Forum Activity for @mike-slone

UE says chill, it's all cool 8)

John, sorry to hear that but I'm sure yours is the largest Cumberland style. He sure is a beautiful dulcimer too

Patty....

I heard back... from Guinness World Records.... on last week's trip...

The news is... not good, I'm afraid.

They claim that the world's largest mountain dulcimer (currently) is 5 times normal size!

But they give no more details! I imagine it's a modern-style instrument, but it would have to be nearly 15 feet long and weigh something like 100 pounds.

I'm pretty sure Uncle Eddie is the largest Cumberland-style dulcimer out there, but I can't be sure...

It was a let-down, to be sure.

I'll definitely have to do that John. Thanks for sharing Uncle Eddie with us! Please let us know when you hear from Guinness World Records

John C. Knopf said:

Patty,

All you need to do is jump on Interstate 66 west, to 81 south, to US 23 north, to KY 15 northwest. Nothing to it.

Shouldn't take you more than half a day! Uncle Eddie is looking forward to a visit.

Patty,

All you need to do is jump on Interstate 66 west, to 81 south, to US 23 north, to KY 15 northwest. Nothing to it.

Shouldn't take you more than half a day! Uncle Eddie is looking forward to a visit.

Glad you are back home John!!! Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family . Uncle Eddie has a home in Hindman. I've just got to find a way to get out there. Not only would I love to see Uncle Eddie but I would also love to see the shop and maybe Mike can teach me how to make a dulcimer.

I thought lots more folks would see Uncle Eddie in a shop like that than in my Michigan basement!

Tourists look for dulcimers in Hindman... Most Michigan people don'teven know about them (or care).

It was an interesting trip, but I'm glad to be back home, especially with the worsening weather.

I thought lots more folks would see Uncle Eddie in a shop like that than in my Michigan basement!

Tourists look for dulcimers in Hindman... Most Michigan people don'teven know about them (or care).

It was an interesting trip, but I'm glad to be back home, especially with the worsening weather.

Mike, that's so cooooool that the giant one will be in your shop window for a while.

Robin, he is indeed spending some time in Hindman. He now occupies a position of prominence in the display window seen at the left of my above picture. He did continue wandering a bit before returning to Hindman, including stops in VA and in Richmond, KY, where I hear that he drew an admiring group of dulcimer enthusiasts and got his picture in the paper.

Patty,

Wait'll you find out where 'Uncle Eddie" will be living for a while...

(HINT: He didn't come back to Michigan).

Patty,

Wait'll you find out where 'Uncle Eddie" will be living for a while...

(HINT: He didn't come back to Michigan).

Great pic Mike!!! I just finally realized that Uncle Eddie is bigger than the door

Finally figured out how to add the pic from the Hindman stop on John's journey, I think.

Thanks everyone, it was a short visit, but , a good one. we went to my shop and talked dulcimers . Swap some stories and then John was on his way. Terry I do believe you are right ,I just looked at your picture up close, Hey my long lost brother.

Wow Kevin, what a fantastic photo. I know ya'll had a blast talking dulcimer. You know Kevin, if you were to get a tan and trim the ole beard just a tad, and I were to wear a ball hat, standing beside each other, people would swear we were brothers. Great photo.

What an amazing meeting and photo. It doesn't even seem real! I think you guys should also have swapped places and gotten another picture that way, too.

John, I envy you the stops you are going to be visiting on your trip.

Marvelous photo. Now when it comes to hammer on's, do you prefer a tack hammer, claw hammer, or 5 lbs. sledge?

Great pic. That thing is big even in a Picture.

I do love this picture. Did you all compare weights and VSLs? LOL . Kevin, did you get to play John's Uncle Eddie? How does it sound? Did you get a sound file?

That is a great picture!

I'm going to make a print of this, surely is one for the album

John

Talk about the long & the short of it.... oh and the big dulcimer and little dulcimer make a nice contrast, too. LOL Sorry, Kevin, if I were taller than you then I might be picking on you. Looks great; sure y'all had a lot to talk about.

Thanks Peter, it is amazing how big that dulcimer is. 8' long.

Great photo, great story!

John Knopf was in the area ,on vacation and, decided to make a stop to visit. It was great to get to meet him and chat about dulcimer making. He said he is going to Berrea, Hindman, and the museum of Appalachia before heading back to Detroit. Thanks to John for bringing Uncle Eddie along. Wow ain't it huge. I just had to get the picture of my little guy next to his.

Thanks Diane and Ken. Most know I am not really a player,but, a builder, I will try to get a player to try it out so we can see it's potential .

Sounds good Kevin. Looks good as well.

Ken

"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."

Thanks Patty , it might be a bit too full I have to work on the recording to see if matering it will help to improve the sound. I doesn't seem to be so overpowering while playing it.

Wow! That sure has a full sound with those drones. It's pretty too!!!

I have finished my Kratz Zither ,and decided I would try and record a sound sample. It is tuned DAAAAD and it rings really well. I am not sure the recording does it justice, but, I'm still trying. OldJoe%20Clark%20%28New%29.mp3

Dalton, Happy Thanksgiving to you!!! Enjoy your new dulcimer (new to you ). Hopefully we'll see a video from you playing a tune on your McSpadden

Congratulations Dalton! McSpaddens are great dulcimers

Dalton, here is a video clip of me playing my Cabin Creek. I was experimenting with a goose quill so pardon the sour notes, lol, http://mountaindulcimer.ning.com/video/quill-experiment

Dalton, I own one. It's the first dulcimer I bought. I've never had any trouble with it. Walter Messick is a really nice guy and spent some time with me on the phone. He even played the one I purchased over the phone for me to hear. I know it's not the same as in person but it has a good sound. It had a good sound when I played it the first day I received it and still does. Rob, one of the members here, has played it and thought it a good dulcimer.

Ain't gonna happen, I never get the last word in, even when I talk to myself! I would probably want a pickup in it so I can plug it in at gigs and actually be heard. I forgot that yesterday. Tomorrow I'll see what else I forgot.

Patty, both of mine were kits, and I was green as last weeks pine sprout. There is a great deal of satisfaction in playing an instrument you built yourself. But it gets hard to keep a lid on it. I keep thinking of building more, and that path leads to trouble. Just ask the comptroller of this corporation, Mrs. Wanda.

Still, you might look into kits. You need a certain amount of tools, but not the big powered shop equipment, mostly hand tools and clamps. It's fun, at least I enjoyed it. But if you use sassafras wood, you gain weight. Stick to some other wood, and avoid the weight gain. My sassafras dulcimer is 21 years old, and I still haven't lost that extra weight!

LOL! That would work just fine!

Helen Seiler said:

OOOOh a dream dulcimer. Something that sounds great and has lots ofinlay workwith a log cabin in the mountains theme. Yum. Hey JK, I could call it BIG CABIN.

I often have inner conversations with myself about what instruments I 'need' vs. what instruments I 'want'....because the two are sometimes the same, but not always.

If I bought instruments based only on owning my 'dream instrument' I would have many wonderful instruments that might not get played much. There is undeniable pleasure in owning such things, but neither do I want to feel like I'm buying only for the sake of owning something special. And I dont really want a house full of instruments that aren't played much. I certainly can't say that about my dulcimers.

I find i have had to consciously discipline myself against impulse buys, because I could easily get in over my head. In the past I bought a few instruments just because they were tempting, but I later sold those that I didn't play much. Like when trying to lose weight...it always seems far easier to accumulate than to shed. lol!

I really try to consider any purchase in practical terms now- will this instrument allow me to play in some way that my other instruments are limited by? Scale length is the first thing that comes to mind- for playing in various keys. Other practical factors might include: fretless/fretted, steel/nylon strings, volume/punch/tone for solo/outdoor/group playing, arched bridge for bowing, number of strings and/or frets, travel weight/size, ...stuff like that.

Awww shucks - I've been rumbled

Like most folks my dream dulcimer is whichever one I have in my hand at the time. I have a good (and growing ) collection of instruments many copies of old designs or old originals. Each has its own special characture and I love them all

I have a few more old original designs I'm still chasing- not because they are individually my dream dulcimer but because they have the distinct timbre I want to add to my quiver of instruments. And as John Tose says above, there is something VERY special about handling and playing old dulcimers

So perhaps, for me, it is not about my 'dream dulcimer' but my 'job specific' dulcimer. I'd just got back from an open mic' last night when I posted about the Fishman Aura Spectrum with the sound modelling from all my favourite dulcimers loaded on to it and a loop pedal plus effects box. I'm the sound guy for the open mic'in the bar of ourlocal cinema each month. The film finished earlier than usual and no musicians had turnedup (typical ) but a small audience had rolled in early. For the first time at the event I hada dulcimer with me because I hoped Ella may be along later and I thought I'dask if she fancied singing The Blackest Crow (we didthe songlate on in the evening and it went down great ). So I grabbed my dulcimer and just played a few tunes while waiting for the first act to show up. The instrument I had with me was my cherry McSpadden and I just used a directional condensor mic' to amplify it through the p/a. The dulcimer sounded sweet but I would have liked a few other timbre options after a couple of tunes. It was then that I thought how useful a 'plug and play' dulcimer would be for small venue performances and coffee house work. Something the size of an A W Jeffries would be ideal ( shallow withthat beautiful WV hourglass shape), I'd want a 26" scale with a good p/u system built in to it, no 6+ and Perfection pegs, action and fret intonation set for noter drone playing. I actually wouldn't want too much voice in terms of acoustic volume (the Jeffries size/sound would be perfect) - just a nicely balanced natural sound that the p/u system would work well with - a semi-acoustic dulcimer if you like. The p/u would probably be an LR Baggs as I don't want handling noise.

I think that, with a loop pedal, effects pedaland some modelling software I could have a compact little system for small venue gigs that would give me great timbre variety possibilities from tune to tune - plus I could overlay harmonies live. Now this may have Ed Thomas turning in his grave - and nothing will be the same as playingtraditional instruments acoustically live (my absolutepassion ) - but pragmatically I could do with a halfway house so I can play noter drone style for a full set from one instrument to a non-dulcimer audience - and also jump in to back up other musicians whoes acoustic guitar etc are plugged in to the p/a. All in noter drone style of course (is there another way to play?).

So I'm not talking about my dream dulcimer here more my 'job specific compromise dulcimer' - simply a pragmatic musician's tool for a specific task. Anyway, I may be commisioning a new dulcimer soon I really need to get out and play some solo gigs next year!

I've got to go with what Rick says here, though for me it wouldn't even have to be playable. Can't beat actually owning a piece of history.

Anything else - well if you know what you want, you either already own it, you can make it yourself, or you can pay someone else to knock it up. Don't be surprised though if it turns out to be a disapointment!