Forum Activity for @wout-blommers

Surely you don't play noter&drone style

You write the strings are three .12 and one .20. Are you tuned in DAA or DAd? If you use the later, the tension on the double melody string is much higher than on the single middle string. Try pressing both using the same finger and on different frets (compare and try out if you feel a difference). A solution could be replacing the melody with two .10 strings (www.juststrings can help you out)

Wout

Hi Cynthia,

My tip for harder fingers is to play every day, even if you can only find a couple of minutes.

Just gives them a little reminder to toughen up.

Thanks so much, I love solving mysteries- (all with your help). I will pass on the info. to the person who has the dulcimer. 

You guys are great

I agree with Rob.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Looks like a Hondo, made in Korea maybe from the late 70's, 80's.  Some of them sounded really good; some didn't.  I won't say 100% (it's early and I haven't done enough research to be positive) but I believe the "clover" soundholes were made for Sears and heart soundholes for everyone else. 

Rob,

I just posted photos of a dulcimer with a red stain on the sides & bottom of it, I was curious if anyone could take a guess on it. It looks a lot like this one and it did have on the back, near the head, the evidence of a sticker - not there now but could tell one had been there. It also has the 'clover sound holes'   

Check under the discussion '  Old R ed Stain Dulcimer' up above this post. Think it could be   also  from Korea  

I went back to get some photos. I think the dulcimer maybe a factory build from japan or china. The shop had put on new strings and it had tension gears for tunners, first time I tried tuning with those. I didn't think it played well, but did get a photo to post. The case holds the dulcimer but is not the case for it. It is older and fits very tight. 

Thanks, still a guess but just curious.

I found it!  Thanks

Hi.  I am still trying to find tab for To Drive the cold Winter Away...Rob-n-lackey says it is posted on the thread, but if it is I can't find out where!  boohoo.  Does anyone have it or know where to get it?  Thanks! Vivian

Pictures please.

Well that was easy. Thanks Dan.

http://www.juststrings.com/jsb-024pb-1.html

I'm having a hard time finding a .24 phosphor bronze string. Does anyone have a good source I can try?

Hi Chuck - If your Riverlark bass string was old and your Elixir new, then the new string will sound 'brighter' at least while it settles.  Elixir are not as brash when new as some other makes but conversly they do not dull off so quick.  Different makes do have different sounds.  And new strings are always a little harsh for the first few hours of playing.  Nickel strings don't have the bass undertones that phosphor bronze strings have, if fact they have less overtones too.  You can certainly get an impression of a richer, more 'bassy' sound from phosphor bronze but you do need to let it loose its initial brashness first.  Personally, I usually fit nickel wound bass strings to my older dulcimers as I want both less bass and less brightness for noter drone playing.  For chord melody I usually choose phosphor bronze.  This is not a hard and fast rule - quite often my dulcimers get whatever spare strings I have on me!!!!!!

Regarding the effect of string gauge on tone - Usually a heavier string will give a stronger (louder) sound but sometimes less sustain particularly on the higher frets.  So very heavy strings can end up sounding quieter because they are all 'thud' and no 'ring'.  If you put a new slightly thicker string on your dulcimer it may well sound louder but brasher than the old one you took off.  You do need to give the string a chance and let it settle for a while before deciding if you want to swap it for another make, size or composition.

I like the hammered part also, but this is not the first time I have seen it. Little Girly was playing my dulcimer and she was experimenting with the sound by tapping the strings with a chop stick, it sounds pretty neat.

Wow, that hammered part is remarkable!

You might have a gem. Does it play well, does it sound good enough to you. Red stain is standard violin varnish in most cases. Not a bad thing. Light weight better than heavy, because light instruments resonate better. . Robert. 

You're welcome.  I have been looking at the score of "Cavatina" by Myers and I'm thinking it may be doable.  However, it may require 4 independent strings to make it work.  Right now, I'm working on a couple of Baroque projects but when I'm finished with them.  I'll look into it in more detail.

John Molineux!  It has a 1 1/2 only under the middle string; a 4 1/2 under the bass and middle strings, and a 5 1/2 under only the bass.  Note there is no 6 1/2.  Here's a link to to a solo video of John where you can see the frets plainly.

I'm not the only one who likes odd bits of fret on my dulcimers, here and there:

Haven't a clue.  Red stain, or paint?  I would assume that if the case matched the shapes (especially if it closely matches the shape) that it was handmade.   Therer are thousnads of builder out there who made one or two or a dozen dulcimers but no more.   We really need a picture or six here -- too many questions that pictures will answer.  waste of time to type Qs that pix will answer.

OK, here's "Erin's Green Shore," at least I think that's what this is. LOL.  There are 2 pages: a low register version and a high register version.  I didn't include a chord version since it moves around a lot on the fingerboard.  However, if anyone is interested I may be able to do a 2nd harmony part for it. 

Erin's Green Shore.pdf - 61KB

Want to guess on what type of dulcimer could be an old red stain dulcimer, has a hard case that matches the shape of the dulcimer. Looks cheap since it has the red stain and felt light. I didn't see any paper on the inside. Sorry no image at this point. More curious than anything but since the case match the shape, didn't think it was hand made. Seem thiner/smaller than most dulcimers. Anyone know of what type of dulcimers were made and stained red with hard case that matched the shape. 

And, in DAd, E/C#m at fret 1 [since the modes are not being considered] . Also I would suggest 2 MD's, one in CGc and one in DAd because of possible tuning time constraints.

Hi Travis - there has been some great advice here on how to get around different keys when sitting in with a band    It is a fantastic to have the opportunity to play and enjoy music with others.  The best thing about playing with other musicians and with singers is that the sum output is greater than the constituent parts - in other words you can be a part of something that is creating music way beyond what you can produce on your own.  So once you have the technicality of the key sorted the next question to ask yourself is 'What can I add that will enhance the mix of sounds in the moment".  It is all too easy to sit in with a band and 'play for yourself' just as if you had the band on CD and you were sitting at home playing along.  Like singing along to radio in the shower - you may be enjoying yourself but your not actually adding anything to the music that others are going to want to hear   So have a good think about the role your instrument is going to play for each tune and at every moment within that tune.  Think about what you are going to add to the collective creative package.  The golden rule is that if you cannot enhance the music at a particular point, or worse still if you will detract from the collective sound, then don't play.

The mountain dulcimer can do a number of different jobs within a band, rhythm, lead melody, counter melody, fills, starts and ends etc so have a good listen to each tune the band plays and decide how you can enhance each one.

Another issue for you may be how to work the instrument acoustically in a band situation.  This can be a problem because the mountain dulcimer, played in contemporary chord melody style, carries far less acoustic volume than other instruments.  I don't know how big the gospel band is that you are joining or what other instruments are part of the band but you may want to consider how you are going to sound balance your dulcimer in the mix.  Personally, although you can work different keys from one instrument you may find it handy to have something like a McSpadden Ginger in your bag - a small bodied short scale dulcimer tuned up high to G.  Sometimes a smaller dulcimer fitted with slightly heavier than standard strings wound up to a high tension will cut through a mix and also place you above the guitar and banjo in your own sonic space.  You can then work the instrument more like a mandolin, providing choped rhythm and fills in the upper register.  It is a very effective way to play in a band or session situation where a standard VSL dulcimer tuned to DAd would be drowned by the guitar (as they are both trying to fill the same sonic space - and he is bigger than you!!!)

Playing with a band can be a wonderful experience and can really quickly improve your own playing.  With a little thought you can make the dulcimer an elemental part of the collective sound - and have a great time together.

Please, call me Dusty.  Mr. Turtle is my dad. 

Travis, I play fairly often in a multi-instrument jam and move very easily among the keys of C, D, G, and A, as well as their relative minors of Am, Bm, Em, and F#m.

I tune CGc to get the keys of C and Am.  The rest I get out of a DAd tuning with the use of a capo.  The capo at the third fret gives you G and Em and the fret at the fourth fret gives you A and F#m. 

The advantage to this is that you are playing in a 1-5-8 tuning the whole time, so everything you have learned in that tuning can be used in any of those keys, and your playing can be more versatile than limiting yourself to chords, as you would have to do if you stayed in DAd and used a lot of barre chords.

And by this same system you could get the key of F (or Dm) by tuning CGc and putting the capo at the third fret.  So that gives you 10 keys already without having to carry around more than one dulcimer.

I looked up the material by Ehukai Teves (the name was transposed to Ekuhai in Dinah's post.)  The best article was on dulicmer sessions .  If you click on the printable version link at the bottom of the article, it produces a nice pdf.  I don't play that way, but the article is a nice resource to have at hand.

Travis --  use the String Gauge Calculator at www.strothers.com.  Plug in the VSL and select the desired note for a given string and it will tell you an appropriate gauge string to use.

Dinah -- those are good suggestions if you play Chord Melody Style, but not everyone does.

I have two dulcimers, one I call favorite the other second best.

I have both an old fashioned paper calendar hanging on my office wall and calendars on my computer desktop and my ipad.  The digital calandars are kinda cool because many of them will allow you to set popup reminders ahead of important events.  Lots of stuff I'd forget if it weren't for that.   

I haven't even tried that one yet.  lol..... I may have the classsical guitar music for it.  I think it won't be doable for a diatonic instrument

An open scroll certainly makes changing strings a lot less hassle; true also of an open flathead.

Ok, I've found some versions.  If you don't mind giving a liseten, Shelia, maybe you can tell us which one is the one you'd like.

This  is one I think you mean.

 If you can find a copy of The Autoharp Book by Becky Blackley, many of your questions will be answered. The book is a bit dated as it was published in 1983, so it does not take in to account the many improvements made in the autoharp by individual builders over the past 32 years. While there are not as many autoharp festivals as dulcimer festivals, they do exist. I highly recommend participating the Mountain Laurel Autoharp Gathering here in Pennsylvania. It takes place the last full week in June every year. Some dulcimer festivals offer a workshop or two on autoharp. MEG stands for Music Education Group and Oscar Schmidt sold a couple of models of autoharps with the MEG label on them. I think some of the first 21 chord harps were sold with the MEG label.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thanks Robin!

To send a PM:

As Robin said, Hover on your top navbar NAME LINK, and the drop-dpown menu will show "Private Messages"-  click to get to your Message area.

There you can see past message threads you may have sent or received.  To create a NEW pm, look there top right for "New Message" button.  go there and start typing a name, like John...and all members with John will show in a list as you type (autofill) and you pick which John you want to send it to. and you type your PM and then send.

Make sure you look in your "Notifications TAB" in your Account Settings area, to checkbox the things you would like to receive email notifications on...like be notified when you receive a private message, for example.

Hope this helps!

After listening to a number of versions of Erin's Shore, I settled on John P version. I play it in Eaa  tuning n/d style. Yup you have to drop down to the bass for two notes but its worth it...A mixolydian tune at its best... Thanks Sheila for turning me on to this song... Robert

What a beautiful instrument, Jerry!  

Though I don't recall where I read the comment, it seems I've seen someone stating how they'd not seen an open headstock on a dulcimer. . . I don't know I have until now. 

Hi, Sheila!  

Click on your own name at the upper right side of the page-- your name is next to the magnifying glass search icon.  In the pulldown menu under your name, you will find a link for sending private messages.  

Hope this helps!

Thanks to the wonderful help of John P, the tab is now attached to this thread!  Thank you, Sir.

Dave, I hope to be in Sallisaw before the end of the month.  Maybe we can get together and do a little picking?

Shelia, I sent you a private message just to show you how it works.  You can "pick it up" by hovering the mouse over your name in the upper right part of the screen.  Should say, "private message (1)" (something like that.) Click on it and it takes you to the "email" area.