Forum Activity for @robin-thompson

There were several folks who participated in International Appalachian Dulcimer Day on Facebook.

Ken, that looks like the wrench I made for you, to go with the pegs I made at the same time.

Nate -- here's an idea I got from Michael King, in England, my Lyre plan supplier -- a tuning key for wooden pegs.  Dan Cox made this one for me when he made the oversize pegs for my Oberflacht Anglo-Saxon Lyre.    You can approach the peg from almost any angle and the 4" or so length gives you plenty of leverage.  

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Thanks for the info. I have seen some chinese ones on ebay for 15 dollars each for the reamer or shaver, a couple times less. I assume theyre less precisely made or less durable than nice ones. Still, if premade pegs only cost 1.50 that would take a lot of pegs to be worth getting the kit. The main reason I might want to make my own is that I find pegs with a very large flat head to be much more comfortable than the smaller ones on a violin.
Nate

Nate, the "pencil sharpeners" you speak of are called violin peg shapers and used to be very expensive, as Ken said.  They're typically used along with tapered reamers, which also were very expensive.  Used together, they make the forming of pegs and their accompanying mounting holes easy to deal with.  

Do you mean the peg shaver?  If you're making pegs from scratch they are so much less work than trying to whittle a taper with a pocket knife.  They used to be very expensive but you can get them now for around $30 that will create several different tapers to match the taper of the peg hole reamer that you have to make a perfect fit. 

You can also make your own peg shaver with a block of HARD wood and the peghole reamer you already have.

Personally I use standard commercial violin tuning pegs, Unless you're trying to duplicate the pegs of a particular pre-Revival builder, they are just fine... inexpensive and available in a variety of sizes from 1/8 to 4/4 violin plus sizes for cello and viola. They can be found in a variety of woods and knob designs.  I've been paying under $1.50 per peg for the sizes I use.

What do y'all think of the pencil sharpeners designed for friction pegs? Are these a good method for creating tuners, or just an artetfact of a tradition?

I recently replaced  friction tuners on a Bill Davis 5 string dulcimer, I had to put some bushings in as the Perfection Plantary Tuners were to small, So glad I did, it is so easy to tune and holds tuning well.

Thanks for your supportive comments, @robin-thompson and @ariane.  I just love the fact that we are making IADD a way to celebrate our love for this humble instrument.

@nate, there is no doubt that dulcimer has a very bright, clear tone. Perhaps extra volume, too, although that's hard to gauge through the internet.  I look forward to hearing a full test run.

@dusty What a great online gathering y'all had on IADD!  And your play of "La Promeneuse" is wonderful! 

@nate The strums you gave on that conceptual instrument sure sounded good-- lots of punch.  I'm guessing with your dowels, footed bridge, and false bottom the instrument will project nicely on whatever tune you choose to put up to demonstrate its sound.  

Happy IADD, y'all!   

@Dusty - this is a lovely song and you played it so laid-back and formidable - I would love to learn "La Promeneuse"

@Nate - the dulcimer you have built looks great and very interesting and the sound is wonderful - I am looking forward to hearing you playing it when it is finished (and to hearing your wonderful deep voice again )

It was so cool to wake up on the west coast and catch up on the photos and videos already posted celebrating IADD.  My monthly online dulcimer club met today and I want to thank @Lisa-C for catching a screen shot before everyone left.

We played the American fiddle tune "Hollow Poplar," the Irish air "Bright Quiet Eily O'Carroll," and the Jimmy Rodgers tune "Waiting for a Train."

Then I also posted a tune on my own: "La Promeneuse," by the Québécois accordionist Réjean Lizotte.

Thanks everybody!

@lisa-c I love your photo!  As you wrote, we celebrate the sweet music and the community of caring players-- truly, a wonderful community. 

Celebrating the sweet music and its growing community of caring players. Thank you, fotmd, for this special #internationalappalachiandulcimerday.

@ariane Your music & your friendship bring joy to us!  I'll keep my eyes open for postings from around the world for IADD!  

@Alegre1 - Thank you so much for this lovely video - I have just watched it and enjoyed it very much.

@Robin & Mark - I am very much looking forward to hearing your video - your music is always balm for my soul and ears

Many greetings from Germany over the pond

Yes, the manufacturers offer different sizes.  Just select ones that are the proper size.  I know of three manufacturers-- Knilling (Perfection pegs), Wittner (Finetune pegs), and Pegheds, which are made in South Carolina!

Or, the geared tuners in viola size. Violin sized tuners might only look natural on smaller dulcimers. Check the sizes of the tuners and the instrument.

I agree with John,  If you want that traditional look go with Perfection geared violin pegs.  Simple to install.

I have had good results using Perfection geared violin pegs by Knilling.  The tuning action is very smooth for those suffering from arthritis or other hand conditions.  Any violin repairperson should be able to install them in a dulcimer.  They look amazingly like wooden violin pegs.  They are available from several online dealers.

A friend of mine recently had nice ukulele geared tuners put on a Jeffreys instrument and was happy with the result. 

I recently purchased an A.W. Jeffreys dulcimer from 1967 (I think - serial # 993). Although I wanted a very traditional style instrument, I am having trouble adjusting to the friction pegs. I'm thinking of replacing them with geared tuning pegs, as used by some violinists (not guitar-style tuners). Would welcome any thoughts or advice on doing so!

It's a great instrument-- Gary made fantastic instruments.    

Robin, that was a sweet box dulcimer!

Gary made wonderful box dulcimers and called them Prussia Valley Music Boxes because they weren't reproductions of Tennessee Music Boxes yet paid homage to box dulcimers.  All of Gary's instruments were well built and my PVMB sounded great!  Though I no longer have this box dulcimer-- a young music friend of mine has it-- here is a photo of it: 

Flint-Hill is indeed an Educational Working Farm in Lehigh County, PA.  No mention on their site of Ken Rice (or any other individuals for that matter).

Thanks so.  Is Flint Hill the name of a farm?  

Hi Keigh,

@flint-hill

Ken's FOTMD page is here http://fotmd.com/flint-hill
You can try contacting him through here, though he has not logged in here since 2015. He might get your email if you message him from here.

This is his Youtube channel page: http://www.youtube.com/@FlintHillVideo/videos

P.S. I just wrote to him from the only email address I have for him, with a link to this discussion.

The Revels Music site shows a good contrast between the different McSpadden kits.  The earlier ones had what McSpadden termed a "leprechaun scroll" on the end of the peghead and used Grover banjo-type pegs, while the newer models had a flat, two-piece guitar-style peghead with Gotoh-type machine tuners.

This Saturday-- the last one in March-- is International Appalachian Dulcimer Day for 2023!

Mark & I have a video uploaded to YouTube (it took hours!!!) and it will publish at 12:00AM, 25 March in celebration of #internationalappalachiandulcimerday .

I look forward to seeing how you all mark the day to celebrate the mountain dulcimer and its spread around the world!   

It's got a 6.5 fret slot, so it's not likely to be from before the 1970s.

Here's a couple of good online measurement descriptions of 1970s McSp kit dulcimers.

The strings should be just fine as long as they haven't spent a decade in a coastal/island salty air environment.  In the photo you posted, the top/sides/head&tailblock seem just fine.  Are the bottom planks too short?  If so, make that a sort of feature -- glue a short bit of contrasting color 1/8" plank to each end and give it a special "look".  

Thanks for the information! I was hoping that's what you guys would say . I am pretty curious what strings that old might sound like, hopefully they don't just snap. Unfortunately, during the original assembly by the person who gave it to my friend, the boards were reduced to smaller sizes than the instructions directed, as he just glued the parts together then sawed off the excess. so if will not be possible to assemble according to the directions, however this should only affect the precision of the box and hopefully it will still sound good. This definitely seems to be a dulcimer kit that has only passed through the hands of people who really didn't care one way or the other about woodwork or the instrument, and sadly I might have overlooked it a bit too long as well.
Nate

Nate, that is a real treasure. A wonderful gift to you.

Yep!   That's an oldie but a goodie. All original goodies.   As John sez, heat gun and gently pry the joints apart, let it cool and dry, and re-assemble.  Save the booklets for posterity.  Whatever's missing, I know you can make...

Nate, you have a treasure from the 1970's or so!  This is a wonderful McSpadden/The Dulcimer Shoppe kit.  If you can dis-assemble the joints carefully, and reassemble it per the directions, you'll have a dandy dulcimer.  If the glue used was Elmer's glue, or other wood glue, you might be able to warm the joints with a hair dryer or heat gun and pry them apart slowly with a knife.  Anyway, yes, this was a good-quality kit originally.  It's all as old as it looks, too!

Hello folks, a couple of years ago a friend gave me a half assembled kit dulcimer along with an instructional booklet, as well as"four & twenty" and a plastic sleeve with some strings. The booklet is made by The Dulcimer Shoppe and the strings are McSpadden brand, so the kit might be as well, but I can't say for sure. It was given to my with some of the work already done wrong, my friend tried to fix it without consulting the booklet, made it even weirder, gave up, and then had it sitting around for years until he found out I play dulcimer so he dug it up to give to me. Between some of the original pieces being lost, and the things done wrong, I still haven't gotten around to putting it together.
I'm hoping some folks here might know more about this kit and maybe just how old some of this stuff is. I cant tell if the books are just stylized to look late 70s folky or if it all might actually be that old. My friend indicated that it could be decades old, but he really had no clue beyond that. 
Thanks
Nate

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