That's right. I sold the Eede Beede to someone else, I think in Canada. I have sold the Folkroots Travel dulcimer to one of the students in my local group. She loves it. Thanks again for the comment.
Not quite, Joe. I bought my Eede Beede directly from David. I think you might have bought a Folkroots Travel dulcimer from me and then went searching for a capo for it. Am I right about that?
Thanks for the note Dusty. I believe you are the man I sold my "eede beede" octave dulcimer to, right? I might leave mine like it is for now.
David Beede ships his octave dulcimers with .008 for the melody, .010 for the middle, and a wound .011 for the bass.
It might be hard to find a wound string of that size. My local acoustic instrument shop had to special order them for me.
However, the reason not to try one would be the slot in the bridge and nut. If the slot is cut for a regular steel string, then the wound string might not fit in it very well. And if it does make its way into the slot, it might stretch it, potentially ruining it for regular strings. I would say be careful.
I have a dulcimette with an 18" long fretboard. The strings are regular metal, #10 for bass and #8 for the middle and melody strings. I was wondering if I could add a wound string, instead of the #10 regular string for the bass. I used to have one of the octave dulcimers built by Beebe in Florida and it used a wound string on the bass, but I do not know what size was used. The guy that built the dulcimette does not build them anymore and he did not think it would tune right with a wound string. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.
Steven,
I agree with Dusty. I purchased my first "Student Dulcimer" from David Lunch and it is awesome. In fact my wife wants one now as well. She also plays the autoharp. If I may make one suggestion (if you purchase from David), spend the additional $10.00 to have buttons put on (for a strap). If I didn't have a strap around my waist I would be chasing my dulcimer all over the place - not to mention off the floor. Just a suggestion
Hi, Steven. I don't see my response on here that I sent the other day, so I'll try again. We still have the hourglass dulcimer that my wife started on. She has since bought a Gallier A-frame like mine, but the little hourglass still plays just fine. I'm not sure who made it, but it's well cared for and nice looking, with a good voice. It has a strap, gig bag and pick. It's ready to play for only 75$+ shipping. You can see pictures on my personal page on this web site.
By the way, welcome to the dulcimer community. You're gonna like it here!
Dewey Parker
Steven,
Everyone has made some great suggestions. I just want to add that a cardboard dulcimer is very good as Dusty said. Yes, it is cardboard but the sound is pretty amazing. I assembled a cardboard dulcimer from Backyard Music for our 4H project last year. I truly was surprised at the volume. I really didn't expect it. I've been very pleased with it. You may not want to go the cardboard route but I just want to let you know it's not a toy instrument, not at all. Also, one of these days I'll post a vid of me playing it. I've been wanting to do that but life has been very busy for me this summer. I'll just have to squeeze that in best I can. I'm sure you'll get a good dulcimer for your wife
Another vote here for the Harpmaker Dave Student model. I've been playing dulcimer for nearly 40 years, and about 3 years back Dave made me a slightly customized version of his Student model, which I really like. It's light, it's sturdy, it has great mid range sound (not high silvery trad sound, not deep mellow modern sound.... just right), and it looks nice too. Like JohnH I've made dulcimers and know what to look for, and Dave's are top notch.
Shape (teardrop, hourglass) is only an aesthetic consideration, not a performance factor. Likewise wood choice is mostly cosmetic (because of the way dulcimer sound is produced) unlike guitars.
Avoid FirstAct, and avoid Applecreek in particular. They are made "offshore" by people who can't spell 'dulcimer', and have a very poor reputation among dulcimer players who've been around for any time.
Steven, there are many affordable options for entry-level dulcimers. Very good cardboard dulcimers are sold new for as little as $60. I recently played one made by Folkcraft and it sounded remarkably good. There are also several luthiers who make student dulcimers for under $200.
I would personally recommend a student dulcimer by David "Harpmaker" Lynch of Sweet Woods Instruments. You can find his website here . He sells a student dulcimer for $125. David is also a member here at FOTMD so you can contact him directly without leaving this website.
I had heard other players recommend his student dulcimer and comment that it plays as well and sounds as nice as dulcimers costing well over three times the price. I just bought one for myself last month. I wanted an affordable instrument to play on the east coast since I spend a few weeks every summer and a few weeks over the holidays there every year. And I'll be honest that it was hard for me to leave it behind when I came back home. The dulcimer is made of birch ply, I believe, which helps keep costs down. And David knows what he is doing. The intonation is excellent and the sound surprisinglyrich. It seems to play just as well for soft, fingerstyle play and for louder strumming with a flatpick.
If you get a cardboard dulcimer or most other student models and your wife decides that she does enjoy playing and wants to keep doing it, you will have to upgrade and get a nicer dulcimer. With David's student model, she may want to upgrade, but she won't have to. It would be a satisfying instrument for years. I expect to keep mine. And if you do decide to upgrade, David has some kind of trade-in policy as well.
There are no silly questions. Just ones that you don't ask and don't get answered.
The hole in the soundboard, under the fretboard, is to facilitate the soundwaves passing into the body cavity of the dulcimer. Unlike guitars, mandolins or lutes, the dulcimer top does not make a very large part of the sound, because it has that huge brace down the center (called a fretboard) that is preventing much top vibration. You can close the gap between the two soundboards, but you'll get a better sound by keeping the gap open under the inverted U of the fretboard.
So far there is only one dulcimer builder actively pursuing an academic, quantitative (not qualitative) study of the dulcimer, a chap named Richard Troughear, from Australia. You can read his fascinating discoveries on EverythingDulcimer. Some 20 pages of intense reading begins here:
http://www.everythingdulcimer.com/discuss/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1...
Sorry jessica, my fault for making assumptions, and thus 'not delivering the goods' . No problem with the space you refer to, even when the soundboard starts out as one full width piece it is not uncommon to make a similar sized channel in it to that already in the fret board, thetwo channels being matched up during subsequent assembly. In your particular instance the procedure would be to pin and glue the chosen inside edges of the two sound board pieces so as they line up with your pre existing channel in the fretboard, thus making one prefabricated item out of two.( I usually do this after I have cut the pieces to shape, ie, two halves of a teardrop or hourglass soundboard.)
That make more sense to you ?
best wishes
JohnH
Hello jessica ! I am assuming that your fretboard is channeled down its length, in section like an inverted 'u'. Various reasons are offered as to why this is done. Reduction in weight, increase in internal volume, avoidance of making what for some could be an awkward joint, making best use of available widths of soundboard material ect . It is common practice to construct this way, and done properly should not affect any strength properties, and should result in some increase in volume.
I am sure that you will get other advice/answers, there are some very helpful people on this site, with years of building experience between them !! Use 'em
good luck with the build
JohnH
1. Always have spare strings around.
2. Strings are strings are string. Brand name makes virtually no difference. I prefer www.juststrings.com and buy their bulk strings.
3. Sounds like loop end strings are what you probably should use.
4. It's never worth the time trying to 'repair' a string. Trust me on this....
5. Make sure the string pins angle slightly down - away from the top of the dulcimer. Post a picture.
6. Always tune a 'singing' string. Pluck the string you want to tune. Quickly turn the tuner you think is right, one-quarter turn. If the string does not change it's sound, STOP! You have the wrong tuner.
7. Read my article here called I Just Got A Dulcimer, Now What? It's an illustrated glossary of dulcimer terms, and answers to many beginner questions about the tuning, playing, care and feeding of the dulcimer. You can find it here:
http://mountaindulcimer.ning.com/profiles/blogs/i-just-got-a-dulcimer-now-what
Hi Jeni,
1. You can order strings directly from Folkcraft, Prussia Valley Dulcimers, and Just Strings dot com are three places to buy strings. I don't know if Gary carries Folkcraft strings, but if you know the gauges of the strings you just need to buy four single strings in the proper sizes.
2. One reason for the string riding up might be the angle of the hitch pin. Check to see if it is at the same angle as the others.
3. Loop end strings will fit tighter to the base of the hitch. If the problem continues with ball end strings switching is an alternative.
You didn't tell us what make of dulcimer you have. That may help us determine the problem.
Thanks Sharon and Dusty !
I really enjoyed sitting down yesterday evening with that short clip of Willie Nelson and seeing what I could come up with on that old Tignor dulcimer.
I still feel that I'm just scratching the surface of what's possible on an old dulcimer with a noter. The more I play these early dulcimer designs the more admiration and respect I gain for those traditional players and builders of these 'boxes of possibilities'
Wow, Robin. That is a haunting version of the song. It's putting shivers up my spine. Your commandand ability to get nuanced sound out of the noter is just remarkable.
Hi Sharon,
I found a short clip of the Willie Nelson version of Amazing Grace from Songbird on Amazon. He is singing it in Em and using accidentals. I've had a quick go at the tune and tried to capture the same sort of feel. I used E,B,A tuning on my old Tignor staple fretted dulcimer and a hardwood noter to capture the accidentals. As I'm playing noter drone I don't have the chord changes that are on the Nelson version but I've tried to get the same sort of lilt in the melody. I've added some pick up notes to each phrase so the sound is not quite so sparse.
I've heard Willie do a couple of versions, but I would say they were mostly in the traditional major key with a couple of minor chords thrown in. I think I don't know the version you are referring to.
Here is a minor version of the song by the Blind Boys of Alabama to the tune we usually associate with House of the Rising Son:
Becca, should you decide to get a bowed psaltery, I have a copy of Kendra Ward's instruction book I'll send you for free. It's designed for people who have little or no music knowledge, i.e., it gives the basics about the notes on the staff, time values, etc. Since I had played a number of instruments before, most of it was repetitious for me. Actually, the bowed psaltery isn't all that hard to learn without a teacher but, if you can get to a festival or two with BP classes, that's a plus. I don't know if you noticed on Rick's site, but he'll be holding the E. Tennessee Bowed Psaltery Gathering Nov. 1-3. If you could get there for some or all of it I'm sure you'd enjoy it.
The bowed psaltery as we know it, was IIRC, invented in the post-WWII years as a bowing training aid for potential violin players.
As you noted there is little or no training material or active support for the bowed psaltery. For the dulcimer there is a huge active world of teachers, players, free music and lessons and much more.
As Ivan said, if the 20 note psaltery is not a left handed one, and you are bowing left handed, that will not be a good situation. Also, the range of notes is very much limited (barely one and a half octaves) and re-tuning is much less than easy.
From what I know of violin/fiddle players, left-handed bowers are VERY rare, nearly non-existent. Likewise bowed psaltery players.
Dulcimers are ambidextrous, it's pretty much a mater of which side you put the bass string and which side the melody strings. There are a number of discussions here on left-handed playing. IIRC the majority of left handed players play dulcimer right handed because that allows them to use their more coordinated hand for the intracacies of creating notes by chording/fingering and the other hand for maintaining a steady rhythm of strumming.
I have a bowed psaltery that I play now and then. I'm on the list Strumelia mentioned. It's much quieter than this list. I'm no lefty, but the psaltery's quite easy to play. Be sure it has notes marked. I had the choice of marked or unmarked and am happy I didn't go unmarked. The biggest problem is tuning. The more strings, the more to tune, but you do want full chromatic, which means getting all the sharps and flats. Initially I had a "skate key" tuner, but it's worth getting a tuner that is more sensitive. The kind that have a handle are much easier.
Go to the psaltery site and look around.
It's worth asking if the m.d. group plays in D. Most do, but not all. I like to sing with mine, so I play in CGG.
Hope that helps.
If the 20 note psaltery is tuned in the key of C, it probably won't be useful for playing with dulcimers, since it'll be missing the C# and F# from the key of D, which is the key most dulcimer groups use. Also, if you're going to bow left handed, you'll probably want a left handed psaltery, otherwise you'll end up expending a lot of energy bowing the "natural" notes (corresponding to the white notes on the piano), which are on the right side of a right handed psaltery. If the small one is tuned in C you "might" be able to tune the c's and f f's up to their respective sharps - depends on how near to their breaking point the strings are already tuned.
The two larger psalteries are probably chromatic with the naturals down the right side and the sharps/flats on the left. Even with the chromatic psalteries, playing with dulcimers can be a chore, since you'll be doing a lot of cross bowing to hit the C#'s and F#'s.
I believe more left handed dulcimer players play "right handed" dulcimers than have left handed instruments built for them. Since the dulcimer really uses both hands pretty equally I'm not sure hand dominance is a major issue. Unless you're dead set on having a psaltery, I'd advise getting a dulcimer and taking some lessons and, perhaps, having a left handed psaltery made for you. Most builders will make you one at no upcharge from the corresponding right handed model.
Rick Long, of Clinton, TN, makes a D Psaltery and a D Tenor Psaltery, both of which have the D scale notes down one side. I'm sure the other psaltery makers listed at Psaltery Strings could make you an excellent instrument as well. I mention Rick mainly because he's probably the closest builder near you. He welcomes visitors to his workshop and he's a wealth of knowledge on both building and playing bowed psalteries.
Becca, that's a big decision that only you can make, but remember you can always wind up starting with one and then playing both instruments later.
Here is the best place to learn more about how to play BP's and what beginner tools to get: http://psalterystrings.ning.com/
If you tune your BP strings properly, you cannot play 'out of tune' since there is no fretting done- all strings are played open. However, with either instrument you can play wrong notes! LOL.
Being that you have access to more direct learning support in your area for mtn dulcimer, my first impulse is to advise you to get a mtn dulcimer and take a few lessons. Perhaps you could borrow/rent one for a couple weeks before you buy, and get 2 lessons?
Bobby, in answer to your question to Dave about the Universal lever being a tension lever: No, it, too, changes the VSL. The only reason for the upward tension on the string is to provide a break point in string vibration and allow the string to sound clearly. If you look at the drawing of the engaged lever on the pdf you referenced (at the bottom right of page 2), you'll see that the string lies at the bottom of the v-groove, just as it would on an actual bridge. It's this contact plus the slight upward tension on the string that alters the VSL of the string. BTW, the Musicmaker bridge/guide pins just have grooves to seat the string, not holes.
Wout, I already play a dulcimer with a 1+ and 6+ fret as well as the octave equivalents of that. I fear that over time I will add more extra frets as I find a reason for the 4+ and so forth. But I like the simplicity of the diatonic fretboard and the more I thought about those harp levers the more I began wondering about something like that for a dulcimer.
Wout Blommers said:
Well, wouldn't the easiest way be a talk with Steve Eulberg about a chromatic dulcimer?
Well, wouldn't the easiest way be a talk with Steve Eulberg about a chromatic dulcimer?
I have to admit that although I started this thread, I was probably ill equipped to do so since I don't build instruments and really don't even have the vocabulary to refer to parts of a harp accurately.
But you guys have been great in helping me think through this and even offering new and creative ideas.
David: I should have thought to just ask you about this stuff in the beginning. Those levers I saw on two small harps that basically just pushed on the strings to raise the pitch on the other side of a pin or something acting like a bridge might have been made by whoever made the harps. All those anyone else or I have found online seem to work like those you describe. I am now convinced those premade levers that reduce the VSL would not work on the dulcimer.
Bobby: I guess I did misunderstand you, and maybe that has to do with my limited understanding of modes. I had thought you imagined a lever (or maybe to) so that you could toggle back and forth between a DAd tuning and a DAC tuning. You could then play a medley of say "Red-Haired Boy" and "Gilderoy," which is basically the same tune but out of a minor mode without retuning.
Wout: I think you are right that nothing we could rig up would allow the pitch of a string to change as much as a fourth. But my original idea was not to replace tuning altogether but either to allow a momentary change in pitch to be a able to catch an accidentalor to allow a change from a D tuning to a C tuning. I play a lot in multi-instrument jams and out of a D tuning I can play in the key of G or use a capo to get the keys of G and A. But the other common key is C, and I have to retune all three strings for that. There isn't always time and I sometimes miss the first verse or so of the next song.
Skip, the whammy bar idea was just my way of thinking about how you might activate something to change the tuning of a string while you were playing. I imaged using the whammy not really to hear the bend, but to get from one extreme to another, with those extremes representing a 1/2 note or perhaps a whole note. I don't even know how much a normal whammy bar adjusts the pitch anyway. I was just trying to envisiona devise as simple to use as the button on chromatic harmonicas that shifts the pitch a half note.
Thanks again, everyone, for chiming in even if to help me realize what's not possible.
I think 2 different things are being discussed. One is quick adjust tuning and the the other is a tremelo/whammy bar that produces a sound like bending. I also think that both are possible with a bit of thought. The 1st could be done with an 'over center latch' in place of the nails on the tail end similar to some box/luggage latches. The 2nd would require some specific construction details on the tail end of the dulcimer, I have a couple of ideas already, although a modification of the over center latch concept may work also. I'm not sure if these things aren't already available or not.
Edit: Not sure of the rangeon the quick change, it would have to be within the capabilities of the strings for sure.
The HipShot products are nice products, but I think not very useful on a dulcimer. They are designed being a bender (like pedal steel guitar effect) or extender, special on the bass dropping the E string to D without retuning. The dulcimer requires a larger range of detuning or uptuning, sometimes a 4th! And to add to more than one tuner one needs a large tuner head
Easy to tune from DAd to DAc and maybe to DGd, even DGc (when?), but DAA to DAc is not possible.
You may to better replacing the tuners Dusty with Scruggs or the guitar/bass equivalent tuners that have fast adjust levers to move the pitch. I'm sure I've seen some electronic ones for guitar that shift the tuning for you. On the other hand it is probably easier and far cheaper to simply install extra frets!!!!
Of course, if you just want accidentals in a tune (rather than full key changes mid tune) then noter players have been snatching those between the frets on pure diatonic dulcimers for a long, long time - it is a pretty simple technique patricularly on an old staple fretted dulcimer with a high action
And yes, for those of you suggesting the hipshottuners, those look a lotmore promising!
