Forum Activity for @robert-schuler

Thanks Lexie, I hope your coming along well in your playing too... Robert.

Excellant Robert, it looks like a beautiful friend to have and it is good you could fit it to your style.

Back in 2011 I built a teardrop that became my favorite dulcimer. I would go to it first to learn a new song, or when I needed a dulcimer fix at 3am, or whenever I played in public. Its a dulcimer I don't have to worry about getting dented or scratched. Since I started building for sale dulcimers with Just intonation JI. I fell in love with that special sound and it renewed my interest  in the very rich but  much ignored and maligned 155 tuning. 

So last week I ripped of the old tempered scale fretboard and replaced it with a JI scale. I like the old timey look of partial staple frets but don't care much for staples. So I used conventional frets. I also like to jump over to the bass and play the last four notes of the scale so I added full frets at the top. 

I have been playing this dulcimer so much in the last couple of days after completion that Im behind on my farm work. I need a little discipline, but playing music is just more fun, especially on my new rebuilt friend. H ere is a before and after pic... Robert.

I've been to a couple of Cathy Brittel's workshops. She is absolutely a great teacher and very nice person. One of the best autoharpist in the world, IMHO lol

Mine was a Yamaha, but I think because it was aged, the tone was nicer than the new ones. And it was in really good shape.

I've played classical guitar since about 1970.  The Goyas made through 1973 were handmade in Sweden and can be great.  They were owned by Martin from 1974 to their production end in th 90s.  The Martin variants were made in Asia.  I'd play the Goya - if you like it, it could be a really nice instrucment.  The Oscar Schmidts are mostly plywood with too much finish - they are basically Washburn's low end brand.  Washburn classicials are much bertter - but if I was going to buy a cheap classical, I'd get a Yamaha, if I wanted to spend a little more, I'd get an all solid wood Cordoba.  But, if it has been well preserved, the Goya may be the best of the lot!

Yep.  Another Korean Hondo comes to light.  Not a bad dulcimer at all.  I had one as a loaner dulcimer fo a couple years, then sold it.  Not top of the line, but not bad.  The tension on those tuners is adjusted by the little screw in the end of the knob.  I think Rob's right about the hole shapes.  That's definately NOT the case for it!

I played classical guitar in my 20’s, but then life happened. I think one of the reasons I like fingerpicking on the dulcimer is because it is similar but easier with my older fingers. I had a sweet sounding used guitar; wish I still had it. My advice is to play them, and go with your heart. 

Wout -- with a 24" VSL, 12 gauge melody strings will work for both DAA and DAd tunings.

I am contemplating getting a new classical guitar, and have a couple leads.  There is a vintage Goya classical guitar with a case at a local music store, which I'd tried and sounds fantastic, or an Oscar Schmidt classical guitar.  These are just a couple ideas I have in my head, but want to hear some more, and maybe some yay or nay about my leads.  Best,

Hello there, I can recommend a couple of people to send your autoharp to have a good going over.  You live in the same neck of the woods as Jeff Dantzler who owns  http://www.harpdoctor.com   As well, check out  http://www.autoharp.org  which is the home of Cyberpluckers, an autoharp discussion forum.  Hope this helps you on your journey with your autoharp.

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.