Forum Activity for @robin-thompson

I'm thinking a fretboard made of a material such as Corian (used as counter material in kitchens, baths, etc.) might hold up? 

@jp Perhaps those posted free tabs are not legal? 

Copyright law is complicated.  FOTMD makes every effort to demonstrate good faith with regard to protecting composers and holders of copyright, entities entitled to compensation for their work. 

Lisa, isn't there a place a less expensive dulcimer can be stored at work.  Then you wouldn't have to go home to get it.  You could carry it from work to the park and back on those days when the weather allows you to sit and enjoy both the dulcimer and the atmosphere of the park.  You might even end up with other dulcimer players joining you for lunch and a few tunes over the lunch hour.  There's no need to store it in your hot/cold car if you have a sympathetic boss and a safe place to store it at work.

Lisa, the old style traditional pieces with oil or shellac finishes hold up pretty good in the cold, but I don't know of anything that will be good in the heat. String tension against most plastics will win out in the extreme heat of a car.....maybe aluminum?

yes i understand copyright... however i wonder why MD is so clogged up with CR issues

and i can go on to sites like Guitar Tab Universe and have it in seconds for free ....for the guitar of course..

i wonder why that is... i am willing to pay of course.... but i wonder why that is.....

That's a copyrighted tune, so if you find Tab for it, it likely won't be free. Just saying.  :)

i am looking for some tab for the Beatles Blackbird, preferably Free.

thank you

This dulcimer would be impossible to bow, no matter how you held it.  Even if you (ridiculously) tried to bow all 4 strings of each side at the same time (each set of 4 strings is laid out FLAT on its fret board half), if you look at the closeup, you'll see that because of the slanted fret board, an angled bow trying to bow it would be bashing into the lower body bout.  It's completely impossible to bow.

So- it's also not a courting dulcimer meant for two people- firstly, the fretboards are not in opposite directions. Secondly, even if the other player was a lefty, see how it would place the bass string nearer the lefthanded player's body and the two melody strings at far side of the player.  The odds of anyone playing this way and ALSO being lefthanded are almost non-existent.

This is simply a dulcimer someone made so that they could jump back and forth when they wanted to between a chromatic and a diatonic fretboard.  They could also have it tuned to two different keys if they liked playing in jams without having to retune or bring two instruments.  Maybe one fretboard was intended for playing old traditional ballads and the other intended for modern music/blues etc.  That would all also explain the electric pickup.
The two different slants for the fret boards enable one to angle the pick so you can play on one fret board while avoiding the other one.

Hi,

I’m wondering if anyone has a good idea for a dulcimer for all weather, leave it in the car to play on your lunch break?

Would a cardboard dulcimer with a wooden fretboard hold up to temperature extremes of a car in the summer?  Would the fretboard warp?  

I know some ukuleles are made out of all plastic and people keep them in their car or take them hiking with success, and they sound decent for a travel instrument, according to what I’ve read on uke forums.  So how about a cardboard dulcimer with a plastic fretboard?  In theory, would that hold up better as a car dulcimer than a wood fretboard version?  I have a friend who owns has a small business and makes things out of acrylic plastic, like custom fish tanks.  I could ask about the logistics of making me a fretboard (And even the body) out of acrylic, if it sounds like it’s worth pursuing.  I have to take an entire hour for lunch at work, and it’s too far away for me to drive home and back.  I usually go sit in a park to kill time, and would love to have a dulcimer to play that I could leave in the car trunk all the time.

Thanks, Lisa 

There's a classic photo of an older woman bowing a regular dulcimer.  She sits back from the edge of a table with the tail of the dulcimer in her lap and the body leaned up against the edge of the table directly away from her.  This instrument could certainly be bowed that way.  But who knows!  Maybe it was a John Jacob Niles experiment!!

I've bowed both lap dulcimer and bowed dulcimers. . . I couldn't imagine bowing this critter.  In my view, the design doesn't seem to lend itself to bowing.  

Bowed instruments are not played with the bow string parallel to the soundboard.  The bow string runs diagonally from the center of the strings to just above the edge of the instrument, on both sides:    /__\

This looks like a lot of fun, Lisa! Lucky!

Very cool. Its good to be in the hands of someone who will take care of it!

The fretboard is set up so that you have both diatonic and chromatic frets.  Diatonic under all 7 strings, and chromatic only under the first three strings. 

HUGE amount of soundhole area -- far more than is needed. 

The way the fretboard is "radiused" with a ridge rather than a curve (never seen anything quite like that), plus the narrowness of the bouts makes me wonder if it wasn't intended to be a bowed instrument.

Wow, Lisa, I don't recall ever seeing anything quite like this!  Do you know anything about when and where it was built? 

Hi,

I wanted to share a picture of the used dulcimer I just got in the mail today.  I thought it was very unique, and wasn't too expensive, they listed it as poor condition.  Really, it's just homemade, an amateur build.  I don't care, I love this thing!  It's got great resonance and sustain, and the frets seem to be placed well, as it plays in tune pretty good. It's electric, but I think I need some adaptor as the plug opening is small.  I'm not overly interested in the electric feature, but will see if it works.

Thanks for looking, Lisa

 182019172913.jpg - 138KB

Thanks, 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."