Hey all,
I was wondering how people may have been affected by the hurricane, particularly in Western North Carolina and East Tennessee. It occurred to me that quite a few of our dulcimer folk are in those areas. I remember how Eastern Kentucky was so hard hit by flooding a couple of years ago.
Does anyone have any news?
I'm in California, so quite far removed, but I was just looking at news photos of the flooding in Asheville, and my heart aches.
I got this beauty waxed up and strings on and it sounds lovely! Dealing with the wooden pegs was a challenge but we managed to do it. So much to learn! I strung it DAdd and then switched it to DAAd. I've tried a couple of traditional 3-string tunes: Go Tell Aunt Rhody and The Water is Wild. Experimenting with fingerpicking as well as using a pick and noter. I'm looking forward to exploring more!
On another note, the card that came with the uke was signed by Jane Mize and it is numbered J-10. Robert Mize is on the label inside the instrument. Could Jane be a family member? Did she also make instruments? Google was not helpful!
That is awesome @overdrive
Id love to see a photo of the dulcimer that has served you all this time
Nate
Thanks for sharing. It's fun to see/hear what people have, whether it's one or many. 
Enjoy the mandolin. I added mandolin (and mandola) to my music hobby in 2012. I had been playing mountain dulcimer for over 10 years and wanted to alter one of my dulcimers to fully chromatic. Then it hit me. It would no longer be a mountain dulcimer in a sense. The question I asked myself, "What fully chromatic instrument should I add to my experience rather than alter one of my dulcimers.?" I considered guitar, mandolin, violin--settled on the mandolin because it was small, portable, and I liked the sound. The album by Butch Baldassari and David Schnaufer, "Appalachian Mandolin and Dulcimer" was also a factor. Since I read music, the mandolin was a good fit because any scores written for violin will be appropriate for mandolin--opening a lot of choices. I still enjoy my mountain dulcimer for the music it was best suited for. Mandolin had a much steeper learning curve the first few years, but now I feel very comfortable. Each of my instruments has a unique place in music.
t
Very cool @dulcillini
I love the pattern of the one on the left and the shape of the one on the right 👍🏽
That is awesome @overdrive
Id love to see a photo of the dulcimer that has served you all this time
Nate
Two: 1. McSpadden Teardrop Cherry 2002. 2. McSpadden Custom Maple 2003
I'm glad to hear that you are/were safe during the hurricane. Stay safe.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
MARKED SAFE FROM HURRICANE HELENE! We were just south of the major effects. Sunny half of yesterday, but then the usual Tropical Storm tango of winds 40-50mph, gusting to 60+. Very little rain. Low areas have some tidal storm surge flooding, but we're a whooping 10 ft above sea level here. No damage to structures (whew!) and only lost a few branches in the Silverleaf tree (which needs pruning anyway).
I'm speechless after watching that.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Ok, time for something a little different (and for full effect, be sure to keep watching past the halfway point of 2 min 30 seconds)...
@Beth-t , that's wonderful! I really look forward to hearing you play some of the old traditional Welsh folk tunes that you love.
I've been a bit quiet online recently, but I haven't been neglecting my dulcimer(s)! I've also joined the South Wales branch of the Nonsuch Dulcimer club and it's been good to meet with other dulcimer players and covet their instruments. :-) It's just over two years now since I bought my first dulcimer. Over those two years, I've tried to find ways to play Welsh folk tunes that I know, starting with the slowest and simplest. Feedback from FOTMD has been a huge encouragement. I'm now trying to get my arthritic fingers to dance around a bit more and play faster tunes. The ebony fretboard on my new FolkRoots dulcimer seems to help. I will upload a few as soon as I can play them through without too many mistakes!
Thank you for sharing this story. As a child, something like a cane can instantly make one feel like a sophisticated adult. I remember how much joy I got strutting around with my grandfather's canes when i was little. it's so great to have sentimental things like that, which can still find use all this time later.
Wonderful story, John. Thanks for sharing it.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Extry good story John.
Sally's Story (an old wooden cane)
Our great grandchild was visiting and the thing he liked most as he walked around and explored was my wife's cane. He went over to it and picked it up and walked around proudly with it as we smiled and clapped. My wife then told this story about the old wooden cane. "The cane's name is Sally", she said. And then she continued," When your grandmother was four years old she saw her grampa sitting with this cane on the stairs to the front porch. The four year old said to her grampa, "Grampa does that cane make you feel important?" To which her grampa replied, "No, Janet, I am important!." Seeing that she loved the cane so much, we were all surprised when he gave it to her as a present. Our daughter came home proudly with the cane and announced that it's name was "Sally" .Sally, the cane, has become a prized possession of our daughter's and she has kept it by her bedside all these years. One day, my wife needed a cane and our daughter said. "Here, mom. I'll lend you Sally." God works in mysterious ways and it seems to me that the caring and support of that old cane, Sally, is still living on.
I only have *one* dulcimer, but I made it with my own two hands forty years ago in Tennessee. The walnut wood came from my high school civics teacher's backyard sawmill. Dad and I helped him feed the wood through and used it for the staircase in our farmhouse. I kept a piece of the newel post and carefully sliced thin pieces using a bandsaw we had built ourselves from a kit. The nut was made from a PVC drainpipe scrap. A tailpiece was snipped from A/C duct. Our town library had a xeroxed pamphlet with detailed instructions on bookmatching and steam bending and using the right glue and precise fret placement. It isn't symmetrical, but it came out looking so beautiful! 5 strings, I didn't know how to play or tune it, and it honestly sounded bad. Well, one string sounded okay.
Two years ago, I determined to make it better. Better tuners, a new bone nut, a brass (key)bridge. Just 3 strings for now. Adjusted the action. After coming this far, I had to do the work myself. Finally, I love the way it plays and sounds! I'm learning to play chord/melody style in DAA. Now I realize it would be great to have another dulcimer to work on different tunings and string gauges. One that I would be able to take to lessons and festivals without worrying.
I think I've reached my satisfied limit now.My first dulcimer was a folkroots I had my eye on for a summer of weekends playing at a renaissance fair..Alas it cost most of my wages but well worth it.As a guitar player it had a depth of sound I was used to.Then a Tom Yockie chromatic I bought through Craig's list in Vancouver.Then a crazy giant over sized Galax style I asked John Knopf to make(love it).Then a scheitholt from Jack Ferguson(marvellous!),next a teardrop from Ohio-it really barks!Unlike the mellow folkroots.The music I play is varied-I love the old time American stuff but it's not what I do. having more than one dulcimer is enabling for me with the variety of music I play,using different string gauges,tunings,etc.I can have dulcimers at the ready with different tunings,strings.
You're most welcome, @steve-c ! I just watched again and sang along-- it's uplifting to do so.
Kurt Vonnegut in a letter to high school students:
Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what's inside you, to make your soul grow.
You can hear James Earl Jones read the entire letter here.
Hi John! The positive thread in in the Forums section.
Go here: https://fotmd.com/forums/forum/off-topic-discussions/11758/the-positive-thread#r46686
and depending on whether you are on a laptop, desktop, tablet, or phone, you may see different ways to make a post. See if you can go there (follow my link) and look for a place where you can type in a reply and post it there. Let us know if you are having trouble, and if so what device are you using and what you see or don't see when you try to post.
Hi, I have a new story for "The :Positive Thread".
I am not quite sure how to post it.? John McKinstry
You're most welcome, Dusty! I've sung with it already this morning and it has lifted me. Good for the spirit!
That's quite moving, Robin. Thanks so much for sharing. Definitely worthy of good headphones. And a kleenex.
Soul-stirring version of Bright Morning Star -- it's nice to sing along, too:
https://youtu.be/ch-t8UaGMPA?si=LsXdobcdxqOk2bh3
Capewavedancer, on another note, it looks to me like you have happened upon an incredible Bob Mize dulcimer! The top looks like wormy chestnut, which is rare and wonderful. Get some new strings on it, and ENJOY! Congratulations!
Like Nate said, geee is not a dulcimer tuning. The dulcimer you have was meant to be tuned DAAA, but that doesn't mean it has to be tuned in that way. You can use any of the usual dulcimer tunings if you have the proper strings.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Capewavedancer, on another note, it looks to me like you have happened upon an incredible Bob Mize dulcimer! The top looks like wormy chestnut, which is rare and wonderful. Get some new strings on it, and ENJOY! Congratulations!
Thank for your suggestions. I'll give the new strings a go and see how they sound. Is Geee tuning somehting that anyone plays now?
Thank for your suggestions. I'll give the new strings a go and see how they sound. Is Geee tuning somehting that anyone plays now?
Olddog75, I saw your second post after I posted my reply. The 0.10 strings should be good for the d strings. For the A string you probably want something more around a 0.013 or 0.014. The bass string may be a little too heavy, but try it. A 0.020 or 0.022 might be better.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Olddog75 has provided good information. A good source of strings is juststrings.com . You can make up your own sets. If you find that you don't like playing with equidistant strings you can add notches in the nut and bridge to play with a double melody string. The original tuning from the photo is melody string E, first drone E, second drone E, and the bass string G. If you are tuning to ddAD, the melody string will be d, first drone d, second drone A, and the bass string D. If you find the McSpadden set too loose or too tight you can calculate the ideal strings for your dulcimer using the Strother's string calculator but bear in mind that it tends to be a little "light" with it's suggestions. You can probably go up a gauge or two. http://www.strothers.com/string_choice.html
I hope this helps you. Let us know how the new strings work.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
@olddog75, thank you. Your explanation re: the strings makes sense! My VSL is 26 1/2". Will those gauges in the McSpadden set be OK with the shorter VSL?
I'm relatively new to dulcimers also, I got my first one in the spring of '23. I'll put my two cents in and tell you some basic info, I'm sure you'll get more posts from more experienced player soon.
From viewing the photo of the pamphlet, I think that what the maker is telling you is that if you go to s music store to buy ball end guitar strings you should buy 3 high E strings and a G and that is what he originally strung the dulcimer with. He's providing this info so you can get the right thickness of strings for the instrument. I use light gauge strings on my guitars and the high E is .12 and the G is .24. You won't have to do that, though, since you bought a set of dulcimer strings.
the VSL (Vibrating String Length: the distance form the bridge( toward the bottom of the dulcimer) to the nut (at the top of the neck) is a factor in determining the "best" exact gauge for the dulcimer, though there's plenty of leeway in that regard. The McSpadden DAdd string set you got is for a VSL of 28 1/2". If the VSL of your instrument is near that length, they should be good enough. You wouldn't tune the strings to Geee or Egee, you'd tune them to DAdd. There are many more tunings possible as you will discover, I hope this helps you a little...
I am brand new to the world of dulcimer and was fortunate to find this beauty at a local estate sale. It has not been played in a long time, but I was able to tune it up somewhat. New strings are on the way! I will have many questions, but my first is re: tuning. It currently has a wound bass string and 3 bare wire strings. The information card states "3 E or 1st, 1 G or 3rd." It has 4 equidistant strings. I have ordered some strings from McSpadden:
Tuning Key of D Ball End
The wound string in this set has a flat ribbon winding so it has no ridges. 1st-2nd: .010 Plain Steel Ball End; 3rd: .014 Plain Steel Ball End; 4th: .023 Phosphor Bronze Flat Wound Ball End.
Will these strings work on this instrument? What would the string pattern be for the original tuning? EGee? Geee? Can these be tuned DAdd to be able to play with other instruments?
Thank you for sharing your expertise. A new adventure awaits!
Looks to be in great shape! Nice find!
