Hi folks, any solutions to this one? The obvious answer doesn't work for me, that is, tuning all strings back a tone, because it makes my low string too floppy to be useful. Dulcimer viagra probably isn't the answer either.
I have bought two limberjacks online. One was from the late Keith Young. That is obviously not an option anymore.
The second was a dog limberjack from these folks on Etsy . It is solidly made. No concerns about quality at all. If you just search Etsy you get lots of other possibilities as well.
Thanks Ken, Yes I have seen people selling Limberjacks on the net but one never knows what the quality will be like.
As for making one --- I hoped to have one sooner than that.
I don't know about the best place, but you can find limberjacks all over the Internet. The places I would usually suggest are either no longer in business or no longer carry them. Are you sure you don't want to make another one?
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Not sure that this is the right section to post this, but non of the other sections seemed any more appropriate.
Some years ago I made a limberjack but a fellow musician fell in love with it and I gave it to her. I planed to make an other but that hasn't happened. Where would be the best place to buy one?
I was lucky enough to attend a class where Stephen Seifert taught us how versatile bar chords are in a 1-5-8 tuning like DAd. When you play a bar in this tuning, you're playing the root and 5th notes of the chord. Since it's the 3rd interval that determines whether a chord is major or minor, you simply don't have to worry about that. The other instruments will fill in the missing notes.
If the chord is D (or Dm or D7 or D13...) strum the open strings.
If the chord is E (or Em or E7 or E9sus4...) strum a bar on the 1st fret.
If the chord is F (or Fm or F6 or...) strum a bar on the 1.5 fret (if you've got it)
And so on up the fretboard. The only outliers are diminished chords (fret the middle string one half-step down because in a diminished chord the 5th is flat) and augmented chords (fret the middle string one half-step up). If you don't have a half-fret where you need it, you can play the root strings and mute the middle string.
This was a class about chromatic dulcimer, and I got positively gleeful when Steve started calling out obscure random chords (G#13! F-minor 9th! E-flat augmented!) and we all responded by playing the appropriate chord. Now I know ALL THE CHORDS . Which for an MD player is quite a rush.
In most ensembles it sounds good to reinforce the root and 5th, which is what you're contributing by playing those bar chords. Rock players call it a "power chord."
Ken, thanks for reminding me about the Ebony Hillbillies. I would love the chance to hear Norris Bennett in person. I found this video where he's playing without a noter and without bar chords, but inspirational nonetheless! (Memo to self: get a really great ring to wear on my fretting hand. Also practice. Very, very much practice.)
I don't play that style, but a number of years ago I had the privilege of meeting and watching Norris Bennett of the Ebony Hillbillies, a New York City string band, do his thing with a noter -- he basically used the noter across all the strings much like a slide guitar or a lap steel. Very interesting technique when used with the right kinds of music.
I play in an Old Time String Band and play melody when I can, recently I have been experimenting with bar chords when we play tunes that I find the melody difficult to play and found it quite successful and to me easier than fingered chords.
Has any one else tried this technique and foumd it useful? Better add that I tune DAD.
Foxfire 11. Finally assembled the whole set a couple years ago.
Of course we all know what's in Foxfire 3.... and Foxfire 12. Don't we???
Dear Bob and Sue by Matt and Karen Smith. They visit all 58 national parks and write about it.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
_Rich Dad, Poor Dad_ by Robert Kiyosaki, and I have this weird tug-of-war between the good advice and then ethics as I read; _If God is Good: Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil_ by Randy Alcorn.
Hi, this topic is from a while ago, but I'm new here so thought I would chime in - I have a copy here of "The Dulcimer Book" by Jean Ritchie, Oak Publications, 1974. Actually it is about to be overdue to the library - I rather not return it! Before reading this, my knowledge of the dulcimer was pretty much that I own one and mess around with. This book gave me a valuable background on the instrument and the musical tradition it comes from. Plus she describes tunings for different modes, and it is a song book.
Two things I thought were interesting to mention about it are;
The full title is actually "The Dulcimer Book; being a book about the three-stringed Appalachian dulcimer, including some ways of tuning and playing; some recollections in its local history in Perry and Knott Counties, Kentucky; some observations on the probable origins of the instrument in the old countries of Europe; with plentiful photographic illustrations and drawings; and with words and music for some sixteen songs from the Ritchie Family of Kentucky" (!)
At the same time I got this from the library, I check out another book called "The Appalachian Dulcimer Book" by Michael Murphy, Folksay Press 1976. I note the dates because this later book contains the most blatant plagiarism I've ever seen, with entire sections of Jean Ritchie's book repeated without changes, and in some other cases slightly paraphrased. So I returned it and stuck with the original!
If it helps, I've had some interesting and lengthy correspondence with Mr Shellnutt - and I've owned four of his instruments. Dulcimers were made in large quantities and at widely varying levels of quality. Some were student instruments with a one piece flat headstock/fingerboard; many others were laminate and one even had a sort of formica laminate as an overlay on the fingerboard. So they were certainly made to a price, but all the ones I've tried have played well and sounded good. The high quality solid wood ones are particularly pretty and sweet-sounding.
I've got photos of the 4135 but never owned one. Looks like an intermediate model. Can't see whether laminate or solid. Looks like mid to late 70s. The 5 series models were just into the 80s I think. Most I've seen have a date on the white/blue label which also has the model number....sometimes very small!
Hope this helps.
Geoff Black, Revels Music
I agree that two fret dressings in five years sounds extreme which is why I started this discussion about fret materials. I wasn't having trouble with buzzes. I believe the issue was one of the technicianplayer at the dulcimer shop being concerned about wear and me, the non-musician saying sure, fix it. You are right I don't probably need a dulcimer specialst and a capable guitar guy should be able to the job. So thanks for that suggestion.
EVerybody has been great about this. Thanks again
Two fret dressings in five years seems extreme. You may have too heavy a hand, or you could be one of those people who just plays hard. In any event, you're getting to the point where there won't be much fret left to dress. Did you wear them down to the point where you had buzzes? Or were you simply concerned by visible wear marks? On some of my instruments you can see wear, but it doesn't yet affect the sound.
Rather than try to hunt up a dulcimer-exclusive repair person, I'd look for a competent guitar repairman/woman close by. I see you're near Phoenix. Surely there's someone there who can can help you decide what to do and do the job. Who did the fret dressing?
About the problems with coiled fret wire--there's a tool, I believe Stew-Mac sells it, which will put fret wire in the proper shape.
Alright, good to know! Thank you all so much for the advice!
Putting humidifiers in a closed case isn't such a good idea in dry climates (or any climates) as you've seen majajog. Keeping a dulcimer in its case anywhere is not particularly good for them, either. When you're in a dry climate like Arizona (I lived there for a number of years) the best thing is room humidifiers, even if it's just a sponge in a bowl of water sitting on the coffee table.
We spend the winters in AZ where the humidity gets to 6%. We keep what was sold to us as guitar humidifier in the case to keep the instrument from drying out too much. Never had any problems but don't really know if the humidifier helped or not. On the other hand we still had the humidifier is the case when we got to Arkansas and the humidity was 95%. Opened the case one morning and two of the strings had broken in the case during the night. Took it to the dulcimer shop and they said the strings had rusted through. Apparently too much humidity!
Our neighbor also keeps a humidifier in her case in AZ and had three of her frets rise and the person that fixed them said it was due to too much humidity.
I guess I agree with Noah, that I worry about the instrument drying out too much when there is very low humidity.
We spend the winters in AZ where the humidity gets to 6%. We keep what was sold to us as guitar humidifier in the case to keep the instrument from drying out too much. Never had any problems but don't really know if the humidifier helped or not. On the other hand we still had the humidifier is the case when we got to Arkansas and the humidity was 95%. Opened the case one morning and two of the strings had broken in the case during the night. Took it to the dulcimer shop and they said the strings had rusted through. Apparently too much humidity!
Our neighbor also keeps a humidifier in her case in AZ and had three of her frets rise and the person that fixed them said it was due to too much humidity.
I guess I agree with Noah, that I worry about the instrument drying out too much when there is very low humidity.
There are some similarities in both the melodic and harmonic structures of the tunes but there is one big difference: "She Goes Through the Fair" is in 4/4 time whereas "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry" is in 3/4.
On a related note, my brain always confuses "Blackest Crow" and "Parting Glass" and they also differ in time signature. But the melodies are oh so similar.
Having lived in hot-humid climates worse than Hawaii, and currently living on the water on the Gulf Coast of Florida, I can say this -- when you move from wherever you are now, you dulcimer will adjust to the new local humidity over the span of a few days to a week.
There may be some minor issues -- I had a fret raise a bit when I moved from dry Colorado to ultra-humid Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific just north of the equator. When I played my dulcimer in my air conditioned living quarters it sounded fine, but when I went outside, after a bit that one fret would rise and I'd get buzzing. I eventually took it to the island hobby shop which had the fine tools necessary to pull and re-set that fret.
That's the problem if you live in the tropics and insist on deep chill air conditioning (which also de-humidifies the air) -- when you move from indoors to out (and back again) you really need to give your instrument time (at least half an hour) to adjust to the new conditions. Keep your AC around 78-80F and those transitions are much less -- both on your dulcimer and on your own body. Most Americans set the AC 'way too low -- 68-75 is 'way too low. Learn to live closer to your natural environment and you and your instruments will be a lot healthier!
IMO, low humidity is more of a danger than high.
Humidity will affect most woods the same way. The wood will swell then contract if quickly (for a long period of time) put in dry weather, resulting in cracking.
I have never experienced humidity problems with any of my instruments. My dulcimer stayed in a humid climate (Alabama, Georgia, and Florida) for twenty years. Never had a problem with it cracking because of humidity.
Just make sure it stays in your house for most of it's life and that your house's air conditioning doesn't get turned off with it for long periods of times.
If other people say that Hawaii's humidity is greater than the 100% humidity of Florida, you can keep it in a case and they make tools to take and give humidity to instruments.
So if you play it outside A lot (like ALOT like 15 hours like Mr. Ken Longfield said) you might have trouble once you bring it into a SUPER Dry area.
More than likely you will have no trouble though!
Like most people, most instruments would be most happy in Hawaii.
Humidity swells wood. A well constructed dulcimer should not suffer from humidity. If you are going to play outside in high humidity for 14 or 15 hours a day, you might have a problem. If you play mostly inside in a humidity controlled environment, you should have few, if any, problems. My philosophy is that if you are comfortable, your instrument will be comfortable.
I wouldn't over matter much about this.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Hello all, I'm thinking of moving to Hawaii. Does anyone have any insights on how humidity would affect mahogany dulcimers? Is another type of wood better? Is there a specific way I should care for my instrument?
Thank you in advance!
Robert/John, its was great to hear that you both have experience with the fret materials I was interested in. Interesting to hear the problem with coiled EVO. That's an issue to think about.
i figured that stainless was a lot harder to work with. I've watched nickel silver frets being installed and my own frets being dressed. The filing/planing looked fairly straightforward. Doing that on a much harder material would not be as easy.
i had no idea that re-fretting could cost as much as an instrument. Not sure I would be do it in that case unless it was a dire necessity. Even then I might use order a new instrument. On a new instrument stainless adds about $70 and EVO something less to the total price.
In regard to hearing the differences with different fret materials I am sorry to say I can't take up the build two different instrument challenge. I can barely nail two boards together and even then I am going to bend the nails. I did not say they that there weren't tonal differences in different materials only that I may not be able to hear them or hear them differently. I still sometimes have a hard time distinguishing two adjacent notes on the dulcimer or knowing which was higher in pitch. No musical ear at all. What I am doing trying to play an instrument is a mystery to me.
A few years ago, Karen and I found ourselves having to have frets dressed and/or replaced every few months. We use low action and we don't have a particularly heavy touch, but we were absolutely wearing frets out. We spoke with Richard Ash at Folkcraft and decided to try an experiment. Karen swapped to EVO frets, and I switched to stainless steel frets on our main performance instruments. Any change in tone is negligible, but neither one of us has had to address fret wear since. We admittedly play the instruments more than the average mountain dulcimer hobbyist, but changing fret material made a huge difference for us. My understanding is that the stainless is a pain for luthiers to work with (more time, tough on tools, etc.), but it holds like a champ. The EVO is apparently easier to work with for the luthiers, and it also lasts well. Both materials have a higher cost, but when you compare the cost to frequent maintenance costs it actually saves money in the long run. Just something to ponder.
Ken, majajog, so here is the challenge to you. Build two instruments from the exact same wood, take alternating strips to build the two instruments. Then put different nuts and frets on the two final builds, say one with ebony and brass frets, the other with bone and stainless. Then tell me you can't hear the difference. I have, I can. Think I am wrong, build the instruments and post the results.
Ken, I agree that many people might not be able to hear the difference beteeen frets made of different materials. A lot depends on the person, their physical abilities and experience.
When I was buying my dulcimer, they wanted to know what woods I wanted. For a non-musician this was a challenging question. However, they had a variety of combinations for me to listen to. A lot of people I know have all walnut dulcimers saying they liked the mellow/bassy sound. To me all walnut sounded sort o like lad or dead. I finally settled on walnut and spruce because it sounded quite a bit brighter to me. The question is whether this brighter sound appealed to me because it was better or because I have a high frequency hearing loss that began in the service and has not improved with age and the spruce helped compensate for the loss. My wife has a similar issue and she ended up with cherry and redwood because it sounded better to her than an all cherry or all walnut dulcimer.
Knowing about the loss, would we be able to hear the differences due to fret materials? I don't think we could. However, we are getting pretty far afield from question about fret materials. Thanks to everyone for your comments.
There are quite a few good luthiers here a FOTMD who might be willing to take on your re-fret job if you ask. Start a new thread in the General or Building categories with a tile something like "Looking For Luthier to Re-fret Dulcimer and in the body of your message tell them what kind of dulcimer you have and re-iterate what you've said here...
Dusty -- a lower action wouldn't necessarily reduce fret wear if the play has "white knuckles" from pressing down too hard, but if the action is high, lowering it would certainly help the issue.
From experience, I'm not sure that the average person could hear the difference between nickel-silver and stainless steel frets, or even bronze. The material of the nut and bridge do affect the sound, but again, only if you have very sensitive ears. Those sorts of changes readily show up if you use acoustic metering equipment to look at the sound waves produced, but often are barely, if at all discernable to the ordinary player. The differences would be only a "cent" or two on a tuner, less than a tenth as much as say the difference between an F and a F#.
Dusty, thanks for the suggestion to check the action but I don't think that is the problem since there isn't very much room to lower the action on the nut end where most of the wear is taking place. I will have it checked out but I was sort of under the impression that McSpaddens don't usually have this problem and are known for their playability. But, it could be an issue and I will have it looked at.
One of the people in our dulcimer group brought in a dulcimer and said she was having problems playing it. It was sort of a souvenir dulcimer she had bought in Branson. It had a very high action and very small gauge strings. You could almost cut off your fingertips trying to play it. I suggested having a luthier lower the action or buy a new dulcimer. She had the same problems finding a luthier as I did and bought a different dulcimer.
Another issue to think about.
I'm not a builder, so I have no real expertise in this area. But I would assume that the lower the action the less wear on the frets. Lower action is also easier on the fingers and facilitates faster and easier playing. It might be that you are pushing down hard because your action is high. Maybe you could look into adjusting the action in addition to get new frets.
Ebony makes very good nuts and frets. Personally, I prefer bone as I believe it produces a cleaner tone. Whenever you use ebony, consider the following link: http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/ebony-dark-outlook-dark-woods/ .
Thanks for the comment Matt. I guess I assumed a fret was a fret was a fret and the only difference the material made was in how long the fret would last. I never thought the material would affect the sound. I really like the sound of my instrument and would hesitate to do anything that might change it. I will check into the issue further but may just end up re-fretting with the original material.
As for the nut and saddle (bridge) they are both ebony.
Are there lots and lots of good luthiers? I would have no idea of how to check whether one good versus mediocre. The only person I know who has had work done on his instruments sent them to Folkcraft for it even though they weren't Folkcraft instruments.
This is a timely discussion for me because I was just thinking about my frets yesterday. I have a beautiful FolkRoots dulcimer with a rich sound that I love. I've had it less than a year. But when I slide across the strings it feels like I'm going over speed bumps. I am a beginner/intermediate player and working hard to play smoother. So maybe I need to think about having the frets replaced/lowered.
I live close to Warren May but don't know if he'd work on a dulcimer he didn't make. Any comments from you experienced players?
Frets are one part of the whole system that makes the sound you hear when you play. A general rule is that that stiffer the material used, the brighter the tone. A maple soundboard will produce a brighter tone than spruce. The same holds true for your frets, but to a lesser degree. Brass is softer than stainless and will (modestly) soften your sound. Whatever frets you choose, you will eventually need to replace them. Once you find a good luthier who can talk to you about fret material, choose the fret material for the sound you wish to produce rather than how long the fret will last. (While you are at it, talk to the luthier about the saddle and nut material you are using. These will also have an impact on the sound your instrument produces.)
I try to practice a lot since I am not a very good player. Still improving but it is very slow going.
i will look around for a luthier. I only mentioned McSpadden because we spend 4 to 6 weeks in Mountain View AR listening to and playing music. Figured that Jim Wood could re-fret my dulcimer while I was there because his name is in the instrument But, he doesn't do stainless.
I know of only one luthier in the Phoenix area and it is a long haul for me. Don't know of any in central WI. Couldn't even find any dulcimer players there. Anyway, thanks for the comments. I was sort of hoping this was a relatively common problem but from the reactions of a couple of professional players I figured it was idiosyncratic to me. I will find someone to re-fret for me and in the meantime will try to chord lightly and vertically.
There are hundreds of luthiers who use a variety of fret materials, you don't have to have McSpadden replace the frets. Ask around and see who uses stainless, and how much they would charge to re-fret your dulcimer.
