Steve there is a Group here specifically for asking/answering dulcimer building questions. Go to the Groups button above and find the Dulcimer Building Group and Join it -- you have to Join to be able to read/post. We've helped any number of people get started building or solve specific problems. Welcome to FOTMD!
My grandparents from my mother’s side was from Lafayette, LA. 6 years ago my wife and I took a weekend to Lafayette and found a cajun accordion builder. It was a few weeks till my birthday and my wife bought me one, Martin Accordions. A really fine instrument. Diatonic. Works like a harmonica. Pull for a note, push for a different note with same button. Also called a melodion. Mostly cajun music is played on this instrument but I have been playing Christmas, pop, and county music. Sounds fine. Plays totally different from a regular accordion. Much smaller. Ten keys on right and two bass keys on left. Still have not mastered it but not giving up. Aeeeee.
John, Thanks. There is one builder in my area, southeast Texas. Not looking at being in competition. He has a very established reputation of fine dulcimers. His shop has cnc machines. I’ll depend on jigs for repetition. Don’t think he’ll have to worry about me. Thanks again John. Looking forward to keeping in touch.
Welcome, Steve! This is THE PLACE to ask questions about dulcimer history, and design and building of the same.
I'll try to help you, along with many others here who have a lot of experience in the field. If you look through some of the previous posts, you should find answers to questions. Have fun!
Play guitar, ukulele. Was in an antique store and found a dulcimer in very good condition. No strings. Cleaned it up. Bought strings at my local family owned music store. Did a lot of searching on the internet and found that this brand was made in Kerrville, Texas around the 80’s. The co. went out of business in 2003. It’s made from cherry. I started about 20 years gathering luthier tools. I now have all the tools to build practically any acoustic instrument. I’ve been woodworking over 35 years and have accumulated many hand tools and power tools. I have lots of wood to build instruments and want to start building dulcimers. Want to be able ask questions of the forum members when I need help with building a dulcimer. Thanks, steve104c.
I have a Martin guitar with a Richlite fretboard. I think it is a little faster than the ebony fretboard I have on my other Martin. Taylor is involved with planting ebony trees. They have their own plantation of ebony and (I think) subcontract the harvesting and processing of the ebony.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Richlite is the new material being used to replace micarta. Martin uses it on most of their guitars as it looks and feels like ebony and is very affordable.
Thanks for sharing your, and your brothers, work. I like the way you painted them.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Steven - cajon means "box" so technically they are all cajons, but the three small horizontal ones are divided into two chambers and held between the legs or in the lap. So most people would call them bongos. The vertical ones are sat on while playing and would be what most people think of when they think "canon."
Thank you!! I contribute a dulcimer every year to three live auction fund raiser events: Habitat for Humanity, Rescue Mission, and the Pink Gala. Now I can add a nice case, mine just arrived today, to each contribution. I feel it is a great value!
I have had a McSpadden with an ebony fretboard and one with a micarta fretboard. I noticed no difference in the two for how they played. Ebony is more expensive.....micarta is a real nice less-expensive alternative. Micarta is all black, whereas ebony can sometimes have some cool looking streaks in it.
I have no idea about the cost of these materials (I suspect less expensive than ebony...I could be wrong, but I think not) However, my big quibble about the use of such materials (if less expensive) is the price of the instruments using them has not seemed to come down any (and, yes, I'm well aware of the other costs involved in building instruments).
Thanks, Skip--now I can rest, knowing that I've not lost my marbles or that I'm missing something. Space saver makes total sense. I was trying to study one of my instruction books and realized hey, wait, that should be lower, and thought I had totally misunderstood where I was supposed to be on the scale. Phew!
Lisa;
Showing the 'D' like that is a space saver. It would take another staff [bass staff], below to to put it in its proper spot. These two staffs, together, are called a 'grand staff'.
There should be an '8vb' to show that the notes are actually those an octave lower than written.
Ann, no, I meant when there is tab that also has the musical notes displayed, the notes in the treble clef have the D above middle C as the note you're playing when you play the bass D string open. So it's like the notes are an octave higher for printing purposes than they truly are...make more sense?
Lisa, if you mean that the tabs are showing the D on the bass string as d, then that would confuse anyone! Capital letters C - B are how we indicate notes in the octave immediately below middle c. The octave beginning with middle c is: c - b, lower case letters. Two octaves below middle c is often indicated by an apostrophe as, C' - B' and on the other end of the scale it's c' - b'. So when you write your own tabs you can note it this way and when you come back to a tune you won't have to wonder "Did I mean c or C when I wrote this!" Hope this helps!
Ann
Ken, thanks for confirming the D3, A3, D4 notation. I have a tuner app on my phone that has a dial-like (circular) interface, but uses that notation to depict octaves.That was hard for me to get used to, since I picture octaves linearly, like a piano.
The thing that confuses me is that most tab will show open D on the bass as the D right above middle C, so an octave higher than I would expect. This confuses me when I'm trying to adapt other music to the dulcimer and make my own tab. I am going to presume this is done for visual ease as opposed to absolute accuracy??? And I should just "center" any music within the octaves I have and go for it, if that makes sense.
Micarta has been around for a long time. It was developed by George Westinghouse around 1910. You see it used in knife handles because it comes in a great variety of colors and textures. Micarta has been used to make dulcimer nuts and bridges for years. As natural materials become scarce, I think we need to open ourselves to using other materials for instrument making. I was skeptical of doing this for a long time until I purchased a Martin guitar made of HPL (high pressure laminates). That turned me in to a believer. I would not hesitate to use Micarta for a fret board.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Thanks, I do like the Micarta. Even Jim Woods of McSpadden told me that if he were building a dulcimer for himself now, he would go with Micarta. I know Ebony is rare now to get so I didn’t know if I should have it this time around. However, I live in a high humidity area. I have only been playing 3 months. Right from the get go, not only was it smooth, I found myself being able to look away from the fretboard from time to time while flatpicking. Slow, flatpicking, of course, tee hee.
You are right @dusty-turtle, it will catch on and you will be able to order any color you want. I suspect any more than an overlay would start inherent problems with tonal qualities, but less is more! IMHO
Given that true African ebony is basically impossible to obtain legally these days, more and more luthiers are looking for alternatives such as rosewood or synthetic versions such as Micarta. If Micarta is good enough for a Martin Guitars, it's probably good enough for me.
Basically, you want the fretboard to be really hard and really smooth. I've read reviews that praise Micarta for both of those reasons. According to Martin, Micarta plays faster than Ebony and will never warp. Some people claim that it doesn't feel like genuine wood, that it feels like plastic, but that has not been my experience, and I suspect that the objection to Micarta comes from those who believe for philosophical reasons that fine instruments should just be made of wood with no synthetics anywhere.
How does the Micarta feel to you? If you like it, then stick with it.
Micarta is basically colored to look like black ebony. But I wonder if the stigma against it recedes, will they start making it in different colors? How 'bout a hot pink fingerboard?
I have a Micarta Fretboard on my McSpadden Dulcimer and love it. I am thinking about getting another McSpadden made with some additions and different woods. I was wondering about any experiences of other regarding Micarta versus Ebony for a fretboard in sound, durability and feel. Thanks
oh oh....I did finally find it. thanks....such interesting things we read about here. No wonder I get to bed so late. ooooooooooooops,
thanks Steven for your comments...and Thanks VERY MUCH for Pondoro for your photo of cat in the hole. cute...and yep, I've been wondering where that instrument is made. So I looked up "CLOUD NINE" on the net. no results. Can you direct me more. I've seen those played on you tube....with a quick pass by 'em....as it's usually a big group that is playing and I wanted to see more of the bass sound that I was hearing. THIS IS THE INSTRUMENT....more info please. thanks loads. aloha, irene
All of these except the top one on the pyramid were built by me. The one on top was built by my brother. The heads are three-layer birch ply, about 1/8" thick, maybe less.
Boy, this is a 'blast from the past'!!!
Nuts may or may not float, but bridges often do. Almost always it's better to change one string at a time, than take them all off. Less chance of nuts/bridges not going back exactly where the belong. Order doesn't matter, but direction of wind -- over the top or inside to outside does. Masking tape, rubber bands or a capo if you have one are all good ways to keep those pesky strings on the string-pins and running down the fretboard before you start tightening.
@Phroedrick, this is a hurdle you will conquer and it will cease to be a problem.
It is rare that the nut is not secured, but a floating bridge is pretty common. When that is the case, you will want to change one string at a time so that the bridge and/or nut basically stay in position while you put the new strings on. You can always adjust positioning later if the intonation is off, but changing one string at a time will make things easier.
The order does not matter.
The direction the tuners tighten the strings depends on which side of the post the strings are strung on. If the posts are horizontal, you want the strings to go over the top of the post. If the posts are vertical, you will want the strings to go on the inside. The fact is that it will work either way, but those are the standard conventions.
One trick to keeping the string in place is to use a capo to hold it down. Put the loop over the brad nail or whatever is there to hold the end of the string, pull it toward the head of the dulcimer, and then put a capo on to hold the string in place while you wind it around the tuner. I learned that capo trick from @Butch-Ross and am embarrassed that I hadn't thought of it myself.
Here is a video of @Guy-Babusek demonstrating how to string a dulcimer, and here is a video by @Bing-Futch doing the same.
EDIT: @Salt-Springs beat me to posting those same two videos. Great minds . . .
I am new here and have been lurking learning about my new to me dulcimer. However, I found a McSpadden dulcimer made in 1969 and signed by Lynn McSpadden at this link: https://www.shopgoodwill.com/Item/71824823. I thought some of you might be interested in it or know someone who is dying to have one since they don't have it listed as a McSpadden and so there hasn't been a lot of interest in it yet. It ends on 7/16. Let me know if this is not the place to post this please but I just wanted to let you know about it.
Sheepy and the Goat.
It's not ha ha funny, but kids like it. I learned it from Don Pedi the last time he visited north Alabama. I think Don said he was making a tab book of very simple tunes. See the video (unfortunately Don doesn't sing it here but he does play it) at https://dulcimercrossing.com/sheepy/dc_sheepy_md_pre.html
The lyrics something like:
Sheepy and the Goat walkin’ through the pasture
“Sheepy” says- "Goat, can you walk a little faster?”
Sheepy got- tired and it lay down,
and the Poor little Goat kept pickin’ all around
[then you can add any animal you like]
Sheepy and duck...
Sheepy and the cow...
Sheepy and the aardvark...
etc.
My wife has a 7-key bass model built by Cloud Nine. I was shocked at how easy it was to tune. I realize that bass notes are less critical (she has no "Bb" key and the standard advice is, "Just use B"!!). But I clipped my Snark electronic tuner on the edge of the sound hole, loosened a screw and slid the key. Took about 5 minutes and is good until the weather changes drastically (like winter > summer). If she was a professional she'd probably tune it before every performance but for playing around home 2-3 times a year is fine. In the picture our cat is going up close and personal to validate the tuning.
IIRC tuning instruments like that is a matter of how long the twangy bits are... each has a set screw sort of arrangement and can be slid in/out a tiny bit to adjust how much is flexible.
Thanks Ken for this link. THAT IS BEAUTIFUL MUSIC. and he was playing it soooooo cruz like. wow. It's a Stineway version of a thumb piano. I bet it is no easy picnicking to tune. aloha, irene
I don't know about this particular instrument, Irene, but to tune a kalimba, you need a tiny hammer. These hammers sometimes come with the purchase of the kalimba...if not, they can be found on ebay.
One needs to be the patient sort...they can be a real bear to tune and to keep from buzzing!
Thanks Ken for this link. THAT IS BEAUTIFUL MUSIC. and he was playing it soooooo cruz like. wow. It's a Stineway version of a thumb piano. I bet it is no easy picnicking to tune. aloha, irene
