it's either for chord strumming, or because a tab used it, so in either case I don't usually need it an octave higher. 

I do find it especially odd that the second octave *does* have a 10.5 fret but no 8.5 fret. I would think that the 8.5 would be much more useful if you were to pick only one of the two.

updated by @nate: 01/10/25 05:11:30PM

Any body have an idea what this is ?

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

@nate, I've seen well known luthiers do that in the past... only adding extra frets on the first octave, when building a new dulcimer. Like you, I thought it was odd. One time I asked and was told that most players don't play up in the second octave anyway, and also that it was tricky to get accurate tones on frets when they are so close together. Or some such explanation.

Any body have an idea what this is ?

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Kind of funny to see the 1.5 and 3.5 on the first octave, but no 1.5 fret on the second octave (8.5 fret). It makes me wonder if the extra frets were added after construction. In the past i have sometimes added half frets for specific arrangements, and Im usually too lazy to also add the fret to the second octave. 

updated by @nate: 01/10/25 04:26:30PM

Any body have an idea what this is ?

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Hi @jim-yates thanks for post. I puzzled for quite a time over that instrument. Finally I concluded that it was definitely homemade despite some fine detailing and I was never convinced about any heritage as a mountain dulcimer. I believe to was better related to some of the dulcimers European cousins such as Epinette des Vosges or Hummels

It had a slight curvature to the very thin fretboard  which made it quite difficult to set up. But it was great for playing the blues !!

In the end I sold it on eBay and doubled my money I got no complaints from the purchaser which I took to mean he is a better musician than me.

Any body have an idea what this is ?

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

That looks almost like a full-chromatic fret pattern.   It would be hard for me to play without the more familiar diatonic pattern.  Hope you can have some musical fun with it!

Any body have an idea what this is ?

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

Sorry, I see there is no edit option.  My second paragraph should have been:

Traditional dulcimers are fretted diatonically.  If "W" is "whole tone" and "H" is "half tone", from the nut it would be:
W W H W W H W W W H . . .   To play an Ionian scale, you would start on the 3rd fret.

Any body have an idea what this is ?

Adventures with 'other' instruments...

It's a little late to be adding to this thread, but I was surprised that no one had mentioned the way Mick's dulcimer is fretted.
Traditional dulcimers are fretted diatonically.  If, f "W" is "whole tone" and "H" is "half tone", from the nut it would be: W W H W W H W W W H . . .   To play an Ionian scale, you would start on the 3rd fret.
Since the seventies, most modern dulcimers have an added fret (6+) making the frets:
W W H W W H H H W W H . . .
Folks have started adding frets as they need them and I have even seen dulcimers fretted completely chromatically.
Mick's dulcimer seems to be fretted: W H H H H H W H H H W W H H H W H H H
Can anyone see the reason for this?

Wanted: info on my dulcimer

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

You might find help with this group as well  

https://www.dulcimer.org.uk/

Anyone here from UK?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

This might be of interest to you:   https://www.dulcimer.org.uk/

Anyone here from UK?

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I'm Scotland based and whilst there's an awful lot of cool spots for folk, I rarely find a place where I come across a dulcimer and wow do I miss that sound of sweet music. Anyone else UK based and find they came across dulcimer players once in a blue moon, even in the folk scene?

Wanted: info on my dulcimer

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Thanks everyone for your generous responses!

String vibrates

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Im really glad you mentioned camera and light source angle Ken. That is definitely what i was failing to consider. I guess if the camera and light source were both directly above the instrument, the shadow would move much less

String vibrates

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

I think it is an optical illusion created by the shadow and camera angle. With different lighting, especially no glare, and camera directly above the fret board I'm sure you would get a better look at the strings.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

String vibrates

General mountain dulcimer or music discussions

Id really love to know more about this. I've seen Bing do it in a few videos and I just can't wrap my head around it. I believe it is due to the interaction between the vibration of the string and the cameras frame rate, but visually, the shadow seems to move a lot further than the actual string does. Is the bass string actually moving over the edge of the fingerboard, or is this some type of optical illusion?

updated by @nate: 01/08/25 05:23:46PM

Wanted: info on my dulcimer

Instruments- discuss specific features, luthiers, instrument problems & questions

Following up on John's reply (again), you might join the UK and European Dulcimers Group, and ask if anyone is looking for a dulcimer. John and Paul Crocker are active in the British dulcimer community. John is a member here as John Henry. Paul is also a member here as Paul Crocker. I'm sure there are some folks in Great Britain who would enjoy having an older FolkRoots dulcimer. Best wishes on finding it a. new home.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."