He gets jealous & wants attention. 

At least he doesn't get as upset as when I try to play the concertina.  I presume it, my Native American flutes, my ocarinas all hurt his ears.  I try to not play when he's in the house, but really need to get back to the concertina.  (Held off while my wrist recuperated -- see the discussion on the thumb -- & forgot it.  Need to start all over, especially as it will exercise my wrist.)

(I notice he doesn't mind my husband's banjo playing.)

Just went down to the start of this discussion & see we should give "And where did you learn them from?"  Beans came along with waaaay too many songs from being a camper & camp counselor.  Folklorists might be able to pry the sources out from me further, but then there's all the additional years as a children's librarian. 

Guess I should contribute something to the discussion.  If I'm strictly honest about how my dulcimer was used, just this past summer (many libraries are cooperatively doing an astronomical Summer Reading program theme to celebrate the moon landing anniversary) I told an Australian story about the sun that ended with the Kookaburra.  I then did the song's 2 verses that are more standard & added the 1 an Australian friend told me years ago about:

Kookaburra sits on the electric wire

Setting all his tail on fire

Stop, Kookaburra,

Stop, Kookaburra,

Hot your tail must be.  (ouch, ouch, ouch!) -- do those ouches with your hands off the dulcimer as if they're burning up.

* * *

See your children's librarian for LOTS more material.

@Dusty Turtle, I like your addition & trust it's given as Creative Commons for all of us to use.  I learned the song as the dog's name was Porkin.  Chili & Jelly are actually a bit neater as you don't have the problem wanting to change to the plural.

The version I knew went:

My dog Porkin loves to roam,

One day he came roaming home,

Full of fleas and very unclean,

Where in the world has Porkin Bean?

Finally got a chance to look the book up -- you may be able to borrow it depending on your library's inter-library loan situation.  I got the title slightly wrong <Gasp!>  It should be Caring for the Painful Thumb by Jan Albrecht & if you go to Amazon it's 35.99!  You see why I recommend borrowing it if possible?

I have a few exercises I do when my thumbs get sore & so far haven't needed more.  My time in therapy is due to breaking my wrist 2 years in a row, so I try for every other day on that & my thumbs as needed.

Terry, I'm very grateful for the blessings I have in life, at least at this point in time.   :)

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

MY GUESS      33  

Do you think the cobbler could survive being mailed to the west coast? I'll gladly take some off your hands.

Still picking tons of blueberries.  I'm making a blueberry cobbler (8x8 glass pan) almost every day.  The bushes look like maybe another two weeks to go. Somehow my husband and I are just managing to keep up with eating them without having to preserve any.  I guess we can get back to less fattening stuff after the blueberries finish.  That's when the tomatoes kick in.  :)  We feel like bears during berry season, gorging ourselves. 
I'm also having bowls of yogurt with our own blueberries and raspberries, topped with walnuts.  Eating extra yogurt to recover my gut from having taken doxycycline for 5 days after a tick bite.  Dang ticks ruin all the fun!  We never walk in the woods or fields anymore due to ticks, but sometimes they get us even in our small backyard, like when I work in the veggie garden or pick our raspberries, or work near the beehives. 

I went to a Cajun 2-step dance party at a local pub, with pretty good cajun band.  A new experience for me, a little outside my comfort zone. I didn't expect to see more than 1 person I knew, but several people i know, and also a few contra dancers I know showed up.  I guess we were all there in order to get some dancing in.  They gave a modest lesson beforehand for a few minutes, and it was all real casual, so I didn't feel too embarrassed.  Everybody danced with everyone there...all nice folks.  It definitely wasn't as much movement as a zumba class (or as contra dancing either) but it was more fun than zumba for me, and my pedometer claimed i did about 6,000 steps during the dancing.
I'm going this Saturday to an all day outdoor festival that features a huge dance tent with contra dancing almost all day and night.  I'll get there before lunch and leave around 11pm or so like last year.  HUUUUUGE workout, which is why I'm trying to get a few zumba classes and other dancing under my belt  beforehand.

29

Huzzah!  Huzzah!  

TODAY July 29th, 2019 is FOTMD's 10th anniversary!!!!

Only 3 days left to enter the contest- don't miss out!!  FIVE chances to win prizes!

(please enter only ONE time)

Ah so deska...  Thanx.

If anyone here would like to get on the Farcebook EverythingDulcimer page, send me a PM here at FOTMD.

480

In the center under the Everything Dulcimer banner is a box you click on. It says "Invite Members" .

Bob -- that's more info than I got when I posted about the Secret page a month or more back.  How do we Invite people?

Strumelia, I posted this concern as a new topic there today and got several responses: if anyone is in FB, a member can invite them.

Unfortunately it seems the ED facebook group continues to be secret/hidden from public view. It's been almost two months now. 

437

Well there is a ton of good advice here that will obviously help.  One thing I would do is check my tuner and make sure that is accurate or at least reasonably accurate and that it is set to A440.  Some folk say that does not make any difference but it seems to do so if it is far enough off. (I use a Korg tuner, those clip on just never worked well for me).

Another thing you might do is make sure the tuning keys are tight and not slipping when you press down on the strings.  I had one that after a few years the screw that held them firm had loosened and every time I pressed a string it would loosen just enough to throw the contraption out of whack.  This really good to know if the action is a bit to high and the pressure on the string puts enough tension on the string to move the tuner gear. It gets worse the further up the board you go.

I always tune strings when the string is vibrating....it is easier to see where you are at, just make sure that you give it a good solid strum.  Wimpy strums will make it impossible to tune accurately.

And last, put some new strings on it if you have not already done so.  

The explanation between different temperaments below is primo.........if it is just temperment, the tuner can help but it will be next to impossible to get 100% in tune from the tuner.  

And do post a pic of your dulcimer, I would love to see it since old dulcimers are becoming my thing lately.

Beverly, a couple of closeup photos would really help here-  one of the bridge with the strings in the slots... and another of the nut and including the first three frets.

Are the strings ancient?  Sometimes really old strings can sound a little out of tune when fretted.

This topic remains important & I recommend prowling for Care of the Painful Thumb.  Occupational Therapists recommend it.  Just having a few exercises to strengthen the muscles involved can really help.  I was also told women have naturally weaker thumbs.  I find exercise when mine hurt help.

Not sure if tart cherries & its juice truly help, but it's delicious & I know somebody who swears by it for arthritis.

Apologies for bringing up so late, but it is a problem that hits many.

376

Trying to catch back posts from times too busy to check in here.

I suspect the bridge may have been accidentally moved and not put exactly back in place.  As little as 1/16" -- 1/8" would make all the difference.

WHO made you dulcimer? It should say on a label stuck to the inside bottom, if you look through the rear soundholes.  Also, a close-up photo of the top and side of the bridge would be a big help.  We might be able to see evidence of a move there.

Is Your Dulcimer Just-Tempered or Equal-Tempered?

Another possibility is the type of scale.  Back in 1973 many dulcimer builders were still making dulcimers with a just-tempered scale.  In just-tempered scales the frets are placed to get the best fit with the bass and middle drones.  The idea is to get a sweet blending of the melody, which is changing in pitch as you fret at different locations, and the drones which remain constant in pitch.

Most modern dulcimers have equal-tempered scales.  In equal-tempered scales the frets are placed to get the sweetest harmonies when playing chords.  The difference between the two is slight, but it is noticeable.

Traditionally, dulcimers were fretted by ear to get the melody string to blend well with the drones.  Dulcimer players weren't playing chords back in the old days. They used the traditional just-tempered scale.  Some builders, such as Leonard and Clifford Glenn, continued to fret their dulcimers in this manner throughout the 20th century.  

However, many modern builders adopted a guitar-like approach, which adjusted the frets slightly from the just-tempered scale to get purer sounding chords.  They used an equal-tempered scale.  Most modern dulcimers use this scale.

If you have a good ear you will be able to tell the difference.  Chords won't sound quite right with a just-tempered scale.  And the blending of melody and drones won't sound quite right with an equal-tempered scale.

Did your bridge move?

All that being said, if there is evidence that your bridge has moved, it is an easy fix.  It may take some patience as you may need to move the bridge several times to find the best location.  When you do, I'd mark the location of the bridge to make sure you can relocate the bridge if it moves again.  If your bridge has moved, it is not attached to the fingerboard, and it should slide easily when the strings are loosened.

Were the frets misplaced when the dulcimer was built?

Unfortunately, a large number of dulcimers were built with inaccurate fretting.  If that is the case there is not much you can do short of having the instrument refretted by a professional.  Remember, the ear develops over time and becomes more sensitive to slight differences in pitch.  When I first began playing I relied totally on an electronic tuner.  As the years passed, I discovered the strings still needed a slight adjustment (fine-tuning if you will) after the first run-through with the electric tuner.  I can now easily tune by ear.  When you purchased the dulcimer in 1973, it sounded fine and the scale seemed accurate.  Now, your ear is more sensitive to slight differences.  It could be due to the type of scale (just or equal-tempered) or it could be that the instrument wasn't fretted correctly in the first place and your ear didn't hear the difference at that point in your musical development.

I tune the open strings to DAD, but the rest of the frets don't follow suit.  For example, my open melody string will be tuned to D, but the E on the first fret is slightly off pitch.  And the F# on the second fret is off pitch even more, etc.  I hope that's a clearer explanation of what's happening.

I'm pretty sure it used to be in tune when I first bought it.  Whatever has happened seems to have happened over the years.  If it is the bridge that is the issue, then that would be repairable? 

Thanks for your responses!

26" is shorter than most standard McSpaddens.  You are also tuning CGC- lower than the most common standard tunings. The combination of these two factors means your strings are a little bit looser than normal setups.  Looser strings means when you pluck them (or pull offs), the arc at which they vibrate will be wider... they'll move more when vibrating.  This makes them accidentally buzz against one or more frets.

You can make those strings a bit more taut by one of two ways:  either tune UP a step to DAd and play in the key of D, OR simply get some slightly thicker gauge strings and put those on.  Thicker strings will be tighter even if you stay in CGC.  Look for strings that are just one step thicker-  for example if the current string is .022 get .024 instead.  
That's probably all you need to do for the buzzing to be gone. Fresh strings that are a wee bit heavier... thus tighter with less wild vibration arc when plucked.

What Banjimer said!  The frets have not moved.    The bridge may have moved.  A reasonable close-up photo showing the whole instrument and a close-up of the bridge area would be helpful.

You're tuning to a specific fret?  We don't really do that.  We tune the dulcimer strings to DAA, DAd or something else, and then press the melody string(s) down at a specific fret (or make chords using all three courses of strings.  Sorry if that sounds simplistic, I'm trying to understand.

When you aren't fretting, are the strings staying in tune at DAA, DAd or whatever you are tuned to?   You say you "get one fret right but the others are off".  Do you mean you are not getting a 'good' do, re, mi, fa... scale as you move up the frets on the melody string or on all three strings?  

The frets haven't moved since they are placed securely in the fretboard.  However, the bridge may have moved which would explain some frets being in tune and others out of tune.

Another possibility is that the dulcimer was never fretted accurately when the instrument was made, and you are just beginning to notice it now that you have more experience and are playing it more.

Do you know who made the dulcimer?  Many dulcimers were constructed by amateurs unfamiliar with how to correctly place the frets and/or the bridge.  The most likely explanation is that the bridge has moved and needs to be placed back in the correct position.  Measure the distance from the nut to the 7th fret.  The bridge should be approximately twice that distance from the nut.  For example, if the 7th fret measures 13 1/2 inches from the nut, the bridge should be roughly 27 inches from the nut.

I got my first dulcimer in 1973.  Now the frets seem to be out of alignment because it is impossible to tune--I get one fret right but the others are off.  I think it may be because (I'm sad to admit) I didn't take proper care of it, and left it in a dorm room that wasn't temp controlled over the holidays. Is this something that can be repaired? 

482

360

and good going 10 years :-) 

134

104

Hard to believe, it seems like yesterday. 

223