Forum Activity for @lisa

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.

Thanks everyone! I can see it now! Albert Hoffman!

Neat photo of the trio, Charles! I agree with Robin...it looks to me like Albert (?) Hoffman.

I agree with the Hoffman part. Could be Albert.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings sweet song."

I took a look-- looks like Albert Hoffman to me.  

You've got a great photo, Charles-- a treasure! 

Thanks, Ken! I couldn't make out the first part, but it looked like on the second part a capital S and maybe a T or L and then Affman. It's not a name I recognize from my family, but the mandolin player looks like my brother.

Like John said, i would advise them to let them acclimate to room temperature before opening if they are coming out of a UPS, FedEx, or post office truck. I picked up a ukulele I ordered at the post office this morning and opened it right away when I got home. I reasoned that it had been in the heated post office for about 4 1/2 hours and I carried it to my parked truck (about 30 seconds in the cold) which was warm and drove home (about two minutes) pulled in to the garage. I then walked to the house (about 30 seconds) and then went inside. I placed the box on the table, heated a cup of coffee in the microwave and then opened the package. No problem.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

That's a good looking group of fellows. I couldn't make out writing, so I'll take your word for it. Thanks for sharing this unique find.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

This old photo hangs on my "studio" wall. I found it in an old shoe box of family photos. It looks like it was taken in the 1930's, by a pro ( it's mounted on cardstock with decorative borders ). They look like a bluegrass trio with a fiddle, mandolin and guitar. The only other information is written in pencil on the back. I can't quite make out what it says..."Staffman" maybe? I think it's a cool photo and it inspires me.

 Scan.jpeg - 85KB

Matt, I mention the following to my customers who buy one of my dulcimers in the wintertime:

I tell them to bring the box into their house, but NOT TO OPEN IT for an hour or so!  I know it's agony to be so close to enjoying a new instrument, but it will be worth it.  There is a real danger of thermal shock occurring if a cold wooden instrument is suddenly subjected to warm temperatures.  I don't know of any breakages so far, but I've experienced the heartbreak of seeing the fine lacquer finish of a Warren May poplar dulcimer CRAZE in front of my eyes when I took it out of its cold box too soon.  It looked like the surface of old china, with fine cracks all over it.   It's difficult to repair the finish.

Two people were kind enough to purchase instruments from my Etsy site during the recent cold snap.  I messaged them that I would hold on shipping until the cold broke as I was concerned that the instruments may become brittle and break in the cold.

This was as much fear as knowledge.

Does anyone have experience with having instruments break during shipping due to cold weather?

Thanks, I did contact him and he wrote back, and shared an interview that had been published. 

@Victorsings, I think I remember reading somewhere that Larry Barringer turned his luthier business over to Terry McCafferty, who is currently making excellent dulcimers out of Houston. You might consider contacting Terry.

Wow, thanks Don! Glad you liked this episode!