Forum Activity for @sheryl-st-clare

I gave up on the d'Addario calculator when I got to the part where I needed to enter tension. 

Rob N Lackey, I really like your idea about having the beginner part 1^st. Since the advanced players have the option of arriving later, it takes the guilt out holding them up by us beginners.

Do any of you have experience with running a Meetup group for dulcimer jams? Our many groups in Carolina have good, reliable, meeting places, like community centers and churches, but maybe moving around to places like bottle shops, and country stores would help to recruit new players. 

I still have my first dulcimer, though I don't play it very often.  Still, I can't get bear to part with dear Rosa.

When I decided to buy a dulcimer I checked all the local music stores.  None sold dulcimers.  But one told me (on perhaps my fourth or fifth inquiry) that they sometimes stock one or two.  About a month later there was one on the shelf, but it was unplayable.  I could tell it was cheap and crappy and what some would call not an instrument but a "dulcimer shaped object."  So I began scouring the internet for luthiers who were nearby.  I found one --Johny Nicholson of Unicorn Woodworks--whose phone number indicated he was in Northern California. But when I called it turned out that he had moved to Idaho.  I was stumped, for I wanted a decent dulcimer but I was afraid to buy one without seeing and playing it first, and on the west coast, dulcimers are few and far between. But when I explained all this, Johny told me that he still bought his wood from a shop in Berkeley, meaning twice a year he drove his little car along the highway a few miles from my house.  So on his next trip, we made a date.  I literally met him off the highway, where he got out of his car and opened his trunk, revealing not a bunch of illegal drugs, but three dulcimers. I chose the one with the rosebud soundholes, partly because the mahogany back and sides made it the least expensive of the three. But I played them all, enough to know that the intonation was good, the sustain was great, and this was a real instrument and not a mere collector's item.

On my drive home I propped the instrument up in the back seat so that I could see it in the rear view mirror, even though I had also bought a soft case. But I was so eager to play, I couldn't complete the 20-minute drive home. I pulled off the highway and into a fast food joint's parking lot, jumped in the back seat, and started to play.  In the three or four months from the time I first saw a dulcimer on YouTube to the time I bought my sweet Rosa, I had watched Bing Futch's demonstration of "Rosin the Beau" so much that I was able to play it (not very well, of course) from memory that very first day!

That was over 6 years ago.  Since then I have purchased more expensive and fancier-sounding dulcimers, but I still have Rosa.  Because so few people know of Johny Nicholson and Unicorn Woodworks, were I to sell it, I would not get close to what the quality of the dulcimer is worth, and for that reason as well as pure sentimentality, I still have it.  The tone may not be as big and round as my other dulcimers costing three or four times what Rosa cost, but Rosa still has that precise intonation, the great sustain, and a pop or punch that many fancier dulcimers lack.  Plus, she was my first.

Thanks, Robin. Every now and then I see a Sunhearth for sale. I know they are very well respected dulcimers.  There was one I should have scooped up on Ebay, for it had a very low asking price, but the seller didn't know who the maker was.  In my dumb honesty, I sent him a message telling him in was a Sunhearth, and suddenly the asking price went way up, beyond my means at the time.

And a lot of people praise their Jerry Rockwell dulcimers. I wish I could hear one live.

I have one of the late-Walt Martin's Sunhearth dulcimers-- a Lorraine Lee model-- and it's wonderful instrument.  The tone is lovely, it's easy to play, and the craftsmanship is impeccable.  

Also, I have a cool little instrument-- a small Kentucky hourglass with a diatonic fretboard-- built by Jerry Rockwell.  The noter sounds so fine on this small-waisted instrument.  

This was my first dulcimer - a TK O'Brian.  I played it for a couple of years and then used it as a loaner.  Eventually, someone I loaned it to fell in love with it and bought it from me.  I found out that the dulcimer was actually built for TK O'Brian by the Hagan family in Ozark.  That dulcimer had proved such a good starting instrument for me that I asked the Hagen's to make the Red Kite model for my shop.  I think we are up around 120 folks having now started out their own dulcimer playing journey over here in the UK with Red Kites.

Ken,

Just about every dulcimer purchased today gives the gauge of the string that is on the dulcimer.  The d'addario  calculator is much closer to what comes on the dulcimer today.  I tested it on McSpadden, Blue Lion, Folkcraft and Modern Mountain.  So if a player gets a dulcimer used and isn't privy to what came on the instrument from the manufacturer, they can measure bridge to nut and input that into the calculator and get the gauge that will be very close to what the builder intended.

WOW!!!!  Thanks for all of the great advice!  I am going to print it out and look it all over.   I am fortunate because I work at a library and I am doing this as a library program.  We will be moving into a beautiful new library next month, so the facility is wonderful!  I am sure that I will have more questions about your wonderful comments.  Thank you!!!!!!

McSpadden FM-12s, purchased new in 1991: walnut, with the tightest grained spruce soundboard I have ever seen.

I found myself one evening in April 1991 sitting on the edge of a stage in Kenner LA (suburb of New Orleans), literally at the feet of contemporary Christian artist Rich Mullins as he was killing time waiting for the concert to start.  He was known mainly as a hammered dulcimer player, but he also played the MD.  After watching him pass the time for a few minutes on a McSpadden T34w, I thought, "I could do that."  Two friends of mine ran a music store in Birmingham AL, and were McSpadden dealers; so I drove from NO to Bham the next weekend and spent an entire Saturday morning playing every dulcimer in their shop.  This one just spoke to me clearer and louder than any other there, so it came home with me.

After 24 years of buying, selling, and trading dulcimers, I still have it.  It has been glued back together after accidents twice now, and serves limited road duty today.  It is still the Grande Dame of the collection, though, and will be buried with me unless my kids decide to take it up.  Either way, it will never belong to anyone outside my family.

I would love to meet you too, Robin!!!  Thanks for giving me Laura's name!

The problem I see with the d'Addario calculator is that it in the end presupposes you know what gauge or tension you want.  MOST dulcimer players, IMHO, don't know or care about string tension, and they want the calculator to tell them "If I tune this string to D or C, what gauge do I buy?"  Also most players don't know or care about string construction.   Personally I found the calculator difficult to use.

Yes, the Strothers Calculator is a bit on the low side, recommendation-wise, but that's not bad a bad thing for the average player, especially since we invariably tell folks that it's a bit low and you can step up on or two gauges easily.

Hi Kimberly.  

I started a group here in Northern California about 3 years ago. At first I only had 4 email addresses, but now I have a list of about 40 and we range from 6 to 18 on any given month.  It took some time, but we have slowly developed a decent structure for our gatherings that works for newbies and advanced players both.

We meet for about 3 hours. The first hour is a free beginner lesson.  I tailor that to whoever is the "beginningest," if you know what I mean.  I want to be able to welcome people who have never played before. Lots of people call themselves beginners thinking they are not very good, but they are more advanced than they let on.

The second hour is devoted to group play of a growing repertoire.  Dulcimer standards are included, like Southwind, Morning Has Broken, Skye Boat, etc.. There is some teaching that goes on here, too, as people ask how to play certain sections, and we try to play each song many times so that people can slowly learn the tunes.  Several months ago some people complained that they didn't know chords very well, so when I would refer to a G chord they didn't know what to do even though they could easily play 3-1-0 in DAd off of tablature.  So I started adding some sing-a-long tunes where we just strum chords and sing Hank Williams tunes or Beatles tunes or whatever. When we do this it is in between the beginner lessons and the group play.  We also have a few ensemble pieces that require three or more separate dulcimer parts, and it is in group play that we work on that stuff.

The third hour--which is sometimes just 30 minutes or so--is a song circle when people play a song solo, request a song for group play, or just sit and listen. It was requested by some beginners who wanted to hear what the more advanced players played when they were not trying to teach the beginners.  This section of our gathering has been inspiring for the beginners and also very helpful for the more advanced players since it provides motivation to get a song ready for public performance.

And we always end with some finger food and friendly banter.

Although our group sometimes devolves into me teaching songs to others, I think it is important that everyone feel the group belongs to them.  I encourage people to request songs by bringing in tablature or just asking if we could figure out how to play a song they like.  And sometimes we break this routine. A few months' back some people expressed interest in playing blues, so we spent the time after the beginner lesson on an intermediate lesson on the blues. But on the whole, this three-part structure keeps the group together while bringing in beginners and also allowing an outlet for more advanced players.

When I first started this effort, I was actively seeking members by perusing the pages here and at ED looking for local players and trying to convince them to join us. But I then started a website , making sure to put on the homepage all the terms that people might use in a Google search, and I usually get one or two people contact me every month.  The website also includes tab to the songs we work on as a group, so people are not reliant on handouts at the meetings but can work on their own.  We also moved from a private home to a local music store, and that has gotten us some exposure as well. It is also handy when someone shows up with a decades-old dulcimer with strings as stiff as nails.  A few people have joined us after seeing us in the store and asking what in the world was that instrument on our laps!

That's the most fun part of this, watching people discover a new instrument and learn pretty quickly that they can play it.

I'd have the beginner's part 1st in the meeting.  30 minutes is a good amount of time for them.  That way the others can come in "late" and not miss anything.  New music, techniques, Q & A sessions are all good things for the meetings.  I'd see about newspaper ads or an article: "New Dulcimer Group Forming" as the headline.  A comfortable place to meet is another consideration.   Hopefully, you can get enough interest that you can have eventually have guest instructors hold workshops and concerts.  Wish you all the success in the world.

Two hours is OK, but make sure you dedicate time to beginners, club business -- the usual secretary/treasurer report, minutes from previous, etc., a presentation on some aspect of dulcimer-ness, and then jamming/group playing.  Make your group more than just a jam session -- make it educational as well.  You can set two hours but the jamming can continue for longer if the room/space is available...  Set goals -- learning sets of tunes the group can use for playing out performances,  Christmas performance etc.

Welcome back, Kimberly. Our group meets monthly for two hours. If you have beginners I suggest devoting some time (1/2 hour as you mention is good) for someone to work with the beginners, perhaps separately from the main group. This lessons the intimidation factor. Then, have the beginners join the main group and let them jump in as they feel comfortable. I find that some time for chit-chat before or after the meeting is good for folks to get to know one another. You might even take a ten minute break as the beginners join the main group.

Whenever you perform, aklways get the name and a phone number for anyone who says they have one of those funny looking instruments hanging on the wall. Call them invite them to the next meeting. We have recruited new members this way.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Hey, Kimberly!  Laura Elder has been part of a regular group in Lancaster OH for some years.  If she doesn't see this post, you could contact her privately.  

PS- I want to meet you when/if I ever get back to Roanoke! :)

I found this string calculator at d'addario strings

http://stringtensionpro.com/SelectInstruments

on the select instrument page select Other, scroll to dulcimer and select the size of the fretboard.  A medium comes up with 27" vsl but you can adjust the length as you wish.

You can select by means of gauge or tension.

I find the Strothers site to have too low a tension as a means of calculation.  I think tensions on strings should be in the 20.5 pounds/force realm for a 27"

The gauges the Strothers site kicks out are too low in my opinion.

My Modern Mountain Dulcimers come 12, 14, 26.  I have thought since getting them that the A string was a bit lower tension than the others. by going to a 16 gauge string it would bring all tensions into the 20.5 lbs/force range.

Just my two cents.

Good afternoon everyone!

I have been absent from the world of dulcimers for several years, but I am jumping back in with both feet!  We are trying to form a dulcimer group in the Roanoke Valley area of Virginia.  The question that I have from you is this:  Can you give me any helpful hints for forming a successful group?   If you belong to a group, would you be willing to share what you do in a typical meeting . . . like what type of agenda you usually follow?  

At this point, we have made plans to meet monthly for two hours.  We are welcoming beginning players so that we can share our knowledge.  Should we set aside something like the last 30 minutes to work with beginners?

Any and all helpful hints would be GREATLY appreciated!!

Thanks!!!

Kimberly

My first dulcimer was a Dan Doty, purchased at Dollywood in the Smoky Mountains. It now hangs on the wall in my RV. Thanks for your attention. Tony

Tom Strothers has now fixed the online string calculator...yay!  It's working again at:

http://strothers.com/string_choice.htm

My first dulcimer was a very small T.K. O'Brien student model that I purchased (used) from a co-worker for $50.  Karen and I had first become aware of dulcimers about a year earlier (Cedar Creek kiosk at Silver Dollar City), but we didn't buy one initially.  Nowadays, that first dulcimer still lives here locally with one of my students.

Like Jim Fawcett, my first was a kit dulcimer from Cripple Creek Dulcimer Shop in Manitou Springs, Co, about 40 years ago.  That, and the only book at the time -- Jean Ritchie's The Dulcimer Book -- and I taught myself from there...

My first (and only for many years) was a Fred Martin of Swannanoa, NC. 

I had visited a friend in KY in the early 80's who has a Homer Ledford dulcimer.  I brought my guitar and we played some; he let me fool with the Ledford and I thought it interesting.  I decided I wouldn't mind adding one of those to my instrument collection as I was kind of getting back into folk music.  Living on the Eastern Shore of Maryland at the time I would go back to Oklahoma through the middle of North Carolina on I-81 and I-40.  I had no idea I was passing by some of the great makers in Banner Elk, Boone, Black Mountain, Swannanoa, etc. 

But one day while returning from OK to MD I saw a sign.  No it wasn't a dulcimer in the sky it was by the interstate and said something to the effect, "largest collection of hand made dulcimers in one place."  The sign was between 2 exits so i got off at the next one and couldn't for the life of me find the place.  I forgot about it until I was going to OK and saw the sign again.  I got off at the other exit the sign was between and still couldn't find the place.  Again for a while the place lay buried in my memory, but sometimes it would resurface and I'd think, "I gotta find that place and get me one of those dulcimers."

In Dec. 1987 when returning home to MD I saw the sign again and immediately pulled my Delta 88 over on the shoulder.  You could see a little house to the south of the highway so I took a piece of paper and drew a crude map of the roads I could see.  I got off at the next exit, and sure enough I found the place.  I pulled into the little parking area and got out; I'm sure I looked a sight.  I had on an old flannel shirt, bib overalls, boots; my hair was not quite as long as it is now, and my beard scragglier (but not yet white.)    I walked in.  The room was kind of dim, but I could see an older man sitting there.  He looked me up and down and kind of nodded.  I was overwhelmed by the number of dulcimers hanging on the walls.  All were teardrops, all were 4 independent strings (I think.) I started looking at them noticing each one had a tag which told the wood and the price.

"There's one tuned up over there if you want to try it," the man said.  "Thank you, sir," I replied.  It was on a table; tuned DAdd though I didn't really know that at the time.  I picked up the pick laying beside it and began to strum quietly, fingering the frets on the melody string to see where the notes were.  Suddenly it hit me; it was "Little Rosewood Casket" I was picking out.  I started to strum more rhythmically  and let the notes ring out.   The old man came and stood by me, watching, as I went through it the 3rd time.  After I lay down the pick he asked, "What kind of dulcimer do you have?"  I told him I had none.  He then asked, "Well, how'd you learn to play like that?"  I told him about fooling with my friend's Ledford for that weekend a few years before.  I then played the O'Kane tune (which is sung sometimes to "On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand.")  When I finished he said, "Son, that's the best one in the shop.  It's all mahogany.  If you want if it's yours for $95."  "I have one question," I replied.  "What's that," he said.  "Will you take a check?"  Mr Martin laughed, "Yes, I believe I will."  So I brought back to MD Fred Martin, all mahogany, #600 dulcimer; made January 1987.  It's still a beautiful instrument both in sound and looks.  I think I'm going to tune her up and pick out a tune.

Evanston, IL, used to hold a huge annual "garage sale" in the multi-level municipal parking garage.  It was said that you could find anything in there.  When I needed a typewriter stand (remember those?) I found one for 2 bucks.  When I needed a bicycle, I found a snazzy retro white Schwinn for 20 bucks.  And when I was a couple years out of college and convinced I had the time and money to spare, I grabbed a friend and we ventured out early opening day on a quest to find a mountain dulcimer.  I had wanted to play dulcimer since high school, and managed to touch one once in college.  Dulcimers were not exactly common in Chicago in the 1980s. 

Outside while the crowd waited for the sale to open, there was a guy playing a hammered dulcimer.  He said he was a pianist and only started dulcimer a month before.  He played beautifully.  I took this as a good sign.

I found my dulcimer halfway up the ramp to the first level, where a music store of questionable quality was unloading a wide array of... um... stuff.  It was a new, damaged box, generic c. 1980 Pakistani import.  Probably spruce on top with dark hardwood laminate (walnut?) sides and back.  1-1/2 fret.  Four worthless old strings.  25 bucks. 

Triumphant, I carried it several blocks to the nearest guitar store, where I got a set of strings and some picks.  The clerk offered to sell me a case (black, chipboard, generic) for 12 bucks.  They sold the exact same dulcimer model.  I think every store sold that model, if they had dulcimers at all.  Then I headed home on the L with all the dulcimer I would need (or could afford... or would even see) for the next several years.

The intonation was reasonable and the action was ok.  Mind you, I did not at the time know about "intonation" or "action."  Heaven knows what key it was in.  Lacking an electronic tuner, pitchpipe or keyboard, I tuned the bass string to whatever sounded ok, fretted that string on the 4th fret, and tuned the other strings to that note.  Obviously, I was playing alone.  When I tried chords, I thought the dulcimer had intonation problems... but eventually I learned that when I tune by ear, I tune to perfect fifths.  Not equal temperament.  To this day, I can't tune anything by ear and I am ever so grateful for electronic tuners.

I got a fancier dulcimer eventually, which is when I christened the original "Junior" and he continued to sit on my coffee table.  Good to keep a spare dulcimer around for guests, or alternate tunings, or just variety.  Junior had a guitarish sound, which I blame on the spruce top (I never have liked a spruce soundboard on anything, not even guitars, although I try to stay open minded).

Junior is in the closet 8 feet to my left as I type this.  Hasn't been playable for years: the glue dried out and the headstock is pulling away from the body so it won't take string tension.  I think this would be an easy fix for someone with good clamps and knowledge about adhesives -- which is not me.  I know some people who might be able to fix Junior so I can pass him along to someone who can use (get this...) an entrance-ramp dulcimer.

Sadly, the Evanston Garage Sale ceased to exist decades ago.  Something about bollixing up traffic all over town by attracting thousands of visitors -- on the one weekend each year when they have nowhere to park because the garage is closed! 

T.K. O'Brien from Wood 'N Strings about 5 years ago.  Made for modern playing--didn't yet know that I was meant for noter/drone!  I still play it in 1-5-4 mostly because it plays that sad/spooky mode more loudly (and clearly) than my others. 

I got my first dulcimer ten years ago this month (I think).  It was made by Tom Yocky.  Though I no longer own it, it got me on my dulcimer journey.  And I can't helpbut wonder whether it still has a home in the UK (with the fellow who bought it from me). . . 

My first dulcimer was made from plans obtained from Joseph Wallo in Washington, D.C. It is an hourglass and has a cantilevered fretboard. I made it out rosewood for the back and sides, spruce for the top, and the peg head and fret board are walnut. The fret board is three piece. I laminated a piece of hickory down the middle of the fret board figuring that with string pressure pulling against the cantilever, a three piece board would be less likely to warp. Forty-one years later the fret board is still flat. I do not play it as much as I did, but still use it for noter/drone playing. It has four strings and no 6.5 fret. It is one of my louder dulcimers.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

My first was a simple plank made by Tut Taylor and called a "Plickett." It seemed like a toy but played like a dulcimer. It had three strings and a plastic fretboard. The resonator was a hole drilled in the back partway through the body. I bought it at the Gatlinburg Craftsman's Fair in 1982 while getting a story for the local newspaper. While driving back to the newspaper office, I played all the songs provided on a simple tab playlist about ten altogether.

I was hooked. Shortly afterwards, I bought a Black Mountain dulcimer (a real dulcimer) that is currently on loan to a young woman friend from church. Since then I worked with a dulcimer maker and made hundreds while there. Currently own two made from Folkcraft and McSpadden kits. 

The dulcimer hooked me with its beautiful voice and has never let me go. All thanks to that little Plickett. It's been a wondrous love affair.

When i was first trying to play 'folk' music in a jam setting, I would take my little mandolin (I was not very good on it) to a night 'adult education' folk jam at a nearby community college...this was round about 18 years ago.  (seems like 100 years ago now) The jam was hosted by a biology professor there, who would bring his guitar.   There were Bunson burners and bottles of creatures in formaldehyde, and we all sat on lab stools.  There were mostly guitar players.  

One week, he brought an instrument I knew nothing about... but when he played it (Hang me O hang me) I thought it sounded like pure Heaven.  After the jam I asked him about it and he showed me how easy it was to begin playing, and I  had to get me one.  I knew nothing about the history or traditions of the dulcimer, the sound just really blew me away...there was something primal and pure about it.

At home I got on my then-first computer (windows 95, dial-up, blue screen of death...) and learned everything I could about mountain dulcimers before I made any decisions to buy.  After researching reliable makers, i ordered an all walnut hourglass McSpadden with a scroll head.

When it arrived, I got learning materials (which all seemed to be for DAd chord playing) and I happily began to learn to play. It seemed to me that McSpadden had a voice like an angel .

Later on, My younger teenage daughter began to play it too, in fingerpicking style.  She sounded so marvelous that I gave her my McSpadden and that's when I ordered my Keith Young teardrop.  My daughter took the McSpadden with her and now she's 34 and still has that walnut dulcimer, though she doesn't play anymore.  Maybe she will again one day.   

My first dulcimer was an all-walnut teardrop Folkcraft. I traded a student classical guitar I was no longer using for it at Mary and Rich Carty's Folk Music and Basketry Shop here in NJ.  That was back in 1995 or 1996.  I ended up selling or trading it away as I began buying other dulcimers to try to figure out exactly what I wanted in an instrument, but I really wish I had it back. The scale length is not what I now know I prefer, but it had such a nice mellow warm tone...

My first dulcimer I built from a kit I got in Manitou Springs, CO.  back in Dec. of 07. I finally finished in early 08, I guess I got it together alright, sounds pretty good. IMHO.

My first dulcimer was made from some 1/8th inch plywood. I placed one of the frets in the wrong place which taught me to convert all the measurements to the same scale (64th) . It had little or no sound to it so I cut it up and put it in the fire barrel!

My first is a McSpadden kit dulcimer which I still have although I don't play it much anymore, I have others I've built since.

I had retired and become involved in fly tying. I was at a show and my wife and I were invited to go to the area semi-final fiddle contest at Mt View. We had to drive by the Dulcimer Shoppe to get to the center where the contest was held. I remembered I had seen an article in one of the Foxfire books when I was in my 20's and thought it would be interesting to try building one. We went to the shop and I bought the kit and wad hooked. Getting that 1st one ignited a desire to learn more about music, in which I had no interest until then, and gave me my second major hobby.

My first dulcimer:  Built by Walnut Valley Dulcimer Company,  Burns, Kansas, by a lady named Darlene.  Ser#  91  020.   I am thinking that meant it was built 1991, and the 20 dulcimer of that year.    It's all walnut, and much thicker  wood than my McSpadden all walnut.  It has a 23" VSL.  Three strings, with the old steel tuning pegs.  You have to tune it with a wrench (or wench). 

Story:  While sitting at Wendy's, in fellowship with a few couples after a night church service, late March 2012,  someone asked:  "Terry, you still trying to play guitar?"   I said yes, but I don't believe I have what it takes to learn, too difficult.  I wish I had bought a dulcimer instead.  I heard one while camping in the mountains a few years back and enjoyed it.  

Out of the blue, this other lady says, "I have one of those dulcimers.  Bought it at Blue Ridge, Ga., and brought it back all the way home on Jessie's (husband) Harley Davidson motorcycle.  Held it all the way home in the bag it came in."  

Anyways, I ended up buying it for $70.00 the following Sunday, she brought it church.  She brought the instruction book that night.  It truly was barely playable, but the good thing was "I didn't know it".  Within minutes I was able to, real slowly, pick out Twinkle Twinkle, and I have not stopped playing since.  

I still own it, and wouldn't part with it for twice as much as I paid.  It truly has special meaning.  It hardly ever gets played anymore, but it cast a long shadow over our music room.  I might add, the built quality of this dulcimer is as superb as any dulcimer I have ever held in my hands.

Good thread Strumelia.  Now, what about your first dulcimer?

Many FOTMD members currently have just one dulcimer- their first one.  Perhaps they having only been playing for a week.  Others of us have more than one dulcimer, have been playing for many years, and we may or may not still own our first one.

Well I'd like to hear from everyone  about their very first mountain dulcimer - whether you got it last week or 50 years ago.  What kind was it?, how/why did you get it?, and do you miss it or still own or play it?  What were your feelings about that first dulcimer?

-Please don't tell us about or list your other dulcimers (I'll edit or remove posts about people's dulcimer collections or later dulcimer acquisitions).  Please, I'd like this thread to have only member stories about our very FIRST dulcimer.

Don't be afraid to sound sappy, sentimental, or bitter!       All I ask is that we be respectful of people's names and reputations.

Tell us about your first!

I'll be stringing up a new 30 " tomorrow with those string gauges...Robert.

Just tried the calculator too. Did not work for me either. I thought it was just my computer. Anyway on a 30" scale you need a .009 or .010 for the D .014 for middle A string and a wound .018 for the low D... Robert.

Ozark i just tried the strothers calculator and I believe it's currently not functioning.  I sent them a message about that.  Please see my recommendation for you in the beginners group where you asked this.  

Thanks Mike, I thought so!

What a great idea!