Forum Activity for @shawn-mccurdy

Hi Richard

Eager to see it close up!

Thanks for giving a very thorough run down on what you see and hear. Warm and balanced is a pretty good start - and good intonation (as you say) a bonus. The fret arrangement sounds intriguing - any indication of date (presume no label, but provenance of any kind?).

The few Bonds I've seen all seem to be different designs - did he have "standard" types as such, or were they all custom made? And as for modelling them on US makers I wonder how many would have made their way over here in any quantity by the mid/late 60s?

We wait with baited breath!

Thanks again, Richard.

Well the aesthetics are not nearly as refined & elaborate as Geoff's, but my Frank Bond is a *wonderful* instrument, already up there with among the most valued vintage dulcimers I own.

It arrived in fine cosmetic condition, but it is clear that the last owner must have been frustrated. It was strung with the bass string in the middle.The ebony heal is very soft, so the strings just dig into it when you increase string tension -- the last owner probably never got it into tune.I just put a piece of felt there under the strings, which solved the problem ... eventually I will replace the ebony itself. The nut is destroyed, but there's a zero fret so it is still perfectly playable.

The sound is warm, loaded with complexity, and balanced. The intonation, totally against expectations, is just fine.

Bond must have used something like a Jess Patterson as model. It's nearly identical in shape to an Amburgey, though the top bout is a bit more slender and, like a later Patterson I own, the frets are almost full width. They aren't stapled, but fret wire cut to leave few hairs of space on either side, so they do not quite reach the edges of the fretboard.

This leaves the three courses of strings quite close together, making chording a little difficult -- my only real gripe.

I suck at photographs, but I will try to get some shots.

John Henry said:

....but these days, by the time it's draped over my stomach I have no need to use the 'tummy hitch' to lift the hem!

Had a chance to play the Bond that Geoff has and it was certainly not what I was expecting.

The only other Frank Bond I've ever seen was more than 30 years ago, so my memory of it is very sketchy. As I remember it was a typical slim hourglass style, spruce top, mahogany? body, fiddle edges, fiddle pegs, rusty strings. Far more silvery sound than to the one I had at the time(still have).

john p

Hi:

Sorry to have frustrated you! I was instantly punished with a higher price.

You've obviously got the nicer of the two Bonds, built with someone special in mind. I must have one of Frank's more pedestrian models, perhaps intended for general sale. I think it is rather less Sunhearth, and more a copy a 50s-era Jethro Amburgey -- albeit with full-width stapled frets & a North Carolina fiddle scroll.

Ah Richard

So you are the man who frustrated me, I should have guessed. We must try to co-ordinate next time!

I was wanting a companion for the Bond attached, which looks entirely different. This one dates from 1968 and came from the Fairport Convention household. Two of them went round the corner to Bond's workshop, by all accounts, and bought it for their first singer, Judy Dyble.

Very different design. Yours I thought had a touch of Sunhearth about it. Mine looks very Venetian gondola.

Plays well - light, transparent, sweet - though not entirely accurately by modern standards. Sounds better when noter-driven in DAA, as so often with earlier instruments. Interestingly, has rosewood sides and softwood back.

Do tell us more about yours when you get it please - Bond is a disappearing bit of UK dulcimer history.

Geoff

Hi:

I could not resist acquiring this dulcimer, which I assume to be made by Frank Bond, from an Australian seller:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/261011188867

Pretty pricey, but it is a piece of history after all.

I assume the intonation is poor, but those look like stapled frets, which are quite easily tweaked a few cents in either direction without having to re-work the board.

Richard

AW Jeffreys was one of the most notable builders of the Revival period. He made over 3000 dulcimers, so yours is fairly early.

Please, please, whatever you do, have it restored, not just 'fixed'. That's a real piece of dulcimer history you have there; please don't add frets or change out the tuners or any of that sort of thing. It will have the 'high silvery' sound that those of us who love traditional dulcimers appreciate, not the mellow sound of a modern deep-bodied dulcimer.

Please don't have it re-fretted either. The fretboard may not sound accurate to more modern ears because of the way he usually fretted his instruments. They're what's called "mean intonation" rather than "just intonation". Accurate within themselves but not necessarily accurate to an electronic tuner. Not really intended to be played with other instruments.

A new nut can easily be made from hard wood or bone or horn, whatever the bridge is made from. The loose glue on one side is easily fixed using Titebond brand glue (not Elmers) and a small weight to hold the gap closed while it dries, just be careful to wet wipe up any dribbles.

If you have any other repair questions, ask over in the Making Dulcimers Forum, and we'll help anyway we can.

Still wear mine when in the workshop, I also went for the 'shortie look' aeon's ago, but these days, by the time it's draped over my stomach I have no need to use the 'tummy hitch' to lift the hem!

JohnH

Hi Geoff, there's a wonderful photo of Frank Bond in 'The Dulcimer Book' (John Pearse), using his boot as a 'third hand', fag in his mouth ... typical British workman.

He's wearing a tradesman's apron as well, something rarely seen these days. I used to wear one when I was frame making, but went for the more sporting look with the tummy hitch to raise the hem above the knee

john p

Hi Richard/Ken

Yes of course, I should have thought about the Kantele as a source for those two tail anchors - from two very different makers on different continents.

As for Frank Bond, he was as you say very fashionable in the UK about the turn of the 70s. I do indeed own this instrument, having bought it last year from Judy Dyble, who was the very first singer in Fairport (pre-'69). The description in my catalogue is as follows:

"Elegant headstock like the prow of a boat, with a heart cutout on the underside. Slim, elegant outline with softwood (spruce) top AND back, (brazilian?) rosewood sides. Heart-shaped soundholes (pointing to tail). Mahogany neck with rosewood (?) overlay and nickel frets. Originally strung with larger than usual gap between doubled melody string and two lower courses. Nut and bridge replaced to provide more conventional spacing and improve intonation. Scale length looks as though it was reduced while dulcimer was being constructed nut is placed well down the fretboard (by nearly 2). As a result, string break angle to nut is shallower than ideal. String location at bottom end a removable pin is ingenious and (as far as I know) unique. Woodworking is very good but fretting seems to be arbitrary, with questionable intonation on 1^st and 8^th frets in particular.Overall length 38, lower bout 6", upper bout 4, VSL 27" (medium scale). Standard violin hardwood (ebony/ized) pegs. Unusually for 60s instrument, has 6 fret.

Light construction and softwood back give this a light, transparent and sweet sound. An attractive and historic instrument."

A few further pics may be of interest.

All the best

Geoff

P.S. Notice Richard that you also did a piece on Peter Abnett - did a long article on him for our UK Nonsuch magazine, based on an interview when I picked up my newly commissioned dulcimer from him in 2010. Still writing a piece on Stefan Sobell, who is a bigger name luthier over here and who also started with dulcimers. Talked to him at length last year. Very interesting man.

I've not seen that type of string rod on a dulcimer before. But that is/was a very common way of attaching strings on the Finnish Kantele, Estonian Kannel and other Baltic "winged" psalteries.

Thanks for posting these pics of the Frank Bond dulcimer. Are there more of them (fairport7.jpg, fairport22.jpg, etc)? Do you own this instrument?

I did some rough & ready research on Frank Bond for the vintage builders list on ED a couple of years back. Interesting fellow!

(In retrospect, though, I have often kicked myself for finding and talking to both Roger Nicholson and Tim Hart about Frank Bond -- who very few people remember -- while asking virtually nothing about either musician, both of whom died shortly afterwards. A very memorable display of stupidity.)

Best,

Richard

Just checking this thread, having bought a mid-70s plywood Jeffreys No. 2883. Lovely condition, great soft dulcimer sound, appalling intonation....!

But I'm really posting to comment on the tailpiece. See the attached (Fairport 10) from a 1968 Frank Bond (English maker from North London). An interesting dulcimer, having been bought for the Fairport Convention commune (either by Tyger Hutchings or Richard Thompson) just before they became famous with "Liege and Lief".

In this case the tailpiece bar is made of some form of composite material. Works OK but the string break angle seems a little sharper than necessary.

A case of great minds thinking alike, or copying from a third party??

P.S. The Bond also has a really elegant and unusual headstock (see Fairport 8)...oh yes, and poor intonation just like the Jeffreys!!

That is some tailpiece. Though I've not seen a lot of dulcimers, that tailpiece looks most unusual.

You've got a beauty, Kevin!

Interesting instrument ... and early.

The headstock and tail are entirely different than the design he employed faithfully for at least 30 years.

There's no zero fret, placing it in the early 1970s and any time earlier. The low serial number may or may not imply something from his initial work in the late 1950s. I know he had more than one number series.

Wow, Kevin, how cool!

Fortunately, the frets with pitch errors all lean flat! I do the same on my Jeffreys player, built in 1991, which I treasure. I keep another here in Hong Kong that he built in 1962, but I rarely play it.

Ben Seymour recently installed an entirely new fretboard pattern on a Jeffreys for me. It is still in the US so I have not played it yet. You can hear it (barely) here:

I learned to compensate for the intonation problem. Without thinking about it I just bend the strings where needed. I don't know or care much about its resale value. But the aged spruce top is priceless to me... Bob.

At the height of the market a few years back, I saw a Jeffreys sell for $400 on eBay. It wasn't in particularly good shape. But even very nice ones typically only fetch $100 -$150, as most buyers assume that the intonation is not in equal temperament (and that's true at least for the six or seven that I have played).

I find that the intonation on the older instruments -- those without a zero fret -- is a bit better. Many of these are entirely solid wood, too, where most of the later ones are all ply except for the top and the fretboard. Yours may be one of these.

The Jeffreys I test drove a few months ago was a lovely thing- normal scale length but quite shallow, lightweight, and smallish box compared to what we usually see being made today (so many boomy 'dreadnought dulcimers' these days...lol!). The main reason I didn't buy it was that the fretboard was only 1/2" high and that made it very awkward to play with a noter. There was not sufficient room for my hand or knuckles while sliding up and down, didn't seem to matter how I held the noter. This was an odd feature for a diatonic dulcimer which naturally favors traditional playing styles. It wouldn't be an issue if someone only played by fretting with the fingers on the melody string (fingerdancing). At the time I wondered if all his fretboards were low like that, and it also made me wonder if he himself had any experience in playing with a noter.

He was really a tireless campaigner for the dulcimer, and apparently a guy with a lot of dignity and charm. I only wish he had recognised the errors in his fret pattern. Had he done so, his instruments would be worth many times what they are.

The same is true for a number of seminal builders of the period, though.

Ben Seymour just refretted a four-string Jefffreys for me. It sounds lovely. Even with the original fretwork, though, the sweet, plaintive sound of his dulcimers is absolutely authentic and very difficult to find now.

Richard

Richard. I have a letter from Mr Jeffreys from 12/72 that said that his 4 string dulcimers at $70 were all walnut and his 3 string dulcimers $65 were all cherry. He said that he was out of cherry lunber at the time so only 4 string walnut models were avaliable. He said in his letter that he builds reproductions of ancient musical instruments as a hobby. and I quote.... "The dulcimer I make on order, partly because I believe such a beautiful and useful instrument should be better known".... He enclosed a photo of his dulcimer and requested I mail it back so he could pass it on... Them were the days... Bob.

Interesting ... I was wondering when he had started using a zero fret. This narrows it down.

Four-string Jeffreys are pretty uncommon. Nice instrument!

Best,

Richard

Here are some pics of my AW Jeffrey dulcimer I bought back in 1972. Included is the supplied carry bag and a very useful instruction manual written by Mr Jeffery's... Bob.

The years that I've owned this particular dulcimer (about 20 years now), I have been asked if it was homemade and if I had made it. So, I suspect that it could have been one that someone did make in their wood shop or garage. Isupposethat I will never know that. But, regardless, it is the search for the identity of the maker of the instrument based on the booklet which led me to this wonderful site of mountain dulcimeraficionados.

Pristine2, Thanks for you comments. I suspect that you are probably right. As I had stated earlier, there is nothing to indicate who the maker of the instrument was. All that I did have was the booklet by Jeffreys, which is still in my possession. All I know of the history was that the man I bought it from at the flea market in Houlton had paid $20 and was looking for $30, to which I turned away only because I knew nothing of the dulcimer (hadn't heard or seen one at that point in time) and I didn't have a musical background, so $30 really didn't have much appeal to me. However, as I turned to go away, he asked if I had $25 for it and (coincidentally that was what I had in my pocket) I thought for a minute that what would I be risking...if I didn't like it I could probably get my investment back, so I paid the man and thus far have purchased 7 more paying a few dollars more than my original investment.

So, anyway, I learned to play and enjoy the instrument and the rest is my story...which I am sticking to....

Hi and thanks for the photo!

It's a lovely instrument - I especially like that whimsical, narrow strum hollow. Very little to remind me of Jeffreys, though. The instrument appears almost certainly to be the work of another builder.

The shape, the soundholes, the wide fretboard and the geared tuners (assuming they are original) have nothing in common with Jeffrey's typical work, which barely changed from 1960 until his last instruments in 1991.

Earlier Jeffreys instruments would not have thin gauge fretwire like this one. And without info to the contrary, I'd guess that this instrument was made in the 1970s or later.

Jeffrey's book was available independently of his instruments and its presence with the dulcimer is not indicative of the builder. It's always possible that he was experimenting, but unless you have some other reason to suspect it was made by Jeffreys, it almost certainly was not.

Sure looks like a fun instrument, though! Would love to hear it played.

This is the dulcimer that may be a Jeffrey's model.

I have number 1865. It was my first dulcimer. I bought it back in 1972. I still play it and its still in mint condition. I would never think of selling it. What a wonderful tone it has. The top is spruce, sides and back are walnut plywood. Fretboard is 3/4" high and easily played with noter. I still have the original noter that came with the instrument, a skimpy 1/4" walnut dowel stick. It came with a really nice pick made out of something resembling a thin strip of electronic circuit board material that made Galax style tunes sound real good. 27" scale and rosewood pegs, intonation is a bit off for finger style but I learned to compensate for that. Bob.

Thanks for the reply. As I said, there is nothing to indicate the maker of the instrument. I will get my camera out in a couple of days and post a few pictures of this particular dulcimer. That may help to identify it. I also had a case made specifically for this one. I will post more later.

Ben

I've seen a couple Jeffreys dulcimers without labels, and one (from 1961) where he signed the instrument in pencil on the inside back panel. It's possible that the adhesive on the label in your instrument simply failed and it fell out, but you might take a good look inside with a flashlight.

If it is shaped like a Jeffreys, I doubt it is a copy. I have wondered, though, whether Jeffreys may have also sold kits, like many makers did -- I know he advertised in craft magazines, but I've never seen one of the ads and don't know whether kits were an option.

Not long after my initial post to this thread my computer died, rendering a lot of data unavailable (it was backed up, but the encryption key doesn't work). Unfortunately the address and telephone of Jeffrey's son in Virginia is in that data.It seems to be irretrievable, but the man's name is Jeffreys and I remember he is still living near Staunton. Your post inspires me to track him down.

By the way, Ben Seymour is doing a complete re-fret of a Jeffreys for me. Imagine those sweet plaintive tones of the Jeffreys intoning in equal temperament! Yum.

Richard

Benjamin W Barr Jr said:

I believe that I may have an early model of an A W Jeffreys, Jr. dulcimer. When I purchased it in Houlton, Maine a number of years ago, it came with the booklet that has been mentioned earlier. It is the revised version (1964) that I have. However, the dulcimer is not signed, so it is possible that someone could have made a copy of one of Jeffrey's dulcimers. The description is similar. The action was high, but I had it lowered.

Anyway, I wanted to comment on this thread...after all, it was a search for information on Jeffreys that has led me to this site and I think it is going to be a good place to hang out.

I believe that I may have an early model of an A W Jeffreys, Jr. dulcimer. When I purchased it in Houlton, Maine a number of years ago, it came with the booklet that has been mentioned earlier. It is the revised version (1964) that I have. However, the dulcimer is not signed, so it is possible that someone could have made a copy of one of Jeffrey's dulcimers. The description is similar. The action was high, but I had it lowered.

Anyway, I wanted to comment on this thread...after all, it was a search for information on Jeffreys that has led me to this site and I think it is going to be a good place to hang out.