Forum Activity for @d-chitwood

I'm pretty sure half of you were fiddling around with supper yesterday and looked up from your soup pot, wondering what in the tarnation that bell sound was...that kept going and going and going. The birds flew from the trees, the dog woke up from its nap, haha! 

I confess...it was me.   I just took receipt of my 26" mcspadden and whilst playing around I accidentally hit the 7th fret with the side of my hand. A bell tone harmonic rang out so loud and for sooo long, I gasped! And of course rushed to pull up Larry Conger's Summertime so I could put this new found force of nature to work.

Lord help mercy, the harmonics on this thing!!  Of all the dulcimers that have passed through my hands (folkroots, gallier starsong, gibson, 3 mcspaddens, modern mountain, blue lion) I have never in all my born days heard such a ring!  My other dulcimers pale in comparison. Woo Hoo...thank you Brian G. 

So have at it! Can we talk harmonics? 

Karen and I both keep coming back to John Stinson's #2 because there are so many cool things to do with the chords.  We usually keep the same song structure each time, but we make subtle voicing and chord changes pretty much every single time that we play it.  Bing Futch taught me that tune a few years ago in Palestine, TX.  I'm really glad that he did. 

Most 'fun' I would have to say 'Nut factory shuffle'. Anytime my playing partner and I get into a 'kerfuffle' with a challenging song, we'll look at each other, grin, and tear into Nutfactory with a vigor, laughing at our confident bravado. I love how loud and in your face this song is and it is a hoot to play! 

You'll probably find that how much you like camping increases with the increase in the amount of "comfort" camping stuff you take.  A tent you can stand up in was a good start.  Next, you might want to think about a cot with a great pad or air mattress on it.  Oh--and pitch that tent near a great restaurant!

What's the number?

Spotted Pony is one I like to play--but there are so many!

I've had fun with lots of tunes, but one I keep coming back to on the dulcimer, both individually and with my local group, is Southwind.  Something about it just fits the dulcimer so well.

Gosh Richard, I could have done this for you, and I am just up the road. Come on up to Chapel Hill tomorrow night, meet me, and if noter is your style, Ted will be there. He leads a local group. PM me for details, and hop on I40 and join the fun.

 Gershwin's Summertime arranged by Larry Conger. Nice and slow, sweet tea with free refills. Bluesy like.

Right now it's "Over the Waterfall". A right snappy tune!

I'll have to look up Poplar Pole. I don't know it, but I've never met a Henry Reed tune I didn't like.

Right now, it's Poplar Pole.  The original sourse for old-time musician Chris Via was Mr Henry Reed of Glen Lyn VA.  And I believe the Black Twig Pickers, an old-time band who also recorded the tune, acknowledged both Mr Reed and Chris Via. 

I sent a 1991 era McSpadden dulcimer in to have the tuning machines changed out and strap buttons added. They received it at 11 am Monday. I got a call 930 their time today (Tuesday) saying it was ready giving me the tracking number. Awesome service from Jim Woods and the great folks at McSpadden. Just a reflection of the great service so many on this forum experience in our dulcimer world.

Thank you so much everyone, and especially to Jan.  I was very surprised to find out I had won - wasn't even expecting to place in the top 5!  It was a nice weekend - even trying out camping again for the first time since I was around 14 years old.

Oh wow Ken, I love envisioning the handkerchief now when i think of Almeda!

(nowadays, people constantly have their cell phone in hand instead... what a pity)

Lisa,

Almeda was a total hoot as a person. A great sense of humour. You would have really enjoyed spending time with her and of course her singing was wonderful. She always held the end of a handkerchef in her hand and waved it back and forth as she sang. It all transported you to another place. I pictured scenes described by Sharpe and Karples while she sang. It was a wonderful experience.

I have a dear friend that used to sing in the Mormon TAB. Choir and she said that a woman's voice doesn't reach it's peak in singing quality until after 40.  aloha, irene

Government Health Warning: Playing limberjacks may become addictive. Please use with caution.

Steven

Thanks for the info Skip. I will forward your instructions to my friend so she can get started.

Ken, you lucky fellow!   Many are the hours I have listened to Almeda's wonderful recordings.  The more one listens, the more rich and skilled her singing sounds.  So lucky we have them for others in the future!  I wish there had been recordings of her singing when she was say in her 40s-  what a marvel!

Thanks for the comments Ken.  I might as well bring everyone up to date on my fret issue.  Spent the Spring in Mountain View AR.  Went to the music shop and asked if they would re-fret mY dulcimer with stainless steel.  They thought it was a really bad idea.  The sound would become tinklier and the stainless frets would saw through the strings rapidly.  So, I sort of gave up on the idea.

However a couple of weeks later I was at a jam and Jim Woods from the Dulcimer Shoppe was there and he was playing a chromatic dulcimer with EVO frets.  I asked him about the sound issue and he didn't think that EVO would make much difference in the sound but he did think EVO might increase the sustain a little.  I played with his dulcimer for a while (poorly, all those extra frets were confusing). I thought it sounded okay so I asked him to Re-fret my dulcimer with EVO.

After I got it back, I decided the following:

1. it might be a little brighter in tone to mY ear plus some other people said they thought it was a little brighter.  However the difference is fairly small.

2. The sustain definitely increased but I like that.

3. I personally find fretting easier on the EVO than it was on the German silver.

i am happy with the outcome but as usual wit's these kinds of issues, your mileage may vary.

Yes Dusty is right- just go to the little display stand for balsa wood and dowels in any good hardware store- find a thin flexible 1/8" thick flexible balsa 'plank'- it'll be just the right bounce and length/width for your limberjack.  

Dulcinina, any hardware or home improvement store will have plenty of plywood.  They might even cut it for you.

Here is Jean Ritchie with her limberjack:

Thanks, Dusty.  The search is on for a thin board.  Can't wait to take the limberjack to my next dulcimer meeting.

Thanks Ken, Was wondering when made. I have an Orthey Dulcimer I picked up from a member here, great work, I've seen but don't own one of his auto-harps,

George quit making those when he stopped making dulcimers. At that point he moved over to building his dulciharps (autoharps) full time. Enjoy your limberjack.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thanks Dusty, you answered my question before I asked it, the Limberjack I looked at was made by George Orthey Dulcimer, so i'm thinking pretty well made, but it did not have the board or anything with, so I was needing to find a board.

The rule for air drying green wood is one year per inch of thickness. Seal the end grain so it won't lose moisture too quickly or the peice will crack of check. I just paint the ends with whatever latex house paint I have laying around. Elmer's Glue works just fine as well. I wouldn't put the wood in a room with wood heat.  There is no substitute for patience when it comes to air drying. In the old days, a father would cut the wood his son would use.

You can get EVO and stainless steel fret wire from Luthiers Mercantile. I have EVO on my personal instruments.  On a dulcimer made in 2009, it shows virtually no fret wear. I play everyday and when I go to fiddler's conventions I play for about ten hours a day. German silver frets are relatively soft and the material is easy to work with. EVO is quite a bit harder and stiffer and is more difficult to make behave. Stainless is even more so. It's the guys who play heavy metal who first instigated stainless steel as all that tapping and string bending was very hard on softer materials.  I have found no tonal difference among the various materials. They all do a good job when properly installed. Changing the frets on aMcSpadden would be no more difficult than on any other dulcimer. If you have more questions about any of this, feel free to e-mail me.

Dulcinina, the board has to be super thin, so that it bounces easily. I am sure the ceiling fan blade is way too thick.

I have two limberjacks that came with boards. Both are rectangular pieces of plywood about two feet in length, 3 or 3-1/2 inches wide, and only about 1/8 of an inch thick.  

 I had the great pleasure of  spending a little time with Almeda Riddle during a period betweeen 1964 and 1974. She was so sharp and had a great wit. I loved her singing and her memory was nothing short of phenominal. I still miss her.

I was thinking about limberjacks just a few days ago.  In the back of my mind I of sort of remembered having one.  Went down into the basement and sure enough there he was in a box.  The "board" I have for him is the blade of a ceiling fan. I don't think it works particularly well.  Any suggestions for a suitable board? Dulcinina

thanks Marg for the encouragement to "go where no man has gone before" with the  heat gun and a light tap or 6!  the support and friendship here is wonderful  the best > abritabroad

Set up 2 folders on a PC, 'PDF'S for tablet' and 'PDF'S on tablet'.

Download MobileSheets Companion and the manual  

http://www.zubersoft.com/mobilesheets/companion.html

Connect to WIFI on both units.

Click on the 3 vertical dots [overflow icon] at the upper right on 1st page that appears [main library of MSP] the tablet then select 'Sync to PC'. 

A popup will appear on the PC allowing you to select the tablet, selet it an click ok at the bottom right.

.on the PC, click on the upper left icon and click on 'batch import' [I think it is] and find the 'PDF'S for tablet' folder, select it and go. I may have left out some steps, going strictly from memory right now [not so good for us old timers :)].

Email Mike @ Mobilesheetspro, he gets back promptly and will answer all your questions.  Great program

I use the iPad Pro tablet now with unrealBook as the app.  I formerly used an android tablet with MobileSheets to load my PDF songs, but I forgot exactly how to use it. One of my dulcimer friends bought an android tablet and wants to use the MobileSheets program and I forgot all the details of loading songs onto the tablet. Can somebody refresh my memory so I can help out my friend. Thanks a lot.

Joe Besse

There is a master list of the known Homer Ledford dulcimers which lists the instrument number, date it was built, materials, and first owner.  Sorry, I don't have the link to that, but someone here does, I'm sure.

When you take pix, be sure to get his signature as well as top/bottom and side, and a close up of the tuning head.

Learning the dulcimer is an adventure & exciting. Part of the adventure is learning about the dulcimer; how to change strings, take the bridge out & sand it down a bit to lower the action, file a buzzing fret or put a temp 6+ in with a pin or paperclip & tape. Lots of help on this site to take you through the steps weather it's a strumming problem or heating up & tapping a bridge. Good luck, a little adjusting maybe is all that's needed but no matter what - great infomation