Forum Activity for @rob-n-lackey

Glad it worked out. I thought it would and now we get to hear another wonderful song!

Okay so this is crazy. I have a whole new dulcimer. Strung her with Riverlark Dulcimer Strings...very very nice...Purple label. I only use three strings currently so treble is .012 middle-.014 and base is a wound .024. I am floored at the difference. No more buzz or twangle of loose strings when strumming and with finger style the tone is clean and clear. And the instrument is actually sounds louder and rounder. Yay, yippee, yahoo!!! Such a little thing and such a big result. Thank you both for helping me on this, I couldn't' be more pleased!

I'm learning In the Bleak Midwinter today. Hopefully I can record this on the new version of my beautiful McSpadden early this week so you can hear it.

What Sam said! Changing string gauge to increase the tension will make the action (at least seem) higher. I wouldn't do anything to the bridge or nut until you found the best gauge strings for the way it's to be played, then you could play with the bridge height. Remember though, raising the bridge too much, particularly with heavier strings could change the intonation. It may not benoticeableto the ear, but you'll be able to "see" it on a tuner. That's one of the problems I'm having with my Marsh. Get the strings right, intonation is off at the 7th fret. We're now trying to see if it's fret placement or bridge placement. I'm hoping for bridge!

Sam, thanks for those ideas. I used to use paper match sticks to shim my guitar bridges back in the day. I thought it was my own invention .. :) I will try string change first and see what that does, then proceed from there if needed. Heading out to a guitar gig now....back later to fiddle with the dulci. Thanks again!

If the bridge is not glued or afixed solid to the fretboard you could mark it carefully for position, loosen all the stings and slid a shim underneath it (a piece of paper or thing cardboard). If it is solid, you can try tiny pieces of tape in the grooves of the bridge and/or nut. The nut is most likely glued in. One thing you will notice ... if you go to heavier strings, it will raise the action a tiny bit ... the strings won't go quite as far down into the notches and they will be at a higher tension as well. Maybe a combination of two or three small things will give you the action and tension you need. I wouldn't make any real structural changes until I tried the small things that you can do yourself.

Another thought....Is there a way I could raise the action just a tad???

CJ

Thanks guys. I'm not sure what strings came on it, but I'm thinking maybe they are the stock mixolydian strings which are .10 for the first two. I have some .12 plain steel strings I'm going to try out today. I'll report back later! Hopefully they will improve things...I like the sound of the cherry dulci and would hate to part with her.

CJ

Rob's advice is right on. I would also remember that McSpadden and cherry sort of lean toward a softer sound (from my limited experience). Try a set of heavier gauge strings as Rob suggested. I think they will liven up your McSapdden and compliment your playing style.

Sam

Cheryl, sounds like the strings are too light for your style of playing. Use this http://www.strothers.com/string_choice.htm

to determine the basic gauge then add some because this site has it a little too light for my taste.

Ex: vsl=27.5 tune DAd

It says the high d should be a .10; I'd use a .12 'cause I like 'em a little tighter for fingerpicking.

That being said, you know from your classical guitar background that individual guitars like certain strings. My di Georgio hates Augustines. You have to experiment with different gauges and types, bronze for the wound or phospher bronze or steel. Thank goodness we just need 4 and they are cheap. I'm thinking about a wound 3rd on the one I'm keeping in DAAd. Try it 'til it feels good and sounds good too

Rob

I have a question regarding the string tension/guage on my Mcspadden standard cherry dulcimer as compared to my modern mountain dulcimer. My strings feel sloppy and loose on the McSpadden, currently tuned DAD compared to the MMD. (I know, apples and oranges). So I can't strum or pluck too heavily on the McSpadden or the strings clang and buzz...whereas on the MDD I can wail away to my hearts content. Can I put higher tension strings on the McSpadden? Or is it a matter of string gauge, scale length or something else?? There is a lot more room on the MMD to produce different dynamics...loud, soft, etc.....whereas on the McSpadden is limited to playing on the softer side.

Thanks for your thoughts!

Cheryl

What dulcimer tuning did you use to get key of G?

Players may write a song in a key they find easy to compose in, but find they can't sing it in that key. When they record the song, it may end up in a very different key. Another possibility is that the G version was arranged by another person.

Paul

Randy, we enjoyed seeing you again VERY much! Thanks for everything you bring to an event like Dulcimerville. It's folks like you who make it what it is! We miss ya already!

Randy,

Your time at Dulcimerville sounds delightful. (I have an idea of some of what you're feeling because I was privileged to go to Don Pedi's retreat last month; Don is a treasure!)

If I ever get to Dulcimerville, you're one of the first people I'd be searching-out!

Randy, thanks so much for sharing all this with us so we can enjoy the thrill along with you. Sounds wonderful!

Randy, it sounds like you might have had a great time . Wish I could have been there, but week-long seminars are just not do-able for me right now. So I'll just live vicariously through the descriptions you and others have given. Maybe next year will be different, but right now, it doesn't seem like it will be .

I'll have to get Phyllis's book. Love her playing and the sound of the traditional Galax dulcimer

Rob

Someday, Randy, when family, work, and money allow it, I hope to be one of those new friends you meet at Dulcimerville. Everyone seems to returnwith such wonderful stories of music and friendship.

Have a blast! Sounds like you are already.

Our band name is.............. narrowed down to 2. HAHAHAHA. You thought I was going to have it, but no our vote was tied. So we'll have a final vote next week with the winner. Our choices are Blackbird Courting and Pickers Local 151. One of those is our name! Such fun tonight. We've started to sing one a'capella (no idea how to spell that) song that's Irish that is so cool. We plan to sing that while our fiddler is retuning between songs. She only has to retune one time, so we'll get it worked in somewhere in our set. Wish I would have done this years ago. SOOOO FUN!

UPDATE - At tonight's practice we are voting on a band name!! We've also picked up another upright bass player and this time, he can practice with us on our regular nights. YIPPIEEEE. I'll update once we pick our cool name!!

Thanks Dana, it was!

Mandy that looks like loads of fun!

Here's a partial vid of my lead song. You got to see the whole band in this one.

This is 4 out of 6 of us. There is another banjo player and another guitar standing to the right. The fiddler's husband took the shot

We had our very first LIVE PERFORMANCE last night as a group

I had a BBQ and invited everyone to bring their families and invited some neighbors over too! After we chowed down on good ole hotdogs and hamburgers and pot luck dinner, we ROCKED the HOUSE! Hahah. It was so much fun that I forgot to even get out my camera and get some pics or recordings. We had kids running all over the house too, so their was stuff going on everywhere. For my daughter (only child) it was awesome to have a bunch of kids her age to run around the house with. Their ages were 4,5,6,7, 11,14,and 17. Hopefully somebody will send me some pics and vids I can share. I did see a bunch of cameras out, so I know it got recorded somewhere.

Fun times, and I'm officially over my first-time jitters of singing in front of a group of people. I've got to learn to project my voice though (so does our other girl, the fiddler). We were both told that our voices were really nice but not loud enough. Anyone with advice for me, I'm all ears.

Yeah Dusty, the time has really flown by for me.

Christine, that will be so much fun ya'll playing together.

Mandy, it's great to see how quickly this who thing has come together. It seems like just yesterday you were worried about how to tell someone he was out of tune.

Planning a big BBQ next Friday night for our group. Everyone will bring their families and after we eat we'll give everybody a show!! This will be my first real live audience beyond just our parents. Can't wait. Good food, good company, and good music.

We are forming a band. I know it's been quick, but we've really come together as a group. Hopefully this week I'll get a video of the whole band together instead of just a few of us.

FUN CITY ! Oh and anyone who is near the Orlando area and wants to pop in and eat and listen to music come on! Just be sure to bring a side dish that will feed 20 people.

Guess i was typing while you responded, LOL

Yeah the time has flown and it's been such a great time! I really wish everyone would either get to a local jam or start one of their own, because it really is a total BLAST.

Strumelia said:

Wow, the time has flown- seems like just last month you were thinking of starting up a jam, Mandy!

Great that it's turning out to be such fun for you guys.

Just wanted to add that it's kind of funny now looking back at the first few posts of my thread here. I was all nervous and it's been so great and everything just seems to have fallen into place. One of the guys who showed up that first time and was way out of tune with everyone else never came back (though i invited him several times), we play a wide variety of tunes and only a couple are even what i would call old-timey, everyone is very interested in doing open-mics, and all of us seem to click and are friendly and we give and receive each others help on stuff.

I think one big factor in all this was that I placed the ad saying it was a folk/bluegrass/old-time jam. And I also told each person coming to bring at least 2 songs that they would like to play. So we've got a bunch of different influences that came in from that and no one had ever really even been to any bluegrass or old-time jams. So there were no ground rules, which suits me tremendously. The only OT jamming experiences I'd had previously were less than fun for me and I was not welcomed, and at one I was even ridiculed. Nothing against OT jams, but this just suits me better I guess.

Oh yeah forgot to add this - we have 3 guitars, one also plays mando, 2 banjo's, and a fiddle! Our upright bass had to drop out because his work schedule sucks, but we are a well rounded little group I think.

Wow, the time has flown- seems like just last month you were thinking of starting up a jam, Mandy!

Great that it's turning out to be such fun for you guys.

Thanks Beth and Dana! We are having fun. Our little group has grown to 6 consistently now, but it seems every time i get out the camera most have already left. We are having a great time, wish I would have done it years ago.

We are coming up with a band name now (because all 6 of us want to start doing open mics), and going to have a huge Bar-B-Q in a few weeks so that friends and family can see what we've been up to the last few months. Fun stuff

That was great! You really all sounded good, and it looks like a lot of fun! I have friends who are much better players than I, and they've started inviting me to their jams. Twice a year I have a music party which is more of a folk circle with some jamming. Non musicians come as well to listen and generally have great conversations in the other rooms of the house. I started the parties when I first got my Autoharp so I would learn to play in front of people from the beginning. It's a really great time and always a surprise because new people are coming all the time. This is my favorite way to enjoy music, as goth a picker (musician) and a grinner (listener).

Looks like you're on the way to lots of really great times! Now I have to go see if I can learn Wagon Wheel...

That sounded great, kids and all! Looked like so much fun. Wish I could have been there.

After our session a few of us left hanging out recorded this. You can definitely hear the kids playing in the background. Mistakes and all, I think it turned out pretty good.

Our jam sessions are going great! We've now got 2 banjo's, 3 (4 if I pick mine up) guitars, a bass, mando, and a fiddle will show up within the next few weeks. Having a blast and anyone who is considering starting their own jam session should really just take the plunge and do it.

I just put up an ad in Craigs asking for people to show interest, then once they told me a bit about themselves in that first post, I gave them the address. There were of course a bunch of people who said they would come but never did, but in the almost 2 months now that I've been doing it, I've had one guy come every single time, and at the minimum I've had 2 other players besides myself and my husband. So it's always a good time.

There are 4 of us who have been together enough now that we are talking about doing an open mic in the next few months. So we've got a list of all our tunes we play (around 15 or so) that we work on each time we meet. We are honing the singing parts and arrangements. It's a fun time.

The best part about it is there are no set rules. We play whatever songs we want ( I just told each person to bring a few they wanted to play in the Folk/Old-time/Bluegrass genre). We've got contemporary Irish tunes, 4 or 5 OT tunes, a couple of gospel standards, some old country, and a couple new songs in the works. We've got a songwriter in the group who has written a couple that we also play.

75 songs, HOLY COW! No way. That's really great that the parks and rec would do that. Wonderful idea.

This looks like fun. My town just started an acoustic jam through the parks and rec dept. That might be another avenue for finding players. I've missed the first couple of sessions due to work, but I'll make the next one. The organizer emailed chords and lyrics to a 75 song playlist, with quite a bit of variety.