Forum Activity for @strumelia

I think the biggest issue in playing along in a bluegrass jam is if they change keys frequently. Assuming you don't play other instruments as well, you may opt to bring two dulcimers- one for the keys of G and A, and another for the keys of C and D. That's what i used to do for oldtime music jams. It's not hard to tune up or down by one step to do this, OR use a capo on fret1 to do it. (I used to just tune up and down between A&G, and between D&C.) Using one dulcimer and tuning up and down over multiple steps will more quickly result in breaking strings, IMHO.

Bluegrass jamming has a lot more singing though, and often the favored singing key is B-flat, which might pose a special problem for a dulcimer player. In that case you might try completely muting your strings with the left hand while strumming in a percussive way with your right hand pick... not making out-of-tune notes but instead still having fun while improving your strumming rhythm.

@wally-venable , solid information! This way I can try this without spending a ton of cash.

Buying a new fretboard will cost you more than buying a 30 year old dulcimer and involve a lot more work.

I would suggest you consider buying an instrument on ShopGoodwill for $40 or less (including shipping and tax) and adding a cheap contact mic as an easy experiment. Since you will be shaping the sound with your electronics the body quality will make minimal difference.

Most of the instruments listed today on this page should serve your purposes. (I wouldn't say that to someone looking for a good acoustic instrument.)
https://shopgoodwill.com/categories/listing?st=dulcimer&sg=&c=&s=&lp=0&hp=999999&sbn=&spo=false&snpo=false&socs=false&sd=false&sca=false&caed=1%2F22%2F2025&cadb=7&scs=false&sis=false&col=1&p=1&ps=40&desc=false&ss=0&UseBuyerPrefs=true&sus=false&cln=1&catIds=&pn=&wc=false&mci=false&hmt=false&layout=grid&ihp=true

Professional Piezo Contact Microphone Pickup for Guitar Violin
ApproximatelyUS $2.57
Free Economy Shipping from Greater China
https://www.ebay.com/itm/335756608848?_skw=piezo+pickup&itmmeta=01JJ71EA19DF3XA0WECP531VMD&hash=item4e2ca74550:g:qpUAAOSwOPtneM1U&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA8HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKn2D4rzConcs1ki1Ui1XNKWM5p388NzRr7ctDbXkTg6jyJXUfQdgUK8S78UJ8CEyq5hhXsVafRrR2CmyoZFkhZIr6ptQzZxbUkoPa1y8kHxgLFENxppmRqORstXXLebiwlUtzcON8kk%2BQ%2FCVmfqUCqAghklDiAyP--nOGKZkfYA8l4lDa4g4v%2FxSWJZRKdGKAdDheOD5n6lpYerGCVv87BKQm%2Fzn6B%2FyPhEy1mITwdBR5r9powtvrK7QZKusCtkFtvkUwgn72gmxUb%2FDk4tJ%2FXl1tCRa%2BrVCKCr5R11UoHUCw%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR_6gueGRZQ

Hello Jon. In my opinion, even when playing with louder instruments the dulcimer still fits nicely into the blend and adds a lot to the overall sound. Assuming you can't use any kind of amplification and are wanting the sound of the dulcimer to stand out, it helps to consider where all the players are relative to eachother and make sure that the quieter instruments are  prominently placed where they wont be drowned out as easily.

Hi kids, just me Jon here again have a question. Not another one, yes it is true, hoping to get some kind of feedback. I have just found a bluegrass group that tries to get together once a month to jam. My question has to do with trying to play along with a  group since the dulcimer is not very loud. Is it better to just jam with other dulcimers and not in a bluegrass situation where you're trying to play with louder instruments. I hope I'm making some kind of sense anyhow. Your feedback would be much appreciated. Take care everybody, keep those fingers limber and thanks again for your opinions. 

Very cool Damon. I dont know anything about synthesizers so i look forward to hearing what kinds of unique sounds you can get from the dulcimer.

Ive been making really simple lures as a hobby for several years now. Mainly spoons and tied flies but ive also tried making a couple molds for soft plastic lures, and Ive whittled a couple from wood as well. Catching a fish on my own lure is not only a very rewarding feeling, but has also taught me a lot about what fish really care about vs what they don't.

Great point. I don't have any kind of dulcimer at the moment. Honestly, I don't think I need the solid body since all the electronics are in the synth itself. So, it might be best to find a quality used instrument, then add a pick up of any kind.

I've even thought of buying a pre-made fretboard, then build a Tennessee Music Box out of the cedar dad left me. Then I could install any pick I wanted. Just spit balling ideas.

My knowledge is in two streams.

I use and arrange in MIDI for a crank organ with multiple voices controlled by solenoids, as well as a small MIDI synthesizer module.I don't think this has any bearing on your needs.

On the dulcimer side, I have used a $10 clip-on guitar pickup experimentally on a $40 dulcimer.. That worked as a connection to a 10 watt guitar amp.

I installed a ukulele tuner-preamp with piezo under-the-bridge installation on one on my $40 Korean dulcimers. Mostly I just use it as a tuner which never falls off or gets lost. I have tested it with a couple of small guitar amps, so I know it works, but I only play for fun with acoustic groups. I have thought it may be useful when working as a dulcimer class instructor, but found my home-made acoustic Tennessee Music Box dulcimer works well for our very small classes, and is convenient for use on a table in the front of the room.

If you already have any dulcimer, try a cheap guitar pickup first.

A solid body electric is fine, but probably expensive, and will have to be custom built with a considerable wait time.

.

Damon, I enjoyed your video. It was a great way to get to know you. I have no idea of how electronic music is produced, so I can't help you with how that relates to the mountain dulcimer. Also, I probably haven't fished for 60 years. I do like your entrepreneurship. I wish you much success with your lures and your music.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Well, this is an analog synthesizer . There is no MIDI. It is not a computer. Think Apollo era technology. 

What's more is this is also a modular synthesizer . Every component is separate and must be connected via a wire. The synthesizer is only controlled by analog electricity, i.e., control voltages. 1 volt = 1 octave. This is a 5 volt system, therefore, 5 octaves.

Yes, in fact the only way to get external inputs is via common inputs like an electric guitar or microphone.

Are there digital components? Yes, but the principle is the same: It's only controlled by a wire and knobs. Even external MIDI has to be converted into control voltages, i.e. analog electrical signals where the synth itself is calibrated to 1 volt per octave making it possible to make music out of pure electricity.

To get a better idea of what I mean, here's the little clip Alabama Public TV did on me: https://www.pbs.org/video/black-warrior-lures-ibg1ax/

So, my thing is I want to add dulcimer to this whole mix. Getting an analog instrument into my synth is easy. It's just another microphone via the I/O input or the envelope follower . The envelop follower allows me to take any external audio signal, record player, tape recorder, iPhone, instruments, microphone even other synthesizers, and bring the level up to AE modular synth levels, which are very hot, btw. From there:

So, with all that, I ask would something with a magnetic pick up be more "interesting" than a Piezo pickup? Again the modular synth doesn't know what MIDI is. It only eats, digests and poops electrons. From your answer, and from what I understand, it won't matter.

It's almost as if you took a bunch of guitar pedals, stripped off the casing, and had to manually patch every wire and connection yourself to make it do anything.

It's not clear to me exactly what you propose to do.

In general, control of a synthesizer requires that the controller generate a digital signal, which is commonly in MIDI format. No pickup on an acoustic instrument can do that.

A dulcimer with a pickup CAN generate an analog audio signal which can be added as a digital stream in the output to a final audio file.

Can your system deal with input from a microphone or a common electric guitar? If not, an electric dulcimer will be no different.

Hi, I'm Damon. I'm a fisherman, tackle maker, filmmaker and composer. Totally new to the dulcimer world. The thing is I compose all the music for my YouTube channel. I want to add an electric dulcimer to use as a controller of sorts for my modular synthesizer. I'm not sure if I need a solid body dulcimer with a magnetic pickup, but I suspect a Piezo pick up would suffice as the synth has a signal amplifier and envelop follower to generate gates and control voltages to control the synth.

Check out this video to hear the kind of music I compose: https://youtu.be/Y8FyNbTsNKE?si=Gs_CvqYvixUxHywe

Let me know what you think.

Thanks.

Attached is a picture of my modular synthesizer. It's totally Frankenstein. You have total control over the sound. Everything has to be patched with a wire and tweaked with knobs. I've been looking for a way to fuse an acoustic instrument with modular synths.

 vlcsnap-2021-08-10-17h46m16s058.png - 891KB

This is a link to his Facebook page where he plays his latest dulcimer. I don't know if all his dulcimers sound like this one.

https://www.facebook.com/1476972546/videos/pcb.10227628895016066/642826021478704

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I have seen a few posts of instruments built by Robert Worth.  I get the impression that he has been a woodworker/builder for quite a while. Does anyone have any experiencewith/opinions on his instruments.  As far as appearance goes, they are quite beautiful but I haven't been able to find much as far as their sound goes.  Any help would be very much appreciated.  Thx!

John's given you good advice. Just make sure any wax you use is silicone free. You can call McSpadden and ask them what they would do. Just do a search for The Dulcimer Shoppe or McSpaden and you will find the phone number. BTW, the obvious way to tell that you have four string rather than six string dulcimer is that you have only four tuning machines on the headstock. The FM12W is a nice instrument. Enjoy playing it.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Best wishes with your new to you McSpadden. I know you will enjoy it a great deal.

Hello!  Welcome to this site!  We're happy to help you out with your questions about your McSpadden dulcimer.

Regarding the light scratches on your fretboard, you could use some liquid wax polish on the entire top surface, applied with some fine (000) steel wool, let dry then buff off the wax. This would also shine the frets at the same time!

The wood is black walnut, and everything but the top, bottom and sides should be solid wood all the way through. Light sanding should be OK.  McSpadden didn't stain any parts-- it's all clear lacquer finish on the walnut.

Adding strap buttons is as easy as you say. I would center the tail button under the endpins.  Drill a pilot hole for the screw in the tailblock, put a dab of soap or wax on the point of the screw, and attach the button. The top button can be attached to the heel of the peghead, either at the end or on the right side. This is a solid block of walnut.

These McSpadden dulcimers always had 4 strings. The six slots are there in the nut and bridge to allow for two different stringing configurations: In the equidistant string set-up, you set the first melody string in Slot 1, the bass string in Slot 6, and put the other two strings in Slots 3 and 5.  In the double-melody set-up, you put the first and second melody strings in Slots 1 and 2, the bass string in Slot 6, and the last string in Slot 4.  So you play the first 2 melody strings as one string.

Have fun!

Hi All -

I'm new to the mountain dulcimer and recently got a great deal on a McSpadden FM12W from 1996. It sounds beautiful but I have some questions I hope folks here can help me with.

There's some minor scratches at one point on the fret board ( picture attached ) where a previous player maybe focused an unusual amount of attention.  It's not too deep but noticeable.  Would some combination of sanding / oil help polish it away? 

Looking at the wood, I think it's mahogany, but I'm not sure. Does that look correct and does there appear to be some other finish / staining that I'd destroy if I sanded it? I can't tell just by looking at it, but I'm hoping that someone with more experience would be able to look at the attached photos and know.

All this is strictly cosmetic, so not critical to address, but I'd like to take the best care of it that I can.

It would be helpful to add strap buttons. Is that safe to do? I'm not much of a woodworker, but it seems simple enough. Drill a pilot hole and then screw them in. Is it more complicated than that? Any advice would be appreciated.

Finally, while this is a four string, the nut has slots for six. There are even six grooves in the bridge and tail block. I'm guessing they manufactured those parts for either  four or six string instruments and so that's why they're there, but I was curious if there was some way to string this with six that I was missing.

 20250118_115924.jpg - 199KB

Looking for a used David Beede chromatic three string

Dusty, that is AWESOME!  Thank you for delving into this.

Folks, I've recently learned that Randy Wilkinson is living in Arizona and will send a pdf of his books for a nominal fee.  If anyone wants his email, please send me a personal message.

Very helpful, thanks!

Thanks Ken. Master Works was wonderful to work with. They make beautiful instruments. I will enjoy it. 

Thank you very much Sam, that's really kind of you to say and I'm glad that you find it cool.

I think any "set" on the market will be fine on any more-or-less standard dulcimer in CGG, DAA, DAD and DAC tuning. There is no reason to try to out smart McSpadden, or the other industry leaders

That is assuming you start a bit low and carefully tune up to the note you want. A beginner can accidentally tune a few turns too high too quickly and break a string, and I think part of the selections used in making sets make an allowance for that.

I think you can go up to 14 on the melody strings if you stick to DAA, but 12 is safer for DAD, and 10 requires less finger pressure. DAD players typically finger about 3 notes on the 14 middle string, anyway, so 14 A is playable.

Finger pressure is also dependent on string height which is also a personal choice. Have you mastered checking and adjusting that yet? Builders often leave strings a bit high to allow easy adjustment with a small file if they don't use a zero fret.

OMG, Nate, not relevant to the topic of this thread, but that aquavina dulcimer is fascinating. Folks, check this out. youtu.be/ZpglYv9SxOU

@mark-gilston

That is a lot of food for thought and i have a  ton of respect for your opinion, so thank you very much for taking the time to share it.

The reason i associate dulcimer with 3 string guitar is because of the many 3 string cigar box guitars tuned to Dad that have essentially the same layout as a chromatic dulcimer, but with the string order reversed. I do agree that the tone is entirely different, but i have seen a lot of overlap of tabs and instructions between 3 string cigar box guitars and dulcimers.

To my understanding dulcimers were originally a "simplified" version of European zithers created with limited resources and the modern instrument has developed from that. I am sure that folks back them would have loved chromatic fretboards, if they were as easy to make as they are now.

Thanks again for sharing your opinions and knowledge 

Nate

I hear that Gale! I build aquavina dulcimers, which have only existed for a couple decades and I know of less than 5 people that have built them. What i build and play are at the edges of what could be considered a dulcimer, but i have noticed that dulcimers have more unique and distinctive designs than any other instrument i know of. To me, innovation is the spirit of dulcimer.

It's important to remember that any dulcimer sounds very different from a guitar, so the comparison of a chromatic dulcimer with a 3 string guitar is completely spurious.  In my opinion, a dulcimer is far more versatile than a guitar in terms of varying tonal qualities.  I've played both instruments for well over 60 years, and I can do far more with a chromatic dulcimer than with a guitar.  On the other hand, the dulcimer is easier for a beginner to pick up than a guitar is. 

Another important point is that many of the dulcimer like instruments from Europe are also chromatic and date from at least as early as the 15th century, so the precedent for a chromatic dulcimer is far older than any diatonic American instrument. 

I love my chromatic dulcimers and tend to play them the most out of my collection but I still like my diatonics. I see the chromatic as an evolution of the dulcimer. Just as other instruments have evolved and developed sub-types, so have the dulcimers as I see it. How many types of guitars are out there - do folks question those different types? I am not sure that is an equivalent comparison but maybe close. If you like traditional diatonic, great, play those and have fun. I don't see those going away as they are wonderful, but I hope folks will be open to others playing different types of mountain dulcimers. My newest MD is a chromatic Dulcivox from Folkcraft. It has a nice sound, lots of volume and resonance, and is a lot of fun to play. 

Different strokes for different folks....

Assuming I wanted to stay Ionian but three strings only, would 22-10-10 be a concern?  I haven't looked elsewhere, but the only Ionian string set sold by McSpadden for a standard mountain dulcimer is 22-12-12 (with an extra 12 if I stay with three strings).  Similarly, if I wanted to go Mixolydian would there be a drawback to 22-10-10?  The McSpadden Mixolydian string sets have a 23-14-10 (with an extra 10).  It seems that they consistently want different gauges on the 2nd (middle) and 3rd (melody) strings for Mixolydian, as opposed to, matched gauges for Ionian.  Is the higher gauge on the middle string intended to be more compatible with the increased tension in the 10 melody string when it is tightened to reach D?  Is there a consensus that a 10 middle -10 melody is not good for for Ionian?  I don't think so, but I thought I would ask.  The 10 is easier to fret in Ionian, so I hope the answer is "No"!  Thanks!

The chromatic dulcimer is one of the most contentious topics ive noticed surrounding dulcimer. The traditional significance and cultural value are some of the most interesting aspects of the dulcimer, so it makes sense to me that people dont want that to fall by the wayside in an attempt to turn dulcimer into a 3 string guitar.

Its hard to balance the unique characteristics that make dulcimer interesting with the standardized characteristics that make it modern.

Thanks, John. And thanks for asking.

The album is available at edelstondulcimer.bandcamp.com/album/making-waves , and you can even preview it to see if you like it.

No insult intended....just my attempt at humor.

And where, pray tell, is your album available?

s11141827 spoke accurately. Chromatic dulcimers are more popular than they used to be.

For people who choose to play only diatonic tunes - and especially those who choose to play only melody over drones - chromatic frets would be as useless as a third pedal on a bicycle.

However, for those of us who play contemporary music or Tin Pan Alley or jazzy stuff or classical, chromatic frets can be valuable. For those of us who get together with musicians who play chromatic instruments - such as guitarists who capo into keys like Bb and Eb - a chromatic dulcimer gets us into the room. For somebody coming to the dulcimer from guitar, chromatic frets make all the sense in the world. Personally, I believe that more chromatics will help dulcimers to become more widely known.

I released my first album last year, and half of the songs required a chromatic dulcimer.

Please don't insult something just because you aren't interested in using it. There's no reason we can't all be friends.

Perhaps Beef liver, or poison Ivy rashes......

"Chromatic Dulcimers are becoming more popular" Than what?

Many, many more new violins are purchased each year than dulcimers. Probably many millions more.

I play 3/4/6-string noter-drone dulcimer for simple fun even though I'm about as comfortable on the violin. I'm not aiming for mastery of either, just my own amusement.

Chromatic Dulcimers are becoming more popular

I recall Music Alone Shall Live as a 3 dulcimer round at our local folk club back before the turn of the century.
We used DAA tuning.

Music Alone Shall Live   -   German folk song

1 - All things shall perish from under the sky.
2 - Music alone shall live, m usic alone shall live,
3 - Music alone shall live, and never die  die.