Continuing my series of conversations with dulcimer players, here's a chat I had with Tony Gillam - how he first bought an upside-down French dulcimer; how he likes to play unexpected tunes; and about his music for well-being sessions.
https://mdconversations.blogspot.com/2019/09/7-tony-gillam-from-worcestershire-uk.html
Thanks @susie @robin-thompson and @steven-berger - I would love to meet up with Kendra and Bob and talk dulcimer heritage. Maybe we will persuade them to come over to the UK for a dulcimer festival sometime.
Ken, I so much appreciate that you will join in 
I am creating a list for me with all the participants and tunes they suggested - in case there will be duplications I will get in contact and would ask for the possibility of another tune.
Since the online calendar which I will be going to use only accepts links I would need a link of a youtube video or a soundcloud audio to copy into this calendar - a recording alone would not work.
Please let me have any further questions.
Yes, Robin, I am so very happy that Mark has given the only correct answer to your question if he liked to participate with you 
- I am looking forward to "your" Advent calendar little door.
I would like to participate. Are you compiling a list of Advent hymns to avoid duplication or do we just choose what we want to play and email you the recording?
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
wayyyyyyyyyyyy cooooooooooooool bluuuuuuuuuuuuuuue. aloha, irene
looks great can't wait to get it
I look forward to seeing what you decide to do with the fingerboard! Perhaps tied frets with Nylagut strings? Fretless is darn cool, too.
Doggone cool, John! I'd play it like a fretless. :)
See something a little different here? I've noticed that when I play the scale, I get "od-it-al-los-af-im-er-od..." Oh-- everything's BACKWARDS. This is a left-handed poplar Thomas dulcimore that was requested by a customer of mine.
Before sanding, you might want to try some Hill Peg Compound, which is a substance used by fiddle players to make the pegs turn more freely. I have used it successfully on a number of occasions to get a smoother and more accurate tuning with wooden tuning pegs. It comes in a tube (like chapstick) and is not expensive considering one tube will probably last you a lifetime. Just rub a little on the tuning peg where it makes contact with the peghead. You can purchase some on E-Bay if your local music store doesn't carry it.
Tied frets (a la Lute) will be 'way too soft with metal strings, and they'll cut the frets. If you want to use wooden frets, as Salt Spring suggests, use bamboo or ebony or Lignum vitae -- again, anything softer just won't work well; I know.... I tried.
A "removeable" fingerboard on top of that fretboard just isn't going to work. 99 and 44/100th percent of dulcimer builders decide well before hand what kind of fret setup they are going to use.
Installing conventional "mushroom" frets involves sawing really thin, undersized slots in the fretboard and then hammering the frets into the slots so they stay by friction. Installing traditional staple frets involves drilling pairs of teenie holes (.035" or so) and then bending large staples from oversize wire and hammering them into the holes.
If you're going to sand the pegs, use a VERY fine sandpaper -- 800 or 1000 grit. A TINY change in diameter makes a huge difference.
Better yet, take the pegs and dulcimer to a violin shop and ask them to correct the peg fit.
What a wonderful idea, Ariane! Mark & I look forward to participating. <3
PS- Some of the very best tunes are the simple ones. I'm not a "technical" player so simple tunes work well for me.
Hi tpatts,
Thank you very much for your interest.
Since Thursday (when I have posted it in the dulcimer facebook groups) 15 musicians have informed me that they will take part - from 4 of them I have already received the links.
There is no skill level required - it just should sound "good" (if simple or complicated) so that everybody who opens this calendar little door will enjoy it.
You know that even a simple melody can bring a smile on to one's face.
If there are more than 24 recordings - I could either make a second calendar or perhaps a kind of "between the years" calendar for the days from Christmas until New Year for example...
Sounds like a wonderful idea!
Is there a required skill level for players to be at? I’ve only been playing less than a year?
What happens if/when there are more recordings than days in advent?
The only problem I see with the ukulele tuners or banjo tuners is that the peg head wall is rather thin. I think you will need to use a shim of some sort to be able to affix the tuners properly.]
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Just wondering could you use wooden frets such as are used on some humle's........June Apple dulcimers has some pics of European zithers that use them and I suspect they are glued.........half the fret board for most of them if I remember correctly.
Another option is to get some Banjo tuners. I did put on some ukulele tuners on a small dulcimer and it looks good on that one....but your dulcimer here looks pretty big and to balance out the size of things, you might consider banjo tuners that are pictured in the above photo as you open this site. I just finished dulcimer #29 today and these are what I used. I like them very much. If you get them straight from China...cheap...and you don't know what you're getting. If you get them from a music store, if they don't work like you want them to...can take 'em back. I ordered them from a place in Kentucky...got 'em in 4 days. happy about that. $59.00. yep, you'd have to enlarge the holes. Where is this dulcimer made? aloha, irene
Aloha Irene! Thanks for the encouragement!
I'm still considering whether or not to set any frets in there. If I can get it play without, I'll just leave her fretless! ;)
Hm. A (thin) removable fretboard could be interesting; as could tied frets.
We shall see!
I was wondering that too Irene. Fretting a fretboard that is already installed is a major problem. Even if you use staple frets, all that hammering can do a LOT of damage...
No reason they won't work. You may have to enlarge the holes a bit -- it depends on the diameter of the shaft relative to the diameter of the hole. Check the specs on those Grover 8Ns for shaft size.
A few minutes work would have made those wooden tuners work just right...
this is coming along GREAT.....congratulations. you've not put the frets on the fretboard yet? hummmmmmm. Will you put frets on another piece of wood THEN put that part on the dulcimer with glue? ahhhhhhh, there are soooooooooooo many ways to make a dulcimer. A JOY FOR SURE. aloha, irene
The break looks pretty clean to me, judging from the picture. Since 80% of the wood is still integral with that big block thing, I'd be hesitant to cut off the remaining wood.
If it were mine, I'd just "freshen up the edges" of the fracture, fashion a bit of wood to fit, and stain it a nice contrasting colour! If it's an old instrument, dings and dents and cracks and repairs are just part of her life story.
As far as wood putty goes, I've had good luck using it to (functionally) restore a broken old oboe. One of the ancient block-pivot kinds. One of the blocks that held the key in place had been broken off. A glob of putty, a good bit of sanding and some dark stain at least allow the instrument to function properly, and from a distance the repair isn't terribly apparent.
Well, the dulcimer project is coming along nicely (I think)!
Bridge, nut, endplates, spacer, end pin and clip have all been fashioned and installed.
Am still playing around with fretted v. fretless.
An overall view of the front end:
Nut:
Closeup of the front end, showing a slight bowing up of the nose when strung up. Right now it's tuned CGc. The extra hitch pins and the fiddle end pin are intended to secure a wire clip that will clamp the floating bridge down when not in use, thus (hopefully) relieving tension stress on the sound board:
A view down into the body from the scheitholt arcade. As you can see, the fingerboard is hollow (hence the "scheitholt on a soundbox" description); and the sound board itself is wide open the whole length of the sound box, under the arcade:
I know John C. Knopf noted that Howie Mitchell's design has been discredited, but I'd beg to differ. While I don't know what the original concept for the design was supposed to be, I do know, with the nose pointing up that way you do get a nice bebung by pressing on the bridge! That's a pretty cool feature.
Personally, I think this instrument sounds lovely, nice and resonant. Though I'm still considering fretted v. fretless, I fear I made the bridge and nut too low --- anything but an open string sounds muddled. :/ I'm going to try raising up those two bits to see if I can get a clearer tone on the fingerboard.
Will Grover 8N geared Ukulele tuners work alright on a Dulcimer, before I go ahead and order any? I want to put them on that dulcimer I just bought, it has these infernal violin tuning pegs that are all seized, probably because they don't fit properly, they aren't ebony, and it's been really humid. Got 2 out of 3 out, but it took several days and a lot of patience with what I have to work with...
*** NEW International PROJECT ***
for a
MUSICAL Advent calendar
============================
So we need musicians who would like to fill this Advent calendar with own recordings of favorite Advent tunes preferably played on mountain or hammered dulcimer (other instruments are also welcome).
I will collect the links of your youtube video or soundcloud audio (it seems that I can only fill in links to the online calendar - no mp3) in the coming weeks (October and November) and create this Advent calendar and post it if possible here in the forum and in the dulcimer facebook groups for others and our joy.
I am very excited to see how you like this idea.
I have posted this idea in the dulcimer facebook groups yesterday - already 9 musicians answered and would like to participate.
Who else would like to join in?
Best wishes
Ariane
I just got off the phone with Jim Woods at McSpadden. One of our dulcimer friends has an old McSpadden -- 1967 vintage; and was told by Lynn McSpadden not to put anything else on there. Well, 50 years later, that dulcimer is just a bit dusty and in need of refreshing!!
Jim told me that "back in the day" they used "furniture wax" -- carnuba wax, that is -- on those dulcimers. So if you've got an oldie McSpad that needs a facelife, hunt up some carnuba wax and get polishing!
Kendra has so much musical history to share and is quite talented. I enjoyed the article, thank you.
Sounds delicious and comforting. Your words remind me of that Greg Brown tune "Canned Goods" .
Let the wild winter wind bellow and blow
I'm as warm as a July tomato.
There's peaches on the shelf, potatoes in the bin
Supper ready everybody come on in
Taste a little of the summer
Taste a little of the summer
Taste a little of the summer
Grandma put it all in jars.
I buckled down and made a BIG batch of green tomatillo sauce today, and canned it. Always a project to haul out the canning stuff.
I started with approx. 14 lbs of tomatillos (before husking), and finished up with about 16 nice looking pint jars. It also included 4 onions, 13 cloves garlic, 2 fresh garden red peppers, an entire large bunch of fresh cilantro, 1.5 cups lime juice, and 2 T. ground cumin. About 1 tablespoon each of ground black pepper, salt, and red pepper flakes.
My oh my but it tastes divine!
So satisfying to get the messy kitchen all cleaned up and hear the 'pinggg!' sound as each jar top dimple seals down while cooling. 
When the snow flies outside, every time we open a jar it'll bring back the taste of Summer.
