I guess I could cut the chopstick a little shorter, but I've never been stabbed. This is still the original chopstick from 30 years ago, though the elastic band has been replaced quite a few times.
Brian, that instrument sounds fantastic! (Everything you play sounds fantastic, truth be told.)
Brian, that is cool. Thanks for the video!
My first dulcimer is an E. Dale Eckard, purchased in Sevierville TN about 5 years ago. Made from walnut and maple, it's a beautiful instrument, and it has a great sound. At the time I did not play, nor did I know anything about dulcimers. I had heard a group playing them once at a festival and I fell in love with the sound, and just had to have one. At the shop where I bought this dulcimer were several more from different makers. I strummed them all and picked this one because of its beauty and sound. It is still my main playing dulcimer and I really love it.
Interesting idea! It would be nice to have a telescoping model, so you don't get stabbed!
Thank you so much for your kind words, Kathy! That is my own arrangement of Wayfaring Stranger. I keep threatening to publish a tab book and I hope to get that accomplished in 2016!
Thank you guys, John, Rob, Ken & Guy.
Your answers was why I placed the question since I feel a good instrument shouldn't be messed with. I am looking at a '81 W. May, you are right on that ken one of Warren's older ones. I was thinking, I wouldn't think twice on a knock around dulcimer to add a fret but one that is well made by good luthier who knows how to make good dulcimers shouldn't be touched. Not for resale but for the value of his art and the dulcimer he made.
I like the term 'grasshopper' since I may end of becoming one, if I want to play some tunes needing a 6.5. I guess my next question would be, how many traditional tunings are there and what are they?
Thanks again guys,
marg.
It's great to have several dulcimers: A diatonic, one with the 6.5 and 13.5, one with the 1.5 and 8.5, one chromatic, a baritone, a soprano... one dulcimer doesn't always fit all!
Some tunes really do need extra frets no matter how you try to figure out the tuning; but those extra frets also create a chromatic slide which sounds really bad on other tunes, so it really depends on what you are playing as to whether you want extra frets or not.
I like the 1.5 on a lot of my mixolydian tunes. True, I also play them on the diatonic tuned to 1-4-8, but the voicings aren't always to my liking... so I always have to let my ear be the judge, not my sense of "tradition," whatever that means.
As mentioned above, you don't "need" a 6+ fret. It may be handy, but you don't NEED it, and some of the best players ever do not use it. NO traditional tuning requires a 6+ fret (1-3-5 or other modern tunings may, but I don't know them well enough to say so). The dulcimer, without any additional frets, works just fine as long as you are willing to accept it for what it is, and not try to make a guitar out of it.
If you are buying older instruments by "name" builders, you are probably best off not adding a 6+ fret (or doing any other tweaking of the fretboard, as doing so can seriously affect the resale value of the instrument, no matter who installs the fret. If you have a Warren May instrument that does not have a 6+ fret and you just can't do without one, even having Warren install the fret will affect the resale value if someone is looking for "style X" and finds it but with a 6+ fret that should not be there... If you want a Warren May with a 6+ fret, buy one of his newer ones with that fret, don't mess with an older one.
You asked "How hard is it to find another note, like middle 9 in place of the 6.5 when playing in DAA? Where else would I find the note to replace the 6.5 in other tunings?" That is your challenge, should you choose to accept it, Grasshopper.
Thank you so much!
Thanks Susie, want to see pics when you get it.
Well, Marg, this question usually opens up quite a can of worms! 1st. Do you "need" a 6 1/2 fret? No, you don't "need" it. Listen to Robert Force and the late Roger Nicholson, neither of which ever had one on their instruments. Is it a convenience? Absolutely! Tunings really aren't the issue here since Force uses DAd without the 6 1/2 fret. Michael Rugg told me in an email last year that he still prefers an instrument without one and he's a DAd player as well. 2nd. Looking for the "right" note on a "pure" diatonic fretboard is (to me) part of the fun of playing the dulcimer. [I use the term "pure" before the word diatonic solely to indicate there are NO extra frets on the fretboard. I do NOT intend to imply it's in some way better.] 4th. I would not add a fret to any instrument but neither would I take one out of an instrument which had one. 3rd. (yes, I know I went out of order.) Any good luthier (instrument maker/repairman) should be able to add one if that's what you decide to do. However, if there was a good dulcimer maker, whose work I trusted to be "right on" as far as intonation is concerned, I would use him.
One of the reason I have several dulcimers is that some of them are diatonic, some have a 6 1/2 fret. I enjoy playing on both and keep several of them tuned differently for quick change in jam sessions with fiddlers. You'll see me with 3 and maybe 4, usually 2 without 1/2 frets, and 2 with 6 1/2 frets, all at the ready so if the fiddler says June Apple, I have one tuned to A or which can go to A with the adjustment of only one string. You can't have enough dulcimers.
David, my new Folkcraft dulcimer was charged to my credit card on 12/22. I bet yours isn't far behind. Keep an eye on your statement. When it's charged, it has started in production. Thought you'd like to know.
Mine was not influenced by Ron Ewing. In fact I'd never heard of him or anyone else using a dulcimer capo when I made mine about 30 some odd years back
You ask interesting questions. None of the "traditional" tunings, that is, tunings used to play in the various modes, "need" the 6.5 fret, assuming you're not trying to chord much
I play mainly in DAA, but use the 6.5 to play harmonizing lines on the low string. I also like playing in DAG because the 6.5 give me a really nice blues third.
Adding a fret shouldn't be particularly difficult to a knowledgeable guitar tech, but it is easier to do as part of the original build.
How old is "older"? Pre-1970? If you're talking about a vintage handmade instrument or one built by a noted maker no longer living or active, I wouldn't do it. Otherwise, I don't think it matters much.
I hope someone more experienced than me chimes in.
With older dulcimers, many do not come with the 6.5 fret. There is the choice of adding one or leaving as is.
Questions:
Are there any other tunings besides DAA that don't need the 6.5 fret?
How hard is it to find another note, like middle 9 in place of the 6.5 when playing in DAd? Where else would I find the note to replace the 6.5 in other tunings?
Can a guitar builder or repair person put a fret in or just better to have a dulcimer maker do it?
Is it better to keep the older dulcimer in it's traditional state and just have another newer dulcimer for playing tunings like DAD needing a 6.5 fret?
George,
(I just picked up a couple Warren Mays, and find that they overall have a very mellow voice.)
I am trying to get a W. May dulcimer, I will be in Louisville Jan. 15th and just don't have the time to run over to visit his shop. Wish I could have been in your pocket as you picked out your dulcimers.
marg.
(belong to a group in Berea, KY)
Yes, Warren May is there, wish he was closer to Louisville since I will be visiting there next week.
Jan. 8 - ...? there is a winter fest in Louisville, may have some dulcimer builders there. Google Louisville, winter Fest or Jan 8th and see if you find something.
Good luck,
marg.
Just a shout-out to Ron Ewing. He originated the mountain dulcimer capo, from which all others derive, to one extent or another. I have one of those brass ones that Dusty Turtle mentions, and love it for some technical reasons special to dulcimer builders. But I highly recommend Ron's work!
Dear Rob, we were just today wondering where the cd of this (Loreena McKennit) had gone = and tonight I found the tab you posted and am learnning it. Thank you so much. Isn't it a pretty one?
Thanks for posting, always looking for new tabs.
OK...I've looked everywhere - where is it? (Guess my eyes aren't what they used to be <sigh>)
Very much appreciate this! Thanks!
Yes Strumelia, I really like it a lot. The workmanship is excellent!! I've used it quite a bit too. It is much trickier than using a guitar capo due to the diatonic frets but I'm finding that I'm enjoying the challenge!!
thanks again everyone! I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. I sent Ron a check for $20 and within 10 days I had my capo!
Yes please, let's not jump into the mode quicksand again...staying on the thread capo topic. :)
Maria, I too think you made a good choice with the Ewing. My old Ewing dulcimer capo far outlasted a later plastic cheaper one I bought. 
Capos can definitely be handy in various playing situations. Some folks use them regularly, and others don't use them. To each their own! 
I asume you cut them in half and swith the end part? You are kidding me? Both end the same, so starting Mixolydian STAYS Mixolydian (same end as Dorian). :D The same goes likewise for the Dorian. You can't connect starts or ends... These will not create an octave.
I looked at Kitchen Girl, but the modes can be described as Mixolydian and the second part as Aeolean, but it is just a modelation in the song itself, not in the mode or scale!
Why end so many fiddle songs on the fifth? Mostly because they are follwed by another song in D or something like that, it's not a coda...
Modes makes theory difficult, simple because we don't think in modes anymore. Mostly just major and minor. I believe modes are an immigration feature, but we need another discussion about that, not in the capo pages.
Thanks Ken, I am on the hunt for a W. May but was just checking info. on Leo since never hear of him. I wish I had time to go to W. May's shop, would love to check them all out. What a treat that would be.
marg -- I would look for Warren May instruments for sale here and at EverythingDulcimer.com. There are a zillion MD builders in Kentucky who build a few every year. I've not heard of Leo Rodder, so I can't say anything one way or the other.
Does anyone know anything about Leo rodder, he is a KY dulcimer builder? I am going to Louisville middle of Jan. and wanted to find a used Warren May dulcimer and came across this one. Still on the hunt for one of W. May's if anyone knows where in the Louisville area I should check.
Thanks,
marg.
Kitchen Girl is a fiddle tune that could be called mixodorian. Since one part is mixolydian and the other is dorian... Mixing modes is like mixing paint. Leave it to the listener to decide... Robert
I know it is folk music, because I play in my folk band (#194 in the repertoire). It is not special Turkish; could be Pakistan or even India... We simple don't know. But to call it modified Phrygian? There is a name to that scale: gypsy (BTW it isn't a mode!). But that doesn't make it Phrygian, which I asked: show me a Phrygian song :-)
There are a lot song going around which are called Mixolydian and don't have that 6th in it...
Still, in dulcimer land the players like it difficult. And it is such a simple instrument.
Misirlou isn't copyrighted :-) In fact the melody is traditional as traditional can be!
Funny...
I add the score of Misirlou how I play it in my band, although transposed to E, which means only white keys in Phrygian mode. There shouldn't be accidentals... There are. There is an interval f-g#, which is special to the gypsy scale, in fact, Misirlou is in gypsy scale... Not Phrygian at all.
Robin. Misirlou is copyrighted... Except for my little movable nut pictured above, I've managed to get through the last 45 years without a capo... There are ways... Robert....
Drive the cold winter.pdf - 17KB
