Forum Activity for @dusty

Congratulations to Diane.  And what a nice gesture on your part, John.

Each year we have the Berea Traditional Dulcimore Gathering, one of the founding members builds a dulcimore to be given away at the gathering.  Two years ago, Bobby Ratliff of Grundy, VA built a traditional Virginia dulcimore out of 9 native woods. This year I built the giveaway dulcimore for the event.  Actually there was a choice this year: the winner could select a J. E. Thomas replica dulcimore or a Will Singleton replica dulcimore that I built.  Both of these were old Kentucky designs, but few have ever seen a Will Singleton dulcimore in person.  The winning attendee, Diane Peacock, chose the Singleton.  Here's a photo of the presentation.

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With or without the video, The-5-easiest-houseplants-for-beginners is for those of us who claim a "Black Thumb." 

For my continuing adventure, I patted myself on the back for getting a Mandevilla through the winter.  (The local greenhouse didn't think I could do it.)  Next I was careful taking it in & out of our sun room during times when it got cold at night -- having it on a rolling platform helped.  Once that danger was past, however, I figured it was just a case of give it lots of water & let it enjoy that sun.  WOOPS!  The poor baby's looking dehydrated even with lots of water flowing through it daily.  Fortunately there's still plenty of green, so it's now rolled over to a shady corner of that sun room & I'm just hoping I can again bring it around.  (Bought my usual 2 for the front entrance.  Won't let my hold-over Mandevilla see them -- too painful seeing what greenhouses produce.)

Have some other adventures with indoor houseplants (& outdoors), am even occasionally feeling like my thumb is getting "gray", but it's a long way to Tipperary & a long, long way to green.

Yeah some of my friends got their shots too, so we are looking forward for meeting the first time after one year.

Wow, that touched my heart. ❤️

I saw this America's Got Talent video this morning and found it very moving.  The young woman in it is originally from the county just north of where I live.  Also, I saw a young real-life friend of mine post that he & she have been lifelong friends.

https://youtu.be/CZJvBfoHDk0 

Good for you Jost!  Soon you will be able to do everyday things with less apprehension. I can vouch that it feels reeeeeally good to know you have strong protection. 

Got my Johnson & Johnson shot today. Up to now without side effects.

Our family owns 6 of them, but are always open to more ; )

That is a beautiful dulcimer. Best of luck finding out more about it.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta on how music is good for your brain.

Ah, now we can see!  Thanks Lisa.  Nice workmanship on this elliptical.  John's right, not a Tignor, but perhaps "in that vein".  Multi-piece tuning head similar to the ones I make, and it does look like Oak.  Tuniing pegs appear to imitate commercial violin/viola pegs.  No idea who/what HRC designates; most builders sign their whole name.  Is there other writing in the other sound holes?

I have not seen such a dulcimer before.  It looks homemade, maybe of oak.  I'm not familiar with the "HRC" designation.  It's not TOO old, because the frets are made of guitar fretwire.  The late John Tignor used the trefoil hole pattern, but I'm sure it's not one of his.

I reduced the size of all the photos to a width of about 500 px.

Beautiful dulcimer!  I would call its shape elliptical rather than teardrop. Is it made of oak, perhaps? 
I cannot venture who the HRC may be...anyone? I would think that without a known maker and with no cracks or other problems, it might sell somewhere between $250-$500. Sorry that's a wide price range, but you never know who might want to buy it and what their idea of 'too much' is these days. If you decide to try to sell it here on FOTMD, you'd have to create a new thread in our For Sale forum and follow the posting rules there.
Do you have no interest in learning to play?

I found the 6-String Soldiers on Memorial Day.  This is good sh . . . stuff.

Sorry -- your images are so large they are more or less not usable.   Probably best to Attach the files than embed them in the text message.

Just wondering if anyone has ideas on the age, where it may have originated, and it’s worth. I found this at my mom’s house and have no idea how long she had it or where she bought it. It has HRC inside the left spade/clover.

It seems I somehow only have nine now.

1 McSpadden,

1 Arthur lee West,

1 Fred Martin Bowed,

1 Gardener Teardrop,

2 Blue Lions,

1 Rugg and Jackel,

1 Jenny Lind Gibson,

1 HA Fleming

and a Hoffner Electric 

and selling a RS dulcimer, John A Maxwell, Daron Dulcimer and an unknown + an 1850-1870 Friedrich Augusta Glass Violin

Haha, John. I can only claim four bells in our choir, E flat 4, E4, F4, and F#4. I wouldn't ever try to play all 12 bells in an octave.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Rob and John, thanks for sharing. It's interesting to see the other instruments that people play too.

I have two dulcimers, both McSpaddens (one a baritone).  I also have a recorder and triangle.  The piano is upstairs.

But I can inflate my numbers by counting the hand bells and hand chimes I "own" at church - the low octave (C3 - B4), 12 bells, 12 chimes.  Admittedly this may be cheating as I really play them as a unit.

I enjoy the dulcimer playing the most.

The screw adjust tension. Loosening the nut will do nothing as there is a pin between the "gearbox" and the outside of the peg box that prevents it from spinning.

Jill, when my tuners have seemed to have too much give, I've tightened at the screw end of the button and it works.  So, as the first way to address the opposite problem, I second Dusty's suggestion.  

The first thing to try would be that screw on the end of the button.  It probably won't take much. 

Hi friends, I have Schaller planetary geared tuners on a pre-owned dulcimer that I purchased recently. They are extremely "stiff" -  or have lots of tension when tuning/re-tuning (and right now I'm changing strings). Is there a way to reduce the tension (difficulty) in turning the tuning button? Is it with the screw on the end of the button? Do I need to loosen the nut on the inside of the pegbox as well?

Thanks! 

Thanks, Dusty!

That was fun. I learned quite a lot about mixolydian watching the video. Thanks for sharing it Dusty.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

That's just fabulous, thanks Dusty

Check out this video of Leonard Bernstein explaining the mixolydian mode to some young folk.  What a great teacher!

https://youtu.be/x0rUDj1UrO8?t=72

Both are very cute!

Charley & Violet @ 4 months  

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Charley

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...doing her best cashmere sweater imitation.

This is familiar stuff to me.  ;)

"This'll do. Please don't close it."

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Love it!

As Rockwell sang back in the '80s, "I always feel like somebody's watchin' me"

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I build dulcimers in a humid coastal climate and I do worry about shipping a dulcimer to very dry climates. So far I've had no complaints. I  always use aged dry wood to start with and that helps.

All instruments need a time to acclimate to there new home.

I would be more concerned if the dulcimer has wood pegs. Wood pegs are like barometers when the climate dries I  know  because I'll hear strings popping in the night!. 

Back in the sixties during the guitar boom, made in Japan imported instruments came with a thick plastic like finish to survive the ocean crossing. Which is why they sounded so bad.

Today imports are shipped climate controlled.

I would say start with good aged wood and a good thin oil finish and cut your fret slots with a saw intended for fret tang dimensions  and you'll be ok... Robert 

Thanks for all this info. I am not getting the instrument after all even though I paid for it.  

I bought the instrument on eBay last week-made the seller an offer and she accepted. That was a week ago Tuesday. This morning when I sent a message asking if it had been shipped and if my payment went through ok, she suddenly gave me a refund when I had never asked for a refund.

I’m wondering if the seller changed her mind and decided she wanted to keep the instrument after all. She wrote reason for refund as “item not as described “. I did mention it might be an Aeolian harp and was looking forward to trying it out.  Maybe that made her want to keep it.

I did report it to eBay.