Forum Activity for @dusty

"Buzzy Strings" would be a good name for a musical act.

At the 7th fret (not the 6+ fret if you have it) rest a pound coin on top of the frets under the strings.  The strings should not be any higher than the top of the coin.   Here in the States we use a nickel coin, and a dime setting next to the first fret as gauges for decent string height.

Thanks for that. I have wondered about the action but I’m reluctant to adjust it myself in case I end up with buzzy strings. I have tried slightly over tightening the melody strings, then re-tuning then, but it didn’t seem to make a lot of difference. I have a friend who knows a local luthier, someone who he takes all his guitars to. So if things don’t improve, say in a month or so, I’ll see if he will alter it for me.

Also, if the string is too high over the fretboard then that can make it much harder to press the string down with the thumb. 

Thank you for all your advice, I’ll probably try them all in combination. And yes, it is my fretting hand. I’ve seen some players use a noter so I think that will help so, when my poor thumb gets too sore I can still practice the beginner tunes. Thanks again.

Using a thumb, be it the left hand thumb for fretting or right hand thumb for picking, will always make the thumb feel sore when you do it for the first time or after a long break from playing. It will feel even worse if you continue to play while the thumb is sore. 

The following solution works every time for me. When the thumb starts to get a little bit sore, then stop playing for the day. Then for the following week or so, just play gently for about 5 minutes on the first day, increasing the time by about 5 minutes or so each day. Keep it gentle and do it every day for about 7  to 10 days. It's very important to immediately stop playing if the thumb gets too sore during this period, then maybe give it a two day break.

By the end of that one to two weeks of playing the skin on your thumb will be much harder and you should by then be able to play for quite long periods with no pain.

Ken i was getting the impression that this poster was referring to using the thumb when fretting with the left hand- not the right hand strumming.

Lancaster- you just have to be patient. The callus and toughening will take a couple weeks to start to develop. Don't overdo 'too' much at first. The pain gets less after the first few days. :)

Thumbs are all very nice and natural soft sounding and all that.  But.  If you insist on rubbing it on those metal strings, it's going to hurt!

Yes it will take some time to develop a callus.  You may find that a coating of New Skin or Liquid Bandage or a similar product will protect the area.  A dab of Rubber Cement or CA glue (superglue) will also work. 

The simplest solution, IMHO is to use a pick rather than bare thumb; or in addition to the bare thumb while your callus develops. 

If the clicking of a plastic or wooden pick bothers you, look in acoustic music shops or on line for the thick felt or leather pick often used by ukulele players,  A heavy felt pick sounds almost as good as a bare thumb, without the pain...  Leather picks can be easily made from thick belts found at charity shops.

Hi, I’m very new to forums so if I don’t thank you for help please understand that I haven’t got the hang of it yet.

my problem is my thumb. I’m doing what I’ve been advised to do, which is use it to get to notes on the melody string 

but I soon get a fair bit of pain. Is there anything I can do to speed up the development of a callous (?) or do I just have to be patient?

 Thanks for any help or advice.

I hope Terry Hennessy's days go as well as possible and are brightened by hearing from folks he's known throughout his life.  

The following was sent to me by Richard Troughear:

=================

I visited Terry Hennessy yesterday in his little village of Kangaroo Valley, New South Wales, Australia.  As you know Terry made the mountain dulcimer played by Richard Farina in the 1960’s, fixing his place in the modern history of the instrument.  In 1965 Jean Ritchie thought it was “the jazziest dulcimer I ever saw!”.  Terry has continued to make dulcimers of high quality up until recent times.

But after a life as a stone-mason, a theatre set designer, a puppeteer, a jug band player, a television presenter, service in the Royal Air Force, a story-teller par excellence, and a world class dulcimer luthier, he is now 88 years old and in the twilight of his days.  His health is rapidly declining.

Terry has always loved to talk to dulcimer makers and players about the instrument, but in Australia there are not many of either.   For those players and makers in the wider dulcimer community who know of Terry, and would like to make contact with him, now is a good time to say hello and wish him well.   I know he would appreciate the thoughts. 

Terry’s email address is:  

hennessydulcimer@iprimus.com.au  

His long-time partner Christine might need to read emails to Terry.

regards,
Richard Troughear

We met Sam at a dulcimer festival. A real nice guy for sure. Sad news.

Sam died just one day after entering a hospice program. He was a good player in addition to being a builder of hammered dulcimers. His work, especially with the group Trapezoid, helped revive interest in the HD. He was a contributor to Dulcimer Players News writing a column on "Technical Dulcimer."

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I just heard that Hammered Dulcimer guru Sam Rizzetta passed away on Tuesday, October 26.  No other details at this time...

Sorry, Nathina, but I've never heard of it. I will watch this thread to see if you receive an answer.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Trying to find the hx of the Dulcimer Guild out of Colorado. Seemed to have dropped away from any information.

Strumelia,
It has a 16.25 inch scale.

It reminds me a bit of the Puerto Rican cuatro (which I used to play when I lived there many years ago). They both have ten strings, but the cuatro has 5 courses, arranged in pairs. It too is rather small, but your tiple looks as though it's even smaller, judging from the proportions with the tuning gears.

Very interesting Jim.  Seldom see a tiple, but I love the mandolin-uke sound they deliver.

What is the scale length on your tiple? Looks to be quite short, maybe close to violin/mandolin scale?

I bought a ten string Regal tiple, made in Chicago, at a yard sale a few years back.  I haven't used it much till COVID locked me in and I started taking part in a weekly ukulele get together.
The tiple has 4 courses of strings and I tune them gG-cCc-eEe-AA.  The saddle is not compensated, so playing far up the neck causes some sour notes, so I stick to the first 5 or 6 frets.
Any other tiplers on this site?

I'm not sure how to add a photo.

Hearts of the Dulcimer Podcast - Episode 53
Fiddle Tune Stories with Pam Weeks

https://dulcimuse.com/podcast

If you’re a mountain dulcimer player, chances are you know how to play more than a few fiddle tunes on your dulcimer. Each tune has its own origin story. These stories are often attached to specific places, events, or people. In this and the next episode, we’ll bring you the backstories of some of these fiddle tunes.

You can listen to all the  Hearts of the Dulcimer Podcast  episodes directly on our website:  https://dulcimuse.com/podcast  or in most podcast apps.

Every episode has its own resource page with photos, videos, and song lists.  Here's the resource page for this episode: https://dulcimuse.com/podcast/resource/053.html

Thanks for listening!

Hearts of the Dulcimer Podcast is actually in the 6th year now ... I forgot to start a new thread! LOL

I'm glad you all had a nice farewell party for your co-worker, Jost!  Yes, you have time to practice for New Year's Eve.  

Well in the end it turned out my musical skills are not enough to learn a new song in such a short time. Since I already can play it on the guitar I took my guitar to my coworkers farewell event. Even without the dulcimer he was quite happy about it and we had a nice farewell party. 

Thanks for your input, I guess I will practice the song the next months so I can play it on new years evening :)

Hi Paula, the first Dulcimer I had made back in the mid 70's had a cedar top, since then I've made 4 with cedar tops and a few with spruce. My personal choice is cedar I love it's lightness and mellow sound.

P.S. I also have a 12-string guitar with a cedar top and it sounds great.

Hey Paula.  Traditionally, dulcimers were usually made entirely of local hardwoods and there was no difference between the sides, bottom, and the top. A lot of people still prefer dulcimers made entirely of walnut or other woods.  But more modern makers began using soft tone woods such as spruce, cedar, and redwood on the top to produce a softer, more guitar-like sound.

Most guitars have a spruce top.  Spruce is a little harder than cedar and resists scratches and nicks a little better.  But cedar produces a similar sound and usually much quicker. What I mean by that is that it sometimes takes a while for spruce to fully open up, which is a main reason guitars getter better with age.  Cedar usually gets that sound much earlier in an instrument's life.

I have dulcimers with spruce, redwood, and cedar tops and they are all great.  The sound differences between them are due more to other aspects of instrument design.  Don't shy away from a cedar top if the rest of the dulcimer has what you're looking for. It's a highly respected tonewood.

Depends on to whom you are talking.  I have heard some describe it as a sweet sound and others a bit trebly.  Cedar is  lighter wood than spruce or almost any hardwood (balsa is a hardwood.)  The instrument should be lighter.  It is also a little weaker than other woods, so might get damaged more easily.

What is the advantage and disadvantage of cedar soundboards?  I don't see cedar being used much, and am considering a dulcimer with one.  thanks!

Dusty, I tried Sally on my 1.5 8.5 fret model thinking the minor notes in dad tuning would be a breeze. No such luck. I switched to my pure diatonic model tuned cAD and it played well. I tried dAA with a capo and as you said it was wanting  for an 8.5 fret...Robert. 

O.K.

Dan, I'm really sorry, but I'm afraid we will not be able to add new Soundcloud clips anymore for the foreseeable future.

Soundcloud has changed the way they allow third party calls/embeds in a way that makes it difficult to code. The developers at Jamroom would have to jump through hoops to meet the new criteria SC has instituted, and it's just not worth the time and expense for the developers to code new workarounds. Who knows, maybe SC will relax its requirements in the future again, but word is that SC is losing money and that might not be in the cards.

Luckily, our existing SC clips are continuing to function and play for us here... for now. I hope we can keep them working, but there are no guarantees even for that.

For now, if fotmd members want to add an audio clip, you'll have to use the old fashioned choice of uploading your audio file directly to fotmd, like we use to do on our old Ning site.

So sorry for the inconvenience... I'm just as disappointed as you are about this.

I can't seem to get the "share" link to work?

https://soundcloud.com/dulcimore-dan/silent-night

Sally is a tough one to get on diatonic fretboard. It's a haunting melody, though.

Some years ago I learned a version arranged by Steve Eulberg.  He uses a DAA tuning with a capo at 1, but the 8+ fret is still necessary. I couldn't even tell you if that was aeolian or dorian.

Sally in the Garden, I wanted a tune to add to my list of tunes for playing on banjo in double C tuning. I've been playing Sally for the last week. It is a minor mode tune that plays nicely in clawhammer  style.

Ok so next was playing on dulcimer. At first I didn't think It could be played noter style but in  aeolian mode it worked well, only have to jump to the A string for an open A and first fret B.... Robert.

Would love a picture or three for my files, Wally.  Thanx in advance.

>>> Did your wife get her dulcimer kit constructed?

Yes. It looks great, and I have lots of pictures for an article I will write. What I don't have yet is a good video of it playing.

I plan to post both in advance of the 2022 Berea Gathering.

Good point Wally. I really was not criticizing  the design, just wondering about how that was chosen. You explained that. I know nothing about laser cutters. Like I said, it is a great alternative to a cardboard dulcimer.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

P.S. - Did your wife get her dulcimer kit constructed?

'Nother thought on body length.

Laser cutters vary in size. A common home sized unit is 65x50 cm, or not capable of cutting something over 25.6 inches long.