Forum Activity for @sam

So cute and they DO love to ride. 

Gracie doesn't do 'wait' very well.

Wow, @tautwire, you have a cute little adventuous one there!  

Steve, no worries about the accidental delete!  I also look forward to your further conversations.  Though I'm far away from the UK, I follow Nonsuch's happenings a bit and enjoy doing so. 

The response post I accidentally deleted was from @Robin-Thompson. Just found that out from my e-mail. This is what he said: Steve, I enjoyed your interview with Karen!  I had the pleasure of meeting her, being introduced by Julie Elman.

Thanks Robin. I am looking forward to meeting Karen when she comes over to teach in the UK later this year. 

I have just accidentally deleted my post from yesterday when trying to reply to Robin (?). Apologies Robin.

Here's a bit of the original post again. I was intending to write an article for the Nonsuch Dulcimer Club's newsletter and started off some e-mail "conversations" with other mountain dulcimer players. The conversations were so interesting that I decided to post them on a blog. Here is the first of them. Enjoy:  https://mdconversations.blogspot.com/2019/08/1-karen-buglass-from-rockville-maryland.html

Lois, you could create and name a new photo Gallery and then use the gallery's "+" button to add photos to the gallery.

BUT if your goal is to ask if people know who made your dulcimer, then you'd get a lot more responses if you just ASK that question in a new discussion in our Instruments/luthiers Forum:
https://fotmd.com/forums/forum/instruments-discuss-specific-features-luthiers-instrument-problems-questions
Notice that that forum has quite a few discussions asking who might have made a particular dulcimer.

Many people don't notice descriptions in a gallery or a photo. But a forum discussion, with pictures, WILL get more reads and more replies. A photo or photo gallery is not a great place to try to start a discussion or ask questions. Mostly people will just say "beautiful dulcimer!" when they comment on a photo. Discussion are easiest to conduct in Forums.

I suggest you create your new discussion in the appropriate forum (as I linked above), and then read the following thread for instructions on how to add your photos into your discussion posts :

https://fotmd.com/forums/forum/site-questions-how-do-i/33874/how-do-i-attach-photos-to-a-post

Go to your page.  Click on boxed word Photos below the dark yellow bar.  A page called Photo Galleries comes up.  Click the +  then give the gallery a name, and select pix to upload (you can only upload 6 per day).  I just did that with my Burnsville Holly Leaf build.

I have 1 photo in my photos section that I somehow acquired from the Berea Gathering.  I have 6 photos I would like to post and ask if anybody recognizes who made my Swan-shaped Dulcimer.  I can select them from my files & they range from 87.5 KB to 181 KB, so that should be smaller than the 1.5 MB it says is the maximum.  I click the Select Images to Upload box on my Photos tab, open the photo in my file and drop it on the Select Images box, where the title appears in a green box (but no photo).  There the size goes from 87.5kB to 0.2MB with all but 1 of the 6 either 0.1 or 0.2 MB.  What step am I missing?  While I'm at it I'd like to group all 6 together, titling it Swan-shaped Dulcimer and in the gallery description say where I bought it as a clue & ask if anybody recognizes the signature & logo on it and the instrument.

I am curious to know if Black Mountain Instruments out of California is still in business. Does anyone know? I looked online and have the impression that they are not still making dulcimers. Thanks

Yep...that one was made by Morris, Jethro's son.  Jethro was my 2nd Great Uncle, Morris my cousin.  My Aunt Mavis has one of Jethro's and I have one of Morris' - mine is dated 5/27/99 #190....

Yes that is my mother! Glad to hear she found you!

That was my Grandfather! So glad to hear you enjoyed it!

Yep.  The Stew Mac calculator is pretty good. 

I also use WFret a free program from the Musical Instrument Makers Forum.   I like WFret because it allows you to print out a paper pattern that you can tack-glue to the fretboard and literally cut-on-the-dotted-lines, rather than mis-transferring numbers from a spreadsheet to wood.  

For Just Intonated fret spacing on my Traditional dulcimers with staple frets, I use the calculator developed by Rob Reinsal here several years ago.  It's discussed here:  https://fotmd.com/strumelia/group_discuss/2457/latest-ji-calculator

Kim, how exciting that you are investigating your family history. I enjoy learning about the early dulcimers and builders. I really like the traditional sound.

Was happy to run across this forum.  Jethro Amburgey was my 2nd great uncle, making his son Morris a cousin.  My aunt has one of Jethro's dulcimer's and I have one of Morris'.  The article below adds a bit to our family history.

This Saturday was the first pleasant Saturday all summer to play on my porch, so I got a head start. Only had a hour to spare but it was time well spent!. Cherokee shuffle, Over the waterfall, Seneca square dance, Boatman, Girl I left behind, Big Sioty, Saint Ann's reel. And some basic noodling, I love noodling...

Still looking forward to it here!  really want to play Werner Van Rillaer's "The Artist", but I cannot, cannot figure out his DAG tuning.  It's the G melody string that doesn't sound right?  His sounds lower?  I always tune by ear from online....  LOL

I'll be playing, but I live in the woods...nobody's gonna hear me 'cept the fire ants!

I'm going to add that tune, "You Gotta Move" that Bobby Ratliff does.  I was going to cut under and around this tree and a storm came up so I decided to wait until Monday........

@dulcimerbill & @salt-springs-- wonderful!  Gonna be lots of music played around the front porch of the world on 31 August. 

:) Strumelia 

Thanks for the timely reminder, Robin! 

Oh yes...........I'm planning on doing some tunes from, South of the Border and loud too!......Ahem! 

Great information!  I didn't know until now about just intonation or natural temperament.  I read through the linked discussion thread about JI and that describes it perfectly.  And yes, the length of the first fret is less than the length of the second so I believe that confirms it.  I'm pretty sure when I was first learning to play years ago, I was playing melody/drone style and not chords so I wouldn't have noticed it then.  I'll also try tuning to DAA to see if that makes a difference.

Thanks, everyone, for all your help!  I learned a lot from this discussion.

Being just newbies, my wife and I are looking forward to Playing Music on the Porch. Our neighbors may not like it though! LOL

Three weeks away, friends-- always the last Saturday in August! 

If it were me, I'd fashion a tailblock from a 1/4" piece of complimentary wood and make the top of it the bridge, as shown in  photo of my recent build.  Instead of the single large string-pin in the tail, use three brass brads/tacks to hold the string loops.  Of course you could make the tailpiece thicker -- a little, or a lot and notch it on top to install an ordinary bridge.

Howie Mitchell's "floating bridge" design has been largely discredited.  This design tends to allow the bridge end of the fretboard to bow up.  Some folks just glue a filler piece of wood in the gap to solidify things.  The sound doesn't suffer much from the modification.

It looks like the bottom of the fretboard is made to float. Howie Mitchell advocated this design in one of his early books. Following his plans, the hitch pins were attached to the fretboard.

A nice looking dulcimer!

Like most instruments made by makers who favour just intonation (aka 'natural temperament') Warren's dulcimers do not really 'like' DAd tuning.  If you tune it to DAA I bet it will sound sweet and lovely, particularly in melody/drone style - but simple chords will sound glorious too.

Greetings!  Was directed here from Chiff & Fipple, and am glad I found this forum!

So, I cam across this dulcimer recently and hope that perhaps a maker or knowledgeable player can help with some questions!

First, of course, if anyone can tell by looking who made it, I'd be grateful to learn that much!

As it is, its seems mostly finished. It's a three string instrument with nicely carved scroll, handmade tuning pegs, hollow & fretless fingerboard, transverse bars on the back (one in the upper bout, one in the lower), nicely carved and indented sound holes, inlaid purfling and a very curious cut-out design at the lower end of the instrument.

Obviously, it needs a nut and either one or two end plates where the end pins will be inserted. 

The nut up at the scroll end is easy enough to sort out. But down at the lower end, the top of the instrument has been deliberately cut in such a way and has not been glued to the block in such a way that the fingerboard and instrument top can be (slightly) lifted and depressed.

My main questions are: 

What is the purpose of this design?
Where should the hitch pins be attached? On the end of the fingerboard, or on the block that the body is attached to.

I'm wondering if this is some kind of "buzzing bridge" like arrangement that one finds on hurdy-gurdies.

There are no maker's marks or labels of any kind. It appears to be extremely well crafted and fitted together. I'd really like to get this working properly, and it's obviously more of a job than just nailing a couple old fiddle strings on there!

Thanks in advance for any help!

Picture 1 shows how the cut-out part of the top of the instrument is definitely not glued to the block.
Picture 2 shows a detail of the scroll and pegs, hopefully for identification!
Picture 3 shows a broad view of the cut-out in the lower bout.

 Dulcimer 3.jpg - 186KB