Forum Activity for @john-keane

Nowadays they are mostly in pentatonic minor.  The b minor is particularly nice when playing with dulcimers playing in D major (b is the relative minor of D).

Original NAF weren't tuned to any key. They were made according to a person's size of arm and hand. It was called grandfather tuning. Each flute was tuned to itself.

Only thing I can tell you is you're just getting started. lol I had to start making them since I can't afford to buy them. lol I think I got somewhere around 15 or so now. Good luck!

Only six?  That's not DAD, that's just a "healthy appreciation of the instrument".

After all you need at least nine -- one for each of the traditional Modes (Ionian, Mixolydian, Dorian, Aeolian, Lydian, Phrygian, Locrian) plus one for Bagpipe tuning (Xxx) and one for  Galax setup (double back, deep body, tuned xxx).  Then, if you're really perverse you'll get one of those Chromatic dulcimer-shaped-objects, so that makes ten.  With a little extra thought I'm sure you can find a legitimate reason for at least two more.

So you can see, that hardly even half way to being diagnosed with a major case of DAD.  Good luck!

I have been diagnosed with DAd (dulcimer acquisition disease). I already have five dulcimers and I just purchased a Ron Gibson "Barbara Allen" model. Is there a cure for DAd? Wait a minute... Why am I posting this here...this site is enabling my addiction with all of it's beautiful music, wonderful photos (dulcimer porn),and informative discussions. I need help (choosing my next dulcimer)!

Question: are all NAFs in minor keys?  If so, is that because Native American music tends to be in minor keys?

Just wondering.

Congrats to all the new folks discovering this amazing Instrument that only came into my life 4 months ago and yet feel like I've been playing my whole life. It has truly changed my life! I've squirreled away money to buy flutes and even have been selling some of my other instruments. It has also come at a good time as I have been having very bad hand pain in my left hand between my thumb and my pointer. It's made it very painful to play the dulcimer or the guitar. Thankfully the flute has been mostly okay! (If I do a marathon session of playing when I get afforded that luxury then it could cramp but again nothing like the pain when playing the other instruments. And forget mandolin or uke even worse!

I reached out to an incredible flute player and maker George Dyson and he is making me an Em flute out of River Cane and the fetish is going to be a hawk because ever since my mom died 17 months ago I've been seeing Hawks at the oddest times. Usually when I'm thinking of her. When I asked him if he carved Hawks (as I saw his incredible horses) he said he did but usually it's just the head. I asked if he ever did one with wings spread and he said he hadn't but he felt moved to try with my story of my mom. He lost his dad this past March and he was he teacher and mentor so he felt a kinship. I'm so excited! 

Well take care everyone. I don't have any people near me that play so I'm really glad for forums like this and on Facebook!

Yay Susie!

Congratulations.   You won't be sorry.

This is addicting. Ordered a B flute in walnut yesterday from High Spirits. :)

Thanks for the input everyone, greatly appreciated!!

KEN!  HA HA HA HA HAAAAA!

LOL~will hafta look that one up....

The dulcimer is beautiful, I hope the sound is also wonderful and you have many years enjoying it.

The Five Constipated Men of the Bible!  I learned it in church camp decades ago, then relearned it from the Sweetwater album Sing No Evil.

You're welcome Ken.  I understand this deal wasn't available when you were looking, but I thought it might help others if they wanted to actually go to a store and play with the stuff vs buying unseen/unheard.  I hope someone finds it useful.  :)

I really like the idea of the "possum box" doubling as a case for your dulcimer and accessories.  May give that a try myself.

I am really looking forward to our church retreat the end of September, and I'd love to start practicin' some fun or silly or spiritual campfire songs!  Know any good ones?  TIA!

My Bag Lady double bag is falling apart after only a dozen years of serious wear and tear.   I needed a carry mechanism to fly with a dulcimer to North Carolina from Florida, stowing the dulcimer in the overhead compartment.  And I love the idea of multi-tasking devices.  A "possum box" seemed like the obvious solution.

Making a box is a great idea, Ken.  I'm surprised all possom boards aren't boxes.  

The only problem with rubber feet or felt covered feet/risers is that they do deaden the sound somewhat.  Wood-to-wood contact is best whether on a table or the risers of a possum board.  I once used little wooden 'buttons' from a craft shop for feet, stuck on with the thin double sided tape.  Worked perfectly.

Most good violin fine tuners pull the end of the ball string to tighten/loosen it slightly.  However, these are 'inline' cheaper removable fine tuners.  Fine tuners of this type (which I have used on several various instruments at one time or another, as a last resort) will eventually create a weak spot in the string since they depend on their screw forcing a bend in the string to pull it tighter.  

If you find them useful then by all means keep them.  You'll need to figure out how they hook onto the string in a threading sort of way when you have to change a broken string.  Sometimes it's tricky to hook the string.  They are hooked only to the string, so they can also go flying when the string breaks and you might lose them on the grass that way. 

If you find the wooden tuners work great for you, then my personal advice would be to take these little contraptions off as the strings get replaced.  I have always found them to be way more trouble than they're worth.  That said, I think better violin fine tuners are great, but then you need a type of tailpiece they can be attached to, like here .

Thanks, Brian. They didn't have that deal when I was looking for one.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Ken!  Great box, dulcimer, and pool!!!  I really do appreciate the visual~thank you.  

CD!!!!  It's great to "see" you, and great minds!  I had that same idea and am so blessed to see it tried successfully already!  :)  ~I will proceed~

  Lucky you! It's beautiful. 

The fine tuners were a great accessory to the wooden tuners for many folks. The wooden tuners still need to be conditioned, but the fine tuners will be used to make final adjustment. The fine tuners are the old Suzuki standard. They work by "pinching" the string to tighten the tension in turn raising the pitch of the string. To tune the instrument loosen the fine tuners, tune the string to just flat of pitch with the wooden tuners, then tighten the fine tuner to bring the string into pitch. Hope this helps,

DAN

www.dulcimore.com

I just got lucky enough to come into a Homer Ledford YP-1900, in great shape, but a first for me, is the violin fine tuners, have numerous other dulcimers but never have had these tuners on any of them.

 So, simply put, how do they work, just looking for any suggestion on how to use them, I am simply tuning it now with the wooden pegs which are very tight on this dulcimer, and can get a very close, accurate tuning, but was curious how to refine it using the fine tuners.

 Thanks, as always, in advance.

 IMG_1693.jpg - 145KB

Here's my "Possum Box" with my Uncle Ed Thomas replica.  The box is built from 1/4" thick poplar boards from Home Despot, and instead of hinges, the top (seen my my right foot long with straps and a pick bag) is held on with a pair of 1" web straps.  I can use the top itself as a possum board, but I found that the upside down box gives me even more volume.

The Thomas replica has three feet on its bottom, so I don't need any 'riser' strips to free up the back to vibrate.  The next box I build will be for my Virginia Hogfiddle by Bobby Ratliff, which does not have feet.  For that box I'll add two riser strips full width across the outside bottom of the box spaced to properly support the dulcimer.

 P1020582.JPG.jpg - 113KB

Hi all.  I just wanted to mention that Guitar Center itself is also doing a similar deal package deal on the Loudbox mini for $329.95.  Only real difference is the microphone:

Audio-Technica M4000S Handheld Dynamic Microphone

Gear One Lo-Z Mic Cable 20 Feet

Musician's Gear MS-220 Tripod Mic Stand with Fixed Boom

Fishman Loudbox Mini

The fun thing about diatonic instruments is working with a limited scale and octaves. If you play a whistle you know what I mean. An option in Dad or Ddd to reaching over, is to play from the upper octave and use the lower octave for the reach over notes. One reason I play mostly in Daa is because I get most of those lower notes on the melody string... Robert 

Yes, I was, Ken. Can't say that happened the last time I was in. But, that's another story!

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

You we sure being nice, Ken.  I'd have called Sweetwater while the Guitar Center Manager was still standing there!  Buddy of mine did that with them over an Internet deal on a capo; they refused to sell him the store display model.

Yes, it is Dusty. I tried to get the same deal at Guitar Center. They advertise that they will meet any Internet price. Showed the salesperson the Sweetwater website. He went to talk with a manager and returned 45 minutes later. I didn't mind as I was playing guitars in their acoustic room. They told me they couldn't do it because they did not have the same brand cable. I said that it didn't matter to me, but they told me it had to be exactly the same. They were selling the Loudbox Mini for $329. I went out to their parking lot, called Sweetwater and had the package in three days.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

HI y'all!  I am sandi, and I was very active on dulcimer sites while learning after I first got my dulcimer in 2003.  The help and companionship of dulcimer friends online has always been AMAZING.  I have a Walnut Creek from Craggy Mountain Music that I bought sight unseen after learning about the mountain dulcimer, all because of the very kind Beverly who was so wonderful on the phone when I called.  :)  My goal was to have hymn sings with visitors to my home, as I so loved our Pastor's wife getting us around the piano whenever we visited her.  :)

I am a homeschooling mama with six children, so I had some years in there where my dulcimer was tucked away.  I have always wanted to play more but didn't know how to fit it in.  Now maybe I'm needing it?  LOL!  My current plan is to purchase a custom (Wren?) from Feather Dulcimers, and I am very excited.  I always wanted BIGGER and LOUDER to play in groups, but the practicality of a small instrument to store and pull out and travel with is now very, very appealing.  

That's it, I think!  I'm so happy to be back among you!

ETA that I'm dying to master this instrument.  It's simplicity has always appealed to me, but there is also much to master and grow with for the rest of your life should you want to.

Thank you, Dusty Turtle!  Ken, I like that idea.  I actually have some ideas of ways I could do it myself...  Y'all are so amazingly filled with knowledge!  ~I have missed my dulcimer peeps~  I so appreciate your sharing with me!

Yep, a pre-made shelf from Home Despot would do the trick.  Might be a bit heavy, but so what.  IMHO the advantage of a "plank" with a couple riser strips is that it will fit a wide variety of instruments.

If you're going to have a dulcimer built, Sandi, I would have the builder add short little feet to it, like many of the old dulcimers had, so that any hard surface becomes a second back.

Welcome to our corner of musical Paradise.  You may be interested in the article I wrote several years ago and recently updated, called I Just Got A Dulcimer, Now What?  It's an illustrated glossary of dulcimer terms plus answers to many of the beginner questions about tuning, playing, care and feeding of your new friend.  Here's the revised edition.

I Just Got A Dulcimer 2016.pdf - 1.1MB

I too have a Cedar Creek Dulcimer kit. I love it. It was so much fun building it. I wish I could build them all the time.

That's a good deal, Ken. And that amp sure is a beast. It's amazingly small, but you can plug in an instrument and a vocal mic and set the volume and other controls for them separately.  The volume is more than enough for a medium-sized room.

Sweetwater has a nice deal on a Fishman Loudbox Mini with a microphone, cable, and stand for $329 which is what most places ask for just the amp. I use this now more often than plugging the instruments in to the amp. Here is the link:  http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/LoudBoxMiniPK

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."