Forum Activity for @strumelia

I adjusted the thread title for you Richard, in case anyone else does a search here for the builder.  :)  Glad you could find some info on him, to help that lady.  

My bad. The name the lady gave me was spelled incorrectly. It is Jim Trantham. Now I can give her some information.

For what it's worth, I strum just to the left of the strum hollow most of the time.

Thanks Dusty for the GREAT explanations and screenshots!

Here's a bit more of a dry 'technical description' on the two ways to add pictures to your post when you are on a computer, tablet, or laptop:

There are TWO ways to add an image to your discussion post. In both cases, the image must first reside on your computer or device and you'll be pointing to it. You can't insert an image that is just sitting on the internet somewhere.

1) Attach the image or file to your post: When typing your post, use the "Attach Files" button underneath the text editor box where you are typing your post. Browse to the image on your computer that you want to attach to your post. This will insert a small thumbnail of the picture into your post.
Note: When you see the thumbnail and text link for an attached image, it's when folks have used that "Attach file" button easily seen at bottom of text editor window. Click right on the thumbnail pic itself to open it right there to SEE it full size.  OR... Clicking on the text link will simply DOWNLOAD it to your computer.

or

2) Embed the image into your post.  That will create a larger picture right within your discussion post.
To do that, when you are typing your post you click on the little icon button that looks like an arrow inside a square ("embed local media")- that icon button is to the left of the Smiley button in the text editor window. Once in that window, select the SIZE you want the image to be in the left side dropdown menu...XL or XXL usually works well. Then you click the "Select an image to upload and insert" button to the right. When you click that 'Select' button, it'll take you to where you can browse to the image on your computer that you want to embed in the post. An embedded picture will not need to be clicked on to see it, it'll already be showing in the post, at the size you've selected.

NOTE for if you are posting from a cell phone:
You will get additional options when composing a post. You'll get the initial editor view that has an "attach file" button, but you'll also see a grey box with a little 'book' icon for writing your post. Click that book and you'll be in a text editor window where you can compose your post and it has options such as bold or italic text, adding a link, and also embedding an image right into a post so it shows within the post rather than simply attaching it. Once you are done composing, you click the Back arrow and you'll get back to the grey box where you can then see your composed text, attach a file if you want, and click to publish your post.

The second way to incorporate a photo is to embed it as I did the screen shot in both of these responses to you.  In that case you choose the "embed local media" icon, which looks like a piece of film strip and is the second-to-last icon on the tool bar above the text box.

When you click the embed local media icon, a screen will appear asking you what size you want the photo to be and where the photo is located.

Jimmy, there are a couple of different ways to incorporate a photo into a post.  One is to use the "Attache File" button just below the text box on the right. As in this screen shot below.

When you "Attach File" it appears as a small icon below your text, with a download link to the right, as in the case below.

 Dusty the Jester.jpg - 20KB

I don't see an option like a paperclip icon or anything that allows me to attach photos to a post. Sorry to bug anyone. I figured it out. I didn't scroll down far enough.

A friend has been shown a dulcimer made by Jim Trantham. She asked me if I had heard of him. Sadly, I have not. Thought I'd ask if anyone knows of him. She seemed hesitant to purchase without knowing a little bit.

Thanks all.

My guess is that the strum hollow was invented by someone who did not like to hear the clicking sound of the pick against the fret board. Could have been Prichard or Thomas or someone else.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

It seems to me that the strum hollow was "invented" by either Charles Prichard in Huntington, WV or by Ed Thomas in Bath, KY, long after dulcimers were being built, as Ken said.  If you look at old Virginia dulcimers, for example, you'll see many scratch marks on their flat fretboards, where the strum hollow would normally be.

A great many of the olde dulcimers from the 1800s had no strum hollow.  In part the function of the hollow is to reduce the weight of that massive brace that runs from end to end which we call a fretboard.  If you have decent strum technique you won't hit the fretboard, regardless of a strum hollow or not.  

The "mathematically correct" place to strum is half way between the fret being pressed and the bridge; which of course changes with each note.  Most of us find ourselves strumming somewhere up around fret 12-14.  Changing the location of the strum can be used to good effect depending on the song.  

As Dusty says, learning to strum both ways is good (it took me 15 years to 'get it').  Learning to strum 'up and out' and 'in and down' will help emphasize the melody string sounds, not lose them in the hum of the drones.   

Enjoy the journey!

You don't need a strum hollow. You can strum or pick anywhere you want.  I usually tell beginners to strum wherever their hand and arm feel most comfortable. Eventually, as you have discovered, you will learn to move toward the bridge to get a sharper tone and tighter strings and toward the middle of the dulcimer to get a warmer tone and looser strings.

Adding a strum hollow will not change the tone of your dulcimer.  The only exception would be if you use a flatpick and sometimes hit the fretboard, creating a clicking sound.  (I sometimes have that issue, unfortunately.) Good technique can avoid that problem, and strumming over the strum hollow does as well, obviously.

It sounds like you are off to a great start.  My advice would be to eventually begin strumming both in and out, alternating in a steady pattern, but don't worry about that right away. Take your time.

Hi, I bought my cardboard dulcimer used, already put together.  It looks like any other cardboard dulcimer, except it has round holes instead of hearts.  The box is a rectangle, no tapering toward the tuners, i’ve seen both kinds of boxes, nothing too odd there.  But the thing that seems a little strange is it doesn’t have a strum hollow at all.

I’m wondering what the purpose of the strum hollow is?  I don’t use a pick, only my fingers and rarely my nails, so does it matter that there isn’t one?  

I think I read or saw a video somewhere that you wherever you fret your string, you double that distance and strum there.  I don’t know if that’s true or correct, I watch a lot of videos, that could be info for a completely different instrument and I’m, mixed up.  Anyhow, to my ears, it sounds more like an electric guitar when I strum closer to the bridge, and more of a normal, warm, acoustic sound higher up, so i usually strum all over the place for whatever effect I want to hear at the moment.  I also strum toward myself, not away, or pluck the strings with three fingers at the same time, or I sometimes try to fingerpick a little bit.  I mostly just strum toward myself at an angle, not straight across the strings, holding my fingers really flat, so I’m not using only the pads.  I sometimes try to accent the string(s) I’m fretting a little bit more than the other one or two.  I know my technique is terrible, a real train wreck, but I really enjoy the sounds I’m making.

I really like how it sounds now, and also wonder if the tone would change a lot if I were to take a Dremel to it, and carve out a strum hollow.  

I’ll most likely leave it as is, but just wanted to understand what the strum hollow is all about, and make sure I’m not missing out on some major tone improvement or the notes having longer sustain because the fretboard is one straight piece.

Thanks, Lisa

There's always one comedian in the crowd.

I do not.  A sweet lady in Kentucky bought it from me at a festival a few years ago.  My needs and preferences had changed, so it was a good deal for both of us.  We still drop by the main store on Hwy. 76 a couple of times a year, and we've performed there in the past as well.

When I first saw the title of this discussion, I was going to suggest using a pick instead, but now that I understand the topic of this discussion, I won't do that. I just received a soprano ukulele and enjoy playing along with my dulcimer friends.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

I know dozens of people who experienced their first exposure to the mountain dulcimer through the Cedar Creek kiosk at Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO (including my wife and myself).  My first real dulcimer came from there as well.  They are quality people and make everyone feel welcome.  The Cedar Creek folks are true ambassadors when it comes to introducing the general public to the mountain dulcimer.

I also play uke and enjoy playing along with dulcimer by lowering to CGC.  It is easy to play chords to any key on the uke.  You can also use a capo to tune it to D.

Without relearning everything in a new key, you (and your husband) have two options: He can raise his tuning one whole step or you can lower your tuning one whole step, .  I'm not familiar with how easily a ukulele can be raised a whole step without breaking strings, but it is relatively easy to retune your dulcimer to C-G-c as you suggested.

However, the obvious solution (since your husband has two ukuleles) is to leave one in the standard ukelele tuning to which he is accustomed and tune the other one up a whole step to make it easier to switch back and forth as needed.  That way he can play the same chord shapes and melody note positions on both. 

I agree with Dusty and Cynthia, with two additional ideas.

1. It's not hard to re-tune a Uke to ADF#B, making his easy chords (C, F, G and Am) your D, G, A and Bm. This was done all the time in first heyday of the Uke (1915 - 1935).

2. it's equally not hard to tune down to C-G-cc on the dulcimer. This has the added bonus of making your songs easier to sing (Honestly, D is generally a terrible singing key).

I suggest learning to play "Boil Dem Cabbage" in the keys of D, G and A. Best if you memorize them, but it's not required.

Not only does "cabbage" cover the three major chords in that key, it's also the order in which they're most likely to appear.

Here's what I mean: If you think of Cabbage not as a song, but as a "chord progression" or more simply, the order in which the songs appear, you start to see those same patterns elsewhere. For example....

Cabbage chord progression: D - G - D - A - D - G - D - A - D
Amazing Grace progression: D - G - D - A - D - G - D - A - D

Look familiar?

Note, that I am not referring to the time signature (one is a waltz, one is not) nor am I referring to how long you hold each chord (those are different too). BUT if you playing one chord you have a pretty good guess at what the next one will be.

Also, there are only 3 chords at play, so you have a 50/50 shot at getting right anyway. :-)

Here's an experiment, play Cabbage while a friend plays the B section of "Soldier's Joy". You'll see they work pretty well. The A section works too, if you skip the G chords and just stick to the A.

Even if the song's chord progression is different from Cabbage it's not completely different, more like "intentionally different"

  Cabbage:  D - G - D - A - D - G - D - A - D

Southwind: D - A - D - G - D - A - D - G - D

Note that Southwind STILL returns to the D after each new chord, just like Cabbage. Really, in many ways, its just Cabbage played backwards. And oh yeah, The B section of Southwind? It's just Cabbage in 3/4

Of course there are always exceptions, and this doesn't apply very well to minor key songs like "Shady Grove" or "Cold, Frosty Morning." But if you want to stay involved with tunes you don't know (which I HIGHLY recommend). This can help a lot.

I agree with Greg's comments. I know some folks who have Cedar Creek dulcimers. I think they are a good quality dulcimer. There probably have not been as many made as McSpadden and Folkcraft. You just don't see as many around. They often come up on the used market although I can't recall prices paid for them.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Dulcimer reputations spread pretty much by word-of-mouth.  Over time, some builders have built up a reputation for quality and consistency.  I don't have any personal experience with Cedar Creek Dulcimers, so I can't comment positively or negatively regarding the quality of their dulcimers.  However, as more and more dulcimer players recommend a builder, their reputation will grow.

The major builders have earned respect for the quality of their work.  They have thousands of examples floating around and many satisfied customers.  I can personally attest to the superior quality of some of the major builders. Of course, there are new builders popping up all the time.  Some of their work rivals that of the major dulcimer builders.  The key characteristics are "quality of workmanship" and "consistency of the finished product".  

Since I have no personal experience with Cedar Creek Dulcimers, I will leave it you and to other owners of Cedar Creek Dulcimers to describe the quality of their work.  You appear to be very happy with your Cedar Creek Dulcimers.  Others will read your comments and perhaps try a Cedar Creek model for themselves.

One of the easiest ways to determine how highly regarded a particular brand of dulcimer might be is to check out what one sells for on the used instrument market.  Quality instruments tend to maintain their value.  Follow the dulcimer offerings on E-Bay and you will soon learn what the dulcimer community thinks of a particular brand.

I hear many names of dulcimer builders.  I have three dulcimers; all from Cedar Creek Dulcimers.  Two are backpackers and the other their answer to McSpadden's Ginger.

I never hear any comments on Cedar Creek.  As a beginner and certainly not a trained musician I may be a poor one to judge but I really like all three.

Just wondering.

One reason for letting instruments acclimate to their environment before opening is that with gloss finishes they will craze when subject to rapid changes in temperature. This is much more likely to happen than a problem with the wood. Temperature and humidity will effect wood expansion and contraction and glue joints. The use of modern glues has pretty much eliminated the glue joint problem. It is always better to err on the side of caution than to be eager and sorry.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Some instrument dealers actually put instruction stickers (I'm thinking Elderly and Sweetwater) on the shipping box imploring you not to open the box for several hours during cold weather. After seeing all the remarkable changes that can happen to wood even in a stable home environment, I've decided to believe them. It's tough not to let your curiosity get the best of you, but since your instrument may have traveled through so many different environments before it got to you, I think it's worth letting it adjust to it's new home.

Barb

The World is Old Tonight.

I have a Blevins large bass or something kind of dulcimer.  It has wooden tuning pegs.  Pretty amazing instrument.

No date or anything else.  Mysterious!

Is there, by any chance, a date on the label?  

I bought a used Dulcimer and can't find out anything about it on google or this group search.  Inside it says:

The Original Mountain Music Dulcimer, Another hand crafted product of MUSIC CRAFTS of California, Los Gatos, CA 95030

Just purchased from a friend - made October 25, 1974 - Capritaurus model 300 Special. Spruce top, rosewood body, ebony fretboard. It's in mint condition. Super happy!!!

Barbara, my baritone dulcimette is about 28.5" long and 7" wide at its widest along the lower bout.  If your local music store is worth anything, they might be able to order a viola case from one of their suppliers. You could then bring in your Ginger and determine whether it would fit or not. If not, they should be able to return it no problem.  It's worth talking to them.

You will have to adjust the inside of the case to adapt it to the dulcimer, but you should be able to see how to do that when you see them both together.

Very cool photo, Charles. I was going to say something similar to Strumelia's comment (though I certainly couldn't identify the date of the photo by the clothing -- wow!.  Bluegrass was invented in the 1950s, so these guys were some kind of string band.  Think of Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, although that trio used a banjo instead of a mandolin.

If you want to hear what they might have sounded like, Columbia Records put out a 2 CD compilation of stuff that was originally released on old 78s from the mid 20s to the mid 30s.  The CD is called White Country Blues.  I highly recommend it.

I wish I could have heard them play!

Thanks for the tips, Dusty, and for the picture of your viola case adapted for a dulcimer.  It looks like neither bout of the Ginger would be wider than the widest part of the Ewing baritone.  The measurements of my instrument are length= 29 5/8 inches + 3/8 inch for the strap button, 5 3/8 " for the upper bout and 7 1/8" for the lower bout.  The only music store here in Juneau is definitely a guitar and ukulele shop, mostly staffed by wannabe rock musicians; however we do have a symphony orchestra and a junior symphony.  I will call the arts council on Monday and see if I can hook up with a viola player through them.  If that doesn't work, I will see how I can do with the measurements and visuals and order something through Amazon. I hope to get a case ready before heading the the Menucah festival in Oregon in April.   Thank you for the helpful advice.  

Barbara Berg
Juneau, Alaska

"Music brings a warm glow to my vision, thawing mind and muscle from their endless wintering." --Haruki Murakami

Yep, I was going to say Albert Hoffman as well, without seeing the other replies.

Charles, I think this is between 1925-1935 judging from the collars and clothes and the photo itself.

There was no bluegrass yet, but maybe they were doing some country/hillbilly/fiddle style stringband stuff of the time- it was popular on 78 rpm records. Also Jimmy Rodgers was big- 'blue yodeler'/country railroad blues.