Forum Activity for @tanstaafl

Here are a couple of pictures.  THere are no markings inside to indicate maker and such.

 dulcimer.jpg - 96KB

Contra dancing is very popular here.  Because I was new, the regulars made sure I didn't sit a dance out.  Whew, what a workout.  Sometimes I go just to listen to the music and watch the dancers.  People have so much fun and some dress in old timey outfits.  What I like is that adults dance with kids and no one is left out.  Boy can those kids dance.  Nina

There are so many nice things about contra dancing.  Since you typically dance with a different person there for every dance, you don't need to come to the dance with a partner.  Since every dance is taught beforehand, you don't need to memorize any dances, ever.  You just learn various short moves (do-si-do, circle left, swing, lines forward and back, allemande,) and once you know about 8 or 10 moves you see that the dances are simply combining the moves in various sequences that are so cool.  Then you can forget the dance you just learned and try a new one, using the same moves.  And the caller helps with verbal prompts through the whole first half of each dance until people can remember what comes next.   :)

I raised a "stink" on the page this afternoon, when I noticed that it wasn't set to Private or even Closed.  Instead it was set to Secret!!!!  Now 30 or more page members have responded one way or another, and hopefully the Admin will wake up!

There are several other Facebook Dulcimer groups, if you are interested:

"Mountain Dulcimer Players", "Support the Mountain Dulcimer an American Instrument" and "Mountain Dulcimer" are Public Groups.

"Discovering Dulcimers", "Lets Make Dulcimers", "Noter Style Dulcimer Players", are Closed Groups but you can ask to join.

These are very nice groups and very informative, and you could probably find many others as well!

Yeah I'm not sure why it's taking so long.

@John-C-Knopf is correct.  A six-string dulcimer is just tuned as a three-string dulcimer with each string doubled.  So if it's a standard size, DD-AA-AA or DD-AA-dd would work.

Of course, just because a dulcimer can take up to six strings doesn't mean you have to use them.  I have a six-string dulcimer but sometimes only put on three strings.

Photos!!  As John sez, 6-stringers are usually 3 couplets rather than 6 equidistant.  Is there a maker's label inside?   

I wonder if it's an old six-string kit that someone lost the instructions to, so they set it up like a guitar....

That seems unusual for a dulcimer.  Usually if a dulcimer has six strings, they are arranged in 3 pairs on the fretboard.  Each string pair (or "course") have a distance of about 1/8" between them, so they can be played as one string.

Tuning is generally in the DAA or CGG range (Ionian or Major mode) if it's a conventional length dulcimer.  Each pair is tuned alike.  Do you have any photos of it?

A friend of my daughter has a old, very rustic 6 string dulcimer - she wondered if it's tunable and playable.  I'm a bit of a novice with the variations of dulcimers, so don't know if this is odd or not.  It has six strings, all equally spaced, like a guitar.  Is that type of string arrangement common?  To what notes should such an instrument be tuned? 

Hey Steve, you are in LUCK....there's a FABULOUS dulcimer/banjo/ukulele/"squeezebox"....festival in Palestine, Texas.   I've been there for 3 years and some marvelous squeeze box folks come to that festival.  2 years now there has been this gal from England.  (boy, is she good) she was a champion in England for several years.  such a beautiful clear voice.  Find out about it and you'll fit right in.  AND you can get on with the dulcimer too!!  aloha, irene

If I were you, I'd start with a prepared bone blank from any of a number of online sources, such as eBay, C.B.Gitty, and the like.  The dust that is generated is smelly and dangerous to breathe, so use a mask or respirator when you sand or cut bone. Same goes for mother-of-pearl (MOP).

Along with others, I am happy to answer any questions you have about building dulcimers, etc. I started building in 1974 but only as a hobby. I've sold a few over the years, Right now I'm more in to making reproductions of old dulcimers and Pennsylvania German zitters.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I purchase bone for guitar nuts and saddles from Stewart-MacDonald. Dan's eBay source looks good too. A lot depends on the size of bone you need for the dulcimer nut and bridge and how much you are will to work it down. Some folks don't like the odor created when cutting, filing, and sawing bone. If you really want to start from scratch you can probably get a beef bone from the butcher at the grocery store. You'll need to boil the meat off and then let it dry. To get a nice white color you will need to bleach it as well. Then you will have to cut it to size and shape it. Have fun however you choose to tackle this project.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Sounds like a nice birthday present. I'm sure it can drown out a dulcimer, but please don't do that. Enjoy your accordion.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I get my blanks off ebay,  bone blanks

Welcome Steve, there are lots of great members in these forums. Harry

Steve there is a Group here specifically for asking/answering dulcimer building questions.  Go to the Groups button above and find the Dulcimer Building Group and Join it -- you have to Join to be able to read/post.  We've helped any number of people get started building or solve specific problems.  Welcome to FOTMD!

My grandparents from my mother’s side was from Lafayette, LA. 6 years ago my wife and I took a weekend to Lafayette and found a cajun accordion builder. It was a few weeks till my birthday and my wife bought me one, Martin Accordions. A really fine instrument. Diatonic. Works like a harmonica. Pull for a note, push for a different note with same button. Also called a melodion. Mostly cajun music is played on this instrument but I have been playing Christmas, pop, and county music. Sounds fine. Plays totally different from a regular accordion. Much smaller. Ten keys on right and two bass keys on left. Still have not mastered it but not giving up. Aeeeee.

John, Thanks. There is one builder in my area,  southeast Texas. Not looking at being in competition. He has a very established reputation of fine dulcimers. His shop has cnc machines. I’ll depend on jigs for repetition. Don’t think he’ll have to worry about me. Thanks again John. Looking forward to keeping in touch.

Welcome, Steve!  This is THE PLACE to ask questions about dulcimer history, and design and building of the same.

I'll try to help you, along with many others here who have a lot of experience in the field.  If you look through some of the previous posts, you should find answers to questions.  Have fun!

Play guitar, ukulele. Was in an antique store and found a dulcimer in very good condition. No strings. Cleaned it up. Bought strings at my local family owned music store. Did a lot of searching on the internet and found that this brand was made in Kerrville, Texas around the 80’s. The co. went out of business in 2003. It’s made from cherry. I started about 20 years gathering luthier tools. I now have all the tools to build practically any acoustic instrument. I’ve been woodworking over 35 years and have accumulated many hand tools and power tools. I have lots of wood to build instruments and want to start building dulcimers. Want to be able ask questions of the forum members when I need help with building a dulcimer. Thanks, steve104c.

Glad you are feeling better.............

I have a Martin guitar with a Richlite fretboard. I think it is a little faster than the ebony fretboard I have on my other Martin. Taylor is involved with planting ebony trees. They have their own plantation of ebony and (I think) subcontract the harvesting and processing of the ebony.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Richlite is the new material being used to replace micarta.  Martin uses it on most of their guitars as it looks and feels like ebony and is very affordable.

Thanks for sharing your, and your brothers, work. I like the way you painted them.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Steven - cajon means "box" so technically they are all cajons, but the three small horizontal ones are divided into two chambers and held between the legs or in the lap. So most people would call them bongos. The vertical ones are sat on while playing and would be what most people think of when they think "canon."  

Nice work, Pondoro! Are these like cajons?

Thank you!! I contribute a dulcimer every year to three live auction fund raiser events: Habitat for Humanity, Rescue Mission, and the Pink Gala. Now I can add a nice case, mine just arrived today, to each contribution. I feel it is a great value!

I have had a McSpadden with an ebony fretboard and one with a micarta fretboard. I noticed no difference in the two for how they played. Ebony is more expensive.....micarta is a real nice less-expensive alternative. Micarta is all black, whereas ebony can sometimes have some cool looking streaks in it.

I have no idea about the cost of these materials (I suspect less expensive than ebony...I could be wrong, but I think not) However, my big quibble about the use of such materials (if less expensive) is the price of the instruments using them has not seemed to come down any (and, yes, I'm well aware of the other costs involved in building instruments).

Thanks, Skip--now I can rest, knowing that I've not lost my marbles or that I'm missing something.  Space saver makes total sense.  I was trying to study one of my instruction books and realized hey, wait, that should be lower, and thought I had totally misunderstood where I was supposed to be on the scale.  Phew!

Lisa; 

Showing the 'D' like that is a space saver. It would take another staff [bass staff], below to to put it in its proper spot. These two staffs, together, are called a 'grand staff'.

There should be an '8vb' to show that the notes are actually those an octave lower than written.

Ann, no, I meant when there is tab that also has the musical notes displayed, the notes in the treble clef have the D above middle C as the note you're playing when you play the bass D string open.  So it's like the notes are an octave higher for printing purposes than they truly are...make more sense?

Lisa, if you mean that the tabs are showing the D on the bass string as d, then that would confuse anyone! Capital letters C - B are how we indicate notes in the octave immediately below middle c. The octave beginning with middle c is: c - b, lower case letters. Two octaves below middle c is often indicated by an apostrophe as, C' - B' and on the other end of the scale it's c' - b'. So when you write your own tabs you can note it this way and when you come back to a tune you won't have to wonder "Did I mean c or C when I wrote this!" Hope this helps!

Ann

Ken, thanks for confirming the D3, A3, D4 notation. I have a tuner app on my phone that has a dial-like (circular) interface, but uses that notation to depict octaves.That was hard for me to get used to, since I picture octaves linearly, like a piano. 

The thing that confuses me is that most tab will show open D on the bass as the D right above middle C, so an octave higher than I would expect.  This confuses me when I'm trying to adapt other music to the dulcimer and make my own tab. I am going to presume this is done for visual ease as opposed to absolute accuracy??? And I should just "center" any music within the octaves I have and go for it, if that makes sense.

Micarta has been around for a long time. It was developed by George Westinghouse around 1910. You see it used in knife handles because it comes in a great variety of colors and textures. Micarta has been used to make dulcimer nuts and bridges for years. As natural materials become scarce, I think we need to open ourselves to using other materials for instrument making. I was skeptical of doing this for a long time until I purchased a Martin guitar made of HPL (high pressure laminates). That turned me in to a believer. I would not hesitate to use Micarta for a fret board.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thanks, I do like the Micarta. Even Jim Woods of McSpadden told me that if he were building a dulcimer for himself now, he would go with Micarta. I know Ebony is rare now to get so I didn’t know if I should have it this time around. However, I live in a high humidity area. I have only been playing 3 months. Right from the get go, not only was it smooth, I found myself being able to look away from the fretboard from time to time while flatpicking. Slow, flatpicking, of course, tee hee.