Forum Activity for @marg

Do you find one company is better than another for shipping? Reading the post sounds like maybe UPS is better than the others. Has anyone ever have UPS help pack the instruments and would they do a decent job of it? Or - are their boxes to thin?

Jan....  I thought it said Gertrude Martin on the back of the head and that might have been the owner.  My assumption, incorrect it seems, was that it had an Edsel label in it.

No, Jan, Fred told me they're Egyptian heads since the Bible speaks of dulcimers in Eqypt.  As far as I know, and remember from seeing all the instruments in his shop, the heads were identical on Fred's.

This was the point I made in a note to the seller:  ...so if the dulcimer said Martin with no first name, how could one be sure which brother had made it?

The seller was claiming Edsel had made it, but when I asked why he thought that, he didn't give me a straight answer--and then blocked me from bidding on it. He was saying the carving on the instrument said G erwin Martin, Swannanoa, NC, but said "That's how Edsel signed many of his" and said he got this information "from the web".

What it actually said, however--and I told him this--was "Genuine Martin", not "G erwin Martin". I wasn't questioning that it was made by one of the brothers, I just wanted to know why he was convinced that Edsel had made it.

I really don't think think there's anything out there on the web to support a signature of G erwin Martin, as he is claiming. I think he knew he had a Martin dulcimer and it would sell for the most money if it were touted as being made by Edsel. The outcome is that someone got a fine example of a dulcimer made--maybe--by one of the Martin brothers of Swannanoa, NC....

Oh--and those heads Fred carved on his? My understanding is that they were likenesses of relatives and other women in the community that he personally knew.

No, Fred, died several years ago.  After I bought my 1st dulcimer from him, I'd stop at the shop when I was in the area and talk to him for a little while.  Nope, never seen nor heard of a "Genuine Martin."  I'd think they were the kind of folks who wanted their full name on them.

Rob, do you recall ever hearing that they were signed "Genuine Martin" without the name Edsel, Fred, or Wade? 

Is Fred still living?  This "Fred told me" comment sounded like a recent conversation....

I loved it Cynthia, I really did. Thanks for sharing.

Great stuff Cynthia. Non stop fun at the Wigington Mansion :)

Easy to play along with and you've a good voice when you loosen up too.

On our new site, to add a video, you don't use the youtube "Embed code"or "Share This" code to add videos.

When you click the "+" to add a video, (Youtube in this example) --it asks you for the video's "ID or URL"   ....it means exactly that.

So for your YT vid in your post, you can either paste in your video's URL from your browser:  (looks like:https:// www.youtube. com/watch?v= G_BSxXwUCLc)..(i added some spaces to break up the link here)

OR......

the video's Youtube ID , meaning simply:   G_BSxXwUCLc

I believe it works the same way for Vimeo videos.

Thanks for the nice comment Oliver. New link for Careless Love on uke:

enjoyed very much, thanks Cynthia

Good idea Lisa, that sounds like a much easier way to obtain beeswax (and apply it) than I had imagined. I remember seeing beeswas candles at the farmer market... Thanks!

You can just buy a little beeswax candle- either a taper or a votive.  But make sure you buy it from a real beekeeper, cause lots of commercial 'beeswax candles' are only part beeswax, with lots of parrafin mixed in to be cheaper.  And parrafin doesn't have that 'sticking factor' that real beeswax has, that you are seeking for this purpose.

Jan, there were 3 Martin brothers, Fred, Edsel & Wade.  Fred made a lot of dulcimers all with a carved "Egyptian" head on the scroll.  Edsel carved all sorts of things on his.  Wade... well, not sure how many he made.  Fred told me, "not many."  

Novel idea Ken! Seriously, I’ll check the honey stand at our farmer’s market. 

Sheryl -- from bees   Your local Farmer's Market probably has a honey supplier who has beeswax for sale as well.  That's where I get mine -- from a beekeeper friend.

Just oredered a second pair of bones, went for the Minstrel style teak bones. Starting to rock the right hand, need to bring in the left. 

Jan, it wasn't me. Something about scroll heads staring at me while I play bothers me, LOL

p.s. Lisa, where is a good place to get beeswax? 

"Edsel Martin" dulcimer just sold on eBay today and I was interested in whether or not it was purchased by someone on this site and, if so, they might want to share photos, comments, etc. about this interesting dulcimer.  I think 3 of the Martin brothers made dulcimers and put interesting carvings on some of the peg heads.  The pegs were hand carved wood, as well.

One of my current solutions for storing cased instruments upright is to put them in one of those folding hampers with no lid.  This is the one I have...it's 14 x 14 and 22in. high, so depending on the size of your instruments and the type of cases, you should be able to get about 4 in here.  This is perfect for tucking away in a corner and for leaving the instruments accessible for you, but not in jeopardy of damage from a dog or child running through the room.  This one is 14.99 from Target, online, and you can pick it up at your local store and save on shipping....but they are not stocked IN the store. 

OK Sheryl, no vids for you ... Yet.  Strumelia, game on!  I'll be practicing. 

Here's a PDF of the article "I Just Got A Dulcimer, Now What?" that I wrote several years ago.  It's an illustrated glossary of dulcimer terms, plus answers to many beginner questions about tuning, playing, care and feeding of your new friend.

I Just Got A Dulcimer 2016.pdf - 1.1MB

Good to know, I'll give it a try!

Sheryl....yay!

I read that if you rub a piece of beeswax up and down on the EDGES of the bones only, it keeps them from sliding out or down.  I tried it and it works well.  doesnt take much, but may need doing periodically.

I got my bones in the mail yesterday; as I had hoped they are pretty mellow. Haven't had time to revisit Dom Flemons videos so I can start out right, but of course I have been "playing" with them. My ring finger bone keeps sliding down...but I have managed to do some clacking. It seems like the less I concentrate on them, the better I do. I tried them out in the car this morning, to the radio, and actually managed to hit a couple of beats on Hotel California. Fun times! 

Bob, before you ask, I am not ready to make a recording or produce a video. 

Only if the deadline is Sept 14th, and video doesn't have to be more than 1 min long.  And can be full of screwups.  

AND, that we can just embed the vids in this thread instead of throwing them the main video section.   lolol...  how does all that sound?

Bob I'm now suspecting that you are a secret virtuoso spoons player, unbeknownst to everyone here. 

Here's a challenge for you.  If you post a video of you playing bones, I'll post one of me playing spoons.  What do yout think?

Once I can get through just maybe a minute or two of rattling without totally screwing it up and falling on my face, i will try to make a little sample, Bob!  If only to help encourage others to be accepting of their beginner skills.      But of course as we know, I could do just great for a few minutes, then turn on the camera and suddenly I can't do a single thing!   -always a frustration...   ;D

Fun in the workshop!  I just got a package of Noter blanks that I'll be working on this weekend.  Two each of (left to right) Bloodwood, Purpleheart, Padauk, Yellowheart and Wenge.  All are much harder than the usual run-of-the-mill hardwoods.

Strummelia, we want to hear you play!

My dulcimer handbook, i revisited and went over it's info on tunings and it's starting to make sense.

Any idea how many tuning there are, or could be?

When I was playing a song in DDDG,  I notice the melody line tab was also DAd.  Haven't checked yet if it was just that one song or you can play with either tab.

I finally located a name for what I'm doing (using one tuning--DAd--but playing in different keys).  Gary Gallier refers to this as "Cross Key Tuning". If anyone wants to know more about that they can contact me or Google Gary Gallier and look up the topic on his website (it's one of the main tabs).  He even has 2 pages of all the scales for the different keys that work with the DAd tuning.  Note: many of the scales require a 1.5 fret.  'Nother Note: You will NOT, therefore, be playing in the traditional way.  But you will live and it will be OK.

I learned to play Ionian. Then I discovered Aeolian. It's my favorite.

Funny you should ask about ARRGH. Look up the song 'Key of R'.

once again Lisa...

Ken, just copy and paste the ENTIRE url from your browser window (not from the Youtube 'share' or 'embed'' codes).

For example, one of mine would look like this:

https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=okPnwFWvErE

 (without the space after https: )

-that's the "URL" they are looking for.  The clue here is the error message: "unable to extract youtube id from url"...so it's telling you the URL is not correct.  You are trying to paste in a youtube share code, not an URL.  It wants the URL (web address of the video)

OR, to directly give it the "youtube id"..... i think you could also paste in the actual YT vid ID#,
which in the above case would be: okPnwFWvErE

Tom, I see you over on MinstrelBanjo site.   

That's a lot to learn all at once!

Anybody... When I try to add a vido, it will not accept the copy and past of the Youtube link, nor will it accept the link if I type it in.  I get the message "unable to extract Youtube ID from url".  Am I missing a step on this new site?

Cheers Ken

Thanks Rob. It's getting tougher to find any sweet spot. Glad you played along on dobro, it's the highest compliment.

Nice, Cynthia.... so you're in Bb?  it fits your voice well.  Got out my dobro.... played along.