Forum Activity for @nathina

Thanks. The contention that the discussion is having, is that there is nothing resonating from the fret board or the top. All resonance comes from the bottom, as some believe. However, if that were true, I would think concentration would go into the bottom for better sound tone woods, and not the top, plus film piezo's when installed would be placed attached to the bottom and not the top. Obviously the entire unit vibrates, top bottom sides, but the sound board I would think is what makes the difference. Size of the sound box and type of sound tone wood on the top.Doug Berch designs his units with the fretboard in mind, believing the sound transmits from the fret board primarily. Even if so, it would enter the top before the bottom, so no contention. I did play with the pickup on the gibson and found that no quality came (dull) out of the side, or bottom but I found a spot on the sound board beside the bridge and slightly down from the sound hole that was the best. I also ordered another Ksime to use on the McSpadden, as the Schaller was too powerful for the small sound board. It was picking up everything and then some even from the next room. I know there are a lot of theories and each promotes their dulcimer designs the best. It becomes very confusing. I know woods, I know what to expect and what they can do, but my training seems to be put to the test, with unusual theories and ideas that I know cannot be good dynamically or acoustically.

Nathina, if you play the dulcimer in a traditional style, meaning it sits on your lap, the back cannot vibrate much at all.  That is one of the main reasons dulcimers have so much less volume than guitars.  The other reason is that the fingerboard traditionally lays right across the top, so the top can't vibrate much at all.  One reason some people get dulcimers with a false or galaz bottom is to allow the bottom to vibrate more, getting more volume.

But I don't see this as a choice.  Both the top and the bottom vibrate, but both are limited by the structure of the dulcimer.  If you want some proof that the top vibrates, check out this video by David Beede demonstrating his decoupled tailpiece .  Basically the more restrained the top, the brighter the sound, the less restrained the top, the louder and more mellow is the sound. If you want proof that the bottom vibrates, put it on your lap and strum a chord, then while the chord is sounding, lift the dulcimer up.  You will get a burst of volume as the bottom is allowed to vibrate.

I have one dulcimer with a pickup on the bottom and I don't like it very much.  To get a decent sound I need to play with an equalizer to get decent separation.  The internal pickup I like the best is in my McCafferty dulcimer. It's a K & K Sound twin spot piezo, so there are actually two different spots transmitting sound. Unfortunately, I don't know where those spots are, although I have to correspond with him on something else and I'll try to remember to ask.

If I am not mistaken, you have a pickup that attaches to the outside of the dulcimer.  Play around with that, putting it in different places.  I think you'll discover a lot about where the most resonant places on your dulcimer are.

Both of my dulcimers which have built in pickups have the pickup under the saddle/bridge. They are cut in to a slot in the fret board. I'll see if I can get a good photo of this tomorrow and post it here. Here is the one I put in my Folkcraft dulcimer. https://www.folkcraft.com/products/baggs-dulcimer-pickup-2851700

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Good luck.

Thanks, Jan. I will watch it if given that chance. I watched my initial echo cardiogram and the technician was very good at pointing out different parts of the heart and what was going on.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Ken, I hope all goes well and that you have no trouble with the catheterization.  Mine was painless, and once I understood that I could watch it on the screen if I wanted to, I opened my eyes.  It was very interesting, so I thought you might want the heads up so you could watch yours, too.

Reading Ron Gibson notes, he believes that the soundboard (top) is the vibrating resonator. Doug Berch believes it is the fret board, which is ok since the fret board will resonate and the top soundboard will pick it. Obviously others believe it is the bottom of the dulcimer that resonates. Yet the supports which I will call stays, are glued to the bottom and I have also read that up to five stays can be used. Those opposed to extra supports say that it dulls the sound. Have I fallen into a can of worms of opposing ideas from different luthiers?

Additionally all the piezos I have seen used are placed either as stick ons on the top, or film under the top and not on the bottom. This is more than confusing.

In the long run, it doesn't matter if the dulcimer plays well. Also of note is that dulcimer maker "production" does change hands. McSpadden I believe is on its third owner and I wonder how often the old documents are reviewed?

A Padded Zipper bag, that fits the Gibson nicely. The only thing is the embroidered label sort. Maybe it is a take on my playing

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@marg, you can organize your tab in folders if you wish. You don't need special software for that.  You could create one big folder that has everything and then sub-folders on holiday tunes, or celtic tunes or however you want to organize them. But you can also just use the search function, so if someone calls out "Grasshopper Sitting on a Sweet Potato Vine" you just search for "grassh" and click on that song and you don't have to remember what folder it's in.

Neither of the two people in my dulcimer group who have all their tablature on their tablets and use foot pedals organize their tab in subfolders.  They just have one big folder and either scroll alphabetically or use the search function to find tab for any given song.  And they are always much faster than the folks with their binders of papers.

Perhaps when the dulcimers were made in "factory" style someone had the responsibility of measuring the instruments for a brochure and measured incorrectly. No one checked. They just accepted what he submitted. A spec list provides the maker the maker a description to put in advertising. Widths especially can change depending upon the outward pressure on molds. Now that you have a single builder doing all the work there should be a better consistency. Looks like he just gave the specs as previously noted without checking for himself.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Well I got an answer of sorts from the the guy that made the dulcimer. 

He said:
“I need to revisit the spec list for the dulcimers - I got those years ago and some things have changed - thanks for pointing that out.”

I don’t know about making dulcimers and why he would “get” a spec list or how it would change. It is what it is and it will do the job. 

The dulcimer I borrowed from my sister is a kit that was assembled by an old boyfriend and the job was imperfect. The groove for the inner melody string was set too far from the outer string. I’ve been looking to have it repaired in return for the favor of the loan and as a birthday present for my sister. I recently had an opportunity to have a luthier fix it and the photo shows the repair. I thought he would replace the nut and bridge, but he used a saw to make some cuts as I watched. Would you accept this as a repair, or do you think as I do that the difference of the shallower cut is not acceptable?

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Dusty,

Thanks for checking. The thing about a music software is you can put your music into folders so you don't need to go through thousands to find the ones you want. But that is something to consider, I dropbox the tabs to my table anyway - I'll see if I can find another way to open them.

The entire dulcimer is odd. Beautifully done, carvings excellent, yet electrified I am sure after the fact. Otherwise the plug could have been drilled properly and replacing it would have matched the back. Or the access could have been drilled from the side and replaced with a preamp volume control.

Funny little story concerning the trash can icon button-

As Admin, I naturally have many more buttons available to me than the average member here. a couple years ago I went to delete a discussion from the Forums and I wasn't paying attention. I clicked the trash can icon and POOF! the entire forum for the whole site was gone. Ten years' worth of discussions, by thousands of members.   I thought I'd about die!
Luckily, there was a site backup that was only an hour old, and I was able to restore things to that point in time.
Immediately after all was well again, I adjusted the site code so that the trash can icon that would delete the entire Forum was not even visible to me anymore. Step awaaaaaay from the trash can! LOLOL 

I certainly don't know who made that interesting dulcimer. Several luthiers use those sheaves, though, so that might not be a revealing clue.

It is an odd combination of a very traditional, truly diatonic fretboard (with no 6+ fret) and a very modern, solid body electric.  

Checked Clemmer, he had small wheat sheaves, but nothing like this, plus his instruments are much finer. Although this is a beautiful instrument, it is "courser".

Sending positive karma your way, Ken Longfield!

I think wheat sheaves have shown up on some Clemmer instruments.  Though I wouldn't guess this to be a Clemmer.  I could be wrong.

Jill, the only icon you might want to hesitate about clicking on is the trash can one. Trash cans will delete something!  Aside from that, it's great to learn by clicking on buttons and icons to find out what they do here on fotmd. Usually you can just hit 'back' or 'cancel' if you get to somewhere you don't want to be after clicking somewhere.   

True. The added magnetic pickup was after the fact. There is a bore hole in the back and there are screws attaching some piezos I think. There is no knobs, no equalizer, no gain controls or volume. It would require a preamp although with the mag pickup probably a direct amp plugin would also work. It is those wheat sheaves that I am trying to place. I saw them before on  on instruments by a good luthier. Can't remember where. The carving is excellent.

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Thanks Dusty and Lisa! I haven't figured out all the icons! I got it hidden now!

I don't have a clue who made it.  The lack of a 6.5 fret seems to indicate it has some age on it.  Perhaps the electric part was made after the fact yet it looks to be made by someone with skill and a skilled builder would have known electrification of some type would have been needed on a solid wood body.

That's a lot to be going through, @ken-longfield. I hope everything goes swimmingly.

I am considering purchasing it. It is an electric dulcimer, no sound holes solid wood, not hollow, but the electric part was probably made after the fact. 

@ken-longfield I pray all can proceed with great success!  

@dusty-turtle Thank goodness for the rain in NoCalifornia! 

Thanks Dusty.

Jill, here's an existing thread addressing the same question:

https://fotmd.com/forums/forum/site-questions-how-do-i/33226/how-do-i-ditch-this-chat-pop-up

I finally had a successful transesophageal echocardiogram yesterday. Next step is cathertrization and then on to open heart surgery. Moving along.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

It rained today in Northern California. First time since the spring.  The trees and grass and shrubs are relaxed and smiling.  So are the firefighters.

Jill, you have opened up the live chat. You simply need to minimize it.  The icon with the left pointing arrow and a vertical line will do the job.

Did you try to play it?   Just a beautiful dulcimer.   Were you able to look inside the holes to see if someone wrote their name on it.   What were they asking for it....that is if it was for sale?   cool case how they adjusted it to fit somehow IN the case.  

aloha, irene

Hi all, Somehow I got this "no room selected" sidebar on my FOTMD page (all pages) - how can I get this to go away? (It blocks some of my name at the top.) I'll attach a screen shot. Thanks!!

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I know I have seen those wheat Sheave Design before but can't recall where. This Dulcimer had a magnetic pickup added to it, drilled a small core through the back which was wooden plugged. It is bigger than the case. Any ideas who made it?

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Dusty, Great news about your wife's job from home!  There was a time when people begged to be allowed to do their office jobs (mostly computer work) from home and bosses said  No way!  Looks like a way has been found for many after all.  It's just too bad that it took a deadly pandemic to have that happen.

Dusty, things are getting like that all over this Fall. Most of the US is confronted by rising infection rates, and here in Canada we are too.

Good for your lady, that reduces the personal risk.

Keep smiling. keep playing.. we will get through this all together or not at all.

The good news: my wife started that new job this week, so now we're all working or going to school from home. Our tight little COVID circle is intact again.

The bad news: our county is moving backwards into a more restrictive set of COVID protocols (California has a 4-tiered, color-coded system).   It seems everyone gets serious about being careful and the infection rates go down, allowing us to move into a less restrictive tier.  Everyone celebrates and decides we're out of the woods, and then they get careless again, putting us back into a more restrictive tier.  

I've cleaned up my modest vegetable garden for the winter (it's fenced in, about 20'x40', with three long 3 foot wide beds). Most of the plants had died already from exhaustion or from our first several mild frosts.
But a little section of young lettuces and a few dozen radish plants still survived and were growing.
I know from the forecast that some hard freezes in the 20s are coming this next week, so today I'll go out and cut a couple last bags' worth of leaf lettuce and pull a few last radishes. That'll last us for another couple of weeks eating.
At that point I'll switch to buying lettuce and doing my usual kitchen growing of alfalfa sprouts in jars. We love having a supply of fresh sprouts during the winter, and it's not so hard to keep up doing.

I do enjoy taking a total vacation from garden chores each winter!

That's great. Have fun playing.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."