I enjoyed learning about Ivan and how he has introduce our American Instrument to the people in Singapore. I hope that he will be able to come visit dulcimer communities in America and Jam someday.
Thank you for your work with the podcasts.
Susie, exciting that you got your new flute and very happy your husband seems like he will enjoy listening to you play.
Yes we would love to see a picture of it, sounds very beautiful.
Susie, we'd love to see a picture of your new walnut flute with turquoise. And always good when one's spouse approves of a new instrument! 
I've learned over the years to never, ever say "This is the last ____ I'm getting". Never paint yourself into a corner. lolol...
Last night I ordered several more pennywhistles in various keys. 
Good topic. Finishing is one of my weaker skills in woodworking. Right now, I'm working on my first dulcimer and I'm using tung oil as the finish. So far, I've got three coats on and plan to do some light sanding with 320 or 400 grit and apply one or two more coats depending on how the fourth coat looks. Then, I'll go over it with a couple coats of Trewax paste wax. I'm going for a satin finish. Right now it looks pretty nice and going in the direction I want.
Hearts of the Dulcimer Podcast - Episode 18
Ivan Ng Sheng Kai: Singapore's Only Dulcimer Busker
Singapore seems to have only one performing mountain dulcimer player. He’s a 24 year old busker named Ivan Ng Sheng Kai. Hear what it’s like to be the lone dulcimer performer in Singapore, and the extraordinary measures he’s had to take to find and learn how to play it.
For episode resources, go to: http://dulcimuse.com/podcast/resource/018.html
I got my HS mid-tone F# Golden Eagle NAF yesterday. Wow, what a beautiful tone. My husband even said "that's a really nice sounding Flute". The turquoise flair is really pretty with the walnut. I'm very happy with my third Flute. I think it will be my #1. 
Work on letting go of the death grip you have on the noter. Relax your fingers, shake them out after every tune. Change your grip from top to side to bottom.
To repeat -- larger diameter noters; and/or wrap most of the noter in a bit of foam rubber -- what Liza calls a Noter Dog.
Enjoy that Presnell, Sheryl!
Will keep my eyes open for a recording on that Stamper, Robin C!
~great question~ Sorry for you pain and hope you find relief!
I also love the chopstick idea for my little Wren~THANK YOU, LEXIE!
Hi Sheryl,
That's great news!
Nettie used C,c,c and you can find some examples of her playing on the web. However, she also used 1-5-5 latterly. I think that unison tuning was probably the Hicks family tuning and her switch to 1-5-5 was influenced by meeting other players like RLS. The 6+ makes sense in 1-1-1 and Ed told RLS that he put it on so Nettie could play those pretty Christmas tunes.
Some of the Presnell dulcimers don't play well if you tune the strings open. You need to tune the drones to the fretted root note - the 7th fret in 1-1-1 From what I've heard of Nettie's playing she never went down that low. Her playing was concentrated around the 7th fret root. Hence the long scale giving her more room up the top of the fretboard.
My Presnell plays well fro the nut so I think she was already regularly using 1-5-5 as well as 1-1-1 at the time it was built.
I just realized that I wrote out taro patch tuning bass ackwards. It should be DGDGBD.
I'm the proud owner of Edd Presnell's #462 dulcimer built October 5th, 1966. It looks like it was hardly ever played. 29" vsl. Any recommendations for what key I should tune this to? C,c,c? I will post pic's soon.
Didn't get the Hicks, someone beat me to it.
Lexie -- try using much larger diameter noters -- ones as big around as your index finger -- say 1/2" or 3/4" in diameter. The larger diameter will take pressure off of trying to squeeze down on a 1/4" diameter chopstick or the handle of a spoon. I always recommend using a noter that's 4" - 6" long as it presses against the palm of the hand, again easing some pressure issues.
Nice! I've recently started learning slack key or taro patch guitar and love the laidback, relaxed feel and have pondered how it would pair up with dulcimer or strum stick. (GDGDBD)
I am sorry about your joint pain in your finger, I know it is painful and distracts from playing our sweet strings.
I have Rhematoid Arthritis and so I don't play for too long, I am happy when I get to practice my MD for a hour. Hand splints have helped me play, but I always use a noter because my finger joints won't handle the pressure of chording.
My noter I slip into my hand splint (a bambo chopstick) or when I am not using a hand splint I use a hard wood spoon for a noter. This allows my hand to loosely hold the spoon with the palm of my hand and takes tension off the small joints in my fingers.
I think what has helped me is shorten my playing times or rest in between, but also I use foods or supplements in my diet to help joint health and inflammation.
I eat lots of dark berries; raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, also fresh ginger, tumeric.
Some suppliments that help me are flaxseed oil, glucosamine and fishoil.
I wish you well in finding your way with this painful distraction and continue to enjoy playing your sweet strings. 
I'm wondering if anyone else has issues with a finger joint that gets irritated from overuse. On my chord hand, I have one joint that is needing to be taped or splinted. How have yall handled this pain-in-the-finger?
I just got a cortisone shot yesterday and they gave me a super duper metal splint that keep the tip of my finger exposed. Any advice on how to manage this irritation?
I think the "Walker Texas Ranger" theme song would be perfect around a campfire... :P
Robin, that flute is a real beauty!
I totally relate to your excitement. I've been learning to play the pennywhistle for the past couple of months now, and the largest/lowest one I have right now is a brass low G Dixon which is two and a half steps higher than your D flute. But while learning, I'm mostly playing my higher whistles, and playing a bit with Brian on fiddle, in the kitchen.
The low whistles and flutes require a good set of lungs, and lots of air, for sure! ..but they have such a velvety rich tone.
Both the Irish flute and the penny whistle come in various sizes/keys, and materials, and some are even sold in a set with interchangeable heads to convert them back and forth between whistle and flute....both having basically the same 6 holes. The lowest penny whistles come I think in the low key of C, a step below your D flute.
You sound wonderful already Robin! If you love it as much as I'm loving learning my new whistles, then you'll be a hopelessly in love 'lost soul'. 
This music thing is the Devil! lol
Paula, I'll echo the others here who've recommended TablEdit. It's definitely a program that takes some time to learn, but once learned, it probably prints the best looking tablature of any of the programs out there. I've found from using it a while that it's wise to set up your favorite formats as templates and use them over and over again. Saves lots of setup time. Another thing I usually do is enter a tune in another notation software package capable of exporting as midi (I use NoteWorthy Composer but there are plenty of others available), then I import the midi file into TablEdit.
All that said, you should probably consider the number of tunes for which you want tablature. If it's ten or so you might want to rethink it. Fifty or more, it's probably worth the time and effort. Of course, you might start with a few, find you like the program, and decide to do more.
Take Dusty's advice and download the trial version. Can't hurt, might help.
(BTW, Dusty, slick new avatar!)
Robin, Were you thinking Stanley Hicks on that other dulcimer?
Nice find! Interesting dulcimer stand. 
Hi Sheryl,
I managed to buy an I.D Stamper dulcimer last week - one of his long scale ones that he used for those A minor slack key tunes like 900 miles and Darlin Cory so my Presnell is going back to the C,c,c tuning that Nettie Presnell used. Hopefully the Stamper dulcimer will be here in a couple of weeks although clearing dulcimers through UK customs is taking weeks at present!!!!
Robin, Good information. I couldn't have said it better. I heard your recording of 900 Miles on your jumbo Presnell, very nice indeed.
The first dulcimer is a Presnell the second looks like a Hicks (he also built mountain banjos) - the large hearts and sloping shoulders make Hicks a possibility. Pricing is difficult because so few of these dulcimers come up for sale. They sort of have two prices - the first price is a players price; basically what the instrument is worth to a dulcimer musician. There are very few of us who actually play, gig and record with these old dulcimers. So the player's pricing for a Presnell is around $350-$450 and the Hicks about the same. So about the price of a new McSpadden. If you can get the Hicks for under $350 I'd certainly be interested if you didn't want to keep it (I have a Presnell). The second price is the collectors price - it is to the long term advantage of a collector to push the purchase price up, so your guess is as good as mine on that score but sometimes these old dulcimers go for silly money if two collectors are bidding.
Personally speaking, I think that wherever possible we should try and keep these old instruments within the dulcimer playing community.
Paula, there is indeed a manual for TablEdit, which you can get in digital form (and print out if you wish -- it's about 150 pages or so), but it is not very user friendly. Stephen Seifert used to have a tutorial available on his website which shows him navigating the software and talking over his computer screen. It is very useful, but I think he has moved it from his website to the Dulcimer School. If you subscribe to the School you can find it there.
I have sometimes learned how to do things in Tabledit just by using Google, but here at FOTMD, we use the Arranging For Mountain Dulcimers Group to pose questions about TablEdit. Answers usually come pretty quickly.
You may already know that you can get a free trial of TablEdit which allows you to compose up to 24 measures, I think. Give it a try. As Robin says, it is not very intuitive and takes a while to get used to, but it is really powerful and once you learn it you can tab arrangements pretty darn quickly.
I wouldn't do that, Dan. I'd rather learn the 'curve'. It was a different situation with my BD, which was built in 2006. Ken Bloom installed them for me. (And I got to see his Workshop. Woo-hoo!) But I appreciate your advice.
If it is a Presnell, changing to mechanical tuners would adversly affect the value of the dulcimer. I currently own six dulcimers with wooden pegs and enjoy them all.
Dan, only a bad experience (Bowed Dulcimer- upgraded to Perfection planetary pegs). You make a good point. Still, I am intrigued.
They don't seem to come with instructions or is there a book you can print?
Tabledit will do the job - but it does take a little time to get to know the programme. It is a very capable programme but takes a bit of time and effort to learn to use it when you first start.
Okay, I have songs I want to put into mtn dulcimer tab. I like the tab that has the regular staff and traditional notes above, and the mtn tab below . In other words, I would like both... What program should I use? tabledit or ABC or what... I need something ease to use as doing this tries my patience!!
Do you have any experience using the wooden tuning pegs, Sheryl? They have a fairly steep 'learning curve' and are troubling for anyone with hand problems (arthritis, etc.).
My next obvious question is, what should I expect to pay for it if I can get it? I'd just like to recognize a deal, if there is one here.
I see what you see Phil. How about these? Same sail, maybe same maker... Raleigh NC, if that helps.
Looks like it could be a Edd Presnell. Here's a link that has one.
Great that you are challenging yourself with your new flute. It does have a beautiful tone and I think you'll be playing it really soon at your Pub gigs, you are sounding good.
I'm seeing this dulcimer at a sale this weekend, and wondering if anyone recognizes it and who may have built it. I can look inside it when the sale starts, but I am hoping to have an idea before I go to the sale. This is the only photo I have. Thanks!
Fair play to you Robin," ya have it in ya."
