Forum Activity for @melanie-cook

Thanks, Ken. 

What Banjimer said!  Just tune it and play.   If you need encouragement or help, just give us a hollar and we can help.  A number of us here have been playing Noter & Drone style for decades...

Thanks, Banjimer!

Yes, you can play your McSpadden in D-A-A without changing the bridge.  The compensated bridge improves intonation slightly, but it is not essential.  In fact. most dulcimers do not have a compensated bridge.

Hi, there! About a year ago, I bought a McSpadden - standard 26" VSL and I love the sound. I am a relatively new player and my intention has been to play chord melody in DAD. However, I'm now wanting to play noter drone in DAA. I'm finding out now that in order to play a McSpadden in DAA, I need a "bridge compensation."  Can I still play my McSpadden in DAA without this?

Thanks!

@carla-maxwell It wonderful you got to meet Larkin!  I imagine her book and accompanying recording have been a help for many on their journey of playing mountain dulcimer  

That was lovely. I didn't know her very well but appreciated Larkin's talent and kindness. Larkin was my first dulcimer teacher. Her beginner dulcimer workshop at the Memphis Dulcimer Festival was perfect for me, and I learned from her beginner book and accompanying cassette tape after that. I was very sorry to hear the sad news.

I don't have a tune picked out, but I'm looking forward to international Play Music on the Porch Day. PMOTPD was a beautiful day last year and a lot of fun to be a part of the worldwide event.

That is a neat story, Ken!  Thanks for posting the link! 

Great story Kenl. Thanks for sharing it.

What a sweet story, @ken-longfield.  It shows how strong the student/teacher bond can be and also how dulcimers bring people together in so many ways.

Nice story, Ken. Nina

This is a delightful story: https://www.southbendtribune.com/story/lifestyle/2021/07/18/student-teacher-reunite-over-dulcimer-built-woodworking-class/7970945002/ I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Back in 1971 I had a cheap what some call a bottle cap banjo. A good Vega banjo was around $300. I could not afford one. Then 30 years later they were in the one to three thousand dollar range. I thought I could build a shop and build my own for less. I did!. I've got long necks, short scale, normal scale, fretless, semi fretless, six string. 10" , 11" , 12" pots , block rims, plywood rims, brass tone rings, wood tone rings. I had to restrain myself from building more and focus on dulcimers. All together they cost me about the same as one high quality open back banjo....Robert

Steven, I pretty much agree with this.  Though I do love some of my oldtime steel string banjers too, they have their own pretty bell-like tone appeal. 

@Strumelia I do know jeff menzie I have placed several orders for skins from him I love his builds on this gourd banjos even though I do not have one of his 

My current banjos which are both open back is a 11 inch Bart Rieter Grand Concert and a Rickard 11 inch maple whyte LAYDIE the Rickard I installed a John Balch pre mounted jeff menzie goat skin head in my experimenting with bridges I ended up with a Doc Huff old time bridge which weighs 7.3 grams 

That is the other thing I learned while experimenting with bridges weight means nothing 

I also am building a gourd banjo for myself that I hand carved the neck out of zebra wood 

The banjo I am having built by a local luthier I supplied the wood to him which the rim is made out of bocote the neck will be laminated paduk with a purple heart center strip and overlayed with a pale moon finger board it will also be a long neck which I elected to have fretless

There's nothing like a fretless gourd or wood-shell banjo, strung with gut or nylon strings, with a natural skin head, to make the world go 'round!

Have you ever found any picks that were as nice as a finger?  After working on this 50 yr. old dulcimer & tuning it as a Baritone,  I find my finger strumming down sounds the nicest - any pick ideas?

Ken, many factors contribute to a unique sound from every banjo. Pot material does actually make quite a difference, as do different types of wood. I have a friend who made an entire banjo out of ebony. It was a thing of beauty and extremely heavy. But sadly, it sounded way too quiet and not resonant at all, because of the denseness of the ebony, which would not transmit sound vibrations at all.

My husband has 5 old (mainly '20s + a 19th c.) banjos.  That keeps him from complaining about my "Folk Instrument Petting Zoo" including several dulcimers.  He definitely agrees about the pots, pointing to cigar box & a ham can as proof.  Skins certainly make the difference.  His oldest has a goat skin head & gut strings.  He says that combination makes a big difference.

He's not been at all tempted by gourds (thank heavens!), but we know a fellow, Tim Twiss, who loves fretless gourd banjos for reenacting & just plain enjoyment.

Hi.  Once when I was playing a small banjo concert in the mountains--I also played a couple tunes on my mountain dulcimer. I demonstrated several different banjos too--I think the cello banjo, my fancy mermaild Deering, the John Bowland 1865 Fretless & the John Hartford with the grenadilla tone ring.  A lady rushed up at the end and gushed--I love all your banjos--but I love that all wood banjo the best.  (mountain dulcimer)  maryzcox.com

I love Jeff Menzies instruments!  If I were going to play banjo it would be one of his... 

I believe, but could be wrong, that the material a banjo pot is made of makes little measurable difference in the sound produced. 

Granted, a Leggo(tm) rim or PVC pot will probably sound different than a wooden or gourd pot.  But I doubt you'd get any measurable difference between say Walnut, Birch, laminated exotic woods, or bamboo.  After all, the primary sound producer is the vibrating head.  I can understand big differences in sound between a skin head of various origins and a "plastic" skin.

@don-smith , i too think banjos can be made successfully out of most hard woods. If you have a chance look up stuff about banjo maker Jeff Menzies - he moved to Jamaica years ago and while living there he used all kinds exotic woods to make gourd banjos... whatever wood was available from trees that fell or discarded local wood. His banjos sound wonderful. I loooove gourd banjos, but I only have one, made by Jeff.

I know this is an older post but figured I would add myself to the Banjo player

Banjo's are my addiction I have three and having a fourth built by a local Luthier I am also in the process of building several Gourd Banjo's for my kids and grand children the first banjo I ever purchased was a resonator banjo and it did not take me long to figure out I had no desire to lug around a 14-17 pound banjo and I had no desire to learn to play bluegrass style i have never been able to get accustomed to having picks on my thumb and fingers,  even though I do love bluegrass music, I play claw hammer style, i am also infatuated with different bridges and how different bridges can have a huge impact on the way a banjo sounds it is an experiment i feel anyone that plays a banjo should perform at some point just to see how different bridges and different woods can affect the tone,volume, how clear and clean notes sound up and down the neck with different bridges and different woods in bridges 

I think more out of the box when it comes to different woods for banjo builds than most and believe there is more than just maple,black walnut, cherry,mahogany, and oak that a banjo can be built with and the way i look at it is if someone can take a danged old gourd and make a banjo and an actual really great sounding banjo from them in a lot of cases it tells me that any good hard wood will work and there are a lot of exotic woods that i believe could be used to make a great playing and sounding banjo

Looks nice!

Looks mighty good. Congrats on your good work and learning experience.

@marg Way cool!  Your dulcimer work looks great!  

After spending time working on this 50 year old 'Sears' Christmas Dulcimer. Not knowing what I was doing, I learned a lot as I worked on the gears, knobs (I ended up getting longer screws & a nut for the gears & new black banjo knobs), nut & bridge (glued in & split), strings & a floating bridge up by the bridge to help the tuning up the fretboard - After much experimenting I have it tuned as a Baritone and it sounds lovely. After many tries, a $20. old broken red dulcimer with it's repairs & decorations has a new life and I think it's priceless

Thanks for everyone's help 

 black knobs red dulcimer1.jpg - 519KB

That's great, hope you enjoy it!

It sure is a pretty thing, Richard! 

 A picture of a new dulcimore beautifully crafted by Dulcimore Dan. This is his Dulcimore model.

Poplar body with cherry stapleboard, tuning pegs, headstock and tail block. Traditional with staple frets, fiddle edges, no extra frets, set up and tuned Gdd. A real beauty to the eye and to the ear.

If they ever develop a vaccine for Dulcimer Acquisition Disorder, I'll refuse to take it.

 Dulcimore by Dulcimore Dan.jpg - 63KB

¡Muchas gracias, amigo!
¡Acabo de disfrutar de un delicioso chile relleno después de la iglesia!

Es muy bueno, Juan!

Maple is so beautiful, nice instrument. She should love it!

Another great build, John!  Bravo!

I think she's going to love it, John-- it looks great!  

que bella!

A new maple Galax dulcimore, built for a lady in Vancouver, Washington.

 maple galax july 21 001.JPG - 337KB

Is it "wise" to replace the McSpad friction tuners with Whittner pegs?  Probably.  There are other "planetary tuners which look more traditional -- Perfection and Knilling.  Geared pegs will not affect how the instrument sounds.   

One thing to know is that the McSpadden tuning shaft holes are parallel, not tapered, and the Whittner pegs are tapered.  For proper fit and function you should reame the holes with a standard 1:30 tapered instrument reamer.

The Whittner website WITTNER® - Finetune-Pegs, Made in Germany (wittner-gmbh.de) gives you the necessary tech specs for each of their models.  At a glance it appears that their models for 4/4 and 3/4 violins are the size you'll want.   Similar information is available for Perfection and Knilling planetary tuners of course.

I acquired a 1973 Mc Spadden M12 it has non-geared tuners where the tuning tension is adjusted by tightening or losing a screw the the knob.  I find these tuners difficult to use.

  My brother gave me a junk shop find three string and no 6 1/2 fret hourglass dulcimer with a broken and repaired by splint head.  It had wooden pegs which were a difficult to use.  I replaced them with Whittner finetune pegs.  They work very well and very easy to install.  The dulcimer sounds very good (as good or better than the McSpadden - I tune CGg), and has a label inside "MADE ESPECIALLY FOR JOANNE M.   WITH LOVE AND CARE MICHAEL".  I have no idea who Joanne or Michael are but the dulcimer was found in Minnesota.

Now to my question - Is it wise to replace the tuners on the Mc Spadden with Whittner tuners and if so what size should I use, the peg hole is about 8.27mm.  Also the McSpadden does not sound bad but not as good as I thought it would.  It may be me, the tuning, my playing noter style using my fingers or are there some other recommended changes.

Jim