Forum Activity for @david-pedersen

Glad to know I'm not the only one. Really am trying to lighten up.

That's quite a bit of playing.  If you push the strings sideways while fretting, it does dig in more too.

Pro players i suspect get their frets worked on somewhat regularly every few years.

I'm no pro, but I have banjos with frets I probably ought to replace...dug my way down.  ;)

Thanks Ken.  I guess I do press hard, will try to lighten up.  Play an Hour or two a day, 4-6 days a week.  I am thinking to have the frets, replaced just wish McSpadden would do stainless.  ugh.

I am using brass frets on my newest dulcimer. I had a question about their longevity and I spoke with a pretty noteworthy luthier supplier who said they should last a good long time, not to worry, if they are the style you are looking form. They do look nice on the Bolivian Rosewood fret board.

Frets wear due to the pressure of the strings on them. Do you press really hard on the strings? If so, you might notices some grooves in the fret board as well. Another factor is the amount of playing time. Do you play 23 hours a day, seven days a week? I have not used stainless steel frets, but I understand that they hold up to even the toughest playing. I'm not familiar with the Evo fret material. I have no experience with it. If you can't adjust your playing pressure, you may need to try the harder frets.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

My dulcimer is 5 years old and I have had to have the frets dressed the last two years.  I am guessing that I am a sloppy chorder, pushing the chord down and sideways rather than just down.  I am trying to correct this but not sure how much success I am achieving.

It might be easier to replace the frets with a harder material.  McSpadden uses German Silver but also offers EVO which is 25% harder.  EVO is sort of gold colored which I am not sure i like but could accept if I wanted to change to it.

Blue Lion offers stainless steel frets which are 50% harder than German Silver.  McSpadden does not offer stainless steel.  Does anyone have any comments, suggestions or preferences about fret materials or suggestions about how to reduce the wear and tear on the frets?

The Irish rune that I know as The Great Silkie is not the same as She Moves Through The Fair; although if the meter is right you could probably sing on with the other -- like people who sing Amazing Grace to House Of The Rising Sun...

She moved through the fair........Are these the same song? I love Joe Collin's tab The Great silkie. And I love, She moved through the fair. Both haunting. Suddenly, I said, just this morning, ....WAIT...they sound exactly alike.

?????   Are they?

Well, I gave the stand it's inaugural use last night at Open Mic -- by our standards it was chilly too!  Anyway, the stand worked great even though the plank floor where we play isn't nice and even!  Everyone remarked on how much easier it was to hear the dulcimer, how much better the sound was.  I'm always miked, but opening up the back to vibrate just gave a much better sound.  From my viewpoint (now much higher since I'm standing)  interaction with the audience was much better too.

Oh Robert that's exciting that you nailed the fingering on your recorder after many months of not playing!  You deserve to be proud.  Would love to hear/see you play it sometime!  The sound of recorders is so rich and beautiful.  I agree, a Bb instrument is a wonderful range.  And yeah I hear you on the C minor tunes...yummy!

Wow, I'm relieved that my first pennywhistle class (of a series of 6) isn't until tomorrow night which means the snowy roads will be pretty well all cleared by then.  If it was tonight they might have had to re-schedule.  Looking forward to it although the first class will likely be a little too easy for me since I've been playing for 7 months already.  It'll be fun anyway though!  

Yesterday evening during the snowstorm Brian and I played music in the living room.  His played his fiddle tuned to Bb flat, and I played my low Bb whistle in harmony to the melodies which he played.  It worked out really nicely and was so enjoyable!   Still finding my way around the notes and lots of mistakes, but mostly sounds pretty...wheee!  It's great to be able to choose what kind of instrument I want to play on a given day.  Most go along just fine with Brian on the fiddle.  He's a 'one instrument' kind of fellow..I'm way more fickle.  

PILGRIM A biography of William Brewster.  I found out lately that he's my 12th great grandfather that was the leader on the MAYFLOWER.  I find this very interesting.  I have other books too that I have stacked up and read snippets but this one....way cool. aloha, irene

What Folkcraft says about their six-string is:

"When we string up six-string instruments here in the shop, we use two .011 strings for the melody course, two .013 strings for the middle course, and one .011 and one .024W string for the bass course". 

"The melody strings are tuned in unison, the middle strings are tuned in unison, and the bass strings are tuned one-high (same as the melody string) and one-low (one octave below the melody string)."

The Mediterranean Diabetes Cookbook by Amy Riolo, published by the American Diabetes Assoc that Lady Sally picked up at a recent diabetes conference she attended as part of her PharmD Continuing Ed.

Currently reading Ghost Ship by Clive Cussler and Graham Brown. I finished both the Jefferson book and the latest issue of Fretboard Journal.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Currently reading Testosterone Rex, a popular science book written with a sense of humor. Also, just started Faithful Place by Tana French.

Not sure if my 'folding stand!' is luggage or something else, it's about 29" high. Nice idea & good luck with your presentation. 

Thanks for the photos and feedback, looking at the pictures of yours, I would lean towards it being an Edsell, a lot of strong similarity, mine looks to be older or just more played judging by the oils impregnated into the finger board, even the heart hole angles are right, and the similarity in the head stock are quite strong. From what I've heard and seen Fred tended to put the paper inside.

Ireland and Scotland both seem still VERY tied to their "folk" traditions, much more so that England and America.  Conversely, we seem to take great pride in smashing a lot of that "ethnic rubbish" as Ronnie Brown of the Corries once called it!

I stopped by a local restaurant supply place today and got the dark walnut 38" high tray stand locally for the same amount I would have payed for it through www.webstaurant.com, and didn't have to wait.  First impression is that this playing stand-up is going to be a fun experience!

Sounds very interesting, look forward.Going to a lecture myself tonight given by Terry Moylan on Poetry and Songs of the Irish Revolution 1887-1926. The Indignant Muse title of this Landmark work by the speaker contains 560 of the thousands of  songs and poems created during this extraordinary period of Irish History. Two songs written by James Connolly (Executed for his part in the 1916 Rising) the music for these two songs was composed by a relative of mine Seamus Hughes.  

Marg-- these are similar to a luggage stand (we have one for our AirBnb rental cabana) but much taller -- at least the height of a conventional table.

Val -- Thanx, I will try to get it recorded.   It's interesting to see how the wording and tunes changed as they wandered around Great Britain, across The Pond, and from place to place across the eastern US.  I'm going to give histories of, and perform one version or another of, Child #1, 2, 81, 84, 95, 204, 293, and Roud #2 and 140 plus A Newe Northen Dittye of ye Ladye Greene Sleves, which is not, a ballad, of course. 

Would love to hear and see your presentation and performance as I'm sure other FOTMD  members would, hope you record it.

Inns/models/hotels at one time had folding wooden stands like yours for the suitcases, not sure if they still do but I have one. Interesting idea, good luck with your presentation ken

Gingers tuned to DAdd work great for beginners just starting out.  Same tuning as most other players and most of the tab.  My spouse who plays the ginger also had the 1.5 fret added fairly recently to accommodate some of the finger picked tunes she is playing.  We are also fortunate that her ginger sounds great when played with my standard.

That's a great idea, Ken. My son left a keyboard stand in the attic when he moved out, but my concern has been that it isn't that sturdy when strumming. I'll have to dig it out and give it a try. The tray table looks to be more stable. If mother nature has its way, I may have plenty of time to do that on Tuesday after shoveling snow.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

So...  I'm putting together a presentation/performance on the history of Dulcimers and the Child Ballads in Americana, which I'll be presenting at our local Americana Community Music Association.  I've been thinking lately about the "presentation" part for that, as well as the Open Mics I attend, and I'm thinking I want to perform standing up, without slinging the dulcimer around my neck like Robert Force.  I know at least a couple of dulcimer-related woodworkers make custom adjustable stands, for custom prices, but I wanted something workable for under $25.

Then Lady Sally and I went to dinner today, where the waitress brought the food for the table on a giant tray -- which she placed on a folding stand! The light bulb began to dimly glow...  I do this "chef thing"  why hadn't I thought of these before??

A little Internet research, and I discover that you can buy these folding stands, made of metal tubing or wooden bars, which stand 28" to 38" tall, and vary in price from $12 to $50.  For reference, a regular table stands 30" tall, but I want something taller on which I can put my Possum Boxes (the carrying boxes I build from Poplar, which double as Possum Board amplifiers).

 I found a really nice looking wooden stand, 38" tall, for $19.99, plus $8.89 shipping.  If you want to spend more money, you can get cloth covers in various colors to hide the wood/metal.  The picture shows the one I just ordered from www.webstaurantstore.com -- one of the most respected Internet restaurant supply sites.

The quality isn't the greatest on these because they are from my phone. See what you think!

 edsel head blurry.jpg - 128KB

 Thanks for the feedback.  lot of discussion was over the fact there was no paper inside, but everything else looked spot on.

 If you are OK with it, would love to see a photo or 2 of your Edsel.

 your 2 cents is worth 100 times more,

(Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes.. That way you'll be a mile away and have his shoes!!)  

Lisa, I don't want to start a war either, but wanted to say those are some very good observations!  I make that same recommendation!

When I bought the Jim Fox "Little Mule" that I play in my "Loch Lomond" video I had the 1.5 put on but NOT the 8.5....it's all up to you-- and the luthier who did the work pointed out that my frets up there would be very narrow--and my fingers aren't!

Thank you Lisa. At this point, I am fully 1-1/2 fret savvy and no longer cringe at the sight. I am seeing it as a benefit now and appreciate the add-on. However, that 8-1/2 fret, ugh, now that's an entirely different story! 

I think Ginger plays great in DAdd using the strings McSpadden recommends for that tuning.  I like the heavy strings and really enjoy playing it chord/melody style, mainly on the lower octave and not so much up the fretboard where the strings get really short.  I wouldn't pick Ginger as my favorite for DAA noter/drone style, but I have a friend who does exactly that and is very happy.  He even special-ordered a Ginger without the 6-1/2 fret.

Adding a possum board makes a big difference on these little dulcimers.    

My Ginger was originally set up and compensated for Gdgg.  I changed to DAdd for a workshop and never went back.  If I try really hard I can notice the intonation is slightly off, but only up past the 7th fret.  And I'm picky about intonation.  I think you could safely order your Ginger compensated for DAdd and still experiment with Gdgg at a later time. 

At the risk of igniting a fret war, I'll suggest if you're at all interested, add the 1-1/2 fret.  This is because Ginger is short enough already.  If you retune to DAcc or capo on the first fret, you're making the scale that much shorter.  With the 1-1/2 fret, you can play both major and minor tunes in DAdd without a capo, giving you the use of the entire fretboard and two entire octaves (starting on the bass string) before you venture above the 7th fret.  

Looks more like an Edsel to me, especially with no paper inside. The face looks a lot like my Edsel, and the nut material is the same as my Edsel's (vs the one I have that Fred made). Just my two cents.

Well, I am way late to this discussion... I just picked up my very first ukulele today. It is a Kala KA CEM concert and it is lovely. I've already tuned it and have started trying some chords. It will take a while to get my squishy fingers in shape. I keep hitting adjacent strings. Of course, I've played the guitar before. When I was 12. Forty five years ago... So this should be easy :)

Jan that really helps me thank you!

Monica, when I purchased Ginger with a compensated bridge 6 years ago, it was quite a game changer for me!  I kept it tuned to DAd, took it to lots of workshops and played it almost non-stop at home.  The shorter scale length helped me learn chords and really increased my confidence.

I know this is an old thread, but I'm also trying to make this decision. Monica, did you buy one? What did you choose? I mainly play in DAD or CGC. I find the AEA tuning of a soprano is just too high for my liking and I'm thinking the Gdg would be too close to that. Wish I could hear one in person!

I just wanna chime in and say I've really enjoyed this whole discussion! And yeah I didn't know about the capo over the fret either - great tip!

Brian, You said just about what I was going to say if I hadn't fallen asleep last night.  Indeed, it is a reverse mixolydian, just as DGd is reverse ionian.