OK... so we now know it was "hecho en Mexico" and that it originally came with a tuning wrench, tuning chart (which string is what note) and a 7/16" wrench for tuning. I've spent some time surfing and haven't been able to find an image of a complete piece of sheet music or the tuning chart.
I particularly love May songs and songs about the Spring. This year I am putting together a blog and a Facebook group to release a song a day during May using any contributions I can get from musician friends.
I am looking for traditional songs or contemporary songs - accompanied (by any instrument, but dulcimer would be nice) or unaccompanied. If you are interested in contributing a song, or just listening, then check out either the blog at cmleplay.blogspot.com or search on Facebook for CMLE Play (Songs For May). Thank you!
I just love reading all that has been written here. SMILING. Today watched the first barges on the grand Mississippi. drove into Nauvoo to have someone put in my car 40# of wonderful fresh chicken breasts. I'm canning all that now. I'll save the last batch for tomorrow. whew. On that dulcimer, not worth saving. but is sure has me thinking how I might make a box dulcimer out of aromic cedar wood. I know it has a tendency to crack....so I'd reinforce the inside of the top and the bottom. hummmmmmm. creative juices are COOKING like my canned chicken. ha ha. Lots of wildlife around here too and I sooooooo love the froggies and critters making their orchestra in the little marsh in front of my house. I'm making this into a good time....as best I can. Still miss being with friends and making music together. aloha, irene
In my self-quarantine, I have gone far beyond talking to myself...I'm now arguing with myself...and I'm not winning any of the arguments! I'm also finding it rather difficult to keep a safe social distance from myself, but, I keep trying. I wash my hands often, especially since I'm in direct contact with myself a lot of the time. Since I don't have any facemasks, I've taken to using clear plastic bags over my head...they make it a little hard to breathe, and they fog-up pretty quickly, but, they sure work in a pinch! But, the question if the coronavirus is affecting me?...No, not really! 
Well, poop! That helps -- and it doesn't. Is there a maker's or brand name inside the sound hole or anywhere? I've only been able to find one "lap harp" in that zither/psaltery shape, but without song cards.
Back to square one. Do you have an electronic tuner so you can determine what notes the various strings are tuned to?
I can "teach" you how to play; it's really very simple. Each string is one note of a scale and there are two scales on the instrument -- from the longest string to shortest they should be: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do', re', mi', fa', sol', la', ti', do'. Just like that scale we learned in school, or the song from The Sound of Music "Do, a deer, a female deer; re a drop of golden sun..." etc.
We number those strings/notes from 1 to 15 starting with the longest string. Where the electronic tuner comes in is that we want those notes to be accurate, and start with some real world note like a C or G or D. But if you don't have a tuner you can probably just jump right in and see what happens...
Take a simple song like Frere Jacques. You know the tune. So do I, and zillions of other folks. For several reasons, it's a good song to use to start teaching yourself how to play this instrument. It is simple and repetitive.
The tab numbers for Frere Jacques start with the 3rd string from the left and are
Fre-re Jac-que
3-4...5-3
Fre-re Jac-que
3-4...5-3
Dor-mez Vous
5-6...7
Dor-mez Vous
5-6...7
Son-nez les mar-tine-s
7-8...7...6-5-3
Son-nez les mar-tine-s
7-8...7...6-5-3
Ding-ding-dong
3-0-3
Ding-ding-dong
3-0-3
I made a quart of yogurt for the first time yesterday. To make it i used a quart of milk that was nearing expiration, and for the culture a 1/4 cup from the last of our store bought yogurt. I incubated it for 12 hours in a cooler that contained a jug of warm water. The result was pretty much perfect yogurt. Drizzled some of our own honey on our new homemade yogurt, with a chopped half apple and some granola and we had that for breakfast. :D I used to make kefir years ago, but I like this yogurt making even better, so looking forward to making more yogurt as soon as I can get hold of some more store bought milk.
For dinner we ate sandwiches with a frugal amount of salami and cheese, but with plenty of fresh alfalfa sprouts Ive been growing in jars in the kitchen.
Last night we watched Burt Lancaster in Birdman of Alcatraz... an excellent and fascinating movie that I remember from my teens, based on a real man, Robert Stroud. It reminded me of 35 years ago when I used to raise canaries as a hobby... and back then I had a copy of Stroud's book of bird diseases.
This started out as a response to what @dusty turtle said, but then the floodgates opened and much more spilled out, some of it even musical! Since that's what mainly is of interest here I did a Cut of the computer-related information that came 1st, planning on re-pasting it at the bottom. Got busy putting in the links to 3 members here & accidentally deleted it 
! That segment is where the bulk of my time has been spent, so in the interest of at least some honesty will be attempted again near the end.
hummingbirds, bluebirds, and bees
frolick among my citrus trees.
were it not for these
and the frest spring breeze
I'd be panicked about
this dreaded disease.
Dusty, I'm so glad to hear it as those pollinators are critical, also butterflies.
I have dulcimer songs I've played to keep advancing. It includes the June theme we might actually get to use at our local folklore group, assuming we're meeting by then. May is already canceled by the place where we meet. It's a tricky jig combining Little Liza Jane & Old Joe Clark in an arrangement by Larry Conger. The theme was Youth to Old Age. There's no way I can play Old Joe Clark at the pace of my banjo playing husband, so this 6/8 jig time does exactly what I need. My own version of this is, after playing 1st LLJ, then OJC, I bring her back & softly play the melody string of LLJ as I figure she wants the last word! I'm also working on my plain Jane TMB (thank you, John Knopf ) the song to the tune of Yankee Doodle naming the presidents -- it goes up to Hoover, but I use it only up through Wilson as it's part of a one-room school teacher program I do. I've got one scheduled for September, but do the program often enough I really need to learn the song. I asked John to make something very basic a teacher might have carried. This was after getting hooked on the TMB by the lovely, but too beautiful for this use, TMB I bought from Irene after admiring it last year at the Berea Gathering. I'm also playing the parody of The Sloop John B that I mentioned here. It's called the Sloop John A & I'm sure the folkies at our local group will catch the sly humor. My biggest problem is getting the parody words right as I played the original apparently way too often on my guitar & tend to give the original. Love calypso rhythms (I'm also playing Jamaica Farewell just for my own amAsement), so it tend to creep into whatever I play after that.
My solo rehearsal of songs, dances, & lines from the 2012 version of Godspell -- a much more complicated vocal version -- should be happening, but knowing the show's been re-scheduled for mid to late July hasn't been very motivating. (I switched from Alto to singing Tenor with the guys as the Alto arrangement had too many high notes to sing constantly. I can reach them, but knew it was asking too much for too long.)
Fortunately shelter in place doesn't forbid my every other day hikes with my beautiful Beast. I posted pictures of him at the end of my weekly blog . Last Saturday, March 28, I also included my gradually petered out attempt at singing a pre-chosen Song of the Day -- a local radio station posted the selections and maybe it would have worked in a suburban area, but not in this place of acreage with few people close enough to hear anybody else. Didn't want the Italians to have all the musical fun. I guess for this group I should revise ever so slightly the parting message on last week's blog to read: If you self-quarantine for your family's safety, please be smart. I can't afford to buy 15 musical instrument baby shower presents in December.
As for my computer projects, it's like cleaning up the sands on a beach, they never end. Of course the death of my very old computer (WIN7 upgraded to 10) at the end of last year didn't help. I'm a "belt and suspenders" type of person, using automaGic online backup from Carbonite + an external hard drive. The only problem is original programs are something techies tend to back off from installing and getting running again because they might not do it right. A perfect example was my AzzCardfile program. I have well over a 1000 folktale anthologies on it (can you tell I'm both a librarian and a former indexer?), but when I discovered I now had a program missing the purchases of the last several years, I started re-inputting (those suspenders I mentioned came in handy for knowing what was missing). The only problem was I kept doing dumb things that made it crash! AARGH! Miss working regularly in a library where techie teens could give suggestions. (Nowadays I just sub in a library . . . at least when it's open.) O.k. back to the inputting, crash, re-do it until finally I got the bright idea to check that external hard drive & found MY COMPLETE FILE! Decided the more recent inputs were worth incorporating. Learned how to put that information side by side on the screen. It's now the renamed (to make me know which is the improved version) catalog which includes some of that improved information on contents.
I also have Thunderbird as an email program where I archive my email to help me find past venue information & potential gigs; an email list for storytellers (yes, it's available elsewhere, but, in the past, when a host dropped it abruptly it showed how a personal archive could help); other family information; various other stuff I'm not ready to lose. The problem was in the past several years I started using the webmail provided by the host for my website while on the road. The only problem was it had a data limit -- high, but not the unending archival limit found by storage on my computer. I eventually had stopped going over to Thunderbird & making use of my folders. The last several years have now been somewhat filed & I discarded what has no obvious need to be stored. Is there more I should do? Dunberidiculous!
As for home-related projects. . .I'm mainly putting things off until I can open windows. Can't breathe dust and I long ago freely confessed to dual church membership where I am the Chief High Prophetess of the Church of the Unholy Mess.
As for storytelling, since I do "run my mouth for fun and profit", right now this has switched to my weekly storytelling phone calls to a family member's two daughters ("Who are these children and why are they calling me Grandma?"). I let them each choose a type of story I will tell & then we also make up a story together. Long ago I also became a Talking Book to my husband while we're on the road, so now it's being read in place. I usually try to alternate a modern setting with a historical mystery. We just finished one of the Lady Ginger Gold mysteries set in England during our own Prohibition era (she's just moved back to England from being raised in the U.S.), so I read one of the tons of e-books waiting for me to him. This was a novella about a detective solving a case involving a valuable missing bubble gum baseball card. I had pre-read it & knew how to do it justice as my husband had enjoyed the wisecracking style of the Golden Era Hollywood detective, Toby Peters (hate it when an author has the nerve to die so the series ends!), & Elvis Cole (the author started getting too gritty eventually). Looks like this new series will work, so it's 1st full-length book waits while we read more about turn-of-the previous century New York with a mid-wife & NYC Irish police detective, a series with tons already read, but even more waiting on the shelf or yet to be purchased. I've purposely skipped vital information about authors as the librarian in me would love to hook you on something new to read. I hope you know that, whether from your library's own online book provider or by your buying them, there's good reading available.
Like most others I know, I've been in various web meetings; have prowled Facebook; checked here.
That's way more than you probably cared to know and I promise it doesn't really say everything .
As a storytelling friend likes to end her emails: There's always a story, it'd be a shame not to tell it.
Thank you Ken!! DUH!!! I never thought of posting a picture, thank you!! Tune charts would be perfect! I'll post a photo It is similar, but only tapered on one end..here is the picture....took 3 trys before we could get one small enough to upload... Again thank you and where would I find the slide under music for it???
This might be of interest to new players who are struggling with chords, keys, transposing etc.
Video:
3D CAD files:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4254440
First it has been way to long since I have been on this site! Second, I love your Doug Berch Dulcimer. Could you give me a little information on how and why you choose his instrument? I am talking with Doug and maybe looking at one of his instruments with the same woods that are in your Dulcimer. I am looking for a sound that is mellow and rich and wondering if these woods provide that kind of sound?
Thank you. I chose a Doug Berch dulcimer, because I know him personally and know the quality and care that go into his builds and I know how long he's been building dulcimers. Plus, he is an awesome player. He is very articulate....you could call him a perfectionist. My sassafras/walnut dulcimer is warmer sounding than my McSpadden and Folkcraft custom. Those woods tend to be so, as opposed to cherry or spruce. But, what also enters into the equation for how a dulcimer sounds is the build itself, how the builder makes his instruments. Mine isn't as loud as my Folkcraft custom, but the builds are different. The Folkcraft has a galax back. The Doug Berch has a beautiful tone, that has a real nice balance. I love it, actually. Mine has a pick-up, so when I want more volume, I just plug it in, and it sounds great through my little Roland amp. Doug is awesome to work with. He's not only good at what he does, but he's one of the nicest, most caring guys you'll every meet. Put it this way, at the time he was building mine, I went through a health scare. He provided me much-needed comfort. He is that thoughtful. Anyway, I don't think you'd be disappointed with one of his duclimers, just work with him and he will surely answer any questions or concerns you may have. I hope this helps.
Hi Susie:
Your dulcimer is beautiful. I love the wood patterns. I bet it sounds as sweet as it looks.
Thank you! It does have a beautiful voice.
Hi Susie:
Your dulcimer is beautiful. I love the wood patterns. I bet it sounds as sweet as it looks.
First it has been way to long since I have been on this site! Second, I love your Doug Berch Dulcimer. Could you give me a little information on how and why you choose his instrument? I am talking with Doug and maybe looking at one of his instruments with the same woods that are in your Dulcimer. I am looking for a sound that is mellow and rich and wondering if these woods provide that kind of sound?
IMHO, unless you've got really sensitive, perfect pitch type ears, I doubt you'll hear much if any difference between Delrin and horn, bone or wood for the nut & bridge. There really is no "ultimate nut and bridge material", it's personal preference. I personally dislike bone/horn because it stinks when you're working it. Metal vs a softer material does make a sound difference. I like various hard woods or pieces of thick-walled bamboo for nuts & bridges.
Wood choice is also very personal. You'll get people who will tell you 'this wood sounds better than that' yada, yada. There are hundreds of factors which go into the 'sound' of a dulcimer, and wood is fairly far down the list, actually. A decent luthier can tweak any woods to make an instrument that sounds the way you want.
When you're ready to jump into building, join the Dulcimer Building Group here, read a bunch of out posts, and ask your questions. We've talked a number of new builders through their first or fifth build.
Do you mean like the instrument in the picture? That is a Nepenenoyka -- a simple psaltery, not a harp. And they aren't at all easy to play when resting on your lap, either. Thousands of these have flooded the market from several 'Stans -- former Soviet states like Uzbekistan, Belarus, Ukraine, etc.
FYI, harps do not have strings which go across the surface of the soundbox; harp strings come out of the sound box and go to a tuning bar.
I've never seen tab for Nepenenoyka. There are "slide under the strings" tune charts which show when to hit which string; but that's about it.
I have one and with my world locked down I'm interested in trying it....but I can not find any tab for it. Its 16 inches long ANY suggestions ???
There's some tab from the old Everything Dulcimer website available at www.dulcimertab.com. Just look it up alphabetically. I can't vouch for it, though.
I am enjoying our wildlife friends in the back yard. Whitetail deer, Canada Geese, squirrels, racoons, possums, 10 or 15 species of birds including a really large specimen of a redtailed hawk we call Chester.
Also I am getting in some time trying to learn Tabledit, playing my dulcimores, and tabbing out some hymns and other songs.
Yard work will be calling soon as our grass is greening up after its winter dormancy. I'll plant a few things in my vegetable patch by the 8th or 10th.
Stay well all. We'll be past this after awhile.
Does anyone have tab for this tune? thanks!
hummingbirds, bluebirds, and bees
frolick among my citrus trees.
were it not for these
and the fresh spring breeze
I'd be panicked about
this dreaded disease.
Irene--isn't that bum dulcimer worth something as a wall-hanger? I often see these as part of the decor at a home or business. Some don't have strings or tuners, but are still interesting as folk art.
Looking forward to your video, Dusty! Humor helps a lot!
I'm in week 9 of staying at home 99.99% of the time...and full time for the last month. I was tested for COVID19 last Wed., but don't have the results, yet. The governor said tonight that it might take 10 days or more if our test was sent to a private lab.
Hello all, I am brand new to dulcimer playing but managed to strum out "Mary had a little lamb" on my cardboard dulcimer kit last week!...I plan to try to upgrade the kit as I learn and grow with it (I love to modify things) and at the low price point of this kit it seems I can only do minimal damage with my tinkering.
The first mod I wanted to try was bone bridge and Nut to see if I could hear a difference from the black Delrin Bridge and Nut provided in the kit...sadly the Delrin parts where lost in the construction process, so it's tough to know if my bone parts made any sound improvement...it "seems" a bit brighter and a bit more sustain than the other cardboard dulcimers I have heard on youtube, but I can Not be sure if this is from the recording vs hear mine first hand. I hope to make some Delrin replacements to compare first hand soon.
My next mod will be to construct an all wood soundbox from some Sitka spruce and Spanish Cedar I have in my shop...this will go on a second fretboard so I can compare it to my cardboard model...So far my ears really like the cardboard sound, it's a bit warmer and less "Tangy" than some, obviously this is personal preference, some would say the more Tang the better!? Lol
I would welcome any thoughts or advice, in particular what effect different bridge and nut materials will have on my dulcimer sound and what material might be considered the ultimate bridge and nut material? Also favorite sounding wood would be of interest as well...thanks!
That's pretty good, David. I had a similar idea. I put new lyrics to the old blues song "She caught the Katy and left me a mule to ride." My version goes "She caught the 'rona and left me in quarantine." I played a few verses at the virtual version of my local dulcimer group last weekend. I originally intended a serious song, but there are a lot of funny words to rhyme with quarantine and I just had to include them, so it ended up pretty silly. If I get a chance to make a recording I'll post it here.
I am now telecommuting and as a result getting a little cabin fever. Bobby Ratliff has got some of us learning Waterbound. It's a nice little tune and the lyrics are fairly simple (it's one of those songs that has a lot of versions for the lyrics). Because of the simplicity I took a quick stab at making my own lyrics, and changed the name to Quarantined. I haven't checked to see if the words/syllables match the measures/beats of the music but you get the idea.
Quarantined
Quarantined and I can't leave home, Quarantined and I can't leave home,
Quarantined and I can't leave home, Down in Alabama.
1. Teleworking in the backroom at home (3X)
Down in Alabama
Chorus
2. David and Karen must stay home (3X)
Down in Alabama
Chorus
3. Social distancing sounded like fun at first (3X)
Down in Alabama
Chorus
4. Wash your hands and please stand back (3X)
Down in Alabama
Chorus
5. Toilet paper is in scarce supply and I don’t know why (3X)
Down in Alabama
Chorus
6. COVID-19 sounds like a bad horror movie title(3X) (OK that's pretty bad)
Down in Alabama
Chorus
Friends, here is Maddie's obituary. Included is a video of the memorial service-- a simple outdoor service and, appropriately, a song from Maddie was played.
https://www.endersandshirley.com/obituary/madeline-macneil
I have now been home for 2 weeks and 2 days. Missing friends and such, I have my sweetheart. I had someone come and light the pilot light in my shop so I could create in there without freezing out. I have an all cherrywood dulcimer under the varnish now and tomorrow I'll "steal" 4 banjo machine pegs from a junk dulcimer. I think I'll do as Bob Gerard did....burn it. I paid only $40.00 and it's not even worth that. ha. I'm always excited to create things and to have more time to do this is GREAT. My mother used to sing some ditty of a song to me and I just thought she made it up...till I found that it's a real song. "Accentuate the possitive, eleminate the negaitve, latch onto the affirmitive and don't mess with Mr. Inbetween." Her age went through the great depression. We may too, I think I'll look at those old songs on youtube again as some of the best positive lyrics with great music came from the depression era. Prayer can get us through anything. aloha, irene
WOAH, I loved your playing and demo. I loved that you created such an instrument and most of all.....I loved that you made this video that we could see your smiling face. NO KIDDING. you are a creative man that will do many things in your life. Keep creating and experimenting and show us all along the journey. I like it even without the water at all....I'd be concerned with water getting on my woodwork and varnish and all that "jazz". Thanks for sharing with us all. aloha, irene
In 2015 I was in the hospital nearly 2 weeks for cellulitis in my right leg. Of course I had a dulcimer brought to me!
That was very cool! A water driven distortion pedal-ha! Very creative Nate. Hope you post more of your experiments.
I am sending out music videos to family & friends - Music is not on lockdown - Stay Safe
Dusty for social distancing, you'd have to get someone who has a six foot long pair of scissors...
I have a medium-sized bottle of Purell which I would gladly give someone if they came to my house to cut my hair. We could just do it in the front yard. If you see me wearing a hat, it's not for style; it's just hiding the gray jungle underneath.
I've been doing whiskey in a quart jar. Oh . . . wait . . . I meant to post in the Unhealthy Living Forum.
Seriously, I'm a fan of sprouts but have never grown my own.
We've been doing broccoli sprouts in a quart jar.
Not seeing any seeds sprouting yet in the garden where I planted lettuce and radish and such several days ago. But might be slow since it's rainy but quite cold still. Will be excited when i see something come up! Just wish the squirrels would quit digging around in the garden. 
Nuts to them!
But I started some alfalfa seeds in a sprouting jar a few days ago in the kitchen, and the sprouts are growing nicely and will be ready in 3 more days. Yay, fresh greens! We love sprouts and I usually do grow them in jars in the kitchen all winter when the garden is asleep and we're craving fresh greens. I almost always have a jar going during winter. Alfalfa is our favorite because we like mild sprouts that are not peppery. For some reason I didn't do it this Winter, but now with the virus isolation and so few trips to the store and the garden not producing yet, now is the perfect time to start sprouting again!
I ordered a pound of fresh alfalfa sprouting seed from amazon, but I do have enough seed for another two weeks til the new package gets here. I'm starting a quart jar size of sprouts every three days which is about what we go through when we eat it often. Each qt jar requires 4 level teaspoons of seed to start it. It's covered with a screen top. Days later when ready to harvest and all greened up it takes up the entire quart jar- amazing. Once you pull it out of the jar, tease the sprouts apart to rinse the hulls off, it's a nice generous amount of sprouts and you just keep them in the fridge in a plastic tub and use them. It takes 5 or 6 days to grow from start to finish. It's fun and easy, you just have to remember to rinse the jar with fresh water twice a day and drain.
You know that your dulcimer has a hold on you when ... you have to suddenly enter the hospital, will be there for a couple of days (in relatively good health) and you ask your spouse to bring a favorite dulcimer to you. (In this day of COVID-19, it means leaving it at the front door and having an employee bring it to you.)
I ended up having a long conversation with two nurses (it was a low-census time) and played some music for them. A nursing assistant heard my playing at another time, complimented me (I could hear her from the hallway) and later asked me why I had choose that instrument. A fourth nurse said he was a pianist and had started playing the ukulele. I think he was intrigued.
Playing it lifted my spirits. Talking two the two nurses was even better. I played a song or two for them, not because I liked it (though I did) but because I could tell they liked it. One said she had a 12-string guitar that she hadn't played in years; she was intrigued at having only three strings to deal with and said "At my age" (early 60s, perhaps), she might find that an easier go. The younger nurse said that it made her think she needed to restart trying to learn the guitar.
Oh, and there was a second nursing assistant (making for five hospital employees) whom I told about shopgoodwill.com, from which I purchased this particular dulcimer. "I love thrift stores!" she said.
(For the record, I'm home now. I might need to go back; when I left, we were still waiting on some blood work, but two doctors both said it was fine if I left, as it was unlikely I would have to return.)
Butch, I'm grateful to you for putting this lovely piece together. And to Doug, too, for playing on it. I read Doug's tribute to Maddie on fb-- it was most touching.
