I think I have DAD but its still in its early stages as I only have one but I know its a slippery slope. I'm constantly looking at others. Only my lack of finance and my wife (OK mainly my wife) are keeping this condition in check at the moment.
She said the other day, having caught me yet again coveting more Dulcimers 'You've got one.How many dulcimers does one man need?'
I thought I know just the people to ask!
So whats the answer?
I tried to play when I was 16, but was never any good - no one around me played a dulcimer and my family was not musically inclined. Still, I kept the dulcimer because I loved what sounds I could make.
When my daughter left for college, I started truly playing and now I think I sound pretty good.
There's a picture of my old girl in photos on this site.
CD said:
Did you play at 16? It is interesting that this is what you held dear and held onto.
I am aware of the fact, that confessing you have more than one dulcimer may easily be taken as a "showing off" behaviour (as most people can only play one at a time...). 
So please consider the photo of my current collection just as a proof of how badly hurt by DAD I am... 
And as an excuse I have to say, that two of these instruments are on a "Dulcify the world!" mission at the moment; I have lent the Hora to a friend, and the McSpadden Sycamore to my sister-in-law. I was able to infect them with the Mountain Dulcimer Virus some months ago... 
And I am a bit proud of myself, that I have more self-made instruments by now than ready-made ones! That's not only cool, it also saves a lot of money in the long run...
Well I ask myself "why not join in?" After reading some of these posts I realize I am not so sick after all. There are many others way way worse than I. Can't wait to show my wife so she will forget about taking me to a MD to check me out:
In 19 months I have accumulated at present:
10 dulcimers. My favorites a 6 string walnut McSpadden, and a 4 string Spruce McSpadden, and a recently acquired Mike Clemmer 3 string Sweetie. (Over time I have sold 6 other dulcimers on ebay & craigslist.
Auto Harp, tin whistle, 2 harmonicas, ukulele.
2 pianos reside in our home. I claim one and my wife the other.
Yep, it's assuring to my psychic to know I'm not alone.
My dulcimers are few but well loved -
1974 Ed Presnell 4 string curly maple top and bottom with walnut sides. I bought it when I was 16. It's the only object I've held onto all these years.
Blue lion walnut teardrop, western red cedar top and tree of life inlay
Blue lion rosewood hourglass, western red cedar top and trilliums w/ dragonfies inlay
I also have a Seagull 6 string guitar - cherrywood with cedar top.
I have 2 playable Dulcimer
1 being built by our own Bobby.
2 native American flutes
3 electric guitars
1 12 string acoustic Alvarez Guitar
2 6 strings acoustic Guitars
1 Shekere
3 jaw harps
2 Mandolins
at lest one harmonica
2 3-string cigar box guitars
1 mountain banjo
Not sure if I have missed anything or not.
Helen..... I have no idea what the woods are, but the turquoise is inlaid on the head, fingerboard and the spacers for the double back. If you look at the pictures on my page, you'll see it there. It needs a little work on the nut to be where I like them, so I'm thinking, just thinking mind you, about letting it go.
Oh, and my Indian flutes don't bother the dog as much as it does some of the cats LOL
Like that Heatherwood, do you, CD? It's a head-turner all right. I should play it more, but I think I want to have the nut and bridge notched for 4 equidistant. It hadn't been played much at all when I got it, so I don't think it really has opened up yet. Oh yeah, 3 Indian flutes... one cedar and 2 traditional Cherokee reed flutes, 1 six hole, 1 5 hole.
2 McSpaddens: Walnut/spruce hourglass (my first); Cherry Ginger (really nice in G)
3 Warren May: Walnut hourglass w/ wooden pegs, no 6+; Walnut hourdrop w/ 6+ added by Warren; Mixed wood hourglass w/ 6+ (Spalted maple top and peghead, cherry sides, walnut bottom, sycamore fretboard, poplar tail. Warren made it from pieces he had....i love it!!!!!)
Add to that the ones my husband has:
1 Sweetwoods (Harpmaker) student
1 Warren May Walnut hourdrop
:)
I suppose I'm in the beginning phases
I have:
1. Cabin Creek dulcimer made by Walter Messick, hourglass, curly maple, my first dulcimer and playable instrument.
2. Prichard Reproduction made by Kevin Messinger, poplar, I had to have it, it reminds me of home...I love noter drone
3. Backyard Music dulcimer, cardboard, assembled by me and yes it was fun to put together.
4. Penny Whistle
5. Two thumb pianos (Kalimbas), one is borrowed from my daughter
6. We do have a piano in the house but daughter plays that.
7. My husband owns a Classic guitar with a name I haven't heard, Kiso - Suzuki, Kiso Suzuki Violin Co., LTD.
8. My daughter has a ukulele which I might borrow too
Well, I guess I'll join in:
1. Fred Martin all mahongany teardrop, my first (and only one) bought new from the maker.
2. William Wylie hourglass (in my avatar) my 2nd bought at the Patty Looman estate auction.
3. Paul Denk all poplar (I think) my 1st ebay purchase. The rest are in no particular order
4-6 Hughes Dulcimer Company... 2 full size, one small one.
7. Dixon, Korean, Very well made, I think, on the "Shellnut pattern."
8. Jim Good, 5 string, Walnut hourglass with pegs from 1976, pawn shop find
9. Jim Good, Butternut carved archtop, no serial number, may be the 1st one, music/antique shop find.
10. Heatherwood... 4 string, sassafras and walnut, ship on the "medallion"
11. Keith Young standard 4 string hourglass... believe it's spruce & walnut, my go-to, absolute favorite.
12. Hourglass only signed with initials, back & sides may be mahogany.
13. Folkcraft cherry teardrop
14. Capritaurus... very early has pegs not geared tuners
15. Turquoise inlayed 3 string unsigned
16. John D Tignor... Old cumberland style 3 string
17. John D Tignor... Later, larger style 4 string (doubled melody.)
18. Unknown Maker... small hourglass supposedly WV made.
19. Unknown Maker.... had partial fret for 6 1/2, so had Kevin Messenger add the partial 1/2 frets John Molineux uses.
20. Dulcimer Factory
21. Herbert Marsh - from Philippi WV
22. Keith Johnson poplar & walnut small hourglass
23. Don Gardner redwood & Cherry Teardrop
24. Bob Edson all walnut hourglass
26-30. Various unknown makers.
31. Paul Pyle, "Mockingbird" small, walnut hourglass
I also have 18 guitars, 7 steel guitars, 3 banjos (tenor, gourd, open-back with pegs,) 3 mandolins, 1 fiddle, various harmonicas, etc, a 2 row diatonic, button accordion. I think this is it.
I started out with GAS and have ended up with DAD. Anyone want to buy a dulcimer LOL
I'm not even going to list mine, not sure it counts if they are homemade ? My better half asked once why I kept on making 'em when the first sounded just fine, I told her I was trying to get one that made me sound like David Schaufner ??? I think that DAD may be hereditary, my son now has more than is healthy, and came home from The Launde Festival with yet another! Once cleaned up, a nearly 'as new' all walnut 1985 Folkroots teardrop, that was gifted to him !!! it plays a treat ! Should add that I have three unfinished dulcimers, started about this time last year, so maybe I am in remission ?
JohnH
I am slightly afflicted, but obviously not nearly as bad as some of the people I see here. Guess I need to stand closer so I can be sure to catch the bug.
Here is what I have:
2 hourglass dulcimers (built by Jesse Williams)
1 Grand Strumstick
1 Standard Strumstick
1 dulcimer built by a group in Fredricksburg, Texas, they have since gone out of business. I doesn't play well so it became a wall ornament.
1 12-string Guitar (Seagull)
1 6-string Guitar (Seagull)
1 Mandolin
That is all at the moment, however, I have my eye on a Banjammer and I feel that will be the next item to join the club.
For me it's DAA Dulcimer Acquisition Addiction. And I currently have 14. One is an early Berg that was the first dulcimer I ever bought, the 2nd is the first Black Mountain Dulcimer kit that I'd made. Since then I've dealt with 2 other Black Mountain kits and have given them away. And of the other 12 instruments I have, they are Sweet Woods instruments. Well 2 are ones that Dave let me make in his shop using a couple of fret boards he made for me along with his jigs, etc.
One cardboard mountain dulcimer
One PA German zither replica I built
One hourglass and three teardrop mountain dulcimers I built
Seven mountain dulcimers built by others (Folkcraft, Blue Lion, Sweet Woods, Musical Traditions, Warren May, Uncle Ed Thomas and the Dulcimer Factory)
One autoharp
Three guitars
Three banjos
One 16/15 hammered dulcimer I built
Miscellaneous: tin whistle, harmonicas, jaw harp, bones, spoons, Catspaws, clave, tambourine, etc.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
Seven home built MD's [one a Mcspadden kit, the first].
A true E'A'D'G bass TMB [an experiment].
A home built banjammer.
A couple more MD's started [experiments].
A home built 16/15 floating soundboard HD with hammers, using 15/14 plans which I modified.
Plus: a 16" Brendan White bodhran, 88 key Yahama keyboard, Ibanez short scale Mikro electric bass, and several penny whistles . I think I have a DAD complication, IAD [instrument acquisition disease] or MED [musical equipment disease, since I've also picked up amps, recorders, etc].
I don't play or use any of them very well [I'm not a musician] but music has been a very interesting hobby for the last few years.
I don't have DAD really - just the one dulcimer I made in school in woodwork class about 42 years ago. Plus an almost completed Tennessee Music Box which I hope to finish this week.
There again I do have BAD quite badly - that's Bagpipe Acquisition Dissorder:
Breton veuze in D
Welsh pibau cyrn in D
Welsh pibau cyrn / Bulgarian gaida hybrid in D
Replica German schafferpfeife in F
Medieval double chanter bagpipe in G
Swedish sackpipa in A
French cornemuse in G
Bulgarian gaida in D
Apart from the Bulgarian gaidas I made all the rest myself so not a huge dent in the family budget...
Oh Well, here goes - in no particular order:
All played noter drone unless otherwise stated - no 6+ on any dulcimers unless stated
Ed Thomas replica by John Knopf - classic 1890s small bodied poplar 3 string - silvery and intimate
Charles Prichard replica by Kevin Messenger - classic 1880s large bodied poplar 3 string - loud and strident
McSpadden 4FHCC by Jim Woods(custom with no 6+) - 2011 - great workhorse - keep it in 4 string equidistant
Prussia Valley Box Dulcimer by Gary Sager - 3 string zither pins - 2007 - rich and rounded
John Tignor - Kentucky style 3 string 1960s - rings like a bell
John Pearce - 1970s small delta 3 string - very pretty with lots of rich overtones from a small body.
McSpadden Ginger(standard with 6+) - punchy little instrument that I use for chord melody. Great for jam sessions
Richard Wilson 1981 4 string- very lightly built hourglass - full sound - kept in 4 string equidistant.
A W Jeffries by Jay Jeffries - West Virginia hourglass 1970s - light shallow build with mid range focus
Sow Hoggfiddle by Bobby Ratliff - Classic Virginia pattern from 1800s - Bright and lively for both dancing and hymns
Galax by David Lynch 2011 - staple fretted in Melton style with 6+- Great old time pub session instrument
Galax by Don Neuhauser - Russel family pattern built for Bonnie Russell -VERY LOUD - THE dulcimer for dance sessions
8 x David Lynch Student Dulcimers (with 6+) - perfect for running workshops
On the 'wish list' when I raise the cash!!!!:
Ed Presnell 3 string
Replica of ID Stampers long scale 4 string (someone needs to find the original first to take a pattern!!!!)
Mawhee/Graves walking cane dulcimer
Other instruments - 2 x squareneck dobro (my primary stage and sessioninstruments), about 5guitars, bass, 4 x banjos, purcussion various, Welsh harp, harmonicas various, mandolin, lap steel and I'm sure there are a few more instruments scattered around the house.
Oh - and about 30 x resonator guitars in stock for my business at present anda dozen or sodulcimers
Good thread, CD. Always nice to see the spread.
By the way, some folks migfht be interested in seeing the thread on the same subject started 3 1/2 years ago by our own dear departed Rod Westerfield. It's fascinating reading!: http://mountaindulcimer.ning.com/forum/topics/how-many-dulcimers-do...
I still get by ok with my two steady playing dulcimers...my Keith Young teardrop and my Ben Seymour Galax. Not that I don't covet more...I do...I'm only human!
I have 2 dulcimers. I've had one about 22 years, and the "new" one about 18 years. Also one banjo, 2 ukulele, a sack of harmonicas, 7 guitars, a lap steel guitar, and several guitars friends have brought me from other folks tree lawns. "I figured you could fix it and get some use out of it." Some aren't really worth the cost of the parts they need. If I do fix them, I will find homes for them.
If you have trouble tuning, are your strings very old? Old strings can be a real bear to tune, and may not stay in tune. It's usually not the time, but the mileage that counts. Played a couple of hours a day, the strings may go dead in a month or less. If your strings are not very old, the next big question here is, does your dulcimer have historic/ collector value. If there is no compelling historical reason to keep the violin pegs, it's cheaper to use standard geared guitar, ukulele, or banjo pegs. One of my ukes has friction uke pegs, and I have to keep a screwdriver with it so I can tighten them when necessary. I bought a screwdriver just to keep in the case, and woe to whoever touches it! Murphey's Law states that the pegs will need to be tightened when I have an audience and can't find the screwdriver. With fiddle pegs, you won't need the screwdriver, but fiddle pegs were devised during the days of gut strings, and work best with gut or nylon strings. They were never meant for steel strings, and violins strung with steel almost always have fine tuners. My ukes both have nylon strings, and friction pegs work OK on the one that has them. If your dulcimer is giving you problems tuning, or staying in tune, and has no historical value that you plan to milk for all it's worth, you can put geared tuners on it. Try to measure the diameter of the hole opposite the knob, and find a set of tuners that fit that size hole. Putting them on is a lot easier than reaming the holes in the video above. Guitar machines will come 6 to a set, uke or banjo machines are in sets of 4. You will need a small drill bit to make pilot holes for the mounting screws. If you don't want to do this yourself, you can have it done by a guitar technician. Find a music store with an in house tech. Some stores send instruments out for work, which means more time without the instrument, and possibly a larger bill.
Here's a video that shows the steps to fitting the Knilling tuners on a violin, you may not need to do the end trimming on a dulcimer, up to you really.
Bit pricey, but may be less trouble than fitting something non tapered. And as Ken says, the process is reversible if need be.
Another thing to consider with other types of tuners is whether the faces of the pegbox are flat or not.
The easiest replacement is to use the Knilling/Perfection geared tuners which look almost exactly like a wooden peg, except they have teeni-tiny gears inside. These pegs slip right into the existing tapered wooden peg holes. To use more conventional geared tuners you may have to drill out the wooden peg holes, or at least insert a metal collet through which the shaft of the tuner runs.
If you're wanting to do this conversion to a vintage instrument, or one by a well-known builder, I would strongly suggest the Knilling/Perfection pegs, as they will not damage a potentially collectable instrument.
Frankly I've not had much problem with wooden tuners. I tune a bit sharp and push the peg home, then 'squeak' it down to the right note. A drop or two (no more) from a bottle of "peg dope" from a violin shop will make the pegs much easier to use
I'm not so sure this is as complicated as it seems, nor does it call for unusual or minor tunings. The whole thing can be played in plain old C ionian tuning using no extra frets and the drones sound good all through the tune.
Walter is in a normal (not minor) fiddle tuning- hear him check his tuning in the beginning. He's playing it in the key of C, even though it modulates in the 'low part', which he starts out playing first.
Tune to C-G-G (C being your bass string) and the tune's 'home base' is located on the 3rd fret, ionian mode.
Walter starts on the modulated 'low part'. That's what is confusing people, because it 'sounds' minor, leading one to think a special mode tuning is needed, but it's not. Try playing that first/low part by starting frets 5-7-8, 5-3-4... etc.
The high part goes back to the root C major feeling, and he plays in the upper octave starts by using frets 10-11, 10-11-12...etc. You can also play it in the lower octave, starting on fret 3, but then it will sound yet lower than the other part. It's kind of nice with that real high part, gives it some punch.
Some folks might choose to start the tune on the high/major sounding part, and if Walter had done that it would have probably been easier for people to figure out. It would have been a more 'predictable' way to play this tune. But it's pretty cool and more fascinating to start it on the modulated quirky sounding low part.
I'm not so sure this is as complicated as it seems, nor does it call for unusual or minor tunings. The whole thing can be played in plain old C ionian tuning using no extra frets and the drones sound good all through the tune.
Walter is in a normal (not minor) fiddle tuning- hear him check his tuning in the beginning. He's playing it in the key of C, even though it modulates in the 'low part', which he starts out playing first.
Tune to C-G-G (C being your bass string) and the tune's 'home base' is located on the 3rd fret, ionian mode.
Walter starts on the modulated 'low part'. That's what is confusing people, because it 'sounds' minor, leading one to think a special mode tuning is needed, but it's not. Try playing that first/low part by starting frets 5-7-8, 5-3-4... etc.
The high part goes back to the root C major feeling, and he plays in the upper octave starts by using frets 10-11, 10-11-12...etc. You can also play it in the lower octave, starting on fret 3, but then it will sound yet lower than the other part. It's kind of nice with that real high part, gives it some punch.
Some folks might choose to start the tune on the high/major sounding part, and if Walter had done that it would have probably been easier for people to figure out. It would have been a more 'predictable' way to play this tune. But it's pretty cool and more fascinating to start it on the modulated quirky sounding low part.
Abby, there have been at least 3 books of fiddle tunes: 2 by Lois Hornbostel (a member here,) and one by the late Jean Schilling. I'll check them tonight and see if that tune is in either of them. There are a lot of books which have some fiddle tunes, Neal Hellman has several, Leo Kretzner, and others.
Rob
I love this song!....& tried to play it several times without coming up with a version I'm happy with. It's a simple tune but has complex phrases....if that makes any sense....easy for the fiddle but hard for me on the dulcimer. I'd wager Dave Rogers could play a nice version of it on the dulcimer though.... : )....
It's a G tune and I have the best luck with the phrases with my melody string tuned to G and the first note is open.
So....I'd start by tuning DGG?...to play it in G. With a 3 string dulcimer I can't get enough 'bitterness' happening to suit me....the tune has a winsomeness I can't capture.
And by the way you can play the bejesus outa them spoons!
