Forum Activity for @kcripper

I inherited this piece from my mother-in-law when she passed away.  She's had it for decades and I'm going to sell it but I don't know anything about it (style, finding the brand, etc.). She lived in the Denver area for the last 30 years and likely got it in that area or in her regional travels.  Any help would be appreciated.

There is a maker mark inside that I can't decipher. (see photo). It looks like a Pi symbol with "itus" after it.  Or it could be S.Titus where the S and T are running together, or possibly a JTitus.  I can't tell and I've done searches for all of them with no results.

It also has the date 1970 underneath it (or possibly this is a model number??)

Approximately 33" long x 8" wide x 2 3/4" overall.

The fretboard is 1 3/16" wide by about 1/2" thick.

I don't know if this is walnut, spruce, cherry or what type of wood.

Again, any help is appreciated.

 IMG_8101.JPG - 134KB

You'll get lots of opinions on this, probably best answered by someone who teaches in chord/melody style.  :)

Of course a lot depends on 'who' told you this (another beginner student? the teacher?..), and what the reason was for their advice. There might be a good reasons to follow or not follow their advice based on the situation. But a good teacher will usually have a good reason for their advise. Maybe using the thumb there create an awkward hand/wrist angle.

I'm assuming you're in DAd tuning? There is more than one way to finger a G chord. Which G chord  are you referring to?
A lot also depends on the sequence of chords or notes going on in a particular tune as well. Sometimes finger positions will be changed from the norm in order to make a specific musical phrase or sequence flow better and not sound choppy.

Various factors at play on this. Hopefully an actual chord style teacher will jump in to help here.

I love this song so very much and have spent quite some time trying to find my way around TablEdit, but alas, it's just not happening. The sheet music is readily available. Has anyone tried their hand at this song? It's quite lovely.

I'm not a Chord-Melody player.  But the first rule of playing dulcimer (having done it for 40+ years) is this: 
 There Is NO right way, or wrong way to play the dulcimer -- there is only The Way that works for you. 

Others may not like or approve of how you do play, but that's their problem.  Let no one dictate to you. Just because someone is a teacher does not make them right -- for you. 

I play other instruments but am fairly new to the dulcimer.  I was told in a dulcimer class that using the thumb on the low 'd' string - for example, when making a G chord - is a no-no.  But sometimes it just seems more convenient and quicker.  Opinions? 

Beautiful pets in this thread!

Your big blue looks like my late Humbug would have looked with a few more years under his fur!

We have three cats. Our big handsome grey boy cat Teddy is usually sweet, but he's very big and strong and turns into a powerful deadly tiger when any vets try to examine him. Imagine our dread when we found out he has to get a medicine drop in his one troublesome eye twice a day ...as in forever. Yikes!

At first he fought it a bit, but we kept turning the event into a petting/brushing mini session after his drop...he loooves being petted or brushed. So now two months later he absolutely demands we give him his eye drop twice a day, coming to get us, meowing loudly and leading us to the bedroom where we sit on the bed to give him his eye drop and then the reward of 30 seconds of petting or brushing. It's too funny! he gets so excited and in the middle of giving the drop he starts purring so hard he rumbles.    That's when we call him Rumble Purr Teddy.

@anne-maguire , nice to see you checking in! I hope those animules all realize how lucky they are and settle into polite behavior, adding extra joy to your life.  :)

@buckeye67 : sorry i missed seeing your post til now.  Those 3 "curs" are quite camera-ready and appealing! The genetics must have been a good match to produce that handsome brindle boy Sam!

Well, rescue dog Biddy is well and truly settled, and has, I think, accepted this as her permanent home - at least I hope so! There was someone running past the house and over the bridge a couple of nights ago - she went off like a bomb!! Very big, deep barks and growls - took a while to settle her down. 

Senior cat and her still at loggerheads - problem is, Pug runs from dogs, as the last dog he had anything to do with tried to eat him! Junior cat gradually becoming more and more at ease. Not cuddle up together friends yet, but while Biddy was asleep last night he did come up to the lounge, stood up to investigate a dangling dog paw, then just walked away. I think they will end up friends.

So, all working out for the best, for now!

Yes, time is very weird.  We've been working from home since early March.  Seems like we've been doing it forever...yet it seems like we just started.  I read somewhere the reason for this is the sameness, we're not having events in our lives so much that make marks on time.  Can't plan anything, really, so it feels like a permanent hold pattern.  Super strange.

Here in NY i believe masks are required inside any food markets.  The big supermarket told me they had to hire a guard at the front door to make sure all customers were wearing masks when entering. (I'm glad about that!)  Keep in mind that NY was very hard hit by the virus except in the outlying rural areas.

Still rare to find toilet paper, paper towels and tissues here in my area... and thankfully they have limits per customer.

I found a great market for fresh meat and produce that I like to go to now.  But since I'm pretty stocked up, I only need to get random supplies once every 10 days or so, and i freeze some bread and meat when i have a little space.

There is absolutely NO rubbing alcohol, Chlorox wipes, or hand sanitizer to be found here in the stores yet. Not even hydrogen perozide! Even jugs of laundry bleach are sparse on the shelf.
Luckily I still have enough disinfecting supplies that I bought several months ago.   Since i don't venture out very often, thankfully I'm not going through it as rapidly as I feared.  By the time I run out of disinfecting/safety items hopefully it will all be available again.   :)

I have tons of lettuce in my garden right now at its peak.  There are several friends of ours who come by and pick up a big bag that I set out for them. Sometimes they stop to chat for a while- we put our lawn chairs out on the lawn 12 feet far apart so we can sit and visit when they come by.  Fun!  In a couple more weeks my mature lettuce will bolt need to be pulled out and reseeded. Lettuce struggles a bit with the Summer heat though, so it's at its best for me in the Spring and Fall. 
Now with the temps rising, the string beans are loving it.  I have two types growing- both are very slim and French, so they don't get fat and tough like the Blue Lake types i used to grow.  I have Tenderette green which are truly tender and I've grown for several years, and also Velour- which is similar slender but dark velvet purple. It looks gorgeous raw, but does turn dark green when cooked.

I'm finding the passage of time has become deceptive during the covid times.  We've been staying isolated at home for 3 1/2 months now. In some ways it feels like an eternity ...but in other ways it seems to have passed in a flash.  Weird.  Other people must be experiencing similar things?

Only in the last couple of weeks has toilet paper shown up regularly on supermarket shelves. But only in small packages of 4-8 rolls.   And perhaps about a month ago eggs and meat became once again a regular find.  It was certainly nerve wracking to walk through a supermarket and see so many empty ailes.  Still hard to find Lysol or Chlorox wipes or rubbing alcohol, but hand sanitizers are available again.

The governor has lifted most restrictions here and left it up to county officials to determine what activities will be permitted. In the county where the music shop is where I teach, group gatherings are still forbidden, but private lessons are now allowed.  I was relieved, though, to hear that none of my students feel comfortable returning to in-person lessons yet.  The lesson room we use is tiny and does not have great ventilation.  If we could meet outdoors, or in a larger space we would all feel more comfortable. One of my students has decided she actually prefers Zoom lessons, saying that not having to worry about gathering her stuff and drive to the music shop enables her to concentrate more just on the music.  Interesting.

Thanks for asking. It is still under warranty, so I shipped to McSpadden. They heard nothing and replaced the zero fret. However, the problem was still there. Then I let my teacher hear and he clearly heard it. So, my husband did some fret adjustments. He put thin paper under nut slot of bass string. It is still there, but not as bad. I found another place willing to look at it. Just finding the time to do the drive. When I finally get fixed, I will definitely let you know. The bass string was sitting on the 3rd fret. The nut needed adjusting but is unmovable. My husband figured it out. But he is a guitar teacher and not a luthier so he adjusted a fret just a little. However, what he did made it bearable to play. 

@silverstrings , did you ever figure out what was going on with this?

Pete,

Thought you might be interested in something like this, since it will be on line maybe it's something you could do. With Jerry having a workshop it might be something like what you are trying out now - sounds & delays          https://www.nutmegdulcimer.com/

Nutmeg Festival will be ONLINE this year.   Lots of  instructors - One mention , Jerry Rockwell   (   Jerry Rockwell Dulcimer TEDX Talk ) 

Steve,

I am glad you had a good experience with Cedar Creek.

All of my transactions with Jeremy/Cedar Creek have been great.

They demonstrate true customer focus (and a good product)!

Keith

I decided to order from Cedar Creek, and had an experience worth noting.

They sent my order via UPS, and I got a phone call a couple of nights ago, informing me that I was gonna be hit with $60 “importing/brokerage” fees to get it to Canada.

UPS is famous for this, and had I known CC was gonna use them, I’d have said no. USPS ships it to you, hands it off to Canada Post, and if Canada Customs takes an interest, you might get hit with taxes. But “brokerage fees”? No.

i dropped Jeremy at Cedar Creek a note, and he was horrified. They’d chosen UPS because it was supposedly cheaper for me.

He was good enough to rebate me half the UPS cost.

He didn’t have to.

How often do we have a customer experience that it’s worth posting about? I mean, a positive one :-)

Congrats and thank you to Jeremy and everyone else at Cedar Creek.

Steve

Regarding who built the mountain dulcimer Kathy was playing, I have received information from my young music friend Matt Searles about the mountain dulcimer-- here's the reply Matt received in response to an email he sent to Carol: 

“The dulcimer Kathy plays in the documentary is one I made for her. I had never made a musical instrument before that project, and sadly, never made one after that either, since I moved away from access to the woodworking tools I used to build the dulcimer shortly after that. I did get lots of help from a real luthier for the project, so it turned out well.”

Matt is who introduced me to the music of Kathy and Carol and I am grateful to him!  

Oh, thanks for the information, @leny-sue!  

@CaonnorC, there are actually several variables to consider as you continue playing and thinking about what would be ideal for you. Obviously VSL is one, as is the width of the fretboard. Another is the distance between the strings.  I find for flatpicking I want strings that are close together, with an inch or less separating the bass and melody strings. But for fingerpicking I don't mind a little more space in there so my chubby picking fingers have some room.  The kind of fretwire you use is another issue.  Some dulcimer players prefer jumbo wire so that you don't have to press the strings all the way to the wood of the fretboard.  That allows a softer touch and faster playing.  And some luthiers are starting to make radiused fretboards, mainly with the goal of increased comfort of the fretting hand.   It's a lot to think about. 

But for the moment, just keep doing what you're doing.  Those stretches should get easier over time.

Thanks, @dusty-turtle I am glad I'm not alone, or doing it all wrong. I tried my wife's Dulcie-May (smaller, teardrop) and it was a lot easier to reach them, but the fretboard is narrower and I have wide fingertips. Swings and roundabouts. 

I'll keep at them, and hopefully my fingers will strengthen and stretch over the next couple of months. I like noter playing too, but it's fun learning to flatpick and play the arpeggios.

I'll probably look for a slightly shorter VSL with a nice wide fretboard around Christmas, by which time I should be able to play well enough to know what I want.

@ConnorC, a dulcimer with a 27" VSL should be fine for chording. In DAd tuning the 1-2-4 and 4-2-1 A chords are indeed the toughest to reach, but they can be done, and keep in mind that the muscles in your fingers will get stronger and will stretch a bit, so just keep at it.  And yes, you will want to you use your pinky.  Some dulcimer players don't use their thumbs and others don't use their pinkies, but I figure I need all the help I can get.

I still have and play dulcimers with 27" and 28" VSLs, but I have to admit that my main playing dulcimer has only a 25" VSL.  The shorter scale length not only makes certain chords easier to finger, but makes it easier to play fast since my hand can stay in a  relaxed position as I cover several frets.

There is one other more recent one titled "Keepsake". Yes, their harmony is perfect.

@leny-sue I'm glad to know that and imagine others are, too!  I'm not sure but the circa 1965 album may have been their only LP.  I love their sound!  

Bruce, my dulcimer, has a 27” VSL (nut to bridge if I understand that properly). I have fairly large hands, but a few chords in D and E need quite a stretch even for this ploughboy. 4,2,1 Or 3,1,3 for instance. (My thumbtip to ringfinger tip is 10”)

What length is about right for chord players, or do you just adapt like I am having to do? My pinkie finger seems to get involved more often than people I watch on youtube. 😳

I play noter and drone when with my wife, but left to my own devices, DAD and chords come out. 😂

The most recent videos I found were from 6 and 7 years ago.  Here's one from 7 years ago:

That was great! I remember them from the Ash Grove and other venues in Southern California "back in the day." I especially remembr their versions of Carter Family songs. and an autoharp with changeable bars. I wonder if they have stayed active since that video was made.  

Thank you for sharing this, Robin! I don't recall hearing Kathy and Carol before...but I wish I had!

At the 5:30 mark in the YouTube video, you will see Kathy Larisch play and sing in a style very reminiscent of the style of Jean Ritchie.  Are any of you familiar with the duo of Kathy and Carol?  I'd never before heard of them until a young music friend shared a bit of their music with me today.  I'm curious as to who may have built Kathy's mountain dulcimer, too.    

Our TP shortage was over by the end of March.  In my area (Lexington, KY), people are pretty good about wearing masks in public.  My husband (who does all the shopping) says MOST of the people in the grocery stores--and Wal-Mart and Lowes--are wearing masks, which is not required, but is strongly recommended.  

Jergen, if you mean that the thickness is not given in millimeters, you are correct. Here is the website describing the three gauges of the picks: thin, medium, and thick.  Herdim Picks

I'm not sure, but I think the points have more to do with stiffness, rather than thickness, with I being the least stiff and III being the stiffest. As I noted below, people have measured the thickness of the pick and points, but the measurements vary widely.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

FABULOUS write up Strumelia.    just loved all of it.   thank you for putting a possitive spin on this while time in American History, for that matter, world history.   Getting back to just the smallest of trivials....the vanilla bottle leaking and all gone when you went to get it.   aloha, irene

Putting aside for a moment the deadly seriousness of how covid-19 has terribly effected us all in one way or another, some folks more directly and severely than others...losing jobs, loved ones, lives.

I think this horrible crisis has also caused us to deeply appreciate some of the little things we used to take for granted. Like even just being able to go to the store to pick up eggs or toilet paper. Not to waste things.

If I look at one small positive thing my home isolation period has done for me, I'd have to say it has made me both a better gardener and a better cook.  In both those areas of my life i've become more resourceful in finding ways to use and get the most out of what i have, in order to get results.

I wound up growing seedlings in paper milk cartons cut in half, and in empty egg cartons, with a plain 60W garage shop light hanging overhead and Saran wrap spread over to germinate, using dirt simply dug from the yard. Didn't buy any 'starter trays', peat pots, fertilizer, or bags of potting soil. I only ordered seed, which came in the mail. I was surprised to find that much of my remaining old 2019 seeds which sat in the shed for a year still germinated by about 60%. Two months later, we're now getting lots of salads from the garden, and I've been able to give fresh bags of lettuce to some older friends as well.

I learned about food substitutions to use in a pinch when i didn't have a certain ingredient. I've gotten better at throwing together meals from odds and ends pantry items. Some items are scarce to get, so I adjust meal plans around when/if I get them. 
I've developed more patience and willingness to tackle more 'from scratch' baking recipes that I previously would have dismissed as being too much work. I've also settled into the routine of making home made yogurt that we now eat all the time.

Vanilla.  In our house, our bottle of pure vanilla extract has taken on Goddess status.  When the quarantine started, early on I got flour, sugar, baking powder, etc, and figured I was ok for baking treats for a while.  I knew I had recently bought a bottle of vanilla which was in the back of the spice cupboard. Well, two weeks later when I went to bake cookies, I found that vanilla bottle had been knocked over months before and had slowly leaked until it was... empty.   So sad!
    To my dismay I found all my local stores were by that time all OUT of most baking supplies like flour, yeast, brown sugar, and... vanilla !  So I ordered a very overpriced but pure Madagasgar 8oz bottle online. The shipping date was three weeks away. Finally a month after ordering,  the vanilla arrived in the mail (i had enjoyed envisioning our treasure bottle slowly sailing on a pirate ship, bobbing over the ocean waves from distant islands to us). The aroma when i opened that bottle was otherworldly divine.  I never appreciated vanilla so much as now, and I treat that bottle like the crown jewels when I reach for it. 

BTW here where I am I went to the regular supermarket a few days ago, and in the huge entire toilet paper/paper towels aisle, there was just ONE lonely little 4pack of toilet paper. And big signs saying TP/papertowels/tissue "LIMIT ONE package per customer". I left that package for someone else who was maybe more in need than I.  Is anyone else still finding TP and paper towels completely out of stock in stores still, after like three months now?  I find it a little bizarre that tp supply still has not caught up with demand, after all this time.

I like them & use them a lot but  - yes  ( too pointy)  so I round them off just a bit with a nail file. I found the point could scratch my fretboard. 

For the dulcimer I use the red ones, the thickness is actually not documented anywhere. Here in Germany I can order a set of 12 in 3 colors for only 6,90 Euros, if they charge you more for a little piece of nylon you might have just been visiting the wrong shop.

Dusty

I have a GT-1 Boss sound processor, it's design for guitars but works well with a dulcimer. Dan Evans did a Demo of 'The Water is Wide' several years ago & I just loved the idea of creating a certain sound for a song.  He was kind to give me some pointers on getting started.

I have one dulcimer set up to use with the GT-1. My other dulcimers, I don't use anything with them. The group I am with, has been sending out a  song 'challenge' during  the quarantine - twice a week with new songs to practice - There was one in a Minor key & no matter how I tried to play it, I just didn't like the tone. So, I created a musical tone on the GT-1   - "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent"  I think you could have fun with a GT-1 and come up with some interesting sounds.

Strumelia,

Thank you, besides playing out on the back patio in the evening's for the neighbors - I did try to give the boxes a new look for anyone who happen to walk around the pond. With so many of us staying @ home, many more neighbors had time to come out.

Music isn't on lockdown and it has brighten many people's spirit, I am so glad I have the dulcimer to bring me peace & joy.

Marg, I'm so impressed by the beautiful painting you did on that utility box.

Marg, how did you get that organ sound?  That's pretty cool.

And that heron looks fantastic.  I wish you were beautifying my neighborhood.