Paula, I sent you a private message, but for those who may look at this thread, I think this a North Country Dulcimer made by Robert Hutchinson.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
We're currently fostering this fellow. His name is Gary. Bull Terrier.
Cheers,
Paula
I would be interested in something like that. I have used the Seymour Duncan kind with my acoustic guitar before. Would be fine n with dulcimer too.
I've had this dulcimer for about 30+ years. It was a pawn shop acquisition. I imagine it was most likely homemade but it seems nicely done. I've never seen one exactly like it especially the standing bridge. Any info someone might have would be lovely.
Thanks,
Paula
@dusty-turtle interesting! I ordered a basic FolrkLife set with 11s for my melody strings and not being used to tuning a dulcimer, broke them. So now I have GHS Boomer electric guitar strings in 13 (I think B string on guitar in that set) on the melody strings as I had a bunch of sets laying around I bought in a blowout sale once.
decided I liked that better anyway, especially trying to tune for Joni’s All I Want. Will look at the middle and bass strings too and see if I want to up the gauge.
Lighter strings will be looser. Heavier strings will be tighter.
If you're playing by yourself, though, and don't need to be in a specific key, I would suggest tuning higher for tighter strings and lower for looser strings. That's a lot easier than changing strings.
I have a follow up question. I know I’ve heard comments about floppy strings with low/loose tuning. I just can’t remember what the cure is, heavier or lighter gauge strings? Thanks
I set a Seymour Duncan up years ago under the strings in a flat space at strum hollow, so I could learn & use the Boss GT-1 during Harvey, the TX Hurricane. It is the only dulcimer I had with a flat space, all others had the strum hollow.
Hey, @johnpat27. I have a few thoughts here.
Consider starting with three strings, especially if you want to fingerpick. Just remove the doubled strings. You can always add them back later on. I was given this advice when I first started and out of nothing but hubris, I resisted it, thinking that since I play 12-string guitar and mandolin the extra strings wouldn't bother me. But eventually (like 2 years later) I strung up my instrument with three single strings and loved the clarity of the sound. Some techniques (like hammer-ons and pull-offs) are easier with single strings and some (like bending) are virtually impossible with double strings.
Second, there are two resources for drone players close by: Strumelia's Mountain Dulcimer Noter and Drone Blog (which others have mentioned but not provided a link for) and the Old Style Noter and Drone Players Group here at FOTMD. You have to join the group to see all the posts, but you'll find lots of information and camaraderie there.
Third, have fun. Put the the instrument on your lap, find a melody that you like, and let your instrument ring!
Lisa Strumelia has a Noter & Drone Blog, and I wrote a booklet years ago called Get Noterized, both of which are accessible from here at FOTMD. Many of us who primarily play N&D do play by ear, but we also simply use just the melody line from other dulcimer tabs. There are other sources for hard-core N&D players as well. It all depends on the kind of music you're interested in.
BTW the more correct designation for your tuning is DdAdd. The D and the A are in the same octave, but the d's are an octave higher than D. The octave setup Dd for a 5 string dulcimer is intended to give an added richness to the sound compared to the older DD couplet.
It is, as you say, Ddadd.
So far I am pleased with the setup, it has a pleasing sound.
By the way its worth noting that the vast majority of string instruments have intonation issues way up the neck. I'm not sure if this is because of how much a small imprecision can affect the tonality, or if it is simply the nature of string instruments that ideal intonation at the top of the fretboard is not the same as at the bottom.
All I know is that most of the guitars, dulcimers, mandolins, and every other string instrument I've ever looked at close with a tuner tends to be less well intonated further up the fretboard.
Hello John, it is more common to see doubled bass strings, but having a thin string there is perfectly fine. It is most likely intended to be tuned an octave up from the bass note, which is the same as the melody note in a 1-5-8 tuning(if you were tuning D a dd, this would be Dd a dd), but if you are playing in a 1-5-5 tuning then perhaps this is different and someone else might know if that is still correct.
I can't recommend any sites specifically for noter playing, however I have found many tabs on dulcimertab.com and everythingdulcimer.com which are suitable for noter style. Really most of the tabs I see for 1-5-5 tunings such as DAA are well suited to noter drone.
Also, if you can read sheet music or are willing to learn, I have noticed that the majority of popular vocal melodies of the last hundred years are diatonic and can be transcribed to dulcimer and are readily available online. This is a fun way to bring contemporary songs into your noter drone playing.
-Nate
Thanks for all the advice!
I ended up buying one of Bill Bergs 5-string instruments. Only slightly more than I was looking to spend, but it came with a nice case, a noter, picks, Korg tuner. Happy so far! Only questions I have so far:
1)I can't find many examples of five string setups online, and the ones that do reference two bass strings, but mine came with the same size string as the melody strings next to the bass string. Normal?
2) I also can't find many resources for pure noter playing. Everything seems to be chords, which I am loving, but I still want to try noter playing. Is all noter playing pretty much by ear?
As it's set now, I am more concerned on having clear notes as I fret - it is not so high to be uncomfortable. I may sand it a bit more, I was just giving myself time to decide. Also in changing the strings I put on heavier ones (& a different brand) deciding now if I wanted to go a bit lighter on the melody.
Thanks for all your help, the Intonation was the concern at first but it is right on now.
Glad to hear its going well! Clearly you are aware of the nickel and dime technique for setting action, and as others have said having the action a bit high is perfectly fine but may be less comfortable, and too low of action can produce buzzing. Typically setting the action with a nickel will not be low enough to produce buzzing unless either the fingerboard is uneven or some frets are raised. If you have a straight edge which you can use to verify that the fretboard is perfectly consistent, as it should be, then you should feel safe reducing the bridge enough that the string just barely touches the top of a nickel sitting on top of the 7th fret. If it is comfortable to play and well intonated then this is not really necessary, although I will say that I personally really like the action as low as I can get it.
-Nate
(Now that you have conquered set-up, the next thing is you will start building dulcimers.)
I feel good about learning to care for a dulcimer but - not there yet on building. Would love to watch someone from start to finish but I'm better at drawing one then building one.
Morning
Marg, I'm glad to hear that it went well for you. A little high isn't too bad if it doesn't hurt your fingers. You can always sand it down a little more later if you need to. The biggest danger is string buzzing if you go too low. Then you would either have to make a new nut or shim the old one. Now that you have conquered set-up, the next thing is you will start building dulcimers.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
OK, careful, careful.
Sanded down - still space between nickel & string but much easier to fret, so will leave it here for now.
What would have taken someone maybe an hour or two to set up, has taken me 3 days but I learned a lot and took my time - checking with you guys as I went.
Team effort - Thanks again
Yes, of course you can sand the bridge. Be careful, though, and go little by little. When you were working on the nut you really couldn't mess up since the zero fret was going to set the height of the strings down on that end of the dulcimer. You don't have that safety net when you work on the bridge.
Thanks Dusty, I was so busy working up at the nut - just wanted to make sure I could still sand the bridge.
Sorry, nut is sanded down, strings are on the 0 fret, it's the bridge (bottom end) I'm considering sanding.
So, I can sand the bridge to help the action. I really think the dulcimer was set up for a noter
Marg, if the strings are really sitting on the zero fret so that the strings are vibrating between the zero fret and the bridge, the nut will have no effect on the action. You might consider sanding down the bridge, however.
One last question, I hope:
Nut sanded, new strings & tone is good off the 0 fret -
But the action is still a bit too high - can I sand the bridge down just a bit?
Thanks again Gail. I'm still in the process of shopping for a new dulcimer & am looking into all I can. Your info helps so much with the New Harmony instruments. I have a well made, very pretty Ron Gibson Barbara Allen style baritone that I've dragged everywhere & enjoyed for almost 5 years but now these old hands need something easier to play & a 25" VSL. I'll never sell my Gibson but probably won't play it as much as I did before. I'm looking forward to driving down to New Harmony for the Dulcimer Chatauqua on the Wabash in October too.
As far as just 3 strings - I always remove one when I've had dulcimers with the double melody string. I do a combination of strumming and cross picking and find it much easier without the double melody string. I think people who play noter/drone style like the double strings more because of the sound.
Two of mine have the accutune feature - instead of just a movable bridge you have 3 different places to fine tune the strings on the bridge. It's supposed to help fine tune the upper notes. Honestly, I haven't really used the feature a lot. Once I get the strings in tune they seem to be pretty accurate up the fretboard. They do make custom instruments. All 3 of mine are custom made with exactly what I wanted and they were very nice to work with.
I know of a fully chromatic dulcimer he built in 2007 that is number 217.
Thanks Nate, I have it sanded way down and tiny slits cut in the wooden nut for the middle string & using the nails for the melody & the bass.
All Good, thanks so much everyone
m.
Thank you Lisa. I've missed the Gebhard Woods festivals the last few years so I'm sorry I didn't go to see these. Gail Webber just responded to my private email to her & gave me a lot of info on how/why she loves the New Harmony. She actually has 3 of them but she also said she plays in an orchestra so she sounds like a pro player. It was so nice of her to give me such a good response...its just what I wanted to know. I think the instruments look really nice hanging from pegs when you see that in the website store pics. I wouldn't store it that way at home...no pegs. LOL Thanks again. Barb
As I recall from a conversation at the New Harmony booth at Gebhard Woods a few years back, the hole in the head is so you can hang the dulcimer from a peg.
If only the hole in my head was so convenient :-)
@sunvalleylaw, don't feel you have to abandon techniques you developed playing the guitar. I also came to the dulcimer from the guitar, and when I bought my first dulcimer I got a 12-pack of those pointy, triangular, Herdim picks. I never took to them, gave them away at a festival, and went back to the same Tortex picks you use. I tend to use the green .88 ones when there is a little more slack in the strings and the blue 1.0 ones when the strings are nice and tight. If you are only strumming across all the strings, those big, pointy, floppy picks are fine. But if you want to flatpick and play long single-note runs, you need a bit more control.
Since noter/drone players can handle higher action than those of us who fret with our fingers, a lot of dulcimers are made with higher action. By all means, do what you can to get the action as low as possible without causing any strings to buzz.
It seems you are well on your way to ensuring you are comfortable playing your instrument. That will certainly allow you to progress quickly.
@dusty-turtle Starting to make a little headway on the song. Bit by bit. Along the way, loosened the strings and worked the saddle out, took down the action just a bit. Still seems high as compared to what I am used to. But will take my time in working it down. The tuning for this song makes the strings feel pretty slack as compared to what I am used to feeling, so I am getting used to fretting and pick action as well. My normal pick holding style is very guitar oriented, so am learning how I want to adapt that. I am finding for now that my .88 Dunlop Tortex feels best. I just cannot get comfortable and happy with floppy picks, and the sharp pointed triangle ones seem too sharp for my tastes. But this will continue to evolve. Tried to rip the edge of my fingernail on my index finger off a time or tow playing with this. A symptom of my sometimes sloppiness in pick holding.
Bottom line, learning this and learning to make the sounds I want with clean tones and effect is good for me, . . . And fun!
I’ve just learned that Gary Gallier, John’s son-in-law has an early Stockard that has wooden pegs.
Hi Ken...thank you. Agree, I saw the 'sold' dulcimer descriptions with VSL but none gave dimensions. They have 4 different series of instruments: Brio, Whale Tail, Private Reserve, Pinnacle Series. I couldn't find anything about what the differences or specs are for each of those series & seeing that would really help me know where to start. There's nothing wrong with the design...I just am curious about why there is a hole in the peg head. I'm also curious what/how the Accutune module I see near the saddle is/works. There's nothing wrong with 3 strings only but, again, I'm just curious. You seem to think I'm challenging the design innovations but I'm not .... I'm just curious to know & thought perhaps there was a New Harmony owner who could tell me. General info like that is helpful for anyone considering getting one. It'd be easier to read that on the website to get a good concept of what to select vs arranging a Zoom meeting to get answers.
When I wrote them an email asking about getting one made within my price range, etc. since everything was 'sold', I got a response from Rick Gooden and he is more than willing to Zoom meet so we can discuss woods, tuners, etc. so they do make custom orders. The overall design is determined but that's much the same as anywhere else but there isn't a 'take it or leave it' attitude as you describe. They seem like nice people who work with their customers.
I'd still be interested in hearing from anyone who owns one and know what they think about them. I don't know anyone other than a dulcimer teacher, Dona Benkert, who said they sound lovely.
Why do they have a hole in the tuning head? Why only 3 strings? Because that is New Harmony owner Rick Goodin's design.
He does not build custom dulcimers to your specifications -- he builds dulcimers to his specifications, and you can choose to buy one or not. He seems to have plenty of buyers waiting for his next creation.
I just now went to New Harmony's website, and every dulcimer there has the VSL listed.
He actually only has 3 instruments available at this time -- all the other instruments shown are sold. He posts sold dulcimers to give you some idea of what to expect from the combination of design and wood choices he chooses to make.
A dulcimer teacher told me about this brand & how lovely they sound. Can anyone tell me why there is a hole in the peg head? It's so unusual. What/how do you use what they call an Accutune module? I was surprised they don't have any specifications about depth, length, etc. except on 'Sold' instruments. It sure leaves a lot of questions to be asked if you are considering them. I also noticed they don't seem to make anything other than a 3 string instrument. So many makers offer 3 or 4 equidistant so this was a surprise. Thanks.
