Love the looks of that 3-stringed Ledford! Congratulations on your great find, Curtis.

Great find, Curtis. Looks like a wonderful instrument

Rob

I really like the looks of that Ledford dulcimer. Congrats on a fantastic find. Hope you enjoy it for years to come.

I recently obtained an unnumbered Ledford dulcimer which came from a thrift store in Midland, Michigan. It looks identical to the Ivyton TN dulcimers on the Ledford site.

[ http://www.backroombluegrassband.com/hlccweb/instruments/storiesandpics.htm ]

It has walnut sides, scroll, fingerboard, and endblock, with pine-like top and back. The pegs, end pin, and perhaps the two nuts, are a lovely, light butterscotch-colored wood which seems to have a slightly mellower grain than maple. The scroll is slender and untapered; the whole instrument is light and responsive. The frets are wire staples under the first two strings only, however the placement is faulty: mostly flat until the upper notes which are sharper. I was able to render it playable, at least in the lower range, by shortening the string length with an additional nut at the distal end, though the first fret is still Very flat. It is signed under the lower left diamond soundhole, in pencil, directly on the back: [Made By/ Homer C Ledford/ Winchester, Ky.].

I sent all the information and pictures to the site but, considering how infrequently it is updated, I thought I would mention it here and see if anyone else has additional info that would help me place it in time. There is, evidently, a log book of Ledford's dulcimers and the woods and style should narrow it down; if Midland MI was the home of the original owner that would cinch it.

I see you dig Clemson.......wow nice instrument ......my cousin Olga had one of these

Here is a picture of an autoharp my uncle (of Pawprint Autoharps) made for me a few years back. Notice that the main tuners for each string are zither pins. But down below are fine tuners which are adjustable with a tiny allen wrench.

As Ken has explained, it can be hard to tune a string with great precision using those zither pins; the fine tuners allow more nuanced adjustment. And incidentally, this autoharp was a prototype. My uncle now covers up those fine tuners with a nice piece of wood. We all agreed that this version reminds us of a teenager's braces.

thanks this is all new to me......learn something new here everyday

My Keith Young dulcimer has pegs and the beads for fine tuning. I was amazed at how well they work. Took it to Portage PA Dulcimer Day and was able to get in tune and then re-tune very quickly andaccurately with them. I think this will now be my "go to" dulcimer!

Fine tuners (there are several kinds including tuning beads) are often used on instruments that have wooden violin style tuning pegs, as well those with autoharp style steel tuning pins.

Many people have trouble hitting the desired note accurately with those kinds of primary tuners. Fine tuners let them get more accurate tuning. The idea was first developed with Violins/Violas etc back in the Renaissance. Fine tuner beads are on a portion of the string which is higher at one end that the other (usually between the bridge and the tailpiece), and as you push/pull the bead along it slackens or tightens the string in very tiny amounts.

I`ve seen them used with zither pin`s already, cranking the zither pin to a certain note but it still needs a slight adjustment to get it right on.

The micro adjustment can be done with the " tuning bead " .

since I'm the green leaf rookie here ....my question is what is the purpose?....does its keep em in tune better and how?......I see some with them and not.....seen a lot of older Dulcimers with just 3 made of wood ...saw one with black metal ones?

Yes Robin, that Laura Elder is a right 'ole tease , for dangling treats which are beyond my reach !

John

Keep coming back to these pics, 'the more you look the more you see' It took me a while to pick up on that 'D' end tailpiece which has a heart shape to its cutout !It's a bad enough job towork a nice cleanly finished inside to a typical 'D', lots of endgrain, me fingers ache just thinking about working that heart ! Just wish I could have handled it !! Lucky you seeing 'em Robin

John

John Henry said:

Sorry Bobby , its already gone ! ( I've made a couple 'near to' that pattern, be great to have the 'proper job'!)

John

Sorry Bobby , its already gone ! ( I've made a couple 'near to' that pattern, be great to have the 'proper job'!)

John

I'll take one these, one of these. can you even imagine all the beautiful music that has come from these instruments.

Can you imagine if someone told you you could choose and keep ONE of these instruments hanging on the wall there.... how on earth could one possibly choose? Just as well i suppose that we'll never be presented with such a 'terrible' dilemma. lol...

COOL

They are all so gorgeous!

Hey Dusty that Was MY favorite too.

Does any one know where this exhibition Well be heading next? I would Love to see it If it would come closer.

Thanks for sharing this. My favorite is the Parlor stove bass fiddle.

Laura Elder said:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150878062047267.406304.7...

Here are a few more pics from the Facebook link

Dusty, if your dulcimer knew about the dulcimers on the other walls, it would've bawled its little eyes out.

Dusty Turtle said:

Wow, I had these pictures up while playing my own dulcimer, which jumped off my lap with a tear in her eye and cried "gramdma!"

Wow, I had these pictures up while playing my own dulcimer, which jumped off my lap with a tear in her eye and cried "gramdma!"

In the lower photo, see the dulcimer with the open tailpiece that's heart-shaped? Any of you seen that before? If I remember right, there were 2 other mountain dulcimers with open tailpieces; one was an open circle and the other an open D.

The exhibit has a room devoted to each of these instruments: banjo, dulcimer/scheitholt (w/ 2 hammered dulcimers), fiddle, and guitar. It truly is a wonderful exhibit.

Thanks for the heads-up. May have to come over & check that out.

Thank you, thank you for posting pics, Laura!

I, too, attended the exhibit and plan to go back for more looks. There are instruments from both individual and institutional collections. Should you make the trip to Lancaster, you're in for a treat !

PS-Laura got permission to take photos; otherwise, there are to be no photos taken. I talked with a woman at the exhibit about the possibility of photos being made public so they could be posted or linked to FOTMD. Got my fingers crossed!

Van, thanks for your input....I think it will be a perfect fit for me. I Love the way the scroll looks....but functionally its just not quite as easy as the flat head on my MMD. When I talked to Sue at McSpadden she said they were getting very popular and she had just sold two others before I called. I'm wondering if eventually smaller scales will be the most common dulcimers?

CJ

Sarah!! I saw that one....so cute!

Glynda, Thank you very much for posting. I have an all cherry mcspadden and an MMD in Redwood/Walnut. I like the shorter scale length of the MMD, and I also want to keep the Cherry for its sound, but would sure like a little shorter scale length. Sue at McSpadden said there is no discernible difference in sound or tone since the body size is the same on both the 26 VSL and the 28.6. So why not go shorter, is what I'm thinking. Plus after going through a couple sets of strings I'm not loving the scroll head on my McSpadden....thinking that nice flat head looks awfully good! :)

Sarah....would love to hear your David Lynch...have you recorded it yet?

Thanks again,

Cheryl

I was looking at McSpadden's site today and saw they make a 26" VSL dulcimer with the same body as the 28.5" VSL. Has anyone played these...I'm wondering if there is a difference in sound, volume, tone?? I think I would love the shorter scale length, but not at the expense of sound.

Thanks!!

CJ

Hi Wayne

Thanks for the reply

The dulcimersounds great, and looks like it has been in the case for the last 35 years and never played.

Its a pain in the neck to tune with the friction tuners though.

Thanks again for the help.

Wayne Jiang said:

Hi Ed,

I talked to Steve Palazoo today got some info on your dulcimer. Steve is now a guitar teacher in Santa Cruz. In the late 70's and 80's he worked for Folkroots, the dulcimer company in Felton (near Santa Cruz) and he also worked for Santa Cruz guitar company. According to him there was a dulcimer maker in Santa Cruz named Ray Popelka in the early 70's. From what he described your dulcimer your dulcimer looks very much like Ray's dulcimer. Ray also taught how to make dulcimer thru Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation in the early 70's. Steve told me his girlfriend in high school had a Ray Popelka dulcimer in 1973. According to Steve, Ray is now living in Colorado.

Hi Ed,

I talked to Steve Palazoo today got some info on your dulcimer. Steve is now a guitar teacher in Santa Cruz. In the late 70's and 80's he worked for Folkroots, the dulcimer company in Felton (near Santa Cruz) and he also worked for Santa Cruz guitar company. According to him there was a dulcimer maker in Santa Cruz named Ray Popelka in the early 70's. From what he described your dulcimer your dulcimer looks very much like Ray's dulcimer. Ray also taught how to make dulcimer thru Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation in the early 70's. Steve told me his girlfriend in high school had a Ray Popelka dulcimer in 1973. According to Steve, Ray is now living in Colorado.

Very interesting. This does not have the body shape of a Folkroots/Capritaurus dulcimer. I'll ask Howard Rugg if he knows Ray Watkins.

Have more info and a pic. I bought the dulcimer and on the inside is "Popelka #122, Ray Watkins, June 1975, Santa Cruz Ca." It doesnt look like it has ever been played.

I found out the ad on CL was misspelled, it is a Popelka Dulcimer and the luthier is Ray

Watkins. The plot thickens

Thanks everyone for your input

Ed

One more thing. You might want to contact Howard Rugg about this. Howard is one of my friends In FOTMD. He started and ran Folkroots dulcimer the time your dulcimer was made

Wayne Jiang said:

I know a few luthiers in Santa Cruz. a lot of them made one of two dulcimers at one point in the 70's. The otherpossibilityis it could be build by one of the employee of Folkroots or Capritaurus dulcimers in Felton, Ca which is just few miles from Santa Cruz. Folkroots and Capritaurus was biggest dulcimer producer at the time in California if not the west coast in the late 70's.

Can you post picture of it. If it has body like the Folkroot/Capritaurus there is a good chance it was made in Felton.

Ed Day said:

Made 1978, dont have a luthier name.

Wayne Jiang said:

What year is it made? Do you have the name of the luthier?

I know a few luthiers in Santa Cruz. a lot of them made one of two dulcimers at one point in the 70's. The otherpossibilityis it could be build by one of the employee of Folkroots or Capritaurus dulcimers in Felton, Ca which is just few miles from Santa Cruz. Folkroots and Capritaurus was biggest dulcimer producer at the time in California if not the west coast in the late 70's.

Can you post picture of it. If it has body like the Folkroot/Capritaurus there is a good chance it was made in Felton.

Ed Day said:

Made 1978, dont have a luthier name.

Wayne Jiang said:

What year is it made? Do you have the name of the luthier?

Ed - do you mean Kokopelli? That's the name of one of the Anasazi Spirit people. My dear friend Kerry Coates of Ruidoso, NM was famous for her Kokopelli dulcimer design. Although she's not building anymore, she is performing and doing a lot of other things. Check her out at www.gilamountaindulcimers.com

Sevceral others have made Kokopelli themed dulcimers as well, including Molly McCurdy, Tom Yocky and Bill Webster