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.
That's very touching, Butch. Thanks. Even though you don't sing the words, the music is so soft and sensitive that it fully captures the spirit and mood of the song.
As many of you likely know Maddie MacNeil passed away last Sunday. At the behest of AShley Ernst from Dulcimer Players News I (and others) made videos honoring her. Mine took a little while, 'cuz I wanted to get it right. Also, because I wanted Doug Berch to play on it. Doug and I have spoken many times about Maddie and how important she was to him, how he might not have become a musician if not for her. But also, this song is right for the times we're living in, so it's a sing-along. Maddie would've wanted it that way.
I'll post this on the video page too.
Hello! Three months later, I have really enjoyed getting to know this instrument. I used Bradley Laird’s eBook as my first guide and have enjoyed working with it. A few weeks back I noticed to my “horror” that the strings were progressively worse pinging the frets, almost like they worked further into the grooves in the nut. Perhaps it was because of the varied tunings/tensions I was using. I ended up using a couple thicknesses of blister pack plastic to build back maybe half of my original action adjustment and it now seems a lot better. I have been lingering in a minor DAC tuning because I am dwelling at the end of the eBook on a couple of songs in that key as I try to better listen (during and after) to the sound being made. And I really, really have been enjoying this as an almost daily activity, sometimes obsessively 😀
It will not be a surprise to hear that I think I need another one, for any number of excuses that I can dream up😂 But the thing is, I think the one I have has a nice sound, especially if I hit the tuning just nice. I have found that if I tune the bass string the tiniest bit on the flat side, where the tuner still shows it in tune, but it just got there sorta thing, then the other strings are more accurate when tuning to itself. Oh yeah, My wife knows how much I enjoy this and she is quite impressed with my progression (perhaps the thousandth time in a row for the same tune, not so much), so she will likely understand the need for dulci #2 to hold me over when I can find someone well regarded in western Canada that could redo the fret and nut and to whom I can send or bring it. Just last night I pointed out all the dulcimers on Jeff Hame’s wall when I played a video for her🙄 If “sustain” means how long the instrument will sit there for a long period of time with all the strings holding a nice chord, then this thing is pretty good IMHO.
And of course anytime I hit the record button, It doesn’t work out quite as well😀
That's a beauty, John. Nina
Beautiful work, as always, John. Is that from the instrument we saw -- and you measured -- two years ago in Lexington?
To answer the question, I really don't know if this will be at Berea. If I sell it soon, it won't be, and if Berea doesn't happen, it might not be. I plan to go to Berea one way or another, and if it's unsold then, I 'll bring it along. Thanks for the interest!
ohhhhhhhhhhh, very nice. I'm asking the same question. Will we see it in Berea? I'm making a dulcimer in my shop to take with me there. I'm sure hoping it's going to happen. Everything else has been cancelled. hrumph. aloha, irene
That's a nice one. John! Is this going to a customer, or will we see it at Berea?
Folks, here's something to get your mind off the ( ) today. This is "Generations", it's name was taken from Psalm 90:1. A poplar replica with ebony pegs. Will Singleton, Jean Ritchie's uncle, made some 90 years ago.
No reason you couldn't use guitar bridge pins; but they do take up more space than simple metal pins. Make room for 4 pins though. Two strings on a pen is no better than 4 on a peg. Single pegs are not good. Multiple smaller pegs tend to look too crowded though . There are other tailpiece solutions but not ones that would readily retro-fit to a McSpad and look aesthetically pleasing.
There just isn't any real selection of sexy metal pins out there to choose from for making string pins. I just use small finishing nails; others use escutcheon pins, or dedicated string anchor pins like those from Folkcraft, StewMac and other 'parts' places. That's about it.
Jan, I hope you are able to get an accurate diagnosis whether COVID-19 or something else!
I'm glad you were able to get tested, Jan. Good luck!
Hearts of the Dulcimer Podcast - Episode 46
The Deep Sounds of Neal and Coleen Walters
We spoke with Neal and Coleen Walters, a husband and wife musical duo who have been playing music together for more than 5 decades. Neal is well-known for his deep voice and his dulcimer and autoharp playing. Also featuring music from The Mill Run Dulcimer Band and Doofus.
You can listen to all the Hearts of the Dulcimer Podcast episodes directly on our website: https://dulcimuse.com/podcast or in most podcast apps.
Every episode has its own resource page with photos, videos, and song lists.
Here's the resource page for this episode: https://dulcimuse.com/podcast/resource/046.html
Thanks for listening!
I'm happy to report that I was finally able to get tested today! I waited in a line of cars for 2.5 hours, but was able to talk to a friend on my cell phone for most of that time. Beautiful warm day, and the first time I've been out of the house in a week! They said to expect the test would come back negative, but they did document that I currently have bilateral lung involvement--8 weeks since I first got sick!
You could check these out if you like. I've used them with great success:
https://www.folkcraft.com/collections/building-supplies-plans/products/dulcimer-string-anchor-pins-2340171
IMG_2068.MP4 - 3.3MB
