FF I bought one recently, a Seiko SAT501. I think I paid $16 for mine before shipping, although you'll see them listed for over $25. Check Ebay and Amazon. I like this one because it not only shows you which octave, but has an audio signal as well.
This it? Peterson makes one also.
http://www.amazon.com/Korg-OT-120-Octave-Chromatic-Orchestral/dp/B0...
Recently at a festival, I was helping a young boy tune his new instrument. He'd had a really nice tuner, but I didn't write the company's name down. I think it was Korg, but can't remember. What I liked about this tuner is that it gave a pitch reference. Instead of just listing D, it gave D3, D4, A3, A4, etc and it was chromatic. Does anyone have a similar tuner??? All of mine, new and old, including the Korg CA-30 just say A,B,C,D,E, etc.
So I've go a tuner that knows is ABC's, now I want one that counts, too. 
Sorry john, I should have said so!! I have of course used other types of finish on instruments over the years (egg whites?) but seem to have settled on the method I have described for its speed, ease in use, and a finish which goes on improving as it ages. You have handled some of the results!
best wishes
John
(was that bookshop signing story true...........?)
Exactly what I would do Lottie ! More power to yer elbow !
John
Lottie Miller said:
You could always use one or two coats of shellac, to seal the wood, rub it down with wire wool and use a wax as a finish it will have a smooth, matte sort of finish. This is my first one though, but I've used beeswax on other wood projects in the past and it had lovely results, a really subtle lustre, and it smelled good too.
john p said:I've got one to do at the moment.
Flame Maple (Like the one in the FOTMD banner), bare wood.
Any reccommendations ?
I'm not keen on very shiney finishes so french polish is out.
I've used Tung/Danish oil before, which is semi gloss. It's not as labourious as French polish, but can take a fortnight to complete.john p
Ken Hulme said:
"Suitable preparation" - hire three guys at 50 pounds per hour, eight hour minimum.
I like tung oil as a non-glossary finish - takes about 4-5 coats over a day or two.....
Ken, if that is a serious comment, you must have more money than I had thought!!! Sorta like me getting in three guys to cook me up a B- be- Q ??? Surely suitable preparation must be something that is as applicable to cooking as to anything that requires a certain outcome ?' Horses for courses I suppose, but after a long time of working and finishing wood I am always ready to concede when someone can offer a better method than the one I am used to ?
My regards
JohnH
john, if you still have 'ripple marks' from planer or whatever, no matter what you put 'on top', they are still there ? 'Sand and Seal' describes a process exactly, get rid of surface imperfections (sand) and then (seal) to provide an impervious surface. Easy to describe and easy to execute, IMO ?
John
john p said:
Thanks both, I'll look into that.
I don't like the way you put suitable preparation in italics John Henry, whats involved here.
Never come across 'sand and seal', is it the same sort of thing as button polish ?
john p
After suitable preparation , two or three coats of 'Sand and Seal' ( shellac based) , light rub with 0000 grade wire wool between coats to remove nibs, use the same used wire wool to apply a good qualitiy paste wax, buff with soft duster, and repeat until desired finish is achieved. Almost instant, more or less fool proof, (depending on the care exercised during preparation), almost instantly renewable, and completly natural looking , IMO ! ( I use 'Liberon products)
JohnH
I've got one to do at the moment.
Flame Maple (Like the one in the FOTMD banner), bare wood.
Any reccommendations ?
I'm not keen on very shiney finishes so french polish is out.
I've used Tung/Danish oil before, which is semi gloss. It's not as labourious as French polish, but can take a fortnight to complete.
john p
Many years ago I worked for a High Class Joinery firm which employed a dozen or so men in its polishing shop, all of whom, having worked at their chosen craft for many years, showed distinct signs of acholisim !!! Meth based finishing products, and no real concern by the firm concerned for basic Health and Safety ! Out of interest Lottie, what is the trade name of the 'ready to use' product ?
JohnH
Ken Hulme said:
French polish? You are as sucker for punishment, aren't you! That's a lot of work! Good luck. Most of us just paint on a couple coats of something and call it good.
Advice - find some location that is as lint/dust/everything free as possible that has superior ventilation so you aren't inhaling too much shellac aroma.
French polish? You are as sucker for punishment, aren't you! That's a lot of work! Good luck. Most of us just paint on a couple coats of something and call it good.
Advice - find some location that is as lint/dust/everything free as possible that has superior ventilation so you aren't inhaling too much shellac aroma.
John
You wanted to play a particular piece of music in dulcimer tab form. It's for DAD tuning.
Try the attached. It's set out complete, twice through. First time is single note melody only. Second time is arranged for playing right the way across the fretboard, some simple, some more complex arrangements - play around with it depending on your stage of dulcimer development!
If you're not familiar with Tab or are confused by any of it, drop me a line.
Enjoy!
Geoff
For the record, I agree with Ken, re tuning has advantages for the player. It helps make the differences in modes much clearer. From posts I've read, I am sure that very few dulcimer players have a good understanding of modes. A lot of the confusion stems from using one tuning, capos, and extra frets to bypass the use of other tunings. When you find a way to duck the tuning issue, you never learn what the tunings have to teach you.
OK, no more soap box. Transposing from DAA to DAD may work if you have a 6+ fret. If you don't, you will find you need the missing 6+ note for some songs. In these cases, a solution is to play the melody, as it's written in the DAA tab but play it on the middle string. Let the bass and melody strings drone. You can transpose by the method Ken gave above,but in some songs you will find you need to play some melody notes on the middle or bass string. If you truly want to stay in DAD, play the DAA music on the middle string. The down side to this is you probably can't use a noter, you will have to use your finger to fret the notes.
Paul
It's one of the Groups on this site, John. You can join it simply by looking it up here ( http://mountaindulcimer.ning.com/group/mountaindulcimersintheuk ).
And Sally, as I explained, is part of the Nonsuch Dulcimer Club ( www.dulcimer.org.uk ). You can find her contact details there.
Best wishes
Hi John
Only just spotted this - why don't you join the UK chapter of FOMD? There's lot of us there, including not a few great teachers...
As Ken says, don't "transpose" DAA to DAD if it's just a melody line piece. If the piece uses chords, tell me what it is and the chances are I or one of my colleagues has it in DAD tab anyway. Just let us know!
All the best.
..and by the way you're not very far from one of the most active dulcimer groups, based in Redditch. Look up Sally Whytehead and the Nonsuch Dulcimer Club.
Not sure why anyone would want to "save re-tuning" (it's dead simple, only one string). But changing tab from DAA to DAd is easy-peasy John, as long as it's melody line tab. Chord-melody tab (showing notes fretted on all three strings) is a bit harder.
All you have to do is subtract 3 from each melody line number... and if the DAA tab has a fret 9 being played it becomes a 6+ in DAd, not a 6.
If however, you have chord-melody tab, you'll want to consult a Chord Wizard like the one at www.strothers.com
Cheryl, I havea few small dulcimers, including a baritone dulcimette by Ron Ewing, an Eedy Beede by David Beede, and a Youngster by Keith Young. Since, as Kristi says, Keith Young has passed away, you could only obtain one of those if someone were selling one. The other two I highly recommend, but you might have trouble getting either of those luthiers to finish one in time for this summer. It would be worth contacting them to find out, though.
There are lots of good small dulcimers, though. As folkfan suggest, Mike Clemmer makes a "sweetie" that must be wonderful since you never see anyone selling them used. Folkcraft now has a re-issue of the Folkroots Travel dulcimer. Lots of people love the McSpadden Ginger model. If I were to buy one new now, I might trythe Blue Lion soprano, though I've never heard one or heard anything about it. I could go on. But I won't. Instead I'll point you to the group I started called Little Dulcimers and the list I created there called The Little Dulcimers Little List which I think is a pretty comprehensive list of the small dulcimers that are regular parts of luthiers offerings.
http://sweetwoodsinstruments.com/specialties.htm
Sweet Woods Instruments has a very nice travel instrument. It has an adjusting feature that works well in taking humid to dry weather changes into consideration.
Hello folks! I may have to travel for work later this summer and was thinking about getting a dulcimer that would be easy to travel with. I saw the Folkcraft travel dulcimer and wondered if anyone had it and could recommend it or another brand/maker??
Thanks!
Cheryl
It sounds like you have standard planetary tuners, but you may have Keith tuners. Take a look here, and scroll down to the picture: http://www.folkofthewood.com/page2161.htm No banjo makers install them unless requested by the player, as they are VERY expensive, and unless you play the few songs that require them, you may not ever need their special capability. They were developed for changing the banjo from G tuning to D tuning while playing. The right hand keeps playing, while the left changes the tuning. The tuner is set beforehand by the player so it will only go so far in either direction. You tune the G string to G, set the upper limit knob so it can't go any higher, then tune the same string to F#, and set the lower knob so the string can't go below F#. You do the same for the B string, but the limits are B and A. I don't know of a banjo player having more than two of them, but it's possible. Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aYqshyDNrg Pay special attention to their left hands during the song, there's a good closeup at about 0:59. Earl Scruggs invented a low tech tuner in the 1950's to do this, and wrote a few songs that needed it. Bill Keith designed the higher tech model some years later, and still makes and sells them. I think they have a lifetime warranty for the original purchaser. If this is what you have, you need to find a banjo player who uses them to show you how to make them do what you need on a dulcimer. Since they are there, you may want to learn to use them. Once you know how to use them, you can use them like normal tuners, there's just some extra learning first.
If you have standard planetary tuners, set the screw in the knob for enough tension to hold the string in place, but not so much you have trouble tuning the string.
For those who may be wondering if Keith tuners are good to put on your dulcimer, they are reportedly very good tuners, but at the price of $220 per pair, I wouldn't recommend them on a dulcimer hoping to make retuning a little easier. They have to be set for specific tunings at the upper and lower limits, so you would have to loosen the set knobs for anything outside those limits. This would make retuning harder in some cases. If you set them to go from DAA to DAD and back, they would work well, IF they have enough range to go from A to D. I don't know if they have that much range, but if any one wants to try them, I would suggest contacting Bill Keith before buying them. $220 is a good start towards another dulcimer, which could be kept in another tuning. Re tuning ain't $220 worth of hard.
Paul
That's DAd... the D and A are from the same octave; the d is from the next higher octave. Tune the bass to D. Fret the bass string at the 4th fret and tune the middle drone to that note (A); fret the bass string at the 7th fret and tune the melody string to that note (d).
If you don't like the tightness of DAd, you might try tuning down to CGc... both Ionian Modal tunings, using the same tab, but key of C will have much less string tension. Getting correct gauge strings may also help. Time will help you develop calluses, but lowering that action is the best all around cure.
Joe
Looks as though you've got a standard McSpadden "kit" dulcimer from the early 70s - small body, laminated walnut-faced back and sides, walnut top and sta-tite tuners. Certainly not a baritone.
I've had two to work on. Both has similar problems and neither played in tune when I got them. The fretting proved to be spot on (and presumably done in the shop before shipping), but:
(1) No-one seemed to have told the poor end users that the zero fret was the start of the VSL and the wooden "nut" behind it was just a guide which needed deep, deep slots to allow the strings to bear down firmly on the zero fret;
(2) The bridges/saddles were too high.
Effect of (1) is that the intonation was out all the way up because the dulcimers thought they had a longer VSL than they were designed for; of (2), that the strings were sharpened by having to press the strings down too far.
With yours, I'd start by taking down the action drastically (as other have said) and checking that all the strings are not loosely touching the zero fret or vibrating completely freely above it. As I say, I thought the fretboards were very accurate when I got them sorted. Nice sound as well - trebly, not loud, but quite sweet. Just sold the last one a week ago to a very happy customer!
Best of luck
Baritone dulcimers normally have more interior volume than a regular dulcimer, not less . Wider and deeper equals more volume for the same body length. Guess which one you should string as a baritone....
That tangle of strings isn't tooooo bad; I've seen worse. The two far strings should attach to the two far pegs; likewise the near string and near pegs. Yes that is a Zero fret.
Third, that action isn't just "high"... it's OUTA FREAKIN' SIGHT!!!!
As far as fixing the slightly too tall action
, I would suggest sanding the bridge down to the bottom of the existing notches -- it can be sanded in place or removed for sanding. Use a flat hardwood sanding block to get a nice flat surface. You can use the melody and bass strings, still attached, as a kind of guide to mark how much to take off after that. Build a much wider temporary bridge, to hold the strings at the proper height at the 7th fret. It can sit in front of the old bridge. Tighten the bass and melody strings on the temp bridge, and them mark where the strings touch the sides of the in-place bridge. Then you can sand/cut the old bridge down to slightly (1/32") higher than the marks. File ( with a triangular needle file), do not saw, new notches. The notches only have to be slightly deeper than the diameter of the strings...
You have the right name for the zero fret. And it definitely sounds like the action is too high. When strings are too high above the frets, they go sharp just pressing them that far to reach the frets. The bridge should slip out of the groove if you loosen the strings. Try lowering it so the strings are no more than 1/8" above the 7th fret. You won't likely need to lower the strings at the nut end, as the zero fret is probably about as low as you would want it to be. If the bridge saddle doesn't slip out fairly easily, it may have been glued. You can file the top of the saddle down to the height you want, but be very careful. It possible, cover the dulcimer with something to protect it from tool damage. I tend to oops when I do this stuff, so I try to cover the parts I don't want covered with file marks, dings, scratches or other marks that produce @#$% language.
Paul
1) You really haven't played it much. I suggest trying a set of new strings,tuning it to a tuning it will hold and you are familiar with playing, and STEP AWAY FROM THE TUNER ! Play it for a few days, and see what your ears think. If you ask a scientist what time it is, you may get an answer such as "7:42 and 13 seconds, P.M., Eastern Daylight time." A poet may tell you "It's that time of day when the trees look like black lace against a fading sky." You have asked the scientist (the tuner), how well it plays in tune. Now pose your question to the poet (your ears.) Who do you wish to please when you play your dulcimer? The tuner, or your ears? If it plays close enough that your ears are pleased, you probably don't need to do anything else but enjoy your new dulcimer. let the tuner do it's necessary job, but only ask it scientific questions. It doesn't know Robert Frost from Helen Steiner Rice. NOTE: I suspect many flesh and blood scientists also know and understand poetry, but none of my electronic tuners have ever exhibited any similar knowledge.
2) A deceased luthier whose work I admired and whose word I trusted told me frets should be within .001" to be truly accurate. He may have been more critical than most, but 1/16" is probably not close enough by any standards. If you measure each fret from the nut/zero fret, they will be more accurate. If you measure each fret from the fret before it, any error gets added to each fret after it. Several small errors can then be compounded into large errors up the fret board. Not knowing who built this dulcimer, we can't ask how, or how accurately, they were measured.
3) Old strings can be hard to tune, and may not play in tune, so a new set may be a good start. If the bridge is movable, carefully positioning it is the next step. If the bridge is not movable, small changes can be made by compensating the saddle. This may be best left to someone with experience, but if the saddle is easily removed from the bridge, a new one can be made at a very small cost if you mess up, so you may want to try compensating it. First make sure it can be easily removed without damaging the fret board or top of the dulcimer. I'll leave compensation adjustments to someone better equipped to explain. I understand the concept, and have seen where it is used on some of my instruments, but have very little experience actually doing the adjustments.
Paul
This dulcimer has a zero fret and not a Nut?
28.375" VSL without the correct gauge strings, would NOT like going up to DAd. Personally I'd start, as JohnP suggests, with new strings put one. one at a time.
Frets accurately spaced to 1/16" -- .0625" may not be accurate enough.
Fretted notes being relatively sharp is not uncommon if the action is too high. Balance a nickel on top of the 7th fret. The strings should just touch it. Put a dime next to the first fret and the strings should just touch it also.
Hi Joe,
Are you still using the old strings ?
I have one a bit like that, it's not too bad with fresh strings on but gets worse as the strings get older.
Other things to look at are -
Does it have a bridge and is it fixed or moveable.
What gauge strings are being used, somewhere between 10 and 12 would be expected on that VSL(scale length)
How high do the strings pass over the frets, should be about the thickness of a coin over the middle fret. A bit less towards the tuner end and a bit more nearer the tail end.
john p
Below are instructions on creating a music listening PLAYLIST from your favorite audio clips on Fotmd...
Hi Marian,
One thing all my teachers have emphasized is to keep your fingers on the strings as much as possible as you play, and that should minimize the choppiness. When I see the dulcimer performers I'm always amazed that they move their fingers so smoothly...looks like they're crawling up and down the fret board.
Good luck, and keep playing.
Doris
Well, the really important thing is that you are hearing the difference. I think that if we can hear when our playing is choppy and really want to make it smooth, we'll find ways to smooth it out. One place to really watch for choppiness is between a pickup note and the rest of the phrase. I'm on a "campaign" (smile) to get dulcimer players sensitized to this particular glitch, and I work very hard myself at avoiding it.
have fun!
Nina
