Appropriate string gauges are a function of the VSL and the open notes that you want to tune the string to. Use the Strothers String Calculator as a start point: http://strothers.com/string_choice.html
Plug the VSL and your desired open notes into the calculator and use those gauges. You can go a gauge higher without any problem as the calculator tends to give light values.
I've been saving up ripe tomatillos from my garden for the past 10 days, and had a giant bowl of them ready for today. I made my first green sauce!
After husking and washing the tomatillos, I cut them all in half, then quartered two onions and halved a large red italian pepper (also from my garden) and tossed all with a little olive oil and salt and black pepper. (I can't eat too hot spicy so I didn't use jalapeno hot type peppers. Mild hot is ok for me though.)
I spread everything out on a big broiling pan in one layer and roasted it in a 425 oven about 20 minutes til everything was soft and a bit of charring of the tops. That was more than enough cooking. Removed some of the liquid with a turkey baster, because there was really way too much liquid.
Spooned it all into the food processor and buzzed it just enough to to chop up the bigger onion/pepper pieces. The resulting chunky sauce all filled a 2 quart pyrex pitcher. I add a tablespoon or two of hot cilantro chutney, stirred that in, and then ladled into canning jars to keep in the refrigerator. Recipes say it should be good for like 6 or 8 weeks... plenty of time for us to eat it all up! It is reeeeally yummy!
There are way more green tomatillos still out there that are not ripe yet. I think the next batch would be accumulated and ready in a couple weeks. At that time I might make another batch but actually 'can' it with a hot water bath and seals so I can store it on a shelf for longer time, maybe give a few jars as Christmas presents.
As an experiment, I will be turning a inexpensive acoustic guitar into a bass/baritone strumstick.
3 strings, heavier gauges.
What should I use? Obviously regular bass guitar strings will be too heavy, should I just use the 3 lowest strings from the guitar, or should I go up a little from standard guitar strings?
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
Actually, Jethro Amburgey passed away in 1971. By that time he had made and numbered over a thousand instruments. The signature on this one is "M J Amburgey," dated 3-7-76, and is #42. So I would guess it was made by another member of his family, perhaps a son. Someone else who knows more about this stuff than I do can bring more information to the table.
No matter. It looks like a very nice instrument in excellent condition. Enjoy!
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!
I had a Keith Johnson hourglass which I sold to another member here. It was well made and sounded good. Mine had handmade pegs instead of geared tuners. I enjoyed it while I had it, and its new owner enjoys it now.
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.
