@Richard-Streib, I don't know where I heard this, but supposedly the "Buffalo" in "Buffalo Gals" was originally whatever town the band was playing in, so it might be "Albany Gals" or "Charlotte Gals" or "Montpelier Gals" or whatever. The song was often sung as the last song of the night and was an invitation to the ladies in the audience to hang out with the band after the show.
Been playing Hard Times Come Again No More. Can't imagine why? Also the wonderful tune Don't Let Us Get Sick by the late Warren Zevon. I've been saying for a year or more that that tune should be the theme song for anyone over 50! Imagine -- me playing a modern tune!!!
A couple friends have been isolating in the North Carolina mountains but came back to town the other day. They brought with them a dulcimer I made several years ago and had left at their house so I would have a dulcimer to play when we stayed there without having to fly one in.
This is a small Ozark Walking Stick or Coffin style. 26" VSL. Tuned Ccc Bagpipe. Top and back are wormy Chestnut, sides are Eastern Red Cedar. Head and tail are 300 year old Southern Yellow Pine. Arched Walnut fretboard. Notice that the arch widths mirror the wide and narrow spacings between the diatonic staple frets!
Just had to jump in on this question. Currently working on Buffalo Gals as a challenge from some traditional dulcimore playing friends.
My favorite instrument is an UltraLite model made by Dan Cox and specifically set up for playing in Cgg. If I play a CD player I don't make nearly as many mistakes, but it is not the fun of playing the dulcimore.
Tell us what your current favorite song or tune is right now, and why it's your current favorite.
also... Tell us what your current favorite instrument to play right now is, and why.
Let's hear it, friends! 
Body volume differences, wood differences, internal bracing differences, age of strings, many other factors will audibly affect the quality of sound between two dulcimers. Finish... not so much, IMHO.
I'm not sure that, all things considered, anything short of sensitive audio recording equipment could "hear" the difference between poly and lacquer finish. Please, if you have such sensitive audio measuring and recording gear, do a recording with one finish and then the other and report back to us the numeric differences between the two..
I actually have some. Poly may not have anything to do with the dead tone of this dulcimer, but I have some lacquer coming that gets good reviews for stringed finishes. I don't know beans about the subject, but maybe it's the larger mass of this bigger dulcimer that is keeping tone and volume down. As of now, there is no comparison to my Calkin dulcimer.
This is super cool.
I think it would be additionally fun to make a little folded paper origami boat to float in the 'canal' while playing it.
Gennaro, have you tried Minwax Wipe-on Poly? I have gotten good results with it.
Thanks for the responses guys. I just wasn't sure if the poly finish didn't affect it negatively. I'll play it for a few weeks before I strip the poly off. Update: Found an article on finishes that described poly as " that dreaded finish". I stripped it and will probably go with lacquer. No matter what I do, I know it's not going to sound as good as my John Calkin dulcimer. I know nothing, but feel the feather light Calkin will always be more vibrant.
I own (and have made) dulcimers which vary by well over a pound in weight. Different woods, different overall size, different material dimensions, different building techniques -- all can make significant differences in dulcimer mass.
Likewise there are several dozen factors in dulcimer construction which can make a difference in dulcimer tone and volume, even between "identical" models by the same maker.
Dulcimer building is an art, not a science, especially when trying to build an instrument with specific properties for a specific person's taste.
WOW! I love your spirit. I seemed to hear the effect on the deeper strings best. Do you think a bass or baritone dulcimer would sound amazing? I'd love to hear that if you do.
In construction, there's no real standard that I'm aware of. Sometimes a newly refinished instrument is "stiff" until it gets played a few dozen hours, just like a new instrument.
I actually only played it a few times. I may not have noticed if i didn't have both at home right now. Bought it from her so i wouldn't have to drag mine back and forth. There is a marked difference in tone(lower) and volume( just not near as loud). My other was made by John Caulkin. It is extremely light. My problem dulcimer seems to have been made by a wood worker. Nice work, but all materials are heavier or thicker. 4.3 lbs vs 3 lbs. Is it common to see such a difference in dulcimers?
How did it sound before the accident?
Bought a dulcimer recently, however at a friends house, her cat knocked it off a table and broke a good sized piece off the top. In repairing it, I had to strip the finish, which almost seemed a plastic. Turned out OK, but I used polyurethane. I think that was mistake. It is not near as vibrant as my other dulcimer. It is a much heavier dulcimer and includes a pickup. I read posts about deadening the instrument with the wrong finish. I'm not above redoing it.
When the weather's been nice, I've taken my 1.8 mile walk around the neighborhood, brisk, with walking sticks for upper body movement (otherwise, I use the elliptical downstairs). While there have been other people walking around, it's not been a mob, and everyone's been good about stepping aside or even crossing to the other side of the street to make space. However. We have some neighbors across a creek/crevasse from us who were having a big loud party over the weekend with a bunch of people. Somehow I doubt they were social distancing, from the sound of it. And yesterday, I took the afternoon off from work to sit on the deck (was my birthday, after all), and I could hear a bunch of screaming kids (sounded like they were mixing together, not from a single family) out playing, then creeping down into the crevasse, which was either actual or very close to trespass onto our property. Some people...
Dusty, the jam with your friends sounds like a lot of fun and that's not something we're allowed to do, yet. ALL of our parks, playgrounds, state and national parks, arboretums, natural historic sites, etc. are closed. When you see people out of their houses, they tend to be in their own yard (no other people allowed) or walking down the street/sidewalk. The one big "park" they haven't closed is the city's cemetery--that's always been a go-to spot for walking, bird-watching, and nature observing in general. It's a couple hundred years old, so there's lots of history to enjoy there, too. For the most part, the majority of people are following the restrictions as best they can. I'm really hoping that we'll be able to open up more businesses in the next 2-4 weeks, so more people in certain jobs can get back to work.
I plant five acres of vegetables by myself for my roadside market so I get plenty of exercise. Around here in zone 7b there are hundreds of vegetable farms planting already. But for exercise, I would rather be riding my bike. Especially since traffic is alot less now. Only about 350 cases in my county so being out in the fresh air is quite liberating. I pray everyone gets through this... Robert.
Dusty I guess if/when we get those old fashioned in-person things back again, we'll appreciate and savor them so much more. FWIW, I think your 10 foot distance with masks was smart behavior.
On another note, I tried a different chocolate chip cookie recipe out today, since my last attempt came out disappointingly mediocre, and were a bit of work. Strangely, this new recipe was way easier to make (no chilling of dough) and the results were incredibly good:
https://www.thewholesomedish.com/the-best-easy-chocolate-chip-cookies/
I should mention that I changed a couple things: -->unfortunately I had no vanilla (it's coming in two weeks) so i left that out. -->I first browned the butter as opposed to simply melting it (giving it a subtle caramel flavor), ...and -->I reduced the choc chips to 1.5 cups instead of two cups, since I wanted to conserve our precious chocolate and i don't care for cookies that are practically solid chips anyway. Oh, and --> I used Ghiardelli Dark chocolate chips, which is an amazing chip.
Man, these cookies are out of this world good! (or as my mother used to say "OTW!"...lol) You can taste the caramel-y browned butter flavor. It yielded a generous 38 cookies of 3" diameter. I'm glad i reduced the chips, because they came out perfect with plentiful melty chips.
Brian said this was called "stress baking". Ok, whatever. 
He also said they were the best cookies ever. He almost went ballistic when he saw the price of chocolate chips nowadays- we had to order them on Amaz, since baking supplies are a little scarce right now. But now he has 'seen the light' for having the ingredients for cookies. My stress baking alleviated some stress for both of us.
Ah, my Berea Roomie, @Dulcinina"> @Dulcinina , back before I found my health better w/o cats we had a cat who tolerated a leash, but moving at a cat's pace won't help you much (except for your sense of humor
) . My 10 year old husky/malamute would probably go more, but I try to get out for a roughly hour-long walk every other day, weather permitting. (I'm NOT a walk-in-the-rain Pet Mom, although sometimes the white stuff still trying to assert itself here in Michigan doesn't always stop me. BRRRR!) My "Beast" is nearing the age when my mals died, so I'm hoping the husky in him keeps him longer. When I think about losing him: I know not having to arrange for care when I'm on the road would be helpful, but he's my trail buddy & I'm well aware I wouldn't be doing it w/o him. <SIGH!> This is starting to sound like it should move to the Show Us Your Pets, & I'm always hearing how gorgeous he is, but think when he goes I'll probably try fostering for a while, but know what that will lead to. . . a new trail buddy.
Yes, @Strumelia"> @Strumelia , like you, I'm having to pick my walking areas to avoid people crowding some parks, although I'm not bothered by the way dogs just don't believe in "social distancing", while I talk to their human at a distance. My husband's truck has an extended cab where my boy rides. Decided to use my gas points expiring this month on the truck since that travels a bit more than my SUV these days. The worker at the gas station saw & commented on how he's, yes, gorgeous. It's a rare time I don't hear that. Thank heavens a nearby golf course & the fairgrounds (yep, read your note on that!) are near and still available. Just a bit of walking on our dirt roads leaves me wondering if we truly have that many Essential Workers & people only out 1x a week for groceries! You're still taking your life & that of your dog in your hands traveling on the road.
Whether with a Trail Buddy or earphones, may we all have the opportunity to walk as even online exercise and dance isn't helpful if it must take place in a crowded office.
It's crazy that parents would let their kids run around with other kids, as though there were no social consquences to those kinds of interactions. Some people just don't get it. I've been going for a short (and slow) 3-mile jog with my daughter most days. We jog to a large park and in the park do indeed see other people out and about. But for the most part people are respectful about keeping their distances. When other joggers approach from different directions they both move off to the side to ensure sufficient distance between them.
On Sunday my neighbors invited me to play music with them in their front yard. I brought my own chair and my own water. We sat about 10 feet apart and even wore masks. We did talk about the fact that since we were far enough apart the masks weren't necessary, but we wanted to model behavior for our kids. It was fun, and my first real (in-person) interactions with non family members, although it was hard to hear the vocals underneath the masks. We did a few John Prine songs for obvious reasons, an old Ray Price tune to which Ian & Sylvia Tyson added some French lyrics, and one of my favorite Iris DeMent tunes, "Sweet is the Melody." It was fun, but also sad. Barbeque season is starting and we won't be able to have those neighborhood parties with people grilling food, kids running around, people grabbing ice-cold beer out of coolers, a handful of musicians keeping the melodies floating around, horseshoes, water balloons, and watermelon seed spitting contests. Now I'm getting nostalgic for the innocent pre-virus days. It's hard to hug people when you meet in Zoom. In fact, that last sentiment is a line in the DeMent tune I just mentioned: "An arm's just an arm 'til it's wrapped 'round a shoulder."
Finding places to exercise outside.
My husband and I used to drive to our county fairgrounds to do fitness walks for the first few weeks of covid isolation. It's open to the public and much like a pleasant park when the fair is not on, with asphalt paths everywhere. It was a great place to walk and not get close to people! In pre-virus times we used to sit and eat ice cream cones there.
Unfortunately, it's now become crowded, with everyone in town now having 'discovered' it for exercise and for getting out of the house and socializing. Very hard to stay far from others. No matter what time or day we go there, the paths and even the grassy areas are sprinkled everywhere with little kids on bikes, dog walkers, moms with strollers, joggers, roller bladers, and walkers. People tend to just whiz right by you at close range. It amazes us to also see groups of moms with babies, standing like 4 feet from each other yakking away, no masks, while their kids are all randomly running around them and playing together, touching. These are not just one family. Yikes, I want to stay well away from them! The fairgrounds became too stressful for us to walk there.
Anyway, we tried walking on a lovely country dirt road yesterday just out of town, but again people were jogging, biking, dog walking, and even standing around in the middle of the road talking and socializing. Meandering all over the road so it was hard to avoid them when you pass by. :(
So we are going for fitness walks now at the high school. We look over the situation when we get there and choose one of four large outdoor loops we could walk without bumping into groups of people: looping around the softball field (in the grass), around the circumference of the football field, around the huge parking lot, or going around the running track. Making several loops around any of these gives us our 2 mile goal. I wear my pedometer so I can keep track of our distance no matter where we walk. So far so good, there's always at least one of these four choices that has nobody there at all. :)
Funny how we have to plan such elaborate strategies now just to go for a walk and feel safe. But we have various choices... I really feel for people in the cities who have few choices. How do they manage to exercise safely now that all the gyms are closed?
This has been a very interesting discussion from the luthiers point of view. Many good thoughts. I have one additional thing to consider when purchasing or ordering a new dulcimer. Look for a fret height of around 0.047 plus or minus a few thousandths. This is higher than the typical dulcimer fret. With the higher fret you can "cheat" on your cord stretches. By this I mean that you don't have to have your finger right behind the fret to achieve a clean tone. In fact, you can be 1/2" or more behind the fret and get away with it. This can make a huge difference to your playing. Aaron O'Rourke turned me on to the use of high frets when I was building his first nylon string dulcimer and I instantly became a fan. Watch his videos closely and you will see that at times he takes full advantage of the high frets. I have since switched all of builds to high frets as standard.
I will also comment on the topic of VSL. I feel that with the appropriate instrument design, you can achieve virtually any tone you want out of a 25" scale. My nylon string dulcimers and my prototype steel string dulcimers have 25" scales. There is no need to fight with a long scale if you have small hands (or just want to play more comfortably). There are many other attributes for the luthier to work with to achieve a desired sound. With so many builders out there it is very likely that, with a little research, you can find the sound you want at a size that works for you. If you look at the early dulcimers (prior to the Kentucky instruments) many have what we would now consider to be short scales. So you are not breaking with the roots of the dulcimer to play an instrument that is more comfortable for you.
I know. Why is it we have to force ourselves? Even if It's beautiful and sunny and a perfect temperature, it's a struggle. But once I get out there, I'm OK. I was hoping I could teach my cat to walk on a leash but she's having none of it. One incentive I have, however, is listening to Hearts of the Dulcimer (all of which I've listened to before) and the Very Pink knitting podcast.
Anywho, I'll get out there today. Nina
Here are a few photos of the shipping crate that I use for the dulcimers I build. It's basically a plywood crate inside a cardboard box. There are additional wood stiffeners at the corners and at two places along the length so that the crate is not easily crushed. Total shipping weight is about 20 pounds. Dulcimers have been shipped all over the US with out incident. This may be overkill for some instruments, but when the value of the dulcimer is well over $1000 and it has taken 4 months plus to build, I feel the it is justified.
It's always a struggle to force myself out of the house to go for a brisk fitness walk somewhere. Usually i get my exercise from going to contra dances, but no dances while the virus is on.
I did manage a 2 mile walk a couple days ago, and another 1 mile walk today. I get creeped out when I have to pass by someone on the road (I try to hold my breath!) but it's not too much risk since we are about ten feet apart and outdoors. But still... 
Anyway, I know it's important to get exercise and leave the house occasionally. So I force myself.
It's still been mostly cold and wet here in NY, so the various seeds I planted in the garden for lettuce, radish, carrots, and scallions are only just now little half-inch tall baby plants. BUT... with warm weather in the 50s coming real soon on a regular basis, these babies should start shooting up much faster them. So I'm glad I planted the seeds a bit early. They did not freeze and die.
Yesterday I planted a second batch of various lettuces, radish, scallion, and carrots. The trick is to plant only a small amount of each, and then do another batch in two weeks, and a third yet another two weeks after that. That way they won't all mature at the same time. Some types of lettuce do well planted all through Summer, others can't take the heat.
Meanwhile, I pick up an order of produce, milk, eggs, and bread from the contact-free store once every two weeks. And I am growing a constant supply of alfalfa sprouts in the kitchen. Enjoying making yogurt.
Baking choc chip cookies occasionally as a treat. They came out 'ok' but I rationed the precious chips to like 4 or 5 per cookie. Even so, my mediocre choc chip cookies tasted sublime! At our house we consider small doses of dark chocolate to be essential for both our medicinal and psychiatric well being. For the past year or so I've been using a teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa powder in my coffee cup instead of 2 tsp sugar like I used to for many years. That must surely be good for me.
I had to order a big bag of dark choc chips online as we are running low. Baking staples are now more expensive than they used to be, for sure. Brian was shocked by the online price, but then he realized how important it was to us to have some dark chocolate here for cookie making and snacking... and how dreary it would be to not have chocolate to perk us up.
One thing that the original ED site had early on was a chat room which allowed a few of us to get to know each other. Those chats helped trigger discussions and responses on the main site. That is one of the nice things here as well, the chat room. Not a lot of folks use it, but we have a group of regulars on early in the morning (EDT) and sometimes in the evenings. I don't get in to the chat often as I'm not an early riser. Like my wife says, "You don't wake up until 10 p.m." I'm a night owl.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Not particularly fond of Anonymous Amin, it's true. I do feel that s/he is trying to make it based on the old name. But there have been a couple other attempts at new sites which have bellied up after only a couple months with only a handful of contributors.
I joined initially mainly out of curiosity, but have not been too active there. I miss the old site, but just because this place has the same name and basic organization of content doesn't mean it's the same. What made the old site was the people there, not the name of the site. And most of the more active people there are interacting here. I do think it matters that the administrator is anonymous, especially when he/she participates in discussions (which is often). I also have mixed feelings about his (or her) having just appropriated the domain name instead of coming up with something new.
I joined, but have slowly lost interest for the reason you cite....not much activity. I haven't given up on it. I have participated some, and hope it gets more interest.
I looked at the new site about a month or so ago, and it was still a work-in-progress (it might have been a bit longer; I don't remember). To be honesr, I was never that big a fan of the old ED, and I haven't thought to look at the new one since my first visit...maybe I'll go back for a new look.
I'm curious about how folks here have joined or used the new ED site. There does not seem to be many folks participating there and I wonder why? Could it be that the administrator remains anonymous creating a less friendly and personable atmosphere? Bruce Ford, the creator of the original ED, participated using his name and we knew a little bit about him. The same is true of Lisa here and Bobby at The Traditional Mountain Dulcimore site. Even at Discovering Dulcimers on Facebook some of us know the originator, Maria, and Wayne Anderson who maintains the page. What do the rest of you think?
There's a lot to be said for those generic lovely blank cards, Dusty. This sounds terrible, but the last time i bought a sympathy card, I bought like four of them so I could avoid the ordeal of picking one out the next few times someone I know passes away.
As we get older, more people we know pass away and this was true in general, long before Covid19 times. Having some pretty cards with blank inside just makes sense. I have some with Japanese paintings of birds and branches.
Jan, I'm glad your test came back negative. At least there's that. It really seems like your friend is in a tough spot. As for cards, I honestly find it so time-consuming to pick out a pre-written card that's right (male cousin, mother-in-law, step-grandson, ARGH!, then Valentine's Day, Birthday, Get Well, Condolances, ARGH!) that I just have a collection of cards with pretty phogrphas (close-ups of flowers, a peacock's feathers, autumn leaves reflecting on a lake, etc) and nothing written inside. I prefer those to the pre-printed ones that try to idenitfiy the event and the relationship of the recipient.
Jan that's very sad about your friend. I assume you've been phoning or writing/emailing to her? Very dismal, but it's good she has someone like you who touches base with her.
Our banks and pharmacies are closed, but you can use their drive-throughs. You can make an appt or order if you need something or service in particular, but you can't just walk in anymore. Maybe I can make a potato stamp card to send to my friends if I need to! And then eat the potato of course, because no wasting. ;)
I am glad your covid test came back negative Jan!
After not leaving the house in the past 6 weeks, except for medical issues that couldn't wait, my "errands list" had really grown! My husband, Craig, does the runs to the grocery store and hardware store; most everything else is handled online. Today, with the sun shining and temps in the mid-50's, it was so great to take an hour, drive through streets with flowers and trees in bloom, take take of business at the bank and pharmacy, use curbside pick-ups at a store and a restaurant.
I went inside at the pharmacy and was glad to see there were only 3 people inside, so it was easy to practice social distancing. I was there to select a birthday card for someone I love very much who is very sick at home, totally dependent on the goodness of the few people she knows who have any extra funds to help her and her child survive this. This is someone who has fallen through the cracks of our society, been wrapped in miles of red tape, and left to fend for herself. She and her daughter have both tested negative for COVID-19, but are ill with other conditions. The mother, herself, is on-hold for 3 operations that are greatly needed, but cannot be done at this time. She's battling cancer--and not for the first time. She's had severe back injuries from both car accidents and other bodily trauma. She's working on her third appeal to be declared disabled; so far, she's gotten nowhere with that. No food stamps. No unemployment payments. No government help with rent or bills. The list of rejections goes on and on. And she's one of the nicest persons I know.
So how do you find a birthday card for that? Nothing sexy or off-color--or just plain wacky or stupid. Nothing for a "wonderful daughter" or niece or sister. No point in wishing her a day full of friends, family, food, and fun. She's not going to have a "fun day"...if she keeps down some food and gets some sleep it will be a "good day". There are no wonderful bright days in her immediate future; survival is about the best she can hope for; she has a deep faith that is helping her with that.
I was finally able to find a very pretty card that did not refer to any relational connection. A card that expressed love, asked God to bless her, and said how pleased I was with the person she had grown up to be--words that I echoed in my own handwriting along with the hearts, X's and O's I placed near the bottom where I signed my name. There will be no visitors, nothing special to mark her birthday on Sunday--unless my card gets there by Saturday! I have not been well enough to travel the 100 miles to her home, although I finally tested negative for COVID-19 this week, as well!
So this is my reality. And hers. And although neither of us is actively ill with the coronavirus, it has impacted our lives. I am grateful to not be needed on the front lines with healthcare providers, funeral directors, ambulance drivers, truckers, grocery store employees and all the many others who are working so hard to keep us healthy and alive. But my heart aches for a mother celebrating her 42nd birthday so close to death, knowing she can't provide for herself or her child, and wondering what these next few years will bring, if she manages to survive these present crises.
Feeling so grateful to the two little stores in my town that are offering contact-free curbside pickup of groceries. Feeling sooo grateful to have been able to go pick up some fresh milk, apples, eggs, and produce today without having had to navigate a crowded supermarket. 
One of the 1/2 gallons of milk i got today is earmarked for me to make it into yogurt tomorrow. I've enjoyed learning that new skill and I love the resulting yogurt I've made so far. It really helps my digestion when i eat a little yogurt every day. My fave is to chop some apple into a 1/2 cup of yogurt, and throw on a handful of granola and nuts, maybe a couple of chopped dates or raisins... and then drizzle honey on it before eating. To me that's a Heavenly meal. 
Yesterday I made some chocolate chip cookies from scratch, which I haven't done in years. I lacked the vanilla, used the last of my brown sugar, and had to ration the choc chips down to three per cookie 
but they came out well enough and taste good- satisfying our sweet cravings. We figured out that if we each eat only three cookies per day, they'll last us three whole days. Oh boy!
I had a funny thought today, inspired by how giddy i was when I got home with fresh apples and such. I'm imagining a Christmas 2020 where it'll be like a throwback to the 1880s again- with little children being thrilled to find an orange or tangerine in their Christmas stockings. 
Not bloody likely, but the thought made me laugh.
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