Forum Activity for @dusty

@dtortorich, my wife uses that word all the time.  She will just ask me, "Are you dulcimering this weekend?"  She should just know that if I'm smiling, the answer is yes!

@amairano, there aren't a whole bunch of us playing Rick's dulcimers.  I think he only makes a few a year.  I think of his dulcimer as two dulcimers.  The box is plenty large and the bracing plenty sufficient to allow it to be strung as a baritone as well as a standard dulcimer.  If you compare my videos, you'll notice that I am playing in two tonal ranges with my Probst dulcimer. Rick's dulcimers have such a distinctive sound that I don't think wood choice will have a profound effect.  I would choose wood based on looks.  Mine is made of figured cherry with a Carpathian spruce top.

Thanks to those generous members who have made donations. Without you, we wouldn't be here!

Hey!  I'm fairly new to this site.  I've been playing with Paul and Betty Sykes.  Are you familiar with them?  They're a great couple that teach and support our group.  Paul has written over 300 songs, and he is still writing new songs every week.   If you do a search for him, I'm sure you'll find him.  He made the double string dulcimer that I'm playing and it has a rich sound.  Recently, I bought Paul's small amp and now I can amplify my dulcimer and play with a couple more people who play acoustic guitars.  When I practiced with them they were drowning me out.  Paul suggested his amp and it's working great.  I hope this may help someone else who faced a similar situation.  Happy Dulcimer Ing!  That's probably not in Webster Dictionary.

I would like to take this moment to thank a few very special members .
There have been a handful of people over the past couple of months who have made donations to FOTMD, unasked and without waiting for any public call for donations. They have thoughtfully and generously made site donations during this holiday season, without wanting any recognition. A couple of these kind folks even went to the trouble of sending their check in the mail... one of them from far overseas!

I just want to deeply thank these people who quietly supported FOTMD during this pandemic season, and during these dark winter months. You know who you are.
Your support is what enables me to keep this site up and running. I truly, truly appreciate your kindness and your generous hearts. 
May your good deeds shine back upon you with abundant warmth and love!   

Hello all, I’ve been playing the mountain dulcimer about 4 years.  I’ve contacted Rick Probst and I’m hoping he’ll build a dulcimer for me to play through my upcoming retirement years.  There are a few videos online, several by Dusty, of Rick’s dulcimers.  All sound wonderful!!  Does anyone have videos playing their Probst dulcimer?  I’d like to hear a few different wood combinations.  Thanks in advance!  Al

That is beautiful. Bocote always seems to have an eerie look to it.

Regarding the slot; I wonder if it was an attempt to loosen the top and allow it to vibrate more. I realize that as it flares out and extends over the sides of the dulcimer it would do little to lessen the stiffness of the top.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Dusty is correct about Sunhearth dulcimers. Walt Martin's fine tuners were usually made of ebony and broke easily. I've never heard of Mr. Titus either. That is quite a list of folks you have contacted who have no knowledge of him. You may have already done this, but have you contacted Bob Dylan? I realize that Dylan is 80 years old and it may be difficult to remember back 55 years, but is worth a try.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

A number of builders use(d) bead type fine tuners, but I've never seen them so tall!  I would think they would get in the way of your strumming hand!

Sorry, I've never heard of builder Titus either.  Others to query would be Robert Force and Neal Hellman, both of The Pacific Rim Project days.  Bonnie Carol is another of that crew, and a builder herself, who may also shed some light.

Like Lisa, I wonder at that slot... thinking that the bridge has been moved forward whether due to a miscalculation of the correct location (and the mis-cut slot never filled in) or something else.  You might want to query Joanna about that...

I think some of the Sunhearth dulcimers used to have fine tuners as well.  They were smaller than the ones on this dulcimer, but they worked in the same basic way.

Sorry, I never heard of Mr. Titus.  I do know where Edith Street is, though. It's by MLK Middle School where I once heard Ricky Skaggs perform but which is better known as the school where the kids maintain a garden that sells fresh veggies to Alice Waters and Chez Panisse.

Thanks Linda so much for the articles. They make my instrument even more special.

The music store did get back to me, but they have no memory of the C.S. Jennings. The man who responded will pass on my craftsman's name to someone else just in case it rings a bell. The store is still run by a Gorby so its a family run biz I assume that has survived so far.  

I looked up the address on Google maps and found a small house in what is now considered Charleston (between a church and a tatoo parlor). I thought it might be his shop but its a home with no outbuildings. Maybe he had a shop in the basement and sold the dulcimers out of his home and not the store, but bought a Mel Bay book from Gorby's for each customer. Or maybe #103 was his personal dulcimer. I'll never know, but being a son of an American Historian, I am pleased to play a bit of dulcimer Americana. Thanks again Linda and Ken.

Virginia dulcimer maker Keith Young used to make flat-bottomed fine tuning wooden beads similar way, with a hole to thread the string through. See the various photos in this thread.
Keith's dulcimers look very different than yours though in all other ways. I don't think Keith invented such things either, I'm pretty sure fine tuning beads that slide have been used on other instruments besides dulcimers.

I'm wondering the purpose of that deep slot. Do you think it might held an original wooden bridge? I've seen lots of dulcimers with their bridge inserted into such a slot. Even the Keith young in the above thread has its bridge set into a cut slot, though not as large as your slot.

Sorry I have not heard of this person Titus. Maybe someone else has.
You might ask @patricia-delich who is very knowledgeable about 1960s-70s California dulcimer people and who publishes "Hearts of the Dulcimer"- see her page here: https://fotmd.com/patricia-delich

(btw i removed your other thread that was identical to this one, only one is needed)

Hello! I'm new here, dropping in with a story and a fun mystery .

I’m on a wild goose chase to find out about a 1960s Berkeley, California dulcimer maker who signed this instrument "Gerald L. Titus".

Just a couple weeks ago, my dear friend Joanna McClure gifted me a dulcimer that I adore. It's been hanging on her wall for many years and she always asks me to play it for her when I go to her house, here in San Francisco. Otherwise it has, according to her, hardly ever been played, which is too bad since it sounds pretty damn good!

It was given (1970s? 1960s?) to her former husband Michael (yes, the famous Beat Poet Michael McClure) by Bob Dylan, apparently (according to Michael) in an attempt to get him to learn it and play with Bob. But Michael lost interest and left it behind when he moved out some decades ago during their divorce. Michael died recently and so the dulcimer became unmoored, I guess. 

I wasn’t able to find Titus or anyone who has heard of him, so I’m asking around.

I already checked with:
Holly Tannen
JoEllen Lapidus
Howard Rugg (CapriTaurus Dulcimers)
Marc Silber
Hank Bradley
Larry White (Thin Man Music)
Claudia Schmidt
Cathie Whitesides
DJ Hamouris
Gregg Miner

Inside the dulcimer is a sticker saying:
1967 Dulcimer No. 5
Gerald L. Titus, 1516 Edith, Berkeley, California

That house on Edith has changed owners many, many times since then.

QUESTIONS:

Have you ever seen fine-tuning like this on a dulcimer? I think it's brilliant. It may be unique. JoEllen Lapidus says there's something a bit like it that she's seen with beads on a flat surface.

Have you heard of Titus or seen another dulcimer by him? I wonder whether his others use this same tuning mechanism. I wonder how many he made and for how many years (and what other instruments types he made, if any). I wonder how and to whom he sold dulcimers—just a hobby? It's nicely made!

Please let me know if you have any hint for me! Thank you so much!

Joel

Very nice. That bocote wood is beautiful. You do good work. Enjoy your dulcimer. I'm sure your friend will cherish the other one you made. Like Ken H., I use a surface sander on figured wood, never a planer.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

 Nice work!  The bocote is gorgeous.  I try never to use a planer on figured wood -- a surface sander is much safer!

That's a beautiful looking dulcimer.  I can see why you guys chose bocote wood.  How special is that!

By the way, I do the same thing with my pinky.  I tend to anchor it when I'm doing really tough flatpicking stuff, but I let it move around on the soundboard when I strum.  On one dulcimer with a red cedar top I put on a clear pickguard so you can still see the wood grain underneath.  I also try to keep the nail on that one finger super short.  That pinky scratching seems to show up more on cedar than on spruce.

I have an acquaintance who wanted a special and unique dulcimer.  He also indicated that cost was not to be a factor, but I didn't really push this too hard. 

After some discussion and looking, I found a bocote board on Ebay that we both agreed on.  Never having worked with bocote, and not actually having a close inspection of the board, I had picked a board of a size that, if everything went perfectly, I could get 2 instruments out of it. 

I was really concerned about working the wood because of all the 'eyes' that make the wood so distinctive (see pic 43 b2).  Fortunately, there was only one problem when a planer tore out a chunk of one piece.   As a result, the 2nd dulcimer (pictured) is 1" shorter than intended.  I can live with that.   Other than that, the wood was quite easy to work.

Attached pics are my dulcimer #43 - the 2nd and shorter one.  It has a yellow cedar top and ebony binding.  The fingerboard is maple and wenge and I added a wenge pick guard because I may keep this one and I tend to either post, or drag my little finger and wear hard on the finish in this area.  The pick guard is only about 1/16" thick.

For what it's worth, except for length and top wood I made two identical instruments.  The one for my acquaintance had a redwood top, the 2nd yellow cedar.  As expected, the sound of redwood is mellower with slightly more emphasis on the base.  I can't tell if the 1" makes any difference but I think they both sound really nice. 

The bocote wood is spectacular and both instruments have a clarity that I think only comes from super dense tropical hardwoods.

 #43 a.jpg - 215KB

Thank you, Linda.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Here is link to 2 articles I found from 1974 Charleston, WV paper ….

Very interesting man!

https://www.4shared.com/folder/XZxMd8bp/2022.html

You're welcome Scott. Do share, if you get a reply. I know it is a long shot.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thanks so much Ken. I emailed the shop to see if there is any memory of CS but from the website it looks like they focus on HS bands and guitars. Didnt see a dulcimer on the website. Didnt look hard either though. I’ll share the reply if anything interesting comes up. 

Nitro is west of Charleston heading toward Huntington. It is a small town of around 6,500 people at spans two counties in the western part of central West Virginia. Nitro itself has an interesting history as the place that manufactured gun powder for World War I.  As to Mr. Jennings I know nothing about him. Here is a link to https://w ww.g orbysmusic.com  so you can look for yourself. My guess is that Mr. Jennings made a few dulcimers and put them in the shop on consignment, but maybe some of our West Virginia members know more about him. Perhaps you could call the shop and someone there might know something about him.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Find a grave gave me zip.....

That is a beautiful dulcimer.

My dulcimer was a gift from my sister-in-law who found it at CA thrift shop. I call it a tear-box shaped dulcimer, mostly a long rectangular box with a tapered tear-drop styled top. I added a 6+ fret to this 1976 built dulcimer.

For anyone interested, it's an odd bird. It has 28 7/8 in. VSL to a movable bridge - sort of like a banjo. Overall length is 39 1/2 inches (The only affordable case I could find that it fit was a soft rifle case that I adorned with patches of musical notes and a Celtic knot and I keep a kazoo on the outside gun cartridge holders to avoid misidentification.) The box is 31 1/4 X 6 1/2 X 2 1/2 inches.  It has good volume and excellent sustain. 

Anyone know anything about builder? C. Swanson Jennings from Nitro, W. VA 

Or the town or region?

Or the music shop it came from?  Gorby's Music in So. Charleston, W. VA

 dulc edit FOTMD.png - 1.3MB

Howdy All. I have a Ron Ewing baritone dulcimer & have been playing it for close to a year now. I couldn't be happier..!  Quality product made by a quality & professional person. Answered any question I had & I couldn't ask for more. A+ in my books. 

I recently adapted and used one of Stew Macs new guitar shipping boxes with it's inflatable insert. Worked great!

I asked my kids to get me a bodhran kit from McNeela's for Xmas because the up / down tipper motion is very similar to strumming and I thought if I played it while listening to Irish, Finnish and other folk music, the muscle memory would help me develop my strumming versatility.  Anyone have any experience with this? 

Long Suffering Wife and I have passed by the Plectrum Dulcimer shoppe in Laguna Canyon every Summer since we got married (1984), on our way to the Laguna Arts Festival.  A couple of years ago we drove in to see if it was still there; the wooden sign out front is, but the shop wasn't.  But I've been hankering for one of their dulcimers since and I finally got one today on Ebay.  A nice, early on, late 1970's looker with a different headstock from the others I've seen, more of a curve to it.  Anyway, if you google Jim Fyhrie you will come up with a couple of very nice pieces on Jim, including a write-up in the LA Times.  I'm only sorry we didn't stop in earlier.  Jim sounds like a good guy to know.  

Gentlemen, Thank you so much for your input. You have made me much more confident with my design choices, and I'll go ahead with the plan and not change a thing!  Again, Thanks!

Just a quick comment here that fretboard width and string spacing are two different things.  My personal preference is for the strings to be no further than 1 inch from bass to melody (on a 3-string instrument), but I still like a 1-1/2" fretboard since that provides more room for bending strings.

Cherry and butternut sounds like a nice choice.  I think I agree with others who suggest that wood choice has much less of an effect on sound than many other aspects of building.  I usually choose wood based on looks and the builder based on sound.

Definitely agree with Ken and Andy.  Fret board width and VSL is not an absolute.  What one musician finds ideal, another may find unplayable.  Play many different instruments and find what works for you, or, if you build to sell, make a few different models and give musicians a choice.

As far as wood, same advice.  Find the model of dulcimer you enjoy building, then find the wood that you believe sounds best,..., and ignore the people who think otherwise.  Music is in the ear of the hearer, build what sounds good to you.  Best example, cherry.  Some say it produces a sweet sound and others say it over emphasizes the treble.  Does it sound right to you? Then it is.

The 1/8" difference in width means the melody course and the bass course are that much farther apart.  Most Chord-Melody players don't have an issue with fretboard width affecting chording ability, although those with "chubby" fingers find the wider board more useable.  C-M players do have issues with longer VSLs (28" to 30" making it harder to fret some  chords.  Smaller-handed Chord-Melody players seem to prefer shorter VSLs (25-26")

There are many, many factors of dulcimer construction which effect the tonal quality of an dulcimer.  Wood species is pretty far down the list.  My advice, as a player for many years is to ignore wood species except for the æsthetic effect.  A cherry carcass with a butternut top will make a visually striking instrument, especially as the cherry darkens and ages over time.  I think you would be very happy with that wood combination.   Several of my dulcimers have butternut tops/backs, and I love the grain structure and patterns which the wood gives..

I play mostly 4 equal-distance strings on a 1 3/8" fretboard with larger than average hands - no problem.  Three strings just allows for more space.  So everything I build is 1 3/8" with no complaints.

Wood combinations should be fine.  Not to negate wood contribution, but how they pieces are laid out and joined affects overall sound more than wood type.

What would the advantages/disadvantages of a 1.5 inch wide fretboard or a 1 3/8 inch fretboard? I have just slightly smaller than average hands if that has anything to do with it. Also, what are your thoughts about back and sides of cherry and a top of butternut? What might that produce tonally? Thanks for any input.

@mr-woolery Patrick, I liked seeing your videos.  I have a fretless instrument so appreciate the learning involved in what it takes to play notes accurately.  

How about a couple more tunes played like a total beginner?

First up, Paholaisen Marssi, Devil’s March. 

And then the tune that made me want to play jouhikko in the first place. Nyykytys, pronounced “NOO-koo-tooss”. I have no idea what the name means. 

Taking video like this is important. It gives me some merciless feedback on the playing.  I think I get the “musical ears” effect, where I’m enjoying the playing and it sounds musical in the moment.  But later, I recognize that it isn’t ready for public consumption yet.

You ever want to really appreciate having frets on your dulcimer, just try to play in tune on an instrument without them!

Patrick

I have an awful lot of respect for that sophisticated modern bodhran technique.  So far I just play the old-fashioned way, "Kerry style" I think it's called.  I still get a fair bit of tone variety by using my left hand and I like using the momentum of the back end of the tipper for triplets.  But it's wonderful to watch the modern players with their loose wrists!

I thought of Rod when I did The Friendly Beasts for our Tuesday evening Zoom group video. Even after 11 years I have fond memories of all the conversations I had with Rod.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."