Forum Activity for @susie

Milo and Frankie are real cuties!

Daffer and Annabell....gotta love the goats!

Here are Daffer & Annabell, pets of a friend. She says that they are giving a green thumb's up to my most recent video:

"Tutorial, Simple 3 Chord Sing a Long"  where I tell of singing Home on the Range" to my goats.

 Goat Test 2.jpg - 507KB

@dtortorich , you can find a few additional Christmas carol videos if you do the same thing but use the search term "holiday".

Hi there!  I just now went to FOTMD's Video section and typed "Christmas" into the search window there, and this popped up:
https://fotmd.com/search/results/jrVimeo,jrYouTube,jrVideo/1/25/search_string=Christmas

Hello Friends, this is Bro. Dave.  With Christmas approaching I'd like to hear what some of your favorite Christmas songs are.  If anyone would like to share one with me, then please do.  Thanks

I'd like to see some Christmas music and songs.  Do you have any?

The mountain dulcimer makes an appearance about 1-hour 15-minutes and the album which featured mountain dulcimer, Rehab Reunion, about 1-hour 22-minutes. 

Good for you Frank. I wonder if we still have our cheese slicer around. If we do, I'll check the gauge of the wire on it. We switched to a cheese knife years ago.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I'm waiting for the experiments when you determine the best string gauge for different cheeses.  That soft havarti probably prefers a lighter gauge than the well-aged cheddar.

Great McGyver!

Oh i love it! 🧀

How creative. Great idea.

Brilliant!

Last month our old beloved cheese slicer broke. Just the wire broke. I used an old dulcimer string to repair it with. The screws holding the old wire pieces were removed and a piece of dulcimer wire inserted.It worked great. The hardest part was tuning it to Cheese #.

FWIW, I heard from Howard, he tells me March 1989

Drop Howard a note.  He's usually glad tohelp with dating their insruments.

She is sweet sounding and I am stoked. Also, she is large! and I am small so we will see.... I spent last night reading up on Rugg and Jackel, and I am curious about the possible year of manufacture. Can anyone (Howard?) comment? Thanks in advance

Lisa, I'm just going to repeat what other have said, but phrase it in a different way. 

Forget the strings.  Look at the grooves in the nut and bridge on your Mize.  Do they look the same as those of the Blue Lion?  If so, the instrument can be strung as a traditional 3 course dulcimer with either 3 strings or 4 (with a double melody string).  If not, then you may be correct that it can only be strung as a 4 equidistant instrument.  If that is the case, then you might consider replacing the nut and bridge rather than buying a new instrument.

Having said that, Blue Lions are wonderful instruments, and if you can get an affordable used one, you might want to do so.  I would only caution you that Blue Lions have a floating bridge, meaning it is not glued to instrument.  If it sounds off when you first play it, the bridge probably needs to be adjusted.  If you change the strings, do so one-at-a time so the bridge doesn't move.

Neat, congrats! Would love to see pics when you have time.

Lisa, I have owned a Mize and own two Blue Lions.  (I only sold the Mize because the tuning pegs were wooden and my aging hands couldn't manage them very well.)  To my knowledge, a Mize and a Blue Lion can be strung with 3 equidistant strings and it is a good way to begin learning to play mountain dulcimer.  

P.S.- Though it is rare to find an inexpensive Blue Lion, my first Blue Lion was bought used (yet in new condition) for far less than a new one cost.    

John and Ken have already given you good advice, however, I'm going to add another one or two. First, from the photo the Blue Lion looks to be in good condition. It can use a good cleaning, but that's not a problem. I play my Blue Lion as a three string as I prefer that to four strings in any configuration. Second, I'm sorry you've had bad experiences buying used dulcimers. It can be frustrating. Like Ken said, we can help talk you through replacing a nut and bridge if that is all that those dulcimers need. There are resources out there for playing with four equidistant strings, both books and videos. I do think that most of them (if not all) require some knowledge about how to play the dulcimer.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

As my friend John suggests, look closely at the nut and bridge of your Mize dulcimer.  There may be two notches, close together, on the melody side.  To make a 4-equal string setup into a double melody plus mid and bass drone setup, all you have to do is loosen and move the one equi string over to make a pair in the melody position.    The double-melody setup is very common for beginner and experts alike.  

Even if there are no second notches, you can either make a second notch using a small triangular file in the existing n&b; or buy a new nut and bridge for a couple bucks and replace the existing ones.  In either case you can then get rid of the 'leftover' middle string and just have 3 strings.

We can talk you through filing new notches or replacing the existing nut & bridge.  You won't be the first...  It's actually very easy.

Blue Lions are NEVER cheap, and you've already not had such good luck buying used.  If you're going to spend more money on yet another instrument, buy a new Folkcraft or McSpadden or an instrument from one of the numerous builders who hang around here.  

Lisa, the notches on the Blue Lion's nut look like they can accommodate either equidistant or doubled-melody setups.  If it has 5 or 6 notches, then you could string it either way.  I prefer doubled melody myself, which looks like:     I I     I      I  . 

If you want just three strings, leave off the second of the double melody strings.  If you can find somebody there to make a new nut and bridge for your Mize, you might be able to use that one to learn on.  Folkcraft Instruments sells Delrin nut and bridge multi-packs for 1-3/8 wide, 1/8" slotted fretboards (# 2851420).  Just something to try.  Best wishes!

I joined this group some time ago, and sadly still don’t know how to play the dulcimer due to the fact that I have bought two used instruments neither of which were suitable to learn on. The first I found out was a cheaply made instrument and would need to be upgraded to give me a decent chance at being successful. The second is actually a very decent Mize dulcimer, but I found out it is an equidistant stringed dulcimer and I couldn’t really find information for a beginner starting out with that type. I am not aware of any instructors in my area to ask for help. At present, I still have the desire to learn, but haven’t had the opportunity to see a variety of dulcimers in person or the funds to buy a very expensive instrument. There is a Blue Lion for sale near me. They aren’t asking a lot for it, but I’m afraid to buy it without knowing if it would be suitable for a beginner as there are many things I may not know to consider. From zooming in on the picture, it looks like it is made to be strung in the traditional style ( and maybe converted to equidistant based on the notches I see). It is a model IW if that helps with feedback. Thanks so much  

Well, I have another one!  I found it on the goodwill site.  It looks like a Black Mountain, but has no label. 

I'll post some pictures of some of my dulcimers a little later. 

This one came with only one string (the bass string); also the saddle is a bit damaged and the nut is a bit out of place.  So I'm going to take it to my favorite luthier down the road. 

Here’s the description from the listing:

”Unfortunately I can't tell you much about this Instrument it was my Dads so I’m not sure if it was bought or he made it, whichever way it is a beautiful Instrument. One of the strings is missing and there is a soft leatherette bag which was made of it.

Low starting price due to the origin of the instrument.  Ideal I suppose if you’re curious to know what one plays and sounds like.”

It hasn’t sold yet; it was on a 24 hour listing and didn’t get any bids. It’s now back up on a 10 day listing, but still collection only.

Let me introduce my two - Milo & Frankie. Frankie (on the right) was 6 yesterday, and Milo will be 7 in January.

Both of them were rescued as puppies when we lived in Spain.

I ditto the "Doh!". I guess we will never know since it was an eBay sale and have no idea who sold it or may have purchased it.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Doh!   How did I miss that! 

 So... yes, this is either a kit instrument built backwards, or someone's one-off 'mirror image'. Certainly not a commercial product.     I'd bet it's a kit of some kind built nose-to-tail.  The shallow-sloped tail end should actually be the shoulder below the tuning head, and the more rounded bout should be the tail!

Good thing you didn't buy this.  It may play OK, but it's only real value is as a curiosity.

I thought the same thing, Dusty!  Like the soundbox is inverted somehow.

Interesting dulcimer.  Is it an optical illusion or is the upper bout wider than the lower bout?

Okay. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

“ I assume you either bought this used or someone gave it to you.”

No; It appeared on eBay here in the UK but unfortunately the seller won’t ship it and it’s not local to me.

"Always the best hello, but also the hardest goodbye" ... says it well.

I'm correcting my C.S. Lewis quote: “No,” he said, “not our dogs.” However, he said, there would be, in heaven, “the essence of dogness.”  I think those of us loving our pets would go more with the idea of without them heaven wouldn't be heavenly. 

Homer, you seem to be asking a couple of different questions.

One is just how to maintain your repertoire.   Ken has one strategy that works if you have a good memory of the songs and just need a reminder of the beginning to get going.  I keep an active "set list" of no more than a dozen tunes that I play regularly. The set list is constantly changing but represents the tunes I enjoy playing the most at any given time. And I try to keep up on those, allowing others to get rusty.

But maintaining a repertoire is not the same as practicing in order to improve.  Personally, I enjoy playing scales and arpeggios and spend some time with both as often as possible. When you practice a song, you get better at that song.   But when you work on technique, you get better at every song you play.  There are also some songs I play as exercises with no intention of actually performing them.  I used Pig Ankle Rag like that for years, forcing myself to use my pinky as often as possible to strengthen that finger.  I also use a metronome for songs like that and when doing those scales and arpeggios.

But I also spend time just playing the songs I am working on, focusing on the problem areas. I just wrote a song recently that I really like, but there is a two-measure sequence of all eighth notes that moves over several frets and two strings, and I sometimes just play those two measures over and over.

Importantly, I end every practice session playing a song I enjoy and can play well.  So the emotion I leave with is one of contentment with my playing rather than the frustration that accompanies learning new stuff. And I always make a point to take some time to just to play, without any interest in the metronome or the occasional buzz from inaccurate fretting, or whatever.   You have to have fun, after all. As Steve Eulberg says, we call it "playing music," not "working music."

Two thoughts: C.S. Lewis said dogs (or was it pets? should look it up) must go to heaven or else we wouldn't find it heavenly; & at the lake alongside our big dog park I found tucked away a memorial stone to a dog saying it was always the best hello, but also the hardest goodbye.

My malamutes all seemed to go at 10, while my huskies could go to 12, 13, 14, so the husky in my wonderful husky/malamute mix is now 14, but oh the joint problems!  Had a woman say the final year for her mal was 15 but again those joints.  I read these losses & dread it coming.

Hugs to all losing &/or loving their pets.

As usual, I agree with Ken. The inlay looks like a green heron to me, but could certainly be some other bird. Since you are inquiring, I assume you either bought this used or someone gave it to you. The use of ukulele friction pegs may place the date it was made somewhere in the 1970s when they were popular among one off or hobby builders.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."