Forum Activity for @kusani

The name of my last build is VERY descriptive!  I experimented with a couple stains and it failed; hence named: The Ugly One.    Despite appearance, it sounds fairly good. 

Love those names!

Thats a super idea!!!   

I had two custom made mandolins for many years- an F5 and an octave mandolin... both with similar inlays and made by the same luthier.  I called them The Little Snapper and The Big Snapper.  They were gorgeous.  I sold them last year, both to the same person.

"People think I take some sort of masochistic pleasure out of putting out music that's gonna be unpopular."

- Billy Corgan

(lead singer Smashing Pumpkins)

Some of mine have names: Rosa, Lucinda, Mr. Salty.  One or two remain nameless.  

Mr. Salty got his name when I was playing for my kid's 1st grade class and someone said it looked like a "peanut guitar."  Indeed, the hourglass shape does resemble the shape of a peanut and the lacewood resembles the texture of a peanut shell.

I've been using words from the Bible, usually the Psalms, as names for my new dulcimer builds. 

It's getting more difficult to find words that can be names also! Mephibosheth? Maher-shalal-hash-baz?...

This is a list of names (including hubby's)

Broadway, Skinny, Kat, Ollie, Bud, Baby, Wally, Milly, Boxer, Annie, Bob, Tiny Tim, Shane, Pocahontas, Sweetie, Logan, Merl.

Great idea!

Mine are by Maker, Seller, User, wood type...really anything I can distinguish from the others!

I have been "naming" mine by the month that it was made. ("October"  is just getting started, though.)

Just curious.....does anyone "NAME-nickname" their dulcimers as I do???   I will get a list of mine together and post their names!

Jean Ritchie is supposed to have said something to the effect that  "...if it's got extra frets, somehow it's not a dulcimer anymore..."  But I can't find who told me that quote originally a year or so back.

Sometimes between songs at a gig, I'll say to the audience:  "We've had a request from the audience... but we're going to keep playing anyway."   Always gets a laugh.  

I am currently using it set on the first fret but moved  slightly toward the nut....if I flip all the fingers to "off" I can continue to play 1st fret without any issues!   Handy and oh so quick!

hewalker, Thanks  for the info. I'm glad you included he photo, it  answers my other concenrs quite well.

Does he use a strap?  I have longer legs  than upper body and placing my strap tightly around my legs(just behind the knee bend-tightened for no motion in the dulcimer) works way better than under my behind!

Another interesting find I made this last week!  I was in the market for another tuner (we have about ten) needed another one to keep on the currently played dulcimer.  I was amazed and very excited to see this 3-in-1.  I carry a metronome in my gig bag and this tuner has one built in!!!  LOVE it so far!!!!!   Also has a Tune generator that I haven't tried out!   **Downer of this tuner is doesn't spin 360 degrees so have to clip it and tilt head to view!!

 unnamed-4.jpg - 65KB

I must add-although I primarily play dulcimer-I also play around with ukulele and mandolin and hubs plays bouzouki so this mini capo seem to be a real must try!

I ordered the mini and it arrived yesterday-loving the flexibility of changing to all sorts of tunings quickly.  It fits great on all the fingerboards I own (checked before ordering) The "fingers" can be removed easily and made to fit even three string dulcimers.  Please continue your comments as you try this-I am curious how everyone feels! I currently have one finger fretting both melody strings and it is the clearest sound I have found while experimenting! (see photo)

 unnamed.jpg - 47KB

Thanks, missed that and the width range, 1 1/8-2". I wonder if the fingers can be adjusted sideways, can fit over doubled strings and be set up for 3 or 5 courses.

According to the web site the spider capo mini should work on mountain dulcimers.  “The Mini SpiderCapo is for narrow necked instruments. These include, but are not limited to: Banjo, Ukelele, Mandolin and Bouzuki.

Users report that because the SpiderCapo clamps over the fingerboard, and not behind, it can also be used on the Mountian Dulcimer.”

I looked at their site earlier today to see if they published any specs. I couldn't find any. I I wanted to find out what the open width is [ 1 3/8 to 1 5/8"], if the fingers are sideways adjustable so they can be placed over different string spacings and if they work on flat fingerboards [I don't use any of the instruments they make them for]. They also offer custom made. If they will work oh MD's , there could be a lot of unique tunings done.

I had never heard of the spider capo, so after looking it up, it is quite similar, but probably better, than one called "The Extra Hand Capo."  I had (and still have) one of those and it was really cool experimenting with the different strings held down with open strings.  Even tho' I don't like capos (they cut off too many frets) I might have to try one of those.

Has anyone given the mini Spider a try?  I searched for discussions and didn't find one!

That Cologne lyre is mine.    It's about 8" wide x 22" long and tapers from 1-1/8" thick at the bottom to 5/8" thick at the tuners. It's hollowed out all under the mango top, even up the arms.  I've offered it for sale a couple times, but no takers.  Maybe they think that the bridge is yellow plastic not real amber or something...

It has a nice quiet tone, perfect 'porch' instrument or "personal music maker".

Wow... Ken that 5th century style, spalted mango top lyre you made is just gorgeous.  Did you make that for someone, or for yourself?

Cute, Irene!  We argue all the time about whether it should be pronounced "leer" or "liar".

Here's the first Lyre I made a few years ago.  It's more or less a reconstruction of a 5th century (Charlemagne era) lyre from a grave site near what is now Cologne, Germany.  Maple, body, spalted Mango soundboard, Baltic amber bridge, tailpiece of pear wood, and ukulele strings!  On this one I opted for autoharp tuning pegs rather than tapered wooden pegs.  The next ones will have tapered wood pegs.

 Cologne Lyre.jpg - 26KB

this is going to be exciting to see in the making and in the future playing.  I've made one Lyre and I say as I tell folks about it in my presentations.  "now this is a Lyre, and I'm telling you the truth".  aloha, irene

Well, when I get this one put together I'll see what I can come up with for a sound clip or two...

Would love to eventually hear a clip of these lyres playing a simple tune or just hearing them being plucked, Ken.

Fun!

Betty is just gorgeous!         Dan made another winner.

Dan makes very nice traditional instruments.  Does this one have feet on the bottom?  Either way, play her using a possum board and you'll be amazed at how much volume you'll get.  If you go down to Home Despot or Lowe'st you can find a poplar plank the same width or just a bit wider, about 1/2" thick, and make a matching possum board very easily...

Pretty Betty is made of all poplar, a traditional and very locally available wood to our dulcimer ancestors who built dulcimers in the Appalachian area (Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia). She was made by Dan Cox a member here on FOTMD also known as Dulcimore Dan. The voice is bright and silvery like the traditional instruments. She is not overly loud, but the older dulcimers were primarily played in the home or on the front porch, perhaps in some of the many small churches which dot the land in Appalachia. She sings a beautiful song.

She's a PRETTY BETTY for sure.  I love it's the old style.  tell us more about the wood used and who made her.  

aloha, irene

Yes.  It sounds like your tuners need tightening.  Tighten the screw a quarter-turn, tune up the string, and see if it holds.  If not, try another quarter-turn.  If you've tightened it too much and the tuner becomes hard for you to turn, loosen it again just a bit.  I've met loose friction tuners that needed a 360-degree turn or more to get them working right.

Properly-adjusted friction tuners should hold tune just as well as geared tuners do.  They'll need tightening once or twice a year.  Sometimes loosening, too, if the humidity changes.  I have a little blade/phillips screwdriver on my keychain and it goes everywhere with me.  If I'm going to play a gig and I won't be able to tune between songs then I'll give the tuners an extra twist just for insurance.

If the tuners are really old and corroded or the screw is stripped, then they'll need replacing.  If the wood in the head stock is damaged, that's a whole different can of worms.  Know that the folks at the Magic Fluke company stand by their products and will do repairs, usually free, even if you bought it used.

Will taking a screwdriver to them make the tuners actually turn without bouncing back?  Because that is what they are doing, making it impossible to tune.  Right now it is in the corner of my office, looking at me reproachfully.

Just got this dulcimer which I named Pretty Betty, made in the older more traditional style.Nice and bright and silvery sounding.

My DAD [Dulcimer Acquisition Disorder] is now in remission but its hard to say when I may have a relapse and it comes back again.

I know someone will ask for a sound clip. I do not have the knowledge/technology to produce one and get it on the computer

 Dulcimer Pretty Betty.jpg - 53KB

These are/were 6 string lyres -- "Pentatonic+" as it is thought of ...  I tune them in the simple pentatonic do, re, mi, sol, la, Do.

Kolrosing is such an easy (for values of 'easy') way to add really intricate decoration.  You do have to be able to follow the lines though!

That's very cool, Ken!

My recently commissioned epinette in pearwood has kolrosing designs as well.  It's a wonderful way to decorate wood items and instruments.  My future Langspil will feature kolrosing as well.

How many strings are these two lyres going to have, Ken?

I was recently gifted with some beautiful wood to make a couple of lyres.  I have Myrtle and Maple for body planks and soundboards, as well as Port Orford Cedar for soundboards.  Lyres have "carved" bodies about an inch thick, hollowed out to a 1/4" or less thick back, and a soundboard applied over the top. 

The ones I'm reconstructing here are based on instruments found in an archaeological dig near Oberflacht, Germany, before WWII.  The graves are from a "pre-German"  or Allemanic site dated to the late 600s AD.

This one will have a Myrtle body and a Port Orford Cedar soundboard decorated, as you can see, by "kalrose carved" designs.  Kalrose carving is to wood as scrimshaw is to bone/horn.  The designs were taken from some standing stones I visited while in Scotland.  The "Celtic knotwork" type designs were popular all over western Europe and the British Isles.

 Mock up of Oberflacht Lyre.JPG.jpg - 51KB