Forum Activity for @paula-brawdy

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What every mountain dulcimer player needs to try...I've had mountain oysters when I lived out west in Texas & Oklahoma. Actually, very tasty. 

A hot dog is weird enough for me. Who even knows what it's made of?  Probably all that stuff that @Phroedrick lists as a no go.

Ate smoked duck heart once on a salad in France. It was tasty.

Ordered scrapple by accident in a greasy spoon in Pennsylvania or maybe the Jersey shore.  I won't do it again.

There are lots of Mexican joints around town that serve fresh menudo on weekends. On Saturday nights especially the line to some of these places can run for blocks.  I won't touch the stuff.  Sorry.

Inside the nut to the 7th fret (not 12th) and double that.  Gives you a really close start point for the inside of the bridge.  You may need a minor tweak plus or minus...

How "old" is "older"?  Are you talking 70s or 50s?

Well I learned a mildly clever song from Stephen Seifert.  I think he just called it "Chili Bean."  My daughter and I added a verse.

The main verse goes

My dog Chili likes to roam

One day Chili ran from home

Came back looking not so clean

Where oh where has Chile bean?

Then there's a verse about a horse named Pinto and so forth,  My daughter and I wrote this verse:

My fish Jelly likes to roam

One day Jelly swam from home

Came back purple, red and green

Where oh where has Jelly bean?

Mark & I do Down the Road together and once in a great while I'll play mountain dulcimer on part of it/take breaks on it.  (It is so hard for me to sing and play at the same time!)

In the song "my old hat's got a hole in the top" and "rocks in the road as big as a churn".  We sing choruses and if I'm on MD there are breaks.  

I like cow's tongue, but not Rocky Mountain Oysters are too chewy for me.  I love cabrito -- we have Cuban restaurants around here who do a sort of goat osso bucco which is outstanding.  

My Dad fixed tongue [cow] which was then sliced. Had some good haggis and neeps [mashed turnips] in Scotland. Germans have magen [tripe] soup and pickled herring sandwiches. Both are good. Fifty- fifty beer and carbonated lemonade [Germany]. Tried menudo, bleh and cabrito [young goat]. Supreme pizza with anchovies. Alligator and some of the other regional Southern foods, most of which is pretty good [that I've tried]. I'm sure there are more western European dishes I've tried, but it's been 30+ years ago.

Tried Crow a few times, don't like it at all.

When plucked, the string will vibrate to produce sound.  I'm certainly no expert, but I suspect the buzzing is related to two factors: 1.) the direction in which you are plucking the string and  2.) the space between the string and nearby frets.

If the plucking finger is pulled off "parallel" to the fingerboard you will have less buzzing because the string vibrates from side to side making it less likely to contact nearby frets.  If the plucking finger is pulled up in a "perpendicular"  direction from the fretboard you may have more buzzing because the string vibrates up and down making it more likely to make contact with nearby frets.

Obviously the space between the string and nearby frets will also play a part.  The string is closest to the frets at the peghead end of the fretboard.  This may explain why you are experiencing the buzzing only at the 1st and 2nd fret.

Since the string only buzzes when you do pull-offs I suspect it is related to number 1 above, but it may be related to how forcefully you pluck the string.

I get buzzes which seem to be weather-related.  Just a thought.  Though the wood is no longer living as a tree, it 'lives' in a different way now, subject to all sorts of changes. 

Yup, the black pudding is OK and some of the Haggis I've had is pretty good.   But the Tom Thumb was pretty rough.........it was basically organ meat and suet, fermented then smoked.  Even that can be ok, depending on what meats are used and how it is smoked.  Same with the Hassel, only it is stewed instead of made into the sausage then potato, onion etc. added.   I guess it's the lungs (lights) that bugged me.

I'm with you on the tripe, the noodle and noodles. 

Without actually watching you, I suspect it's your technique at fault, not the dulcimer.  Especially since it's not an every-time thing. 

Your cheap guitar doesn't do it because,  1. You've been playing guitar longer; and 2.  The mechanics/physical movements of a pull off with your hand wrapped around a neck vs. your hand on top of the fretboard are two completely different things.  Apples and oranges.

VSL and tuning shouldn't matter one iota, unless your strings are a very wide mis-match for the tuning. and the strings are very floppy.

I eat Haggis and Black (a.ka. Blood) Pudding every time we go to the UK.  I actually like both and would rather eat them than American Scrapple or Head Cheese, Braunschweiger or Goose Liver pate.  I'm not otherwise fond of organ meats -- particularly the Mexican soup called Menudo -- cow stomach tripe in broth.

I've had Potted Rabbit, too, which appears in those Victorian novels, and is just a nice patè -- like Deviled Ham but not spicy -- and goes great on crackers.  Very tasty.

The one thing I've eaten that I'll never touch again unless protocol and international relationships are at stake is Monkey Brains.  I was served this delicacy at a Vietnamese party; a homecoming for my housemaid's husband.  Doesn't taste like much except spicy chiles, but has a weird texture... Blah!

Tom Thumb, a type of Haggis...........common among the Carolina Scotts of days gone by...........I think you can only develop a taste for it after a couple of pulls off a Mason Jar full of fresh shine (check for bubbles).  The other thing some folks used to fix was called hog hassel, same beverage applies. 

When I am practicing pulls offs on the Bass and Middle strings on the 1st and @nd frets, sometimes I get a buzz and sometimes not. Seems like I have to pull off very lightly. Is this due to my technique or lack of technique? I just got a wonderful sounding McSpadden so I hope it is me and not the instrument. My cheapest guitar doesn’t do it when I pull off. 

Any suggestions? Thanks

FYI, it is a 26”vsl and I do tune mostly in CGC because my Dulcimer tunes to CGC.

A blast from the past:

https://fotmd.com/forums/forum/off-topic-discussions/3354/fotmd-one-year-anniversary-on-july-29th-2010#r3378

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I have had good luck purchasing the nut for an acoustic guitar and using that as the saddle, what you are calling the bridge.  The saddle (bridge) is what transmits most of the string vibrations to the soundbox which in turns amplifies the sound.  Your choice of material will influence the sound of your dulcimer.  Yes, wood works.  Softer woods will produce a softer sound with more overtones.  The harder the wood, the crisper the sound.  Some musicians will use very hard substances, including brass, to get a sharp twangy sound.

My personal favorite is to purchase a guitar nut made from bone.  (Try ebay, less than$5, less than $1 if you can wait on shipping.)  You will need to cut slots for the strings, in a pinch a common hacksaw will work.  The clean sound produced will reward your efforts.

Thanks to all of you. I now know what I have to do.

I have 2 Warren May dulcimers and a Ken Hamblin...........all needed new floating bridges............got a couple of chopsticks and cut the square end, sanded them level to proper height, notched the little stinkers and they worked just fine.  You can also go to a craft store/hardware store buy a dollar square dowel and shave a triangle piece off it, cut to length and notch it............ tune the middle string to the octave, angle it for the others and tune the rascal up........there should be a piece in this forum by pristine2 that will tell you how to do that............have fun. 

Like KenH I searched Google Images for pictures of Richard Wilson dulcimers.  This is the only link I could find with a close-up of the tail end of the dulcimer showing the bridge.  You may have to sift through the pictures of the dulcimer to find the one with the close up of the bridge.  Incidentally, the bridge looks movable and appears to be held in place only by the string tension.

https://reverb.com/item/2775553-1989-richard-denise-wilson-diamond-designs-hearts-dulcimer-like-new-with-case-paperwork

I'm not sure if all Wilson dulcimers had similar bridges, but this one looks like it was made from maple.  If this one is any indication, Richard probably used whatever hardwood scraps he had left over after making dulcimers.

At one time I had one of their dulcimers, but I couldn't find a photo of it in my files. If I recall correctly it had a triangular shaped bridge and was made of walnut or rosewood. I'll try and do some more searching to see if can find a photo.

Okay, I was wrong. From the photos I found on the internet the bridge was rectangular or square in profile rather than triangular. It looks like the bridge matched the wood of the fretboard.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Skip's instructions are good, but it would be nice to see  a picture of the dulcimer, and a close up of the nut.  Was the original bridge wood or some other material.   Basically you make a wedge about 3/8" tall by 1/4" wide by 1-3/4" or however wide your fretboard is.  

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You couldl probably make it yourself, which is pretty easy. Just about any hard material will work, a threaded rod, hard wood, hard plastic, corian, etc, as long as you can shape it. Start with a piece 1/4" thick x 3/8" high x 1 3/4" long. The 3/8 will be the fret board to string starting dimension, it should be a bit higher than needed to create a nickel space from the top of the 7th fret to the strings. Taper the length by sanding on the 1/4" surface so one of the 3/8 sides is about 5/16 or so. Use a triangle file or nick the sharp edge on the 3/8 side of the tapered edge for the strings [ match the slots on the nut]. They don't need to be very deep, just enough to locate the strings. The 3/8 side is the one that will face the nut. Sand the bottom [opposite] 1/4 surface, keeping it square, until you get the nickel spacing. I would keep the nickel space on the plus side [about the thickness of a credit card] to allow for string wear-in. Sand the ends to fit the width of the fretboard. Done. 

I have a nice Richard and Denise Wilson dulcimer that's been sitting unplayed for years because its bridge has been long since lost. It's a simple floating bridge. Is a replacement available or does it have to be hand made? If I need to make it, can anyone give advice on shape, material, etc? Thanks for any helpful information.

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@Dan The young lady playing with Hunter is his sweetheart, Gray Buchanan.  

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Can't find credit for the young lady with him?

In my humble opinion, Hunter shines even more in a stringband setting and in support of other players-- he knows when to be in and when to not.  A young master, indeed.   

A BIG hug and much gratitude to the members who help support this site with their kind donations, both large and small.

But did you know that most of the folks who donate are much the same people, over and over?  It'd be great to see a few new/different people step up occasionally. It costs me about $70 per month out of pocket to maintain Friends of the Mountain Dulcimer.  I and our 6 Moderators all freely volunteer our time and effort as a labor of love.  Member donations and for sale ad sponsors 'usually' provide enough to cover our monthly server and software fees... but not always.  

This month, FOTMD celebrates its TENTH Birthday!!!!!! 
THANK YOU to those few members whose donations help cover the continuing costs of keeping FOTMD up and running!    

If anyone else who has never before donated cares to chip in , even as little as $10 every year or two- it helps, believe me!  

Just use the Paypal button on our site's Home page.  (Remember that if you donate $35 or more, your Profile page will show a "Patron" banner designation under your profile page member photo for a year.)

The fact that this site is funded almost entirely from member donations speaks so highly of all the folks who are part of the FOTMD family.    

Thank you thank you thank you  !!

Hey i stumbled on this auction of a kantele on Ebay, and it looks pretty nice, at a good price, thought I'd share it here in case anyone is interested (i have no connection to the auction).  In the auction it's described as a 'dulcimer', btw.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/264403850737?ul_noapp=true

Thanks for posting this, Robin. When I first discovered the dulcimer on YouTube about ten years ago, Hunter was already a child prodigy and I learned a lot from some of his videos.  He seems to have stopped posting the last few years, so I didn't know he was still playing old timey music and had added fine clawhammer banjo to his toolkit.