Forum Activity for @don-grundy

Don, what a wonderful thing your son did for you!  He must love you a lot.

Dusty I love that - so simple yet so true! Like a true companion... 

It's remarkable how long ago I wrote that original piece. And after all this time, I am even more grateful for the camaraderie we have created here at FOTMD.  (I wonder if Strumelia knew what a community she was creating back when she first had that brilliant idea to develop this site.)

I hope you can all enjoy Thanksgiving safely this year. 

And yes, @don-grundy, let's all play our dulcimers and express thanks that we have such a fulfilling hobby, something needed these days more than ever.  Like a true companion, my dulcimer helps me celebrate when days are bright and lament when they're gloomy.

I haven't yet gotten my DPN but will be sure to pay special attention to your remembrance, @ken-longfield.  

Thank you, Dusty. For any writer, it is helpful to have an excellent editor, which Ashley Ernst is. My thanks go to Ashley for her help and encouragement.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I just found this wonderful article on how to enjoy your holidays this year if you are by yourself at home...

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/23/us/how-to-spend-holidays-alone-wellness-trnd/index.html

Thank you, Lisa, for starting this website, and giving all of us a way to connect, instruct, and bless one another.  This has been especially important these last 9 months.  May you and yours have a truly blessed Thanksgiving.  And that goes for all of the other members here, as well!

Another year passed. I wish all FOTMD members a warm and healthy Thanksgiving.  We share our little online 'family' here with affection and gratitude.

Thanks Dan, the soak and heat  process was in my mind.  Did you notice any advantages to the curved back other than looks?

I did a few Virginia pieces years ago, there didn't seem to be any interest in them then. I wet the panel and placed it in a clamping jig drawing it to shape with the help of a heat gun. I let them dry for a few days and it worked quite well. Mike Slone and Kevin Messenger were gifted the pieces in Hindman that year.

I just want to bump this discussion and point everyone to @ken-longfield's excellent obituary of George Orthey in the current (Nov 2020) issue of Dulcimer Players News.  It is very well written and contains a lot of information about Orthey's life and the instruments he built. Well done, Ken!

Yes. It will likely do well as a travel/back-pack type instrument too. People have an easier time taking a lesser priced instrument like that. So I think it will do well to some degree and since it really has its own niche, i think it will stick around and not just be a fad. But, what do I know.

A beautiful dulcimer. Let's hear a sound clip.

My guess is that they will play the role of entry-level dulcimers as people's first instruments, so there will always be a small market for them, much like the Folkcraft cardboard dulcimers.  And like some of the student-model dulcimers that some luthiers make, some people may prefer them to fancier instruments.

Thanks John for the hymn history.

Will they become popular or a passing fad?

So pretty!

This flatwater dulcimer is definitely a good idea, although it's also a sign of how expensive dulcimers have become.  It's hard to get a newbie to invest $500 or more for an instrument they're not sure they're going to play, so the price point on this model is welcome.  I also like the trapezoidal shape as well. And most importantly, the demo sounded great.

And here she is...arrived yesterday afternoon.  Just beautiful!

 McSpadden.JPG - 186KB

Looks good.  I don't think there has been a production trapezoid-shape ever, except for the cardboard dulcimers; they've always been one-offs by individual builders.  Looks good and sounds good, and it's a decent price point.

No problem. Thought it would be fun for people to see. 

The Flatwater looks and sounds great!  Thanks for the information, @susie! 

I know it's not a version of a $75 cardboard dulcimer! THEY were explaining in the video how it came about. They wanted to create something like a cardboard dulcimer. But through the process, they decided they wanted to take it a step further and have the quality of a solid wood instrument. They even admit that they never accomplished the task of creating a cardboard dulcimer. The video gives the whole story and they call it like it is. (The link works for me, because I have a FB account. I'm not sure it it works for everyone.)

Thank you Dusty!

At $265 it's not a version of a $75 cardboard dulcimer!  Call it an Entry Level instrument.  Good to see though that they're being more frugal  -- using not necessarily uber-attractive pieces of wood for their own builds.  

Scott, I've attached here what I have so far.  The A part is pretty good but I don't really have feel for the B part just yet.  Because the tune is in A mixolydian you can't really play it in a drone style tuned DAd or DAA since the drones should be A and E rather than a D.  In this arrangement, the chordal accompaniment is always found below the melody, so if you just want to play single notes, always play the highest note.

And if you have suggestions for revisions, let me know.  I'm going to keep working on it and if I decide major changes are necessary, I'll re-post here.

The Squirrel Hunters.pdf - 259KB

McSpadden will be releasing their new Flatwater dulcimers this friday (Black Friday). It is their version of the "cardboard" dulcimer, though it is of better quality, made of solid woods. It will have a 26" vsl and will have 3 strings. This is their way of creating a simpler, less-expensive dulcimer using woods that they wouldn't otherwise be able to use on their standard dulcimers, because the pieces of wood wouldn't be big enough. It will start at $265, which includes a case. They will be choosing the woods out of their supply and will use the woods that sound good and look good. They announced it on Facebook today. I have no affiliation with McSpadden, but just thought I'd pass this along to the group. 

https://www.facebook.com/McSpaddenDulcimers/videos/1082866002137021

I was wrong. The tab I have from Steve's book is "Squirrel Heads and Gravy". I can't believe I never noticed that "Squirrel Hunters" and "Hail Against the Barn Door" are the same tune, as I have loved the tune for years. Gettin' old I guess....Lol! Dusty, I would love to have a copy if you don't mind. Thank you so much!

Though he hasn't built any in some time, Jim Good made some carved dulcimers which would have a curved back.  There are clips of him in the dvd The West Virginia Hills - A Tribute to the Dulcimer from Augusta Heritage Center (at Davis & Elkins College) working on one of them (I think)-- been awhile since I've watched.  

Thank you Dusty. I actually think I have tab for "Squirrel Hunter" in one of Steve Seifert's books, but I will have to check after work. I'll certainly let you know.

I have experimented with the side to side curve, trying anything from no curve to 1/2 inch.  Getting the back to curve more than 1/4" almost always causes the back to crack.  A technique that helps with this is to bend the back when the wood is raw and apply a penetrating finish.  This seems to fix the bend in place.

Instead of a curved back, I angle the sides making the tail 1/2" deeper than the head.

Scott, the same thing happens to me all the time.  I hear a piece of a tune and want to learn it but then at some point realize it's way more complicated than I thought.  Once I spend hours tabbing out a long Irish tune, going note by note, and then with about two measure left I realized the melody went way down below the bass string, so it wasn't even possible to play on the dulcimer. I was so frustrated!

I have  tabbed out in a chording style playing across all the strings one of the versions of The Squirrel Hunter that I found in SMN.  It is pretty similar to Hail Against the Barn Door.  If you're interested, let me know. I'd be happy to share it so long as you understand that it's a work in progress.  When I tab out a tune I don't know that well I have to play it a bunch before I get the right feel, and then I adjust the tab based on how it felt under my fingers. I don't quite have the feel for the B part of this tune yet, so the tab will surely evolve.

I agree with Dusty.

When I said I have different keys covered, it's because I have standard dulcimers that I mostly tune to D; a baritone that I mostly tune to A; and a Ginger (small dulcimer) that I mostly tune to G. Of course, any of them can be retuned as needed. So I like having several different types of dulcimers (voices). Also, the McSpaddens are the traditional, less-deep style; 2 have galax backs and are deeper bodied; and one is in-between (and also has a pickup installed for small gigs). So like Dusty, what and where I'm playing often dictates which dulcimer I play. Two dulcimers usually accompany me to festivals.

First, let's keep things simple. 

The most common keys in old timey, folk, or bluegrass jams are C, D, G, and A.  With a standard-sized dulcimer tuned to an open D (DAA or DAd), you can obviously play in the key of D.  You can capo at 3 to play in G or capo at 4 to play in A.  And you can tune down to CGc or CGG to play in C.  (And there are other ways to get those keys as well, without switching instruments.  You could, for example, tune DGd to play in G, although if you chord and/or fret across all the strings that tuning will require some adjustments.)

So for 90 percent of your playing--even in multi-instrument jams--you only need one dulcimer.

However, I will be honest that I often bring 2 dulcimers to jams.  One a standard dulcimer and one in the baritone range.  The standard size dulcimer can usually be tuned anywhere between C and E.  The baritone can usually be tuned anywhere between F and A.  If we add the half steps in between those ranges, we get 10 keys, the only ones missing are B and Bb. And you can finagle (is that how you spell that word?) around to get those keys as well. For example. if you tune a standard dulcimer up a half step to Eb, you can capo at 4 to get Bb.

So there is no need to get multiple dulcimers for multiple tunings and multiple keys.  Even without using a capo, you can get 10 of the 12 possible keys with dulcimers in two tonal ranges. (One of my baritones can get up to Bb as well, but be careful and wear protective goggles if you try that on your own.)

However, I have several dulcimers.  Why?  I find different kinds of playing sounds better on different kinds of dulcimers.  I love my Blue Lion for fingerpicking, but don't think it sounds so hot flatpicking. I love my Modern Mountain Dulcimer for flatpicking, but find the action is too low and the strings too close together for fingerpicking.  I have one dulcimer that originally came with six strings, and it sounds great on those tunes with tons of strumming.  But playing more nuanced arrangements with lots of precise picking and lots of hammer-ons and pull-offs, those double strings just don't do the job.

So don't go buying different dulcimers for different tunings or different keys.  It's completely unnecessary. However, you may find that as your playing evolves, you develop different preferences and one or another dulcimer may be great for one tune played in a certain style but not for other tunes.  Getting multiple dulcimers to please our preferences, though, is a luxury, not a necessity.  

There are two curved backs of course which can be utilized separately or together.  Curve from fore to aft; and curve from side to side.  Each by itself is easy enough to incorporate into a design.  I've seen dulcimers with 1/8" rise from side to side or head to tail.  Several builders incorporate one of these two techniques to help direct the sound upward (to what degree this is successful I don't believe anyone has subjectively proven).

A 'bowl back' is hard to accomplish unless the builder starts with a thicker plank and "carves" the bowl shape into what will become the inside of the instrument.  This is done the same way a violin top is carved -- with chisels, rasps and sanding.  I don't know anyone who does this for backs-- it is certainly time consuming -- but Ken Bloom does it for the soundboards on his bowed dulcimers, but not, I think on the back.