Forum Activity for @dulcimerbill

Hi Bill:

I like that shape!   Some more info would be helpful -- dimensions: LxWxH, height & width of the fretboard.  And the VSL.   
What makes you say it's a bass dulcimer?  You know of course that it has no 6+ or 13+ frets.

Cleaning:  Start with blown air to clean out the pegbox. 

Then gently loosen the tuning pegs and remove all the strings (we don't often remove all, but in this case it will be a good thing).  AS you do, mark each tuning peg with the hole it came out of, so it can go back in the right place.  At this point we don't care what the original string gauges are because you're going to replace all the strings (this is why we need the VSL).

I can't tell from the photo, but the middle tuner on the near side looks like it's jammed much deeper into the holes than the others.  True?  Wipe down the tuners.  Do not sand them.  Other that the one tuner seeming set deep, they don't appear to be particularly damaged.  However, if they are, or you should want to replace them, those look to be standard violin tuning pegs which can be purchased individually or in sets, in a variety of woods, for as little as $1 per peg, to as much as $20 per peg. 

Purchase a bottle of Peg Dope.  It will last you for years!  When you get everything else accomplished, check back in and we can get you straight on setting it up with those wooden tuners.  I, for one, would not recommend replacing them with geared tuners,  

With the strings gone, you should then be able to remove the nut and bridge.  WHY do you want to remove the bone nut?  If you have to, they may be able to be tapped out sideways using a small wooden dowel as a punch.  We'll want vey close ups of the ends of the nut & bridge where the set into the fretboard.

With a water-damp (not soggy) soft cloth, wipe down the whole instrument, removing as much of the accumulated crud as you can.  Don't use any other kind of cleaning product yet.  

Look at the edge of the top and bottom where they overlap the sides.  I'll bet you'll discover that they are made from thin mahogany plywood.  At least that's what it looks like from seeing that scratch by the farside sound hole, and the nature of the wood grain on the top.

Luster:  Well, you could gently sand the whole thing down and refinish it with the finish of your choice.  But if it is made from plywood you really don't want to do that because it's too easy to go below that first "beauty"layer of ply.  

Probably the best thing is to apply a thin coat or two of wax, and buff.  NOT a furniture polish or any other product which contains silicon.  You want just wax.  Carnuba wax is good.  An automotive or bar top wax without any additives would be OK.

Strings:  The first thing you need to know is what open tuning you want.  You do not have to set this up as a bass dulcimer unless you want to, of course.   

Hi Matthew!  How great that something so lovely as music is helping your Parkinson symptoms. I'm glad you're back to playing!  Good luck with your exploration of a chromatic dulcimer.

Hi all! I have been away for a while, having issues with Parkinson's. back to playing again, as it seems to help me. Especially interested in chromatic dulcimers now!

I was blessed with a gift from a friend on Facebook. It's a vintage Mountain Dulcimer and it is a bass Dulcimer. It needs some TLC and refurbishing; but I believe it will be beautiful when done. My questions. How to gently remove the bone nut so I can replace it. The tuners need some attention. They are original and wooden. I would love to identity the creator; but nothing to go on. Someone suggested it might be a John Jacob Niles Mountain Dulcimer. Being a base; what gauge strings? The old ones on it look big. Lastly, how to restore its luster. Thanks in advance.

P.S. I'm sorry; but the one image is the only one I could get to load up.

 IMG_0004.JPG - 170KB

Several months ago I attended a house concert featuring the superb Irish fiddler Gerry O'Conner .  He was accompanied by a guitarist who played only in DADGAD tuning.  I was particularly intrigued because he played some chords that you rarely hear in Irish or Celtic music.  But when I talked to him after the show he confessed that he doesn't always know exactly what chord he is playing because he often lets the highest strings drone.  Note that the highest strings are A and D.  In other words, he was playing the same drones that we do on a dulcimer tuned to D!  And according to Tony McManus , the DADGAD tuning originated as a slight variation of an open D tuning, so it makes perfect sense that Robin would have found the pairing of the two instruments to work so well.

P.S. I get dizzy just looking at that picture of Robin atop the rock on Lundy Island.

This is wonderful!

Don is the quintessential Fingerdancer.   Nearly always on the melody string, very smooth, fast and clean transitions between notes.  He also plays Noter & Drone style.  His instruments are invariably 3 stringed but not traditional -- they have the 6+ and 13+ frets and mechanical tuners.

Yes.

When in doubt, refresh your browser page.. it often helps when things look to be 'disappeared'.

OK -- good to know... I thought it might be something I was/wasn't doing...

Just listening and not looking, it reminds me of Don Pedi and Bruce Greene, too, Robin!

Ken, the text box issues have to do with the tinyMCE text editor software that is used here. It's not something that I can fix and has nothing to do with our part of the platform.  TinyMCE is its own software, and they've been having some issues lately. I do know that they are working on fixes for their current text editor problems.  We'll have to simply let that work itself out for a few weeks.  If it continues to happen after say three or four more weeks from now, let me know again then. Thanks!

Meanwhile, the other group discussion re-ordering is being worked on to find the solution.

Doing it again JUST NOW. Interesting that in the Building group, Ken Longfield's post about Tuning Peg Knobs is still at the top of the list, but everything below that is wanky.

Also, I've notice lately (last month or so) that periodically I'll go to some random Discussion and if I try to create a Post, the text box flashes up and then disappears!  Not every time or every discussion.  It just happened now in the Discussion where someone is looking for a particular Bowed Psaltery.  I went in and out of the discussion 4 or 5 times and it finally gave me a text block to type in...

Have you had a chance to listen to the latest Hearts of the Dulcimer Podcast episode? It's called Dulcimer Lullabies . Be sure to check out the episode resource page for some extra goodies:

David Schnaufer's TAB for Starry Lullabye
AND
A chance to win a Hearts of the Dulcimer Podcast t-shirt.

Go to https://dulcimuse.com/podcast/resource/044.html to download the TAB and to enter the contest. It's time sensitive, so be sure to check it out soon!

So glad you are enjoying this video, friends! 

@John-Shaw I only have one of their cd's yet am sure the others are just as good.  It's funny you mention Bruce Greene because this duo reminds one, in ways, of Bruce Greene & Don Pedi's play together.   

Thanks for posting this, Robin!  I've been a big fan of Hog-Eyed Man for 3 or 4 years, and all of their 4 CDs get my highest recommendation.  Jason Cade was a pupil from a very young age with the great Bruce Greene, and Rob McMaken is a subtle, beautiful dulcimer player.  

Thanks for this Robin!!

Real nice! Thanks, Robin!

That's great SkipII!  You have an advantage already-  you are aware that you can do various things by using various tunings, and also you don't seem to be afraid of trying out new things.  Good for you!  Have FUN with your music and your instruments.  :D

Thanks, all, for the generous and helpful responses. I'm going with DAD for now on my Warren May, but might keep my McFadden at DAA. I'm already drawn. to Bing Futch's style but I'm sure I'll expand that.  

Not a problem, Lisa.  Will let you know if things get wonky again.  Glad to see that the issue has been forwarded and a permanent solution may be achieved...

That.

Listen to some of what FOTMD member Sam Edelston plays.  If you like it, you might want to chat with him directly--or anyone else whose music sits well with you.

@Skipii, Ken is correct that DAd and DAA are equivalent in terms of the notes and chords available.  Chord voicings are a bit different; they are more compact in DAA and a bit more expansive in DAd.   But you have exactly the same notes available to you in those two tunings, so any claim that one is better for chords than the other is pure nonsense.

There are two main limitations with either tuning.  The first is key, for you can only play in a handful of keys (D and Bm are  easy, G and Em are doable, A and F#m are a stretch, and anything else is near impossible). The second is that you still have a diatonic fretboard (which is why the keys are so limited).  Fretting across the strings allows you to get around some of the limitations of the fretboard, but not all of them.  Personally, I play dulcimers with both a 6+ and a 1+ fret to allow a greater variety of notes, chords, and keys.  You might consider adding those extra frets as well.

The answer to your question is that it doesn't really matter.  Most of us who play modern music tune to a 1-5-8 tuning such as DAd, so you will find more resources for that tuning.  That might be reason enough to tune that way.

I would suggest you listen to the dulcimer players who play the kind of music you want to play and ask them how they are tuned.

Patricia, I like the poetic interpretation, and can even imagine singing the song while holding a baby and then placing the baby into a crib as you sing "down will come baby."  However, I always assumed that in the same way that the old folk tales really were about starvation and death and infanticide (and in the case of Little Red Riding Hood, incest and bestiality), "Rock-a-Bye Baby" was about the dangers that beset infants in the pre-modern era, perhaps even infanticide, which was often due to "exposure," meaning babies were just left outside in the woods (maybe even in a treetop). In the end, we don't really know, do we?

Most dulcimers are tuned to DAA or DAd because those key of D tunings, are what most clubs play in -- particularly DAd. 

It's not hard to switch between the two tunings, but you chord players have to memorize different chord fingerings for each tuning.  Since you aren't interested in traditional music and dulcimers there's no reason to go into any other detail of the stylistic differences between the two tunings.  

BOTH tunings have equally accessible chords, although the DAd people would have you believe otherwise.  Some say DAA actually has more chords available. If you can't find much information on DAA chords, drop me a PM and I can send you a copy of the definitive article on the subject, by Merv Rowley (R.I.P.). 

Of course the chords you can achieve are only those associated with the key of D.  Other keynotes (the note to which the bass string is tuned) have other chords associated with them, of course.  To reach some of the other keynotes will require different gauges of strings to prevent string breakage (notably the bass string).  Unless you go totally modern and get an instrument with a chromatic fretboard (and IMHO are no longer playing a dulcimer), you will never have every chord available at any time.

Thanks Dusty, glad you liked the lullaby episode.

What's your interpretation of Rock-a-Bye Baby? Are you seeing a baby falling from a treetop? I'm kind of liking the more poetic interpretation.

New to me too!  :-)

The plot thickens. They look somewhat similar. The sound holes on mine seem a bit rounder hearts. The hook looks to be a better wood on the Oscar Schmidt.

I'm fairly new to dulcimers -- or least this time I'm paying attention to doing it right.. I see most dulcimers are tuned to DAD or DAA. Is there a parrticular style associated with each? It seems to me it would be a little hard to switch to the other once you have become accustomed to one and learn its chords. My interest, frankly, is not in traditional folk songs or hymns, but adapting some more modern music to the dulcimer. Is there one tuning that might be better for that?  Thanks for the help to a relative newbie. 

I think some of these dulcimers were branded Oscar Schmidt, weren't they?

Good to know, thanks! 

The Sears & Roebuck dulcimers were made in Korea by Hondo, at least in the same factory (with the same specs) as the Hondo dulcimers.  Not the first ones imported from the East but pretty good ones.

Regal also made a lot of guitars for Sears to be sold under their Silvertone label.

And yes, the original peg hole was moved. Not sure why anyone would do that. Looked like a perfectly good hole! Maybe for alternate tuning?

Sears carried Harmony-made instruments before they bought the company. They re-branded these instruments (still made by Harmony) Supertone, then branded as Silvertone. I’m curious about the dulcimers offered in the Sears catalog. Apparently they sold for $29.99! Can’t find any info on the inter webs.