Forum Activity for @janet-reed

If I understand correctly, I do not have ABC or midi file capability since I have an OSX operating system. Am I correct?  When I had a PC I used ABC files often to hear how a tune should sound, but now that I have a Mac, I have not been able to find a similar resource that will work with my Mac.  Is there a resource for mp3 files for fiddle tunes?  Do I need to download some kind of extension to make ABC file work with my Mac?  My apologies in advance if this has been addressed before.  Thanks!

Hello Barbara-p:  I have two Honea Dulcimers. One is big - 38" long, Vsl: 31.5" built 6/2008.  Though big, it is strong and light as a feather.  Western Red Cedar top and bottom with walnut sides.  Wonderful sound, warm and full - hourglass.  The 2nd one I just got a few weeks ago.  More freeform...looks like a sweet potato and was swiftly dubbed 'Tater' - smaller, VSL 27.5", Western Red Cedar & Walnut ( seems to be his favorite woods ).  It is new and has a while before aging into it's real sound, but I do like it.  He does a very good job and you can get them at often a very reasonable price on E-Bay.  I would not be afraid to buy one.  His quality is consistant.  I usually buy the older dulcimers from assorted makers - 60's to 1990's as they have developed their mellowness of time.  Hope this helps. 

Very nicely done Robert, my butternut would work great, ya think.

I wound up doing D d d d, and liking it for now, may try D D d d and will remember to widen the slot on the string guide.

Almost half the volume and tone of a dulcimer comes from its back. Raising the instrument just a millimeter off your lap or table top is all you need to do. I wanted to design a possum board that not only evevated the instrument but reflects the sound up and away. The model pictured here with a new butternut dulcimer I completed yesterday elevated the instrument about an inch. Its made of solid core cabinet grade birch plywood. finished with a mix of walnut oil stain and red dyed shellac and lacquer. Once you try a possum board you will never want to be without one... Robert

James if you go with a wound third string you will have to widen the slot on the string guide. Utility knife works well for that... Robert.

In order of use, for me it's probably somethng like DAD, DAC, DGD, EAA, DAA, DAG, and I'll often play all of those a half or a whole step down.

Hey folks, here is a useful Forums TIP !:

When you click on the top site LINK to Forums ,  you get to the main Forums page, but you'll have THREE TABS available to choose from, and each tab will show you a different view of what you might want to see: Discussions (which is the default view and shows all the forum Categories), Newest Posts (which shows newsest posts and by whom and when, in which forum disussions), and My Posts (which of course shows your own latest forum posts).  For example, here is the view when i go to the main Forums link and then click on the Newest Posts TAB.

And if you like that "Newest Posts" view in particular, you can always bookmark it to get there quickly whenever you like. 

Some words of warning on the shopgoodwill.com website, for those of you not familiar with auction sites: Always check the estimated shipping & handling fees before you bid. Most will be rounded up to the nearest lb. above the weight of the instrument. Some will have you pay for 30 lbs. or so, plus handling, on a 4 lb. instrument. Not as good a deal if you have to tack on another 30 bucks to the auction price. Check the photos carefully for damage, and always read the Condition and Notes section below the photos. Some of the dulcimers are damaged, but may be a great deal for those of you who like to restore. Don't place your bid until near the closing time of bidding, you will only drive up the price. And set a maximum price, the maximum you are willing to pay, and the site will raise your bid 1.00 at a time until your maximum bid is reached. This is a good way to keep emotions out of your bids too. Good luck

Ahhh!  Not seen the pictures - just realised I've only got the 1st Edition!  Time to upgrade....

Thanks Bob, much appreciated.  I had out the hourglass poplar I got from you back in December, and decided I wanted to get away from doubled melody but still keep it in Bagpipe, so wanted to get some ideas from the site.  Guess I'll be going to the music store a bit later in the day then for some new strings and try D D d d.

James I like DDdd. It sounds more robust. Even on my Galax I like a low D in the mix... Robert

Ok, great, thanks S. Got the strong glasses since forever :-) but sure will try the other ideas...

Looks to me as if it may be some sort of copy of the Siegrist dulcimer (the patented instrument that Ken refers to).  See Ralph Lee Smith "Appalachian Dulcimer Traditions" 2nd edition pp. 142-144.  It may even be an actual Siegrist, although I think they are usually clearly labelled with the maker's name (Paul L Siegrist). 

Got a question that I was thinking about, and wanted to find out about.  For people that play Bagpipe tuning, but have it 4 string equidistant, do you have it set up D D d d, D d d d, or how?  Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Saw this also...and urged them to go through a specialilst site like this or Everything Dulcimer, because they will limit their market severely by the limitations they've placed on collection.

Either way, it's an interesting item.  Surely not an appalachian dulcimer in any real sense though - it's strung like an epinette/scheitholt/hommel and even seems to have the chromatic frets interleaving the diatonic, as some fretted zithers do.  It's not clear whether the bars operate on the drones, the second melody course or both...

Fascinating any way....

Ken....I'm on it.  It's about 3 hours away.  My type of thing!

 I definitely would bid on that if I were in Oregon and could pick it up. I have only seen pictures of those and the patent information in magazines. It is a very interesting instrument.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Annie, if you are on an ipad mini, you should be able to go to the itunes APP STORE and look for tablet apps while using search terms like "Font size" or "magnifier" or "resize screen font"...etc.  

The old FOTMD was pretty lame on mobile devices according to most users who reported multiple ongoing problems to me.

One more suggestion, not tryng to be a wise acre, but...maybe some stronger drugstore reading glasses for mini-tablet reading?  Might be less trouble than any other solution...    

Thought I would share this curious setup from the goodwill website. Anyone seen something like this before?

Dulcimer with playing table

Thanks. Tried all the browser settings every which way to Sunday, but all too big or too small, like now. Does this website support Dynamic Type?(setting on ipad for larger type). I think the old one must have, as 2 taps was all it needed. Sorry to be a pain I just have to stop for now, before I throw this thing in the Red River. There's a reason it's called a "cursor." =:-o

How does one find these external plug-ins? Is that like an app? 

(Dear S., no rush to answer, please just don't give up on me yet. Playing my dulcimer is  still  my freshest  joy - 3 months today, it came! -  and it's largely because of fotmd.) Annie

I mostly play in CGC 3 string. Occasionally DAD and DDD . Just keepin it simple. 

When other musicians cmplain because the dulcimer is too loud...and there's only the one player.

Anne, there are various ways to increase font sizes through browsers settings and browser plugins.  I think if I increase the site's overall font size, it's going to really mess everyone on phones.  So either way there would be a problem.  If the mobile zoom function is not right for you either, can you browse in your browser options to try and find a font resizer plugin ?   For example, on firefox i like to use: ThemeFont&SizeChanger plugin.

One of the lovely aspects of playing old dulcimers with wooden pegs and 'by ear' frets or staples (I have quite a few!) is that you can forget about switching on an electronic tuner (it wont do you any good - in fact, it will drive you mad) and basically ignor any tuning 'rules' you find in dulcimer books.  All the tunings I use are really simple.  They will involve finding a root note that sounds OK somewhere on the melody string (depending on the mode of the tune) and then blending in the drones to that note.  The drones will be some sort of combination of the root and/or 5th of the scale that I'm playing on the melody string at that time.  I'll pick the pitch of the scale and combination of the drones depending on the timbre I want for a particular tune. 

You know you own too many dulcimers when:

-You start using them as bird houses

-You put one in a pond just to see how well it floats

-You can't afford to change the strings on all of them

-You keep one on your desk to hold pens and pencils in the soundholes 

-You can't count them all without loosing track

I usually am playing in DAD or DAA with an occasionaly journey into CGC, DGD and CGG. Some tunes just sound better in different tunings. That creates just enough confusion for my ears, fingers and brain.

Hahahahah, Ken!

Site works fine on my Nexus tablet.  Unfortunatly I can't bring it up on my stone tablet.. but then I got it ove 2000 year ago.

Hi. I too have an ipad mini. I can now get more audios and videos, yay. And thanks for all the hard slogging to get us here!

However, I find the font on this new sight to be incredibly small. On the old site, a double tap was all I needed, but now that doesn't make enough difference, and when I use an "outward" pinch to zoom, I lose a big chunk of the line and have to keep a finger on the screen to slide the letters back and forth. Very frustrating and tiring on the eyes. I did go into my settings and try to adjust font size, but to no avail. Any ideas welcome when there's time.

No worries Nigel, glad to helped.  I've had that feeling for several months now...  

AHA!!!

Many thanks.....I was sure my brain was failing....even more

I'm not having any issues with the site on my Kindle Fire HD tablet. It looks good!

What kind of tablet are you using Dan?  I am not seeing this problem on my iPad mini.  Zooming in was no problem for me either.

--Feedback from others?- Anyone else experiencing these issues, and please tell us the type of tablet you are seeing this issue on?

Nige,

click to "Forums" (top navbar links), then go to a forum category...for example "Off Topic Forums".

there, you should see a big Plus+ button the add a new discussion in that forum category.  See screenshot...

Help please!

I can post a response to other peoples discussions, such as this......but nowhere can I find how to start a new discussion in any of the forums???? No buttons, no text boxes? Am I going mad?...No, don't answer that one....is there something obvious I'm missing?

Nige

Hi Everyone,  I always use a possum board, and there are pictures of mine in my photos section.  As I have mentioned in another forum, the most important thing is to only support the dulcimer on the head and tail stock.  Any part touching the back will not allow the back to vibrate freely.  Other uses for a possum board are as a lap tray table if they are serving food where you are playing, and as a shield if they start throwing things while you are playing.

An idea that confused me a lot when I first began playing was when a tuning and a mode were equated. . . Once I realized that a tuning and a mode are not the exact same thing I had not quite a "lightbulb" moment yet it was rather like a dimmer switch being turned up.  :)

I play lots using DdA tuning, key of D, fret 3 as tonic, Ionian mode.  From this tuning, easily, I can re-tune the A to a G and play in the key of G and Dminor (I think) and I don't know what mode I'm in with those two keys unless I look it up or ask somebody.  ;)

Started there (DAA), never found a need to switch ... well, except for 'When The Mountains Cry'. I like that in DAC. 

Must be something in the air/weather/water but I've been playing in DAA more and more of late.  Something about that tuning has just been drawing me in.  Maybe I've been listening to too much Blosser and Nicholson and it's subliminally warped my thinking  LOL!