Forum Activity for @strumelia

Poppop, that is very cool!  Thanks for joining us here. 

Dusty, I'd say the bride and groom put a lot of thought and consideration into their adapted wedding.  They did a great job and at least for me it would have been more fun than a mansion Las Vegas wedding.  Bingo and paint ballon art and individual food bags!     It does indeed sound memorable.  :D

Strange days indeed. I attended a COVID wedding yesterday. My brother-in-law got married to his long-time girlfriend.  The wedding was originally planned for Labor Day weekend in Las Vegas, and he had rented a huge mansion there where the wedding party and their close family and friends were going to stay.  Needless to say, those plans were canceled.

Instead, there was a short, social distancing ceremony with about 20 people involved at a park, and then we we went back to their backyard for a party of sorts. Everyone sat in family pods, so my wife, daughter and I had our own table.  There was no buffet or anything like that.  They had the event catered, with individual bags of food for each attendee.  Even the drinks were individualized.  My wife indicated on the questionnaire that I liked whiskey, so on our table was a whole bottle of Jameson Irish Whiskey, just for me. (Don't worry, we took the bottle home after I barely made a dent in it.)   Also on each table was a bottle of hand sanitizer and a container of Lysol wipes.  I was expecting face masks displaying a picture of the newlyweds, but they didn't go that far.

There was no dancing or anything, but we played bingo and a few other contact-less games, including something where we each threw a balloon filled with paint at big canvas.  They are planning to put that paint-splattered, Jackson Pollock-like canvas in their living room.  Kind of a cool idea, though we left before seeing the final product.

In the end, it was nice but also strange. I'm sure we will remember the experience, which I guess is all you can ask of a wedding.

I’m a childhood friend of Dale Farmer. I still live 30 minutes from him. Excellent movie, The mountain minor. Dale is a very talented guy, plays several instruments and has played in several bluegrass groups. If you haven’t seen the movie you can see it on Amazon prime. 

For what it's worth, Gregg I think you look great with the super short beard!  My husband did the same thing, for the same reason. 

They were a couple of Dulcimer playing friends living I believe I remember said they lived in Troy, Alabama. They put out their self named cassette during that period where LPs were on their way out and CDs hadn't quite arrived. I met them, bought their cassette, loved their Dulcimer playing and songs, but lost it. One cut from their cassette has surfaced on YouTube...See "Left Hand Dulcimer Band"...but neither he nor I know their names or what became of them. If anyone on FOTMD has a copy of this cassette please let me know their names, contact information, etc. Thank You!

Thank you for your help! Gonna work on this one, now that I have some info on it.

So you shaved your beard, Gregg, to help stop the spread of the virus.  That's dedication!  Perhaps if you still had it you'd know the name of the middle tune, too!

Thanks, that gives me a starting point to work on this (and tab it out). A lovely tune.

@susie, you must have been writing at the same time @gregg-schneeman was.  He identified the the tune at the beginning and at the end (I didn't even make it that far) but there is a third tune in the middle he doesn't know.   No surprise Gregg knew the answer.  You don't get a beard like that without acquiring a lot of knowledge and wisdom. 

Thanks Dusty. I'm thinking the same thing. Similar, but different, so that's why I was wondering if it's a different song altogether. If I can't get a definitely answer, I'll just write it out myself, just by having the audio. I've done that on many occasions, so not a problem....just a little more work.

It sounds a lot like Southwind, but I don't think it's the same song.  Both are in 3/4, the first few notes are the same, and the B part goes up to the octave, so there are striking similarities.  But there are also both melodic and harmonic differences.

I wish I could identify it, but I can't. I'm sure someone will.

I thought it sounded like it at the beginning, but it has embellishments/parts I have never heard. 

"Southwind", and I'll bet Duane Porterfield is the musician.

Can someone identify the song that is played here in this video? Thanks.

If we all had the same hearing, the same playing skills, the same music repertoire, and identical artistic taste, then we could come to a joint conclusion about how much the tone woods matter.  We could even declare, once and for all, which combination of woods makes the "best" dulcimer.  While we're at it, we could pick the single best luthier and let everybody else build furniture.

The chances of this happening are, thank goodness, exactly zero.

Let's enjoy the wide variety of sounds and instruments available to us, and realize that what I'm hearing is not necessarily what you're hearing.

Thanks, Ken. I tried running the ekips calculator and couldn't get it to print onto my mac, even with adobe flash, but found a zip file of guitar templates on handmade music (not a secure site, apparently) in half-inch VSL increments. That should work!

Patty -- you probably will not find a dulcimer fret calculator that includes all those plus frets.  The Wfret calculator does include 6+ and 13+ but not the 1+ and 8+.   This is the only calculator I know of which actually allows you to print out a template which you can then tack-glue to the fretboard for cutting.  All other calculators simply give you a list of fret positions in inches or millimeters.  Use millimeters, they're more accurate.

Simplest solution is probably to use a guitar fret calculator, which will have all the chromatic frets.  Then ignore the frets you don't want. 

Thanks for the info John, unfortunately that calculator doesn't appear to handle "+" frets. Also, we already have the calculations in inches, we are looking for a paper (or digital) printout. But thanks anyway!

Patty, have him go to StewMac.com, and on the home page, at the bottom, there is a link to a Fret Calculator (free).  Have him click on that, and it will take him to a page that he can fill out with pertinent numbers, and it will automatically calculate dulcimer fret spacings for him.  He might need to use the guitar template for all of those extra frets.  The output is in inches or millimeters, and will have to be measured out on the fretboard or paper.

My boyfriend (bless his heart) wants to make me a custom dulcimer for my small hands, and using Richard Ash's Diatonic book as a guide, printed out a rough layout for a 1-15 fret fingerboard, including 1.5, 6.5, 8.5 and 13.5 frets. However we're not sure it's accurate enough to use as a cutting guide. Does anyone know of a dulcimer maker who will sell us a printout he can use? Thanks!

Thank you to Skip, Randy, and Ken for that information. I have made my choice now. I appreciate the input.

A random thought occurred to me, how's your hearing? Hearing aids or not? Audio preferences? I quit messing with penny whistles and harmonicas because their sound is unpleasant to my wife's ears, too shrills. I have poor hearing so almost all MD's sound very similar to me, no nuances. And there's always the 'ego' factor.

@cj-smith asked "Given the same craftmanship (2 dulcimers built by the same quality builder), what do you hear is the difference in particular woods."

A competent luthier can "tune" a dulcimer to create whatever "sound" you want to hear.  There are at least a hundred variables which affect the sound of a dulcimer, and wood type is pretty darn far down the list.  

Talk to the luthier and tell him what sound you are looking for.  Ask him to play the three you are considering over the phone for you.   Buy the one that sounds the best to you.  Or buy the one you consider the prettiest. 

Yes, I agree about the difference between prices. I'm not buying a machine built dulcimer. This is a well know builder in the dulcimer world I believe. Of course, I know the best would be to visit in person, but we are not prepared, due to the virus. at this time to make a trip. Wish I could and I certainly agree that would be better. Perhaps I should be waiting but I really want to get one with a 1 1/2 fret and since I can't travel, I'm choosing the same builder as one of my other dulcimers. Thanks for you help.

Thank you for that information.

Look at the violin world. The majority of violins are copied from a very few models, and most use the same few woods. Despite that, there is a difference between a $40 one and a $10,000 one.

My guess is that the Chinese factories sort bodies at each step of production, routing the best to their best finishers, with all starting from the same wood and basic pattern cut and carving. Actual testing and sorting is the key.

To get the best FOR YOU from any builder, you should visit the shop and try individual instruments.

Given the same craftmanship (2 dulcimers built by the same quality builder), what do you hear is the difference in particular woods. Of the three I'm considering one has a poplar body with a paulownia top. The 2nd ones has a figured walnut body with a spruce top. The 3rd has a cherry body with a California redwood top. I already own one by this builder that I like so I totally trust the craftmanship. 

WOW. That is seriously cool. That slide dulcimer has mountain banjo vibes as well as lap steel! Thanks for sharing I have a new rabbit hole to fall down!

Thanks Robin!