Forum Activity for @jp

thanks terry i appreciate your words.

i appreciate all you who responded... thanks

after spending 25 years doing Renaissance Faires and finally giving it up this year, i bought a mountain dulcimer.... cause i always liked the sound and the ease of playing or the complexity of playing. 

It may all be due to the change of life style... So many friends on the faire circuit both performers and patrons. to now really nothing... no longer anything to inspire and require practicing. I guess also i am tired of "trad"music.

i have been wondering back and listening to music from my youth.... i have been finding inspiration in "Music from Big Pink" and "the Basement Tapes" diddling with some of the tunes and thinking they may sound quite cool on MD.

So right now i am picking it up several times a week almost daily sometimes for hours sometimes just to see if a song i like is doable.  Still not sure where i am going ... baby steps.  i miss performing.

As Steve says on his home page:The only way this works is if you spread the word. So, please, yell it from the mountain tops. Talk about it in your newsletters. Tell your friends. Share a link on Facebook. We’ve got to let people know this is here!

I probably am the only active mountain dulcimer at Paint Creek Folklore Society, but we have a few players who like to get hammered, so I sent it to our hammered dulcimer playing vice president and to our newsletter editor, oh & I'm going to send it to Wanda Degen & Deedee Tibbetts, who have an event coming up & also do workshops in the summer at Interlochen.

Let's spread the word (& thanks, Steve, like you I find past events give a planning guide when looking ahead).

That looks good, Steve!  I'm imagining the site will get lots of traffic as it builds. 

If you tried to sign up and had trouble, try again. We fixed it.

That's cool Stephen!  

And here it is: http://dulcimerevents.com . Are any of you interested in helping me test this website? Head on over there and submit an event. I hope everything's clear and easy. If not, post back to this forum topic or use the contact form. THANK YOU!

I'm going to go with Strumelia's advice. I'm creating an online hub for dulcimer events. I'll get the details out when it's ready. 

Here is Lacey on her 18th birthday. She used to be a big fan of my dulcimer playing but is mostly deaf now. She is still pretty active - likes to watch the leaves falling and the birds at the feeder. She can't jump like she used to and here is a picture of her using the steps I made for her so she can get up on the bed.

Sally's looking sleek and sassy, Dave.     

There's also a funny paradox at play with this...  

Generally, you use a lighter gauge string to help you tune to a higher note without breaking, and a heavier gauge string to help you tune to a lower note without being floppy. That's why 'bass note strings' are heavier than melody strings.

However, there comes a point at which this can be taken too far.  For example, a super thin .008 string tuned to a high note may actually break because it's so thin, and perhaps a .009 in its place might not break for that same note.  Likewise, if you go to TOO heavy gauge in an effort to attain a real low note, the string will not fit properly in the nut and bridge slots, creating buzzes and becoming difficult to fret.

There's a practical range to work within when trying to balance the three factors that govern this:  1) scale length/VSL  2) note you are wanting to tune to, and 3) string gauge/thickness.  No matter how thin your string, you'll never be able to tune two octaves higher than typical DAdd on a normal sized dulcimer. And no matter how thick your string, you'll never be able to tune a normal sized dulcimer to the same low note you could on an orchestra's standup double bass viol for example.  Stringed instruments are certain sizes for a reason- they are designed to be tuned somewhere within a certain reasonable range of notes for their size.

I used to be mystified about string gauges until I found the Strothers string guide online. Just go to strothers.com and choose string gauge calculator under the dulcimer tab. You just plug in the note you want and the VSL and bang! it gives you a gauge. I think the general feeling is that the gauge suggestions are a little light but this is something that varies from player to player. At least it gives you a place to start. I have also found that through experience, I can judge by feel when I am pushing my luck with a string. As you tune up, just press on the string to feel how much give there is. If it's starting to feel tight, you would be wise to back off.

Hope this helps, Barb

Our previous cat really liked me to play the dulcimer. She'd walk over to it and meow at me then lay down when I'd start playing.

The new cat, Sally, at first didn't show any interest the first few months when she was a little kitten. Maybe it was scary to her.

Sally is 7 months old now. Now when I play she comes over to me squeaking and rubbing my legs. I haven't figured out if she is saying she likes it, if if she's saying, "if you're not doing anything worthwhile give me a hug..."

Sally at 2 months and 7 months checking out my 1931 Uncle Ed Thomas reproduction made by Kevin Messenger 

 Sally 7 mo.JPG - 55KB

Thanks to everyone for your input. I've made some notes. I realize there are variables, but even guidelines given are helpful. I broke a couple of 9 gauge strings a few months ago but, alas, I can't recall what I was attempting to tune to at the time.

On a 28 or 28.5" scale, I would think .009 and .010 strings would tend to more often break if you try tuning any higher than a high e  (for melody strings).  That's just my own experience.

Too many variables to say definitively.  New strings, a week old, six months old, more?   Never tuned above C or regularly tuned up and down?  Never been tuned above DAA, or regularly tuned up and down?  String vibrating as you tune it, or static?  Tuner gear ratio (high ratios like 1:18 easier on strings than 1:4)?  

I have one customer who plays a 27.5" VSL dulcimer with 0.024, 0.012, 2 x 0.010 string gauges up at F,C,f,f above D,A,d,d on stage and when recording.

https://www.threeleggdmare.com/

There's definitely a balance between pitch, string gauge and scale length.  For a given VSL there will be a physical top pitch and bottom pitch you could reach irrespective of the string gauges you try.  This is because every string has an optimum tension at which it will vibrate the best.  A good way to get an indication of this is to look at other instruments VSLs, such as mandolin or guitar, and compare where their standard string gauges and pitches lay against your dulcimer's VSL.

This does not directly answer your question, but the highest standard tuning that I generally see is EBee.  If you are just playing around, I would purchase multiple sets.  (If you have a guitar center, ask at accessory counter for individual strings at about $1 each.) Then just keep tuning until..."POP!"

I have strings in gauges 9, 10, 12, & 22 and dulcimers with 28 1/2" & 28" VSLs. What is the highest note (i.e. g4) that I can tune EACH of these gauges to without the string being likely to break? Info appreciated!

I don't think I could have made my fingers move fast enough!

On the way to Texas!  Thank you.  

Did you get it?

 cheers!

Hey Doc..................yup!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sweet-Song-The-Mountain-Dulcimer-LP-Bluegrass-Funky-Dulcimer/332837479239?hash=item4d7ea8e347:g:ehUAAOSw0odbv~KV:rk:2:pf:0

Salt Springs!

That's it!!!!  
I know coming here was a wise move!  Do you know where I can find it to buy?
I've searched The Steam Powered Preservation Society, not there.  Amazon is not looking good either.

Thank you!!!

     Just by chance several weeks ago, before my friend sent me the link to this dulcimer sale, I had started gathering information on A.W. Jeffreys for my Today In Mountain Dulcimer History posts but never completed it.  This got me jump started. In fact today I traded several emails with Jeffreys' daughter, Jan. I'm still tweaking this but this is what I have so far:

     A.W. (Alois Waldo) Jeffreys, Jr. was born in 1923 in South Hill, Virginia to a tobacco farmer/auctioneer.  

     A.W. Jeffreys was a Naval pilot during WWII. In 1946 he was in the naval pilot's group that was the fore-runner to today's Blue Angels, then known as the Flight Exhibition Team.

     After his Naval career he was a clinical psychologist. He was Chief Psychologist at Western State Hospital at Staunton, Virginia for 33 years. 

     According to his daughter Jeffreys became interested in dulcimers after observing local folk playing them in the mountains of Virginia where he lived. He made his first dulcimer in 1956.

     About 1960 he started the Appalachian Dulcimer Company in Staunton, it was a family business. His wife ran the business side and she and the kids, Jay and Jan, helped A.W. with various aspects of the business and building dulcimers.

     Jeffreys built both 3 string and 4 string instruments, but preferred 3 strings, in walnut, cherry or butternut with either heart or diamond shaped sound holes. With each dulcimer came an instruction book, which he wrote, a cloth bag, a hand cut pick, and an optional LP record made by his friend, Paul Clayton.

     In the mid-1970s A.W. and his wife took over all the work when Jay and Jan left home. The business wound down sometime in the late 1980's. It is estimated that over 3000 dulcimers were made. Sometime in the 1980's Jeffreys donated much of his dulcimer collection to the Smithsonian Institute.

     Jan told me her dad played the dulcimer very little as he was more of a vocalist. But the song she remembers the most was "Go tell Aunt Rhody".

     A.W. Jeffreys died 29 January 1992.

Not much without permanent alterations.  A leather strip will help.  A thin bent metal or hard plastic plate tucked under the strings would last longer. 

Most of us just sort of accept that the round-over of the fretboard is going to notch if the builder did not install a piece of fretwire (like your aluminum rod) at the break-over.  Your aluminum rod will notch under the pressure of steel strings.

Generally the cutting-in goes 'so far and no farther'.  I have dulcimers that are decades old, and the cutting-in has not continued much more than the depth of the string diameter.  

New dulcimers going out of tune after a day or so is quite common, and not just caused by the string cutting it.  New strings take a day or two to stretch into the root tuning that you use.

Hello all,

I picked up my first dulcimer several months back and found that it would go out of tune after a day or so. After further investigation, I noticed that the middle and melody strings had cut in to the tail and were going deeper with each tuning.

Since I hadn't paid much for the instrument, I decided to solve the problem by cutting the tail at the top end and placing a bit of aluminum rod for the strings to rest on... This dulcimer hasn't gone out of tune since.

I have since acquired a number of dulcimers and am having the same problem with two others but don't want to modify them, as they are much nicer and were quite a bit more expensive.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can stop this without permanent alterations?  

Hi Irene.  I have several Mirlitons -- one almost identical to the one Peter is playing, made by the same Austrian builder. Very spendy…  

I've also started making them myself.  Not as pretty perhaps but they play just as well.  I've made three so far from bamboo that is 3/4" but not 1" in diameter, with lengths from 5" to 10".  The covers are made from joint ends of larger culms.  I'll post some photos later.  I have one crummy vid on my YouTube.  Having trouble finding a way to make vids that aren't 50-80 Mb.  The membrane is a 2x2 square of plastic grocery bag tied/glued over the ends and trimmed.

Tut Taylor did a dulcimer album for the Bicentennial and the first song on side two was called, "Mountains and Woodsmoke".

Here is a link, it starts at about 2.22 on the video.

I'm the craigslist seller. Funny, but I didn't even think about posting it here.

I actually have two of these (including the one for sale), numbered #2517 and #2782. They're almost identical twins, except the fretboard on the earlier one is 3/4" thick and the latter is more like a 1/2" thick. And #2517 is initialed AWJ and #2782 is initialed JCJ.

The one I'm playing is tuned to CGC/CGG, and I like the sound of it there.

 IMG_20181013_173729921[3129].jpg - 34KB

Here is fotmd's own Peter W. playing onion flute with mountain dulcimer:

Ken, I'd never heard of an "Onion flute" and went on youtube to see it played.  how fun is that!!!  Where did you get your onion flute?  aloha, irene

That's a nice looking Jeffreys. At this point in my life I'm only collecting photographs of instruments. I like the dulcimers that Jeffreys made.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

What a sweet-looking Jeffreys & box! 

I play a bit of pennywhistle, but mostly Mirliton.  The Mirliton or Onion flute isn't really a wind instrument, it's a membranophone -- an ancestral kazoo more or less (but not as raucous or metallic sounding) from the 15th-17th century.  Sounds good with the dulcimer actually.  

Ever since getting my teeth replaced with an upper plate, I more or less lost the ability to whistle well; which I used to enjoy doing along with a friend's band.  The Mirliton lets me do almost all the complicated trills of whistling again.  

Welcome Atilwi!  Glad you found us.  You're in for a fabulous experience!  Always ask questions -- we're here to help.  There are no stupid or inappropriate questions, just ones that don't get answered.  

I've attached an article I wrote a few years back called I Just Got A Dulcimer, Now What?.  It's an illustrated glossary of dulcimer terms, so we all speak the same lingo when asking and answering questions.  Plus it has answers to many beginner questions about tuning, playing, care and feeding of your new friend.

I Just Got A.pdf - 1MB

Hello!

I teach elementary music in Kansas and just ordered my first Dulcimer. Found this place when I was researching what to look for so I could choose a good one!

Same, John, in that, having a music education degree, I can supposedly play all of the band wind instruments, buuuuut.... I'm really a flute player. If I had access to the instrument and practice time, I have the foundational knowledge to pick any of them up.

I also do a little on soprano, alto, and sopranino recorder (mine are all plastic Yamahas, acquired for the purpose of teaching elementary children). Would love to learn pennywhistle, but haven't bought one yet.

At that price, David, I think you should start collecting!